Great and timely review as their isn't a ton of feedback on starboards new raceboards. I was lucky enough to pickup a 23.5 sprint wood carbon and 26 allstar carbon sandwich about a month ago and have about 6-7 paddles on each board. I would echo Rubens comments on the design updates and construction and do notice a significant difference between the wood and carbon sandwich in weight and responsiveness. For me and my budget it made more sense to go with the lighter more responsive construction on the board that would be used in rougher water and where quick accelerations happen a lot more - catching bumps and boat wakes or trying to make up speed between waves etc. For the sprint its more about maintaining a high speed in flat and mild chop and the weight matters less. In terms of the design I'm super impressed with the effectiveness of the updates. The nose doesnt get stuck as much chop and downwind and is super predictable when it does, in fact Im blown away by how easy it is to downwind the board in messy conditions! Love the wider standing area and the high rails. Boards got great stability from the standing area to the tail. This sprint is much easier to buoy turn than my previous 23.5 and 24.5 allstars, it feels like a 26. Lastly the graphics and finish for 2021 are the best yet. Super stooked so far with both boards and looking fwd to race season. Look fwd to @supboarder doing a segment on the new allstar!?
Hey Chris, big thanks for adding your feedback. Glad you are loving your boards and especially the Sprint. We having got any All Star video planned at the moment, but we are getting a lot of questions about it. So we will try and get out on it and add some feedback. Thanks again 👍🏼 Reuben
My 2021 Allstar 24.5 came in last week. I took it out on some open water and noticed that it gets really tip crazy (going straight to a secondary tip) when the rolls come in on the side of the board by the rails. I know that only time on the board will help me balance better but I would love it if @SUPboarder would make a dedicated video on a good solid method to adapt, improve and most importantly not get thrown off the side when the rolls come in. Pointing the nose directly into headwind and perpendicular chop is much more stable (obviously).
I have a 23.5 2021 sprint and 26 2021 allstar. The sprint has more primary stability for sure, that bottom shape on the allstar does make it apt to roll when not moving. What I would say is you will quickly adapt to the board and then find it very stable. It took me a few paddles and now I trust it even in rough or choppy water conditions. I was paddling a 2019 23.5 allstar before this and I find the new wider board, much more stable, just as fast and much more responsive. Btw your going to love catching bumps and boot wakes on it!
Hey Armenian. Thanks for the feedback and content request. I will add it to the list for sure. 'Getting the most balance out of your race board'.. or something like that. I also agree with Chris. Your legs will adapt, just try and relax and not fight the board but understand how it will feel in certain chop. I know it's easier said then done lol. Thanks Reuben
I have had a 2020 Sprint 20.75 for a year and got the 2021 19.5 two weeks ago and I have to disagree on the speed difference. I have personally seen .2 mph increase in speed and I think that once I get used to this new board it will be even greater difference. I can also say that they are right in that the 2021 has less initial stability but it has much more secondary. This greater secondary stability has saved me more times than I can count and it gives my 50 year old reflexes time to react. My full review of both the 2020 and 2021 are on standupzone.
Hey Aaron, thanks for adding this comment. Really good to hear your feedback on speed. It should be faster, and glad you are finding it faster too. All your experience of having the 2020 board would really help give you have a better feel of the 2 boards. Thanks for sharing you full review we will encourage other to have a read for sure. Happy paddling Reuben
Great review !!! We love that !! What about the difference between Carbon Sandwich et Wood Carbon construction in term of speed/agreement/feeling please ?
Hey Murmure. Good question! We need to get on both the same boards to give you a 100% answer, but at a pretty good guess, I would say the response of the wood will feel slower. As you put a hard paddle stroke in. It would have a very slight delay of transfer of power into the board compared to the carbon sandwich board. Meaning the pick up in speed will be less. Also when doing step back turns you will feel the CS stiffer and more responsive when walking around the board. The questions is, how much will the paddler really feel? I think a top racer will easy pick up the difference but a racer who is focusing on their stroke more will not so much. Sorry I cant give you any hard facts at mo. I hope that helped a bit ? thanks Reuben
Soo many reviews and info on the 2021 sprint, would love to hear more about the all star. Many people say they feel more stable in sprint than all star yet all star is designed to offer more stability in more open conditions?
