The mystery of the Starboard AtomIQ 110 SOLVED!!!

[adywind]

Wow, I'm up to something here! I believe I'm about to solve a mystery!
Ladies and Getlemen please allow your humble detective Sherlock Holmes to present you the facts :
After receiving my new/used board Starboard AtomIQ 110 a couple of months ago it came to my attention that it feels a bit heavy for a carbon 110L board. I weighted it on my electronic scale and it came at 8.6 kg with the straps on -Starboard claims a 7.56 kg naked. For comparison my wood construction RRD Firerace 112 weighs 8.0 kg /with straps/ Also the