2020 Starboard Sprint 14*20.75 review

 I have been paddling with stronger paddlers lately and have found that my present boards were holding me back from keeping up with the pack. My present boards are a self built paulownia wood hollow wooden board which is a slightly modified Clearwood VLZ 14*23 which is the first version which has a flat deck. My other board is a 2018 Infinity Whiplash 14*25 dugout. The VLZ is pretty fast and very durable but heavy at 39lbs and tippy due to the slight V in the front half of the bottom and very tucked in and rounded rails which limit the stability and have very little secondary stability.   The Infinity is incredibly stable but the top speed is limited by the width of the board.

I have been trying many boards lately but settled on the Starboard Sprint 14*20.75. The reasons for this are as follows:

Stability: This board is almost as stable as my Infinity primary stability but the secondary stability feels like i am hitting a wall when the board rolls past 15-20 degrees. I am always surprised with how stable this board is when I compare this to my VLZ.

Pitch: The board is very stable not only in rolling but front to back pitch stability. The board seems to just make small 6-9 inch waves disappear with barely moving the board up and down. Larger waves will have the front punching through and then after the first 2 feet of the board move past the wave the board will pitch just enough to keep the wave from filling the cockpit. Most waves split well before coming into the cockpit.

Flatwater Speed: My normal fast pace on the VLZ for a 10K with little wind was 10 min miles or averaging 6mph. On this board in the same conditions and heart rate I can do 6.5 mph average. I find that there is very little wave coming off the front and the board is mesmerising when you get into a rhythm. The glide is great and i find it does not lose speed between strokes like my other boards.

Upwinding: Because of the reduced pitching I find that this board is great when going into the wind and waves. I have had this going into 2-3 foot waves and 20-30kph winds and was still able to keep up a 3-4mph average.
Again pitching was at a minimum and I was easily able to apply power in adverse conditions.

Downwinding: Today I was in the most fun conditions to date with this board. The winds increased to 30-40kph for my return so I had 2-4 foot waves. This was my easiest downwind to date in these conditions. The board accelerates so fast I was catching every wave with ease. I did find that I had to move back more than my other boards to prevent a pearl but if I was not fast enough the board was well mannered and did not slow so much that it would throw me forward and did not steer side to side. The front would just go into the water and slow a little and then come back up and continue on. The only thing that I had to get used to was keeping more in the center of the board as the deck is not very wide between the raised sides as you move back. Overall I would rate this a 10 for downwinding even compared to my previous favorite which was my Whiplash. Linking bumps was effortless as I could easily power over any small bumps to get to the next set in front of me.
I have also had a Jimmy Lewis Rail and a few other boards in the past and have been out in conditions up to 4-5 foot waves and 40-50kph winds. I have done a lot of downwinders and have a lot of experience.

Sidewinds/sidechop: This is one area that the high sides can have an issue. If the winds are over 15kph and the front is about 25-30 degrees off the wind and waves then the front will have a tendency to wander very quickly downwind. It is a lot of work to keep this under control. If the wind is lower than this then there is almost no issue. Waves easily pass the front of the board and due to the narrow width I have very little roll so if you just have waves and little wind then this is not an issue.

Boat wake: I have many boats on my lake and have had anything from 2-6 foot wakes. Again due to the narrow width and great secondary stability I have not had any issues with this and have not fallen in yet and I am able to keep the speed up.

Pivot turns: I do sprints and pivots every week and have found that the board is very stable for its width. The only thing I had to get used to again was the narrowness of the deck between the raised rails. The deck design does actually work to keep water out of the cockpit. There is a lot of board in the front so you have to get way back to get the front out enough for a fast turn and I had to learn the feel of the pads so I would not step too far back or not go back enough. This is still a work in progress.

Sprints: This is still a displacement board but since it is way lighter than my VLZ I find that the acceleration is fantastic and the stability in less than Ideal conditions has keep me out of the water quite a few times and my overall top speeds are great.

Stiffness: This board feels as stiff as my wood board underfoot. The board feels solid. There is no shudder if I go up a wave and come back down into another one like some others. I have also performed the bounce test ,which has put some of my past boards into a spasm like an inflatable, does not have any effect on this board. Overall the stiffness and solid feeling of this board is only matched by my wood board. I know that if I would hit this board with my paddle I may penetrate the outer layer but this is a 25lb race board so there is only so much thickness and impact strength which should be expected.

Overall: This is a great board and I am not sure why SUPboarder had such an issue with the wider version. For a narrow race board it is very stable. If I tried to go from my 25 inch Infinity to this board it would not have been as easy a transition. I think what Larry Cain says about only going down a few inches at a time is the best but if you can also get on a very unstable board for a while and learn how to relax and be fast on that then anything becomes easy.