We hear you. Yeah last year we looked at the All Star and we used it in our SUPboarder pro race test too. And it was a very quick board off the mark but it wasn't as stable as previous years. Looking at this years I feel it will be slightly more stable than the 2020 because they have lowered the standing area, but because of the round bottom you still won't have that stability like sprint has. I will try and get a go on one and say more. Thanks Reuben
Great review... As someone who purchased a Starboard model (Generation) in 2020, I'm curious about your thoughts on the overall finish & quality control on the 2021 board? I'd love to upgrade my current race board with a Sprint, but found the quality control on my Generation pretty poor for a board at that price point. My board was pre-ordered & upon arrival immediately noticed it has been stamped on both sides, and on the bottom as a Waterline model!!! It leaves a pretty bad taste in your mouth after waiting over six months for a pre-ordered board.
I have a 2021 allstar carbon sandwich ans 2021 sprint wood carbon both of which I pre ordered and pulled out of the box. Both are flawless. I would have returned either board if damaged or mislabeled etc. Ive been on Allstars for 6yrs from different yrs the new models are the best finished yet. Well seenif their as durable
I hear you. Thats not a nice feeling at all. Im glad Chris jumped in here as he has also been using the new boards for a while. When we review the board the toughness of the boards is always hard to measure, without taking a hammer to the boards. Which i would love to do 😀. We are going to be asking brands for samples of boards (cross sections) so we can see lay ups. This should help. The boards on review were all good and there was nothing that needed to be mentioned. Did you get your boards all sorted?? Thanks Reuben
@@SUPboardermag thanks for the feedback, it has helped restore my faith in Starboard somewhat. I've reached out to Starboard a few times to let them know that there are boards like mine leaving the factory, since taking delivery of the board in August 2020... So far no acknowledgement or reply from them. Other than the incorrect 'Waterline' logos side & bottom, the board appears absolutely perfect. With that in mind, as well as the fact that I waited over six months for this pre-ordered board I made the decision to keep it as is. Given how committed Starboard seems to quality & attention to detail, I just can't believe the factory signed it off as quality checked - quality checked sticker on board plus signed off on the original factory box - and then sent it out as a full price board. It's very rare for the narrower full carbon race boards to be held in stock here in Australia, so I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that if I pre-order a Sprint it won't arrive here with 'Allstar' signage on the side of it - haha...
I think your board will be worth more money :-) with wrong badges. No thats not great really but glad the board is all good. Question did you try and contact your Australian distributor or was it Starboard International? Waiting for new boards is never nice, I have just received our new Starboard Longboard 9x26. But I know it will be worth the wait! Reuben
Praising secondary stability is not helping anyone. It‘s on boards with a decent amount of primary stability where you won‘t miss secondary stability. The average Joe will fall for Starboards Marketing praisals but to behonest boards are not getting noticably faster by slicing off an inch. Especially not when cruising at 9kph. There is 0 difference.
Thanks for your comment. I personally believe highlighting secondary stability is a very important point because it shows people how these boards may be tippy and very narrow but also have the ability to be paddled by the average Joe. When it comes to board widths and top speeds there are many good paddlers out there that are trying to find the best balance between board width and comfort. In this video we just wanted to highlight this and the Pros and cons. But as always, all feedback welcome, we are always trying to improve our videos for the future. Thanks Reuben
@@SUPboardermag I'd agree with you Reuben, secondary stability DOES make a difference to the average Joe. When I got my first Starboard Sprint I was used to less stable race boards and I noticed the difference immediately. I'm not going to win any world championships, but it improved MY performance and enjoyment of paddling it. Cheers, Andrew
Another truly awesome review. Thanks guys, packed full of great info and explanations. Look forward to seeing these boards in action this year 🤙
Glad you enjoyed it!
Dying to see what you think of the 2022 Sprint. What a drastic change from previous models.
Yeah big changes with that one.
