Starboard raceboards compared – All Star, Sprint and new Gen R / Which is best for you?
Compared by us on Oct 28, 2023
Category: Downwinding Race Equipment & Reviews Featured Level: Advanced Intermediate
Products we compared
Starboard Gen R 2024 / One SUP race board that does it all
RRP: £2399 , €2699 , $2899
You can turn up to any race and feel competitive with a Gen R. One Race board that does it all... and well!
Pros: Easy to use for its size, tried and tested shape from the world best racers, happy in most water states and loves the waves too, buying into Starboard and their brand values for our environment.
Cons: Hmm, same colour as other boards in range! No cons really...
Consider buying if... you're looking for a race board or fast fitness/cruising, board that will be happy in most conditions, from flat water, open sea and riding in surf. The Gen R is a board that will be competitive in all races and with all abilities paddling it.
Starboard Sprint 2023
RRP: £2199 , €2659 , $2899
Superb glide and straight line tracking. A board to really cover some distance with on flat water.
Pros: The Sprint has a mesmerising nose that cuts through water like a knife. The high rails still give the board a good amount of secondary stability. The round rails and tail shape allow the board to glide effortlessly.
Cons: For most paddlers the Sprint will have limitation in any choppier water bigger than shin high (1'). It's not as stable as the Gen R and All Star.
Consider buying if... you are wanting a board to paddle on flat water most of the time. Fitness, racing or long distance touring paddlers will love the effortless glide of the Sprint.
Starboard All Star 2023
RRP: £2199 , €2659 , $2899
It's fast and can handle anything you want to throw at it. Whatever the conditions, the All Star is ready and raring to go.
Pros: It's a fast board when it comes to sprinting but it's also very easy to use in really rough conditions, due to the high rails providing a good amount of stability. A very versatile board.
Cons: The high rails do catch the wind and they make climbing back on pretty tough.
Consider buying if... you are looking for a race board to paddle in any conditions, but with flat-water paddling being less of your thing.
What we say
After reviewing the new Starboard Gen R afew weeks ago, it was time to see what it was really like compared to the existing podium winning race boards from Starboard. The Gen R sits in between the flatwater Sprint and the all water All Star. Where will the crossover be? And what conditions do all these boards work best in? That’s what we will be diving into in this video, hopefully giving you a good understanding of which board could be right for you.
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I enjoyed your review about the composite Starboards, but i own the Sprint 14×25.5 and AllStar 14×28 inflatables and could say that pretty much all that Reuben had to say about the Sprint vs. AllStar also applies to mine. Is there anything that you want to add regarding the iSUP versions?
Thanks for your comment Miroslaw. You have a nice quiver of boards. Unfortunately I haven’t used any of the newer iSUP versions yet. I do look forward to getting on them though.
great comprehensive review as ever… these shorts always make my coffee break go too quickly
Glad to hear that Brendon!
Do you know how much speed difference there would be between Sprint and Allstar on flat water or time difference over 10km.
Very good question. Im going to ask Gavin (one of our race testers about this)
Hey Simon. I have been speaking to Gavin our endurance race expert and unfortunately we haven’t got any hard facts on how much faster it would be. Because we haven’t paddled the all-star for that length of time. So that doesn’t help you apart from to say it’s faster 🙂 I will keep digging around and see if anybody else has some hard data I could pass your way. Otherwise maybe some other paddle is out there will read this and might be able to comment their experiences also.