STARBOARD ULTRA 86L: 2025 TEST REVIEW

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12 Nov 2024 08:00

STARBOARD ULTRA 86L: 2025 TEST REVIEW

THE VERDICT

Providing some comfort when powered, the Ultra looks for a proactive rider who can provide and drive power through it. The Ultra allows the rider to play the board with both the front and back foot while riding. Although the Ultra is happy in onshore conditions, its very wave-oriented outline would allow you to push it in some waves of consequence.

THE LOWDOWN

The Ultra from Starboard stands out with its bold and classic design, making it instantly recognisable, even from a distance. Its brushed carbon blue transitions into a bright, clean red at the tail, which creates a bold and pleasing on the eye visual. The Ultra looks to be built for agility and speed, featuring a sleek outline that narrows at the tail for tight turns in the most critical sections of a wave. The thinned-out rails in the tail aim to provide exceptional grip and control through bottom turns, regardless of the intensity of the conditions. The domed deck encourages easy, positive rail-to-rail transitions, which enhances your manoeuvrability. The nose of the Ultra is distinctly lifted and pulled in, designed to keep you high and dry in choppy waters while offering control in steeper sections of the waves, even when conditions become challenging. The thruster setup should ensure a balanced combination of looseness, drive and control. The newly tuned rocker line, running from the mid-section to the tail, ensures early planing with minimal effort, while the Double Concave under the footpads enhances acceleration and smooths out choppy waters. The short mast track and fixed-position fins make the Ultra user-friendly, minimising the margin of error, while maximising the enjoyment of its technical design features.

BRAND CLAIM

“Delivering ULTRA snappy off-the-top manoeuvres and smooth bottom turns, the innovative ULTRA concept thrives in real world wave conditions. Fast acceleration gets you quickly into the line-up, keeps you moving in critical sections and allows extra jumps on the way out.”

PERFORMANCE

The Ultra requires the rider to have a balanced approach to foot placement to keep it stable and drive it in the desired direction. The Ultra isn’t a natural platform when floating off the plane, but once given enough power, it jumps onto the plane easily. In the straps, the Ultra feels stable and locked in, but demands a little more from the front foot. Its thruster setup provides decent drive and direction on all points of sail, and its pulled-in nose and substantial rocker naturally help avoid any unruly chop. Through gybes, the Ultra remains locked in and predictable, while during tacks, you need to stay close to the mastfoot to take full advantage of the volume distribution. The flat area around the mastfoot is a subtle feature, but you’ll really notice it in the tack as it adds comfort and stability during time-critical manoeuvres. Overall, the Ultra is a relatively fast board, carrying speed on the crest of a wave as you look down-the-line or a face to choose the perfect moment to drop. The initial drop into the first bottom turn and up to the top of a crumbling crest is where the Ultra truly comes to life for me. It thrives on power throughout the ride, allowing you to bank the board over and make use of its domed deck, while digging those chunky rails into the face as you enter a powered, but controlled bottom turn. At a moment’s notice you can tighten the turn with more back foot pressure to send the Ultra more vertically towards the crumbling, or pitching lip, which is perfect for a smack or snap off the top. The Ultra responds well to riding with power and proactiveness, especially in the lower half of your body, asking the rider to shift weight and power forward after hitting the top to bring you smoothly back down into the next section. The nose always avoids burying and sits comfortably in the curve of a wave. If you sail with power and intention, you’ll reap the many rewards the Ultra has to offer.