Great review as always, thank you
Glad you enjoyed it
Great and timely review as their isn't a ton of feedback on starboards new raceboards. I was lucky enough to pickup a 23.5 sprint wood carbon and 26 allstar carbon sandwich about a month ago and have about 6-7 paddles on each board. I would echo Rubens comments on the design updates and construction and do notice a significant difference between the wood and carbon sandwich in weight and responsiveness. For me and my budget it made more sense to go with the lighter more responsive construction on the board that would be used in rougher water and where quick accelerations happen a lot more - catching bumps and boat wakes or trying to make up speed between waves etc. For the sprint its more about maintaining a high speed in flat and mild chop and the weight matters less.
In terms of the design I'm super impressed with the effectiveness of the updates. The nose doesnt get stuck as much chop and downwind and is super predictable when it does, in fact Im blown away by how easy it is to downwind the board in messy conditions! Love the wider standing area and the high rails. Boards got great stability from the standing area to the tail. This sprint is much easier to buoy turn than my previous 23.5 and 24.5 allstars, it feels like a 26. Lastly the graphics and finish for 2021 are the best yet. Super stooked so far with both boards and looking fwd to race season. Look fwd to @supboarder doing a segment on the new allstar!?
Hey Chris, big thanks for adding your feedback. Glad you are loving your boards and especially the Sprint.
We having got any All Star video planned at the moment, but we are getting a lot of questions about it. So we will try and get out on it and add some feedback.
Thanks again 👍🏼 Reuben
Awesome review - thank you guys! :-)
cool thanks for the 👍🏼
My 2021 Allstar 24.5 came in last week. I took it out on some open water and noticed that it gets really tip crazy (going straight to a secondary tip) when the rolls come in on the side of the board by the rails. I know that only time on the board will help me balance better but I would love it if @SUPboarder would make a dedicated video on a good solid method to adapt, improve and most importantly not get thrown off the side when the rolls come in. Pointing the nose directly into headwind and perpendicular chop is much more stable (obviously).
I have a 23.5 2021 sprint and 26 2021 allstar. The sprint has more primary stability for sure, that bottom shape on the allstar does make it apt to roll when not moving. What I would say is you will quickly adapt to the board and then find it very stable. It took me a few paddles and now I trust it even in rough or choppy water conditions. I was paddling a 2019 23.5 allstar before this and I find the new wider board, much more stable, just as fast and much more responsive. Btw your going to love catching bumps and boot wakes on it!
Hey Armenian. Thanks for the feedback and content request. I will add it to the list for sure. 'Getting the most balance out of your race board'.. or something like that.
I also agree with Chris. Your legs will adapt, just try and relax and not fight the board but understand how it will feel in certain chop. I know it's easier said then done lol. Thanks Reuben
I have had a 2020 Sprint 20.75 for a year and got the 2021 19.5 two weeks ago and I have to disagree on the speed difference. I have personally seen .2 mph increase in speed and I think that once I get used to this new board it will be even greater difference. I can also say that they are right in that the 2021 has less initial stability but it has much more secondary. This greater secondary stability has saved me more times than I can count and it gives my 50 year old reflexes time to react. My full review of both the 2020 and 2021 are on standupzone.
Hey Aaron, thanks for adding this comment. Really good to hear your feedback on speed. It should be faster, and glad you are finding it faster too. All your experience of having the 2020 board would really help give you have a better feel of the 2 boards. Thanks for sharing you full review we will encourage other to have a read for sure. Happy paddling Reuben
Great review !!! We love that !! What about the difference between Carbon Sandwich et Wood Carbon construction in term of speed/agreement/feeling please ?
Hey Murmure. Good question! We need to get on both the same boards to give you a 100% answer, but at a pretty good guess, I would say the response of the wood will feel slower. As you put a hard paddle stroke in. It would have a very slight delay of transfer of power into the board compared to the carbon sandwich board. Meaning the pick up in speed will be less. Also when doing step back turns you will feel the CS stiffer and more responsive when walking around the board.
The questions is, how much will the paddler really feel? I think a top racer will easy pick up the difference but a racer who is focusing on their stroke more will not so much.
Sorry I cant give you any hard facts at mo. I hope that helped a bit ? thanks Reuben
@@SUPboardermag Thanx Reuben! 👍
Soo many reviews and info on the 2021 sprint, would love to hear more about the all star. Many people say they feel more stable in sprint than all star yet all star is designed to offer more stability in more open conditions?
We hear you. Yeah last year we looked at the All Star and we used it in our SUPboarder pro race test too. And it was a very quick board off the mark but it wasn't as stable as previous years.
Looking at this years I feel it will be slightly more stable than the 2020 because they have lowered the standing area, but because of the round bottom you still won't have that stability like sprint has.
I will try and get a go on one and say more.
Thanks Reuben
Great review... As someone who purchased a Starboard model (Generation) in 2020, I'm curious about your thoughts on the overall finish & quality control on the 2021 board? I'd love to upgrade my current race board with a Sprint, but found the quality control on my Generation pretty poor for a board at that price point. My board was pre-ordered & upon arrival immediately noticed it has been stamped on both sides, and on the bottom as a Waterline model!!! It leaves a pretty bad taste in your mouth after waiting over six months for a pre-ordered board.
I have a 2021 allstar carbon sandwich ans 2021 sprint wood carbon both of which I pre ordered and pulled out of the box. Both are flawless. I would have returned either board if damaged or mislabeled etc. Ive been on Allstars for 6yrs from different yrs the new models are the best finished yet. Well seenif their as durable
I hear you. Thats not a nice feeling at all.
Im glad Chris jumped in here as he has also been using the new boards for a while. When we review the board the toughness of the boards is always hard to measure, without taking a hammer to the boards. Which i would love to do 😀.
We are going to be asking brands for samples of boards (cross sections) so we can see lay ups. This should help.
The boards on review were all good and there was nothing that needed to be mentioned.
Did you get your boards all sorted??
Thanks Reuben
@@SUPboardermag thanks for the feedback, it has helped restore my faith in Starboard somewhat. I've reached out to Starboard a few times to let them know that there are boards like mine leaving the factory, since taking delivery of the board in August 2020... So far no acknowledgement or reply from them. Other than the incorrect 'Waterline' logos side & bottom, the board appears absolutely perfect. With that in mind, as well as the fact that I waited over six months for this pre-ordered board I made the decision to keep it as is. Given how committed Starboard seems to quality & attention to detail, I just can't believe the factory signed it off as quality checked - quality checked sticker on board plus signed off on the original factory box - and then sent it out as a full price board. It's very rare for the narrower full carbon race boards to be held in stock here in Australia, so I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that if I pre-order a Sprint it won't arrive here with 'Allstar' signage on the side of it - haha...
I think your board will be worth more money :-) with wrong badges. No thats not great really but glad the board is all good.
Question did you try and contact your Australian distributor or was it Starboard International?
Waiting for new boards is never nice, I have just received our new Starboard Longboard 9x26. But I know it will be worth the wait! Reuben
Praising secondary stability is not helping anyone. It‘s on boards with a decent amount of primary stability where you won‘t miss secondary stability. The average Joe will fall for Starboards Marketing praisals but to behonest boards are not getting noticably faster by slicing off an inch. Especially not when cruising at 9kph. There is 0 difference.
Thanks for your comment. I personally believe highlighting secondary stability is a very important point because it shows people how these boards may be tippy and very narrow but also have the ability to be paddled by the average Joe.
When it comes to board widths and top speeds there are many good paddlers out there that are trying to find the best balance between board width and comfort. In this video we just wanted to highlight this and the Pros and cons.
But as always, all feedback welcome, we are always trying to improve our videos for the future. Thanks Reuben
@@SUPboardermag I'd agree with you Reuben, secondary stability DOES make a difference to the average Joe. When I got my first Starboard Sprint I was used to less stable race boards and I noticed the difference immediately. I'm not going to win any world championships, but it improved MY performance and enjoyment of paddling it. Cheers, Andrew
Thanks for your board feedback Andrew.