EJ’s new 2007 All-Star Review

There is no satisfaction like being completely happy with something that you worked really hard for. The 2007 All-Star was a very long term project by David Knight, myself, and the team. We didn’t start on the boat until we truly knew what we wanted to improve from the Classic All-Star. There was much debate on what to do different. We all loved the way the original boat performed in holes and on steep waves. It was so forgiving that you could enjoy your surf without the stress of random bow and stern catches that flipped you over and out of the holes and off the waves. We enjoyed three seasons of winning just about every major event, even sweeping some of the bigger ones. It was widely known that the classic All-Star wasn’t as fast on a wave as some of the newer playboats. We all wanted more speed, but not at the expense of being able to use our boats anywhere and not be punished by a low stern that catches every time you get backwards like so many of the faster boats that have come out recently. We also wanted to take our looping to the next level, but didn’t want to sacrifice how easy the All-Star was in flatwater cartwheeling. We wanted more leg room and footroom, but again, didn’t want to sacrifice vertical ability. We wanted a smoother take off on big waves with a looser hull, but not if we couldn’t carve and steer easily without the paddle.

Well, that was a tall order for David Knight and I to even attempt to do so many things that were “understood” by the industry to be mutually exclusive. Having your cake and eating it too isn’t how we approached it. We looked at every part of the boat, starting with our classic All-Star and set out to see how to improve the speed and IMPROVE the user-friendliness at the same time, not just keep the original amount. This was the first goal. We realized that we could change the rocker profile and take a little from here, add to there, etc.,.etc. and adjust some angles and we could keep the stern out even better while backwards, and improve forward speed dramatically, and still not only keep the bow from pearling, but allow for a steeper drop into a wave and not crash, SWEET!

Stephen Wright can super clean the boat at 145 pounds with 10 or more ends at a time! The new Star series is slicier on the ends but has an even better shape for getting HUGE air on loop type moves. This is a major improvement for anyone wanting a boat that is easy to get vertical, but also easy to loop.

Our experience so far on waves with it has been on small to medium size waves and the results are amazing on them. Clean spinning is greatly improved, while forward speed is also greatly improved. Getting aerial on blunts, donkey flips, and backstabs is ridiculous. The boat just wants to pop of the water, due to the way the bow or stern reals up on the wave while the speed carries you in the air into the trough.

So far we haven’t found the negative to the new boat! We are looking because nothing is perfect. What I can tell you for sure is that you will truly enjoy your playboating in the new Shooting Star, Star, All-Star, or Super Star more than you ever have before!

🙂

EJ

p.s. The new All-Star is 3 pounds lighter too!

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Look at that bow- sweet!

The All-Star hull

Zippity Do Dah, Zippty Eh, my oh my what a wonderful day

My new favorite playboat!