Here's my new toy! I said I was going to do it and I did. Yep, I'm spoiled. But with age (I'm 52 but feel like 42!) comes a sense of urgency! Anyhow, seeing the big box at my front door Friday was super exciting. So, here are a few pics of the brand-new 2017 Starship. After taking it out of the box, I was thinking of putting it in the bedroom permanently but my wife reminded me that my hobby was overly invasive in time and space. I conceded... so the board is in the living room. Ha!

First impression: the board came directly from a warehouse near LA via UPS Ground. The packing material is on the light side. Besides the ends, the deck and hull are fairly exposed but luckily no damage : corrugated box + one layer of cardboard strip around the rails + good cardboard nose protection + one layer of bubble wrap over a plastic film., that's it.

Shape: The board has such a slender, elegant and "effortless" shape outline compared to modern wider/thinner concepts. With 62 cm in width, there's not a lot of room on the deck but the oversized foam pads clearly will add comfort during transitions. I fell in love with the bamboo deck. It brings a timeless look and feels classy. The hull has a noticeable V at the tail, transitioning to double concave, and ends flat at the nose. The rocker at the tail is noticeable (~1.5 to 2cm) and should allow for good carving ability, while the nose rocker is moderate and more freeride-like. The Starship looks super-fast and agile compared to my Starboard 124 L AtomIQ, but the comparison is objectively not relevant since the 2 boards are meant to do different things. I have to say that the IQ on a 8.5 or 7.5 is just super-fast, though. The manufacturing and finish of the Naish is flawless. The board comes with a MFC 32cm and 4 straps with a choice of dual of single strap config at the tail. I bought this board to sail in +18 knots, in chop and swell, so I decided to give the central strap a go for maneuverability while keeping the front straps on the rails since I'm now used to this on the IQ. I noticed a few pros mixing the strap configuration for reasons that speaks to me... we'll see on the water. Finally, the 100 L Starship has recommended sail range starting at 4.5 to 7.0 i think. i plan to power the Naish with my Ezzy Cheetah 6.5 for more straight line speed, and a couple of 2016 new Sailworks Revo 5.7 and 5.0 for higher wind and wave conditions.

What else? Price: with a friendly discount, the 2017 Naish cost me almost $1,000 less than my 2016 AtomIQ (which also came down in price this year). So I made sure to tell my wife that the shopping spree isn't as bad as last year's. I have a feeling that she isn't buying my arguments and her sense of spending equality is rising rapidly. I can see how this is going to end up...

What's next? Hit the gym to get back in shape while waiting for the lake to warm up a bit!
Cheers!

Wow, nice! I have been looking at ~100 liter boards for about a year... a speedy flatwater board for days when the Carve 135 feels huge and the Evo 92 won't quite jump onto a plane (because of its rocker). The StarShip has been right up there on the list and the 2017 with the bamboo deck really looks sweet.

And I hear you on the 'sense of urgency'... every year (I'm 53) you realize even more how short life is.

On my list (besides the Naish) is the Kode 103, the Tetra 99, and the Simmer Helix.

Sounds like you got an excellent deal... Who did you buy from?

Drew

Awesome looks and classic gunny shape! Working out is a good idea, especially the core muscles, upper body, stomach and tights are also important. Now the front foot straps positions are not so good idea, but Ill let you experience it for yourself. Not sure about the 6.5 sail of yours-it's not the right shape for the Starship and will be probably too big /in the beginning at least/ . I honestly would like to see you with a nice 2 boards/4 sails combo consisting of 8.5 and 7.0 for the Atomiq and the 5.7 and 5.0 for the Starship. Youll be covered completely from 15 to 35 mph flat water and b&j conditions without unnecessary overlapping.
You may miss the "sponge" pads of the Starboards a little.

Drew:
I prefer to buy "local" whenever possible - even if I have to pay a little more. This time however, the deal at Big Winds was too hard to pass. They were friendly, knowledgeable, accommodating and fast. * * * * * Great experience.

I was thinking also of a thruster config for my new ~100 L. The board you are looking at are more modern shapes with a bit more width, less length, a fuller nose and a narrower pintail. They definitely look more freewave than the Starship. This reminds me my old 1980's custom that at 9'6" was super nimble for a board that size.

The Simmer sails are quite inserting too - the 5-batten Icon X in particular.

Ady wrote:
I like your idea. Maybe in 2018!

Gregory wrote:
Yeah, local is preferred but pretty difficult anymore. I've bought gear from WI, OR, CA, FL and Maui over the last 10 years... none are truly "local"

The Simmer Helix that I mentioned is a board, their "freeride/wave" model. Not much online info on it yet but it looks interesting.

I have owned a few Simmer sails in the past, but I'm a HOT SuperFreaker now. I don't expect to ever buy anything else

Drew

I sailed this NASH 100 ltr board in the Gorge 2 summers ago and it was so much fun with a 6.0 or 6.5. Really solid in chop and small waves. its just a little heaver then some others but turns really great and doesn't want to bounce in the turn when ripping. I loved this board the week I was there and had to sail in a little lighter conditions at the Hatchery. Im 195 lbs and loved it.
Mike Brennan

Hey Mike, thanks for sharing your experience with the board. I weigh the same as you and it looks like I won't be disappointed since what you describe are the exact reasons why I went for that board.

Gregory wrote:

Protip: when the board is in the bed with ya, have it on the outside of the covers while you fall asleep with your arm around it. Then it won't look weird.

LOL. I'll try this tonight and will report back!

Gregory wrote:

One thing you can do to get it off the floor and out of the way is get a board wall mount. Now it's an art / conversation piece when not in use.

Wanted to follow-up with the Starship foot straps issue and share the solutions I am implementing.

First, I initially installed the straps wrong for the conditions and my type of sailing. Combining outboard front and centered back straps was NOT a good idea for me. This has led to a couple of sprained MCL. Both times I injured my left knee because my foot couldn’t release during a crash (In the front strap both times). Why? There are multiple factors:
- Somewhat more challenging conditions than usual: 25 knots with gusts above 30 knots in heavy, short and deep chop (at least for me!).
- Both times I was riding with the 32cm stock fin that was way-too big for the conditions (too much lift, board rolling on its rails resulting in lots of directional instability).
- During gusts, I couldn’t apply back foot pressure on the fin as much as I wanted due to my overly twisted stance on the board.
- Finally, my back foot unexpectedly escaping-out of the back strap has been a recipe for disaster: Loss of control, crash forward and foot stuck in the front strap for an instant too long = over-rotation of the knee.

Anyhow, I got plenty of time to think of what went wrong and concluded I either make the board a living room piece of conversation forever, or change a few things. I’m opting for option 2:
1 - Commit to centered or outboard straps setup on both front and back (For now I decided centered. But, why did it took me 2 sessions to adjust that?...)
2 - Sail with a smaller 28cm wave fin (or smaller?) in high wind, especially when excessively gusty and choppy conditions.
3 - Install the Naish footstraps slightly more opened (spread out by one additional screw hole). Why? Comparing to my other boards with which I have no foot release issues, the Naish straps are much thicker resulting in a narrower foot opening by almost 2cm, making it really too tight and hard to release the foot. (Or I just go buy new straps…)

So again, I’m kinda doctoring the foot straps setup, and making space in the straps like my other boards. This should solve the foot release problem and make things safe again hopefully.