The long anticipated wait for Starboard’s 2024 new race SUP line up is finally over! We welcome back Starboard’s SUP Brand Manager Ollie O’Reilly to reveal the new and improved race board models – the beloved All Star and Sprint boards. The Tiki brand continues to thrive going into the 2024 season especially with these new boards under the dream team riders feet.
Hello Ollie, welcome back to TotalSUP! How stoked are you for Starboard to reveal its new 2024 SUP Race line?
Thanks! Yes we are all very excited to release the new Starboard Race range. During the ICF World Championships in Thailand last year, we gave a sneak preview of the new boards in action. The results speak for themselves, winning over 29 medals, 11 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze. This was a fantastic result for all the team that competed and used the boards for the first time. It was also very rewarding for the design team to see the boards perform and win, satisfying all the work and hours in development earlier that year. Now that we are ready to release all the details publicly, we are excited to give the full picture around the development, the gains in performance, and the subsequent changes made.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
What are some of the general ideas on the changes applied to each board model?
For the 2024 range, we focused on developing 2 models: the most winning, the All Star and the Sprint, being the fastest flat-water model. Before getting started, we asked all of the team riders a lot of questions to really understand what they wanted to achieve. This can sometimes be complex as we have the biggest team in the industry, with a mixture of genders, sizes, conditions, and riding styles. So the feedback was very good for us to “see the full picture” before we hone in on the design changes.
For both models, we focused on refining the much-proven and loved concepts, rather than creating a completely new concept. As we already had so many years of experience and innovation, we want to expand on tweaking the extra level needed to stay at the front of the pack.
The All Star is our most versatile board. Designed for all conditions, across a rider of skill levels and abilities. We knew we needed a board that felt like the same beast, but with an added gear in performance. We knew that all the riders attending the ICF World Champs would be trying this new model for the first time and needed to be comfortable with the changes made.
For the Sprint, we wanted to increase the overall use-ability and stability of the design, while retaining the efficiency and slicing speed. Here we looked at the outline change and volume distribution, as well as a new tail outline and tweaks to the release. These changes increased the comfort underfoot and overall smoothness of the hull design.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Amazing! Staying focused on the Allstar and Sprint have seemed to provide Starboard a lot of success! With that being said how did you find the 2023 race season went?
How many crew members have been involved in the development of the new 2024 All Star and the 2024 Sprint?
When we develop a new model, we always like to try and control the testing variables to ensure we get the best results. This year we started the briefs with myself and Trevor Tunnington. We sent a Google form to all riders and then made our plan of attack, looking at creating new boards, modifying current boards and always using a reference board to ensure we benchmark.
Both Trev and I are a similar weight / height and have been testing together for years, so we are quite tuned to feel the smallest of differences. Following our testing standards, we paddle 50 strokes on flat-water with the aim of trying to get a board length faster over 50 strokes. From the flats, we then advance to test in Pattaya in open ocean conditions, to see how the boards perform in choppy water.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Dan Arnon newly joined the team and helped gave us some additional insight while testing, as well as helping to ensure the development was on track and any changes were followed up. Tee (Jittakorn), who is one of most trusted and talented shapers, also helped test. Tee, being a lighter rider, is able to give us a lot of good feedback and suggestions for shape changes, as he knows the boards inside out.
In regards to riders, Daniel Hasulyo (e.d. now a SUNOVA rider) played a big part in approving the changes and giving us his highly skilled feedback, being about 10+kg lighter and at peak fitness. In addition, we brought Rai Taguchi over from Japan who further gave us feedback from the elite level.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Thank you for walking us through the testing process. That’s amazing! Can you go into some detail on the changes made for… the 2024 Starboard All Star?
For the All Star, we made a few key changes…
The first being the new rounded tail outline, which creates better hydrodynamic flow at the tail, for less wash and a faster gliding board. It also made it easier to do fast buoy turns, and was more forgiving to change direction when going downwind.
In addition, we added Vee behind the fin box, for easier turning in the surf and aiding a better release.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
The new open style cockpit design allowed us to reduce weight and give more room in the standing area, and by removing volume in front it is more comfortable to rest your chest for beach starts.
Behind the standing, we reduced the thickness and created a straight slope, giving more control in downwind as you can stand closer to the water, while further reducing weight.
The other big change was the reduction in vee in the bottom shape at the standing. This helped to increase the overall stability and useability of the board, giving more control in chop and more power in flat.
Lastly, we updated the full size range for the All Star range.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Those changes sound like the definition of innovation! What can you tell us about the changes made for the 2024 Starboard Sprint?
For the Sprint, it shares several learnings from the All Star, updating only the 21.5” and the 23.5” models.
We carried over the same new rounded tail outline, which helped reduce wash, make it easier to turn and generally created less drag. The added Vee behind the fin box helped for a smoother release, making it much harder for others to draft.
The big change for the Sprint was the change in outline at the standing area. We widened the overall outline and moved the widest point further forwards and extended the standing forwards. This means you have a wider stance in the mid point of the board, giving more stability and control. The width runs slightly in front of the standing, allowing a more predictable glide.
The nose is still super thin and slicing for that optimum efficiency and acceleration.
We also tweaked the rocker slightly on both the models to maximize the glide and be a bit more forgiving in small chop.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Anything else you’d like to add about the new 2024 Starboard race board line?
Every Starboard composite board comes with a blue sock cover, which is a fantastic option to keep the sun off the board and keep it clean.
Our Carbon fin range is a true example of years of experience from Windsurfing and SUP. The ultra thin trailing edge gives the fastest release, as well as being so lightweight that they float.
Overall, as always, the Starboard Race Offering is testament to hours of R&D, testing and refinements. Working with the best riders, getting feedback from all over the world, and seeing the results speak for themselves. The new 2024 range will not disappoint, stepping up the performance again for everyone to enjoy.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Before we let you go Ollie, can you provide us with some details about Starboards Mangrove tree program that continues to thrive in 2024?
For every board sold, Starboard plants 3 mangrove trees with Worldview International Foundation. Each Mighty Mangrove sinks down 673kg of VCS certified CO2 during its first 25 years.
Together, our 3 mangroves offset the boards Carbon Emissions 10 X over and fund local livelihoods projects in Myanmar.
The All Star Blue Carbon has an average carbon footprint of 159.12 kgCO2e per board
The Sprint has an average carbon footprint of 168.47 kgCO2e per board.
Buy a board and we pick up 1.4 kg of beach/ ocean plastic trash – equivalent to the amount of plastic trash entering the ocean, per person, per year. Starboard balances this amount for our customers.
The All Star Blue Carbon has an average plastic content of 12.62 kg per board
The Sprint has an average plastic content of 11.28 kg per board.
Photo: Georgia Schofield
Thank you so much Ollie for your time and for sharing with us this stellar new SUP race board lineup for 2024! We look forward to seeing paddlers from all over the world continue to win on these astounding boards!
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