I think the board is the same as the 8' 10" widepoint, just marketed under a different label.

I have inspected one of these, it seems very lightweight.
I really don't understand why no rear strap(s)?

After riding you will understand, as the board is quite big you need to shift your foot around to dig the rail to try and get them to turn, the same for gybing, still fun on a quiet day tho

stehsegler said...
What's the volume?

I think it is around 145l

windanza said...
9'5" wide point at south west rocks yesterday. The wind just slumped but the grey slug ploughed on

Good to see your getting some sailing in..

Well the whole board is a compromise, it has a flat tail without any significant rocker which should make it plane nicely but why not a back foot strap then?
It's my understanding that it's not safe to sail around with only the front foot in.
And why the thruster fins with an A box if it has a planing tail?
If it's for surfing then why not some tail rocker?
At least the Exocet windsup has a powerbox and the step tail can sort of simulate tail rocker.
If this board is for light wind then one will be using big sails which would obviously work better with a big fin which won't work with the A box.
Am I wrong here

I had that board for a while. I rode it in Byron Bay powered up with 5.4 NE ( could have been on a 90ltr wave board). It would plan for a bit then rock over and plough down again. I was bobbing forward and back going the plan and straight off again.
So don't expect it to plan like a sailboard it doesn't. That made the footstraps of very little use. They do make it easy to carry the board and rig down to the water however. If you have ever tried that on other SUP's it very difficult.
Wave. The wind was very onshore but I was constantly wanting more speed to get to the wave. Once on the wave it was nice but nothing like a sailboard. The conditions was less than ideal but it worked.
They are okay with sails but it's like taking a trial bike to an enduro.

Hi All and thanks for all the comments and photos.

I think in terms of the board design I'm hoping that its a windsurfer that you can sup rather than vice versa, not a light wind waveboard that you'd rig big and try to plane - more a platform to get out to the waves and have fun with a 4-5m sail and an uphaul rope - so it needs to be more wave riding oriented than planing.

I've been using a tabou sup to sail with and its ok but you really need front footstraps for getting out over the whitewater and for gripping the board if you're pumping onto a wave.

I read somewhere that Scotty had a hand in the design and there were some movies of him sailing it in waves, it got a good writeup from planchemag:

http://www.star-board.com/wp/?p=1842


Still waiting to see if the distributor can get hold of one for me!!

I own the 9'1 pro (2010). I reckon the footstraps were a great addition, but I stopped putting the back one in unless the wave was overhead (and recently only the waveriding side). The boards will plane up when powered up, but the straps are placed for wave riding, with the focus on turning and not for planing around. The comments above about using a proper sailboard in planing winds are valid, however there is a a crazy good feeling bearing off wind on your board massively out of control that the sup offers in 20ktsplus. I found that putting a sailboard fin in the box improved its sailing performance (even on the wave), but hampered it's surfing performance with the paddle (so be prepared to swap). I considered the 8'10 wp but chose the 9'1 because of its improved surfing performance. After all I will be surfing it more that I sailsurf it. That said in sub planing conditions I have taken this board out in much bigger than I thought possible and it rips. Good luck with buying a board, I reckon you'll love which ever one you choose. Will try and add some pics when I get the chance.

SUPsailing really is the ideal way to make something out of nothing!