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AMERICAN WINDSURFER MAGAZINE
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STARBOARD STARFISH
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STARFISH
Length: 241 cm Width: 60cm
Volume: 90 ltrs Weight: 15.5/7kg
Upwind: 3.07 Planing: 4.07
Speed: 3.21 Handling: 4.43
Jibe: 4.57 Overall: 3.87
Price: $1,445
Includes: Straps, Pads, Fin
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Most wave boards are designed for the perfect wave, but this one is made for mush. In other words, reality, says Rasmussen. “I’ve travelled the world, and 90 percent of the waves are crappy. This board is designed to perform in junky surf. So I would say it has a larger market than any wave board I know.”
Rasmussen had coaxed Jim Drake back into sailboard design to help with the Go and Formula, and then got more input with the Starfish; Rasmussen built the first prototype, and Drake re-shaped it. For research they went to surf shops and queried surfers around Santa Barbara for ideas. They were told that short and wide is the new wave, to get planing with less paddling and maintain speed through quick turns in the less-than-perfect local waves. Thruster fins and split tails are classic, so the Starfish has it all. Plus channels. We’re inclined to call it a wave/freestyle hybrid.
It’s a mere 242 cm long (8 feet), but 60 cm wide (23.6 inches) while wielding 90 liters. The vee is average, but there’s a lot of rocker and the rails are highly tucked. The idea is for the big volume and width to get you planing, the wide tail to keep you from sinking in jibes, the heavy rocker and tuck to turn you. So there’s no stalling in troughs, which makes an otherwise slow design actually quicker in the waves. With handling similar to a freestyle board, the Starfish tries to get you in the right spots at the right time. And its stubbiness makes it easier to loop.
Even though it’s intended to be a good entry-level wave board, it was a tough board to test, at least as we do with guest testers, because it seems to be a board that you have to learn how to sail—you have to understand it to draw out the performance. Still, testers used the word “fun” to describe the Starfish more times than with any other board, by a close margin over the RRD TwinTip freestyle. But if you count extra for all capital letters or underlining or exclamation points, the Starfish sails far away from the fun-fun-fun field. As one tester commented, “In a word: GREAT FUN!”
The big curiousity was upwind capability. It scored all over the chart: in 14 ratings, it got two 5’s and six 2’s. The sailors who gave it 5’s apparently got the technique, so Rasmussen isn’t lying when he says, “If you sail it correctly, you will point it very high.”
You also won’t spin it out, at least not now, he says. In the comments below you’ll see our testers did some tuning to correct that problem. Since the test, Rasmussen realized that the finbox was too far rearward for the deep 6 cm vee of the split tail, and if the fin weren’t placed forward—3 cm forward of center, to be exact—cavitation would occur, causing spinout. So the finbox on production models will be farther forward than it was on our test board.
SCORES: (14 ratings)
Upwind 3.07 Planing 4.07 Speed3.21 Handling 4.43 Jibe 4.57 Overall 3.87
COMMENTS: (and boy, were there a ton of them)
“Fun, but rides differently. Very forgiving. I like the thrusters.” [Russell]
“The maneuverability of this board is unreal,’’ said a non-Starboard dealer. “But it seemed underfinned with a 5.7, until I moved the center fin back. Then the balance problems went away.” [DeSilva]
“It was awful, spun out and everyone hated it, until we moved that fin back a couple of inches,” said another dealer, who added that it was Josh Stone who pointed out that the center fin didn’t appear to be in balanced triangulation with the thrusters. The dealer then sailed it successfully with a 6.0. “Shows how critical minor adjustments can be,’’ he added (although our women sailors might not agree that a couple of inches is a minor difference). Our testers moved the fin back to prevent spinout, Starboard has moved the finbox forward to prevent spinout. Go figure. [R Johnson]
“Seemed sluggish, but I was underpowered. Huge margin for error in the waves.” [Quarles]
“Fun. It may be faster with the thruster fins removed.” [Alford]
“I had to be talked into sailing it, because it seemed meant for a larger sailor,” said one woman. “But on the water, I soon discovered why everyone wants to sail it. It jibes like cruising on butter, even in the chop. The only drawback was it was too heavy to jump, with my lack of muscle to lift it. The fun factor is off the charts. Everyone can be a wave rider with this board.”
It wasn’t that heavy, so maybe the width and blunt nose just made it seem so. We weighed the board at 15.4 pounds, while Starboard’s specs say 15 even. Rasmussen said that all our test boards were slightly overweight, because they were pre-production and the construction process hadn’t been fine-tuned yet. [Butzen]
“This board does not look like it should work, but it was SO FUN to ride. Super quick to plane, fun to jump. Could be an excellent beginner shortboard, one they would keep because it’s so much fun.” [Taylor]
“Very user friendly. A great beginner to intermediate shortboard. Does not turn well in short radius turns, but phenomenal in the larger radius turns. You can’t mess up.” [Hughes]
“Planes through jibes more readily than any other. But requires constant foot pressure to keep it from heading upwind. This weather helm doesn’t go away. Easy to spin out, even marginally overpowered.” This comment came after the fin was moved back and the spinout problem appeared solved, although it’s possible someone moved the fin forward again. [Stone]
“Love the Fish. Fun Fun Fun!!” This tester is a major mutual fund manager in the real world. Aren’t they supposed to be dry and understated? He continues. “Made me feel like Josh Stone in the waves. Planes in no wind, and very stable in chop. A no-wind wonder, a great first wave board. The only negatives were it felt heavy in jumps and was a bit too loose—spins out a bit too early.”
[M. Stumpp]
STAFF:
Upwind 4.0, Planing 5.0, Speed 3.5, Handling 4.0, Jibe 5.0, Overall 4.3
“Lives up to all its claims. Jibes like a dream, but due to its length, is quite tricky to tack. And flat water is a big no-no,” said Mark Archer. Funny, he didn’t say anything about it being a no-no to snap a test board in half on landing after a loop.
Stein Erik Gabrielsen, our staff instructor, couldn’t stop raving about the Starfish. He seemed to have figured out how to use it better than anyone else. He was the only sailor who gave it a 5 in Speed (Mark gave it a 2, so go figure), putting that category in the context of waves, which he used to propel the board. “With a Simmer 4.2, it blew away everyone else on the water,” he said on a wavy day.” The big surprise for me was straight-line speed, passing everyone. Big jumps off the backs of small waves, and landing down the face of the next. Definitely the best new concept in boards this year!”
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