Starboard Wingboard Lite Tech

It’s telling that a sport is here to stay when an established brand like Starboard design their first truly wingfoiling specific board. The dimensions on the 6’7 are interesting, as it’s a comparatively long board for 115 liters and pitched as a positive buoyancy board for anyone up to 95 kilos. Its boxy rails spread the volume very evenly and squarely across the length. There’s quite a decent rocker in the front of the board to help prevent the friendly rounded nose diving on touch downs. Shape wise, the Wingboard definitely draws from the successful lineage of the Hyperfoil SUP foil range with deep twin channeling. The volume in the tail continues through the raised central section between the channels, and provides a step up pedestal for a pitch neutral foil track position. Footstrap inserts are present for both a parallel and ducked stance. The deck is an interesting design with a fairly deep inset concave and thin and comprehensive EVA pad providing a comfortable textured grip. The rear of the deck also has some scoops sculpted out of each side to drain water on take-off, so you are not holding extra weight on the deck, which is an issue a deep concave deck can suffer from. Two constructions are available with a high-end brushed blue carbon option being ported across from the SUP range. We tested the white Lite Tech build which is well priced, strong, and not horribly heavy.

In the water you immediately feel that the extra length and square outline is geared very much for stability. It spreads its volume well. This length, combined with the deep channeling, helps it track extremely well in a straight line on the surface, enabling you to build speed easily for take-off. The space age tail means it is all geared for as early a release as possible, and once you release the surface tension from the front it lifts in one clean motion. The foil box angle is now raised and flattened out rather than built into the natural tail rocker of the board and the angle has been adjusted to work with a wider range of foils and run more pitch neutral. Swing weight for such a well-priced board is not obnoxious, and the EVA pad provides a decent grip and is and not too thick, giving you good feedback from the foil.

The 6’7 naturally pairs with more novice riders using larger foils, or for a more advanced rider wanting to maximize their time on the water with lighter winds and generally more cruisy conditions, which at the moment, barely two years into the discipline, is of course the vast majority. There are plenty of advanced features sculpted subtly into the Wingboard, and in this size it’s going to give you both an excellent introduction to the sport, and the footstrap inserts provide longevity well into intermediate or even early advanced aerial maneuvers.