Hi guys, I need some help to decide which board is better to me for flatwater at 95Kgs. Looking Starboard site the volume and rider weight range is OK. The Allstar is wider however the shape seems be better for flatwater than Ace. But I always heard the slimmer board will be faster. Someone with experience with these two boards would give me some help? I want the faster board for flatwater. Thanks!
I'd be choosing the 27" wide Allstar.. and I'm your weight.. IMO the Ace is more at home in the bumps.
The Ace is a love-it-or-hate-it board, so if you are thinking about getting one then you should definitely try one first.
Have you thought about the Ace GT? I just picked up a 2015 model and instantly took 55 seconds off my PB over 5kms… It's a downwind board but flies on the flat stuff as well.
You're right on the edge of suitability for a 25" Ace whereas the 27" All Star will be a breeze. A couple of points to note - if money is a concern, you can get the All Star in the cheaper carbon hybrid construction as well as carbon sandwich, whereas the Ace only comes in carbon sandwich. If it's a 2016 model you are going to buy, with the Ace you may have the option of the new winglets to help with stability while you get used to the board. To say that the All Star is the better flat water shape is not necessarily the case. When it was first designed, the Ace was intended as a flat water board. A few of us started down winding them, thanks largely to Jonathan Cowcher's example here in Melbourne and we found they really worked better than expected. The All Star on the other hand was intended to be an all round race board, but mostly in ocean and surf conditions. However it does paddle in flat water very nicely. I find the perceptual difference between the boards, certainly in 2015 models and earlier, is that the Ace sprays a lot of water off the nose in flat water and has a very clean release at the tail whereas the All Star pierces at the nose and has a big wake at the tail. What that means is that the All Star "feels" faster in flat water and so it gives you a lot of encouragement to keep pushing. On the other hand, on the Ace, you "feel" like you're pushing the water so it's discouraging. However, if you look at your times over a time trial, I'll bet the Ace was actually faster.
But as Area10 quite rightly mentions above, the Ace is an acquired taste. Connor Baxter for instance, has never really fallen in love with the board and much prefers an All Star.
At about 30kg more pies than the OP I really liked the 27" All Star - surprisingly stable and tractable for a 27" wide board. And the less-expensive Hybrid Carbon construction is a very small weight difference for the cost differential (worth noting I found the 27" Allstar in hybrid carbon noticeably stiffer than the 28" Allstar in full carbon...ok different boards/different shapes but that's also a factor I liked). The new 27" Allstar for 2016 has a rounder nose than the 28" 2015 and IMO also a more forgiving ride in chop. Starby have got a lot of things right with that board this year.
Select to expand quoteHumanCartoon said..
At about 30kg more pies than the OP I really liked the 27" All Star - surprisingly stable and tractable for a 27" wide board. And the less-expensive Hybrid Carbon construction is a very small weight difference for the cost differential (worth noting I found the 27" Allstar in hybrid carbon noticeably stiffer than the 28" Allstar in full carbon...ok different boards/different shapes but that's also a factor I liked). The new 27" Allstar for 2016 has a rounder nose than the 28" 2015 and IMO also a more forgiving ride in chop. Starby have got a lot of things right with that board this year.
How do you find the stability of the 27" All Star compared with the Lahui Kai? Almost identical widths, but a big difference in listed volumes. Any noticeable difference in how the two boards float your weight? From everything I have read so far, the All Star Hybrid 27" definitely seems to be a qualifier for owning that "one" board with the least amount of compromises.
Select to expand quoterobon said..HumanCartoon said..
At about 30kg more pies than the OP I really liked the 27" All Star - surprisingly stable and tractable for a 27" wide board. And the less-expensive Hybrid Carbon construction is a very small weight difference for the cost differential (worth noting I found the 27" Allstar in hybrid carbon noticeably stiffer than the 28" Allstar in full carbon...ok different boards/different shapes but that's also a factor I liked). The new 27" Allstar for 2016 has a rounder nose than the 28" 2015 and IMO also a more forgiving ride in chop. Starby have got a lot of things right with that board this year.
How do you find the stability of the 27" All Star compared with the Lahui Kai? Almost identical widths, but a big difference in listed volumes. Any noticeable difference in how the two boards float your weight? From everything I have read so far, the All Star Hybrid 27" definitely seems to be a qualifier for owning that "one" board with the least amount of compromises.
I own the 27" LK (and a 29" DC/NSP). I'd say the Allstar is more forgiving than the LK in chop, due to the softer nose shape than the LK which tends to want to steer off the nose a bit with me on it. Other lighter LK owners I know don;t have that problem. Allstar a shade more stable, they both have similar primary stab but the Allstar's complex bottom shape gives it really great secondary stab. Also for me it was easier to get good trim and release on the tail on the Allstar which is where the extra volume comes into play. TBH I think I'm too fat for the LK, I'm sinking it too much to get a good clean tail release without burying the nose (which is NOT the board's fault 
).
Cool. Thanks for the info. The DC/NSP was high on my list not long ago too, but almost impossible to source in Canada. I found one at a shop in the states online but didn't pull the trigger quick enough and it sold. We'll see how the new distribution works with surftech and DC/NSP.
Thank you guys for answering and suggesting. I think the Allstar will be the choice because I tried an Ace GT 17'4x28 recently and the board flies in flat as Todzilla says however the feeling in flat water is exactly PTWoody said spraying a lot of water in the nose and I didn't like it a lot. If the Ace was definitely faster than Allstar it will be choice however it's not an unanimity. Thank you again!!
