Starboard KODE 86, Windsurfing USA, April 2009
• WHAT WE LIKED: The red rocket was a favorite of many testers. Plenty of float and planing power without sacrificing much else–one tester noted it "looks big. but sails small." Starboard’s "thin is in" theme from last year carried over–a good thing.
· BUYER BEWARE: One tester found the lack of nose rocker made him nervous: others felt they needed a little bit of time to dial in its jibes.
· BETTER THAN THE FLEET AT: Doing everything well. from free sailing to wave–riding.
· BEST SUITS: Intermediate to advanced riders looking for a safe bet for high winds that they won’t outgrow.
· OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: Ideal mast–track position pre–marked on the board.
WOW..talk about a giant leap forward in board design..... know we know how they will perform in the future..well at least in April of 2009 
Two weeks ago I got my new Kode 86 carbon wood version. What can I say? Out of the box the board looks great, it is light weight and feels very stiff.
I got it all set up with some recommendation from Kevin Pritchard and from Jasper Orth and seems everyone is using it with a wide stace on the footstraps. I have it on the front straps in the middle holes and in the back with a single footstrap in the back holes.
Mast track in the recommended and off to the water. I used it the first day with a 6.2 MauiSail Global 2008 skinny mast 75% carbon and the factory 25cm fin.
It was sort of windy I will say about 18-20 knots and water was choppy and waves about 5-7 feet in the Reef. Side shore winds.
The first thing I notice was the availity to go upwind at planning speed eating chop like nothing was going on. Very race feeling stiff and very fast. Super lose in jibes and tacks. Very surprise.
Once I reach the waves the board handle the open faces like a true wave board. It jumped with control and always felt very good on landings. But riding waves was a real treat, fast but easy to control and when needed to slow down it did very good. Fin felt a bit big I think a 23 or 22 cm fin will be better for waves, but then I needed to go upwind to keep up with the wave area the 25cm fin did its job.
Next time I go out will be with a crossover sail Possibly a 2009 Switch 6.0 and I will be putting two straps in the back and moving straps to start all the way back. Fin will be a vector fin custom waveslalom 26 or a 28cm and i will report when done.
