|
STARBOARD DIVA 69
|
|
|
DIVA 69
Length: 244 cm Width: 52 cm
Volume: 69 ltrs Weight: 14.5/6.6kg
Upwind: 3.50 Planing: 4.25
Speed: 4.00 Handling: 4.00
Jibe: 4.13 Overall: 3.98
Price: $1,281
Includes: Straps, Pads, Fin
|
Expert ladies, this board’s for you. It’s pink. It’s got big flowers on it. It’s a virtual carbon copy of the Wave 72, same 249 cm long but a whisker narrower, and 3 liters less volume because it’s thinner, especially in the rails. Jennifer Henderson dictated the shape, and a week after our test she won the Aloha Classic wave contest at Ho’okipa on it. So it must be good.
But as Rasmussen acknowledged during our test, that doesn’t mean it works best for most women. Give Starboard an E for sincere effort in attempting to fill a need, but our two best women sailors preferred the Wave 72 (they also slightly preferred the RRD 248 MPE over the Wave 72). For starters, it was one pound lighter, at 13.5 pounds versus 14.5 for the Diva. “We should have made the Diva lighter,” said Rasmussen, “and next year we will. But we wanted to get started.” Next time, it also might not be pink. “I don’t like it, but that’s what Jennifer wanted,” he said.
Apparently, no guys wanted to be seen on a pink board with flowers, and none of the smaller guys felt the need to challenge themselves with 69 liters, so only women tested it. (Except Andy Gurtner, who, as a staff tester, was only being dutiful. Of course, he also wore flowered shorts.) Nancy Johnson found the footstraps too big, Jackie Butzen found them too stiff and narrow, and Hedy Gurtner found them light and comfortable but noted that the exposed screws could hurt your toes. Except the screws aren’t exposed. Women! Just can’t make them happy.
Neither Nancy nor Jackie, both dealers, were crazy about the 20 cm fin. Nancy said it made the tail loose, and Jackie found it loose to the point of “releasing with the slightest provocation.”
Here, we’d like to interject a quote taken from a recent email we received from Bruce Peterson, Sailworks’ owner/designer. It was in reply to a general question about fin performance. “Too often I see riders blaming their fin for a spin-out problem when in fact it is a rig problem,” he wrote. “The list of rig imbalances is long: downhaul settings, outhaul settings, boom height, harness line position, mast step position, footstrap tension, mast compatibility.”
With that in mind, consider the following, as it may apply to their opinion of the fin. Jackie also found the Diva less comfortable to jibe than the Wave 72, which might have been due to the stance. On the Diva, the rear strap is just 1 cm closer to the tail, but the front straps are pulled back by 5 cm to narrow the stance. However the mast track is in the same position, so the balance points of the two boards are quite different. Jennifer must like to ride back there. Theoretically, curiously, women will need to rake the mast farther back on the Diva. It’s as if it’s built more for speed than waves, regardless of what Jennifer can do at Ho’okipa.
Rasmussen sighs, recognizing the problem—which is by no means gender specific. He’s got the same problem with the Wave 72, designed around Scott McKercher’s style and tastes. But with the Diva, it’s trickier.
You’re a guy. You may be clueless about what women want, but at least you’re trying. So you ask one. She tells you what she wants. And that’s all you end up knowing—what she wants.
When you build a signature board or sail, you usually build it to suit the style of your chosen expert (unless you’re clever, and simply buy their name; see the winning Bic Saxo 270 Robert Teritehau). In many cases, people buy the model simply to identify with the star’s name. But with the Diva, the purposes are mixed and crossed. A board for women needs to be a serious, technical, nuts-and-bolts endeavor. And it has to start with a definition of “women” sailors. Good luck, Svein.
SCORES: (4 ratings)
Upwind 3.5 Planing 4.25 Speed 4.0 Handling 4.0 Jibe 4.13 Overall 3.98
STAFF:
Upwind 2.5, Planing 3.5, Speed 3.5, Handling 4.0
Jibe 4.5, Overall 3.6
[Mark notes: nonskid good, pads good, fins good, straps good adjustability, but they twist.]
My note: The straps twisted because the screws weren’t kept tight. Svein took me over to one board and showed how loose the screws were. My Carve 99 straps do not twist in these strap-twisting conditions in Baja.
I don’t know why I’m even bothering including Mark’s notes. Maybe in the hope that when I get to sails, there will be some usable info—meaning something specific. If not, we have no
evaluation of ruggedness and ease of rigging.
|
