| September 16, 2004
Photos
I have had the opportunity to paddle the
All-Star in holes, on small waves, really big waves like “Bus
Eater” and finally the ultimate testing ground, Garberator.
The “Garb” is a great wave for testing because
it is medium in size, but is great for all aerial moves, it
is not super steep at the level I was last there (photos shown
here) so some speed is helpful. But the drop in for the first
two feet is steep enough that a boat with little rocker will
often pearl out. Many people with such boats have bent their
sterns up to prevent this.
Smooth, controlled. The stern follows the bow quite well,
not sliding out unintentionally. The bow tends to hover just
over the water, neither feeling like it is going to pearl,
nor like you are riding a wheelie. This is a great position
to be in because you feel the confidence to push your bow
down to initiate a bounce, but don’t worry about the
big pearl to crash as many of the “wave” boats
do.
The All-Star actually back surfs faster than it front surfs.
This really helps when you are learning to do back moves,
spins, or simply back surf. We put much of the rocker in the
stern, instead of the bow since most people are in less control
when backwards than frontwards so they usually flush off a
wave when they turn backwards. The boat steers itself when
backwards as well- a small lean of the hips will allow you
to carve back and forth when backwards with out using your
paddle.
The All-Star has a very friendly, loose hull
that will allow you to grind to the bottom of almost any wave
with out worrying about catching an edge or flushing off.
This is also super important for doing any moves that require
you to slip the boat sideways, like the Helix, Flip Turn,
Clean Spin, etc.
This is where the All-Star is in a class of its own, getting
air. You have both the edge to edge bounce to use and the
straight on butt bounce, up to you. The shorter stern and
the big sidewalls and sidewall rocker allows the bow to rise
super high before throwing a blunt, air screw, donkey flip,
clean blunt, Pan Am, etc. This makes it much easier to get
your first one, or much easier to go BIG. Like doing an ollie
on a skateboard, getting the front up high first is the key
to getting the rest of the boat or board up. The All-Star
is good off of both the first or second bounce.
The super flared out sidewalls gives the up and coming wave
playboater lots of margin for error when landing. Land a little
on edge and you are still likely to land upright and not grab
green water to flush. A more vertical sidewall requires a
more precise landing technique off of any aerial move.
The shorter wider stern allows it to release easily when you
try to whip it around for a helix, flip turn, or any quick
rotational move. Also the super lightweight design means less
weight to try to get rotating, so much snappier moves.
Don’t you hate hitting
your elbows, knuckles, and your face on parts of the boat
that just aren’t supposed to be there? The All-Star
is as body friendly as it gets. The deck is not intrusive
and smooth on all angles, rolling quickly away proving nothing
to bang yourself on. Even the cockpit rim is nicely designed
to tuck deep on Helixes, loops, and other tucking moves. You
can thank lots of input from Clay Wright on that. Clay is
the biggest hater of poorly designed decks that beat you up,
he usually wears elbow pads when surfing big waves, but doesn’t
need them in the All-Star.
I hope this gives you an idea of how it
paddles and what it is designed to do!
EJ
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