Starboard or fanatic?

[mcross19]

It all depends on what boards you are talking about. I'm sure Fanatic do some nice boards but the ones I have tried were heavy and boring to sail whereas all the starboards I have owned felt alive and planed real early (wood versions). Have just got myself a JP All Ride so it will be interesting to see how that performs.

I think the Fanatic production boards had their time at the top in the 90's but there are other manufacturers making better boards now. Just my two penneth worth.

I dont think you can call it ! All manufacturers at some stage in their history seem capable of making an exceptional board. Over years lots have done so.
Years ago I was staggered when I first tried a BIC Astro Rock;the Mistral Screamer (first edition);the F2 Sunset Slalom then later when I tried a Starboard Carve( and the Evo).
Manufacturers build their reputations on these iconic boards but rarely seem to be able to recreate that feeling/success of every new board.What annoys me a little with SB is that they claim every new board they make to be THE ONE. .
.
The hullabula with the S type (a disappointment ) The Kode (not as good as made out to be) The Futura (Well sort of OK but its not a Carve is it?) All decent boards but ... you know what I mean

But IMHO Fanatic managed it. The Hawk was for me just amazing.Perfect.

So it ebbs and flows between manufacturers.And that can only be good for us all.

Whose turn is it next ???

The next revelation;the next step forward ??? But its an individual choice . My mate doesnt like my Hawk !!!! Couldnt believe it !!!

F2 ? Mistral ? Fanatic? Starboard ?? Who knows?

Suspect they are all built by Cobra anyhow ??!!!

[Farlo]

Hi Sergio, you make a good point. Fanatic has quite a long history and they've tried many things already, including cutaways. Their approach today seems to be more in the combination of new materials than in drastic changes of shape. For instance their recessed deck is only one centimeter compared to Starboard's three or four. I'm curious too see how far this trend will go (reminds me of the no-nose in the 90's, although it may last longer).

Fanatic have a long history of producing the best boards. Its tried and true

Originally Posted by Farlo

Hi Sergio, you make a good point. Fanatic has quite a long history and they've tried many things already, including cutaways. Their approach today seems to be more in the combination of new materials than in drastic changes of shape. For instance their recessed deck is only one centimeter compared to Starboard's three or four. I'm curious too see how far this trend will go (reminds me of the no-nose in the 90's, although it may last longer).

Hey Farlo, (strange- tried to post response 2 time here and failed, will give it another try...)
On history thing, you can't go too far with any company since shapers move from brand to brand and take
their ideas along, but in last 10 years Fanatic design was always good but conservative, while
Star-Board innovates, comes up with something radical regularly... But it's all about personal
preference in board selection, and I know people that love their Fanatics, JP and Star-Boards, etc...,
it's all good! For me personally, after detour for few years on production side, with favorites (Isonic,Code),
I'm firmly back to customs, you can check a review of my latest toy on steve bodner blog

[Farlo]

Sometimes the whole post disappears while trying to edit. It happened a couple of times on this one.
You could expect that after ten years of radical innovations Starboard is way ahead, but apparently it's not the case and Fanatic still has addicts. Distribution plays a role too. In my shop they prefer to sell Fanatic now and you see many Falcon on the spot while a few years ago there were mostly iSonic. Admittedly people are not going much faster but they will tell you that Fanatic is better... until they switch back maybe?

I`m pretty sure sailors assess boards not always on their merits but on conditions they use them in.
How many of us have raved about some board whilst hiring on holiday to be that slight bit disappointed when on same board back home;probaly in choppy and cold water !

I know its off topic but I`ve always though Starboard would have done much better had they adopted power box for mid range boards.(Carves/Futuras etc) I dont want to start argument over PB versus Tuttle. We all know Tuttle is stronger but PB is more than adequate for most boards and sailors already had quiver of fins . I suspect ites why Fanatic have done so well with their mid range/slalom and even larger wave boards.

A mate of mine is a civil engineer and has been respnsible for some quite large bridge projects throughout world. His mantra

"Any fool can build a bridge but it takes a good engineer to only just build a bridge"

[BelSkorpio]

Completely off-topic, sorry about this, but I know that mantra a little bit different.

We have 2 levels of engineer diploma's in our country.
The highest level is "civil engineer" (guys with an enormous theoretical background)
The lower level is "industrial engineer" (guys which are more practically oriented)

"An industrial engineer builds a bridge and it is completely satisfying all needs and loads, although he cannot really explain why."
"A civil engineer builds a bridge and it collapses, but he can exactly explain from a mathematical & theoretical point of view why it happened."

[Floyd]

Nice one !

JPs the best hands down!!!!!!!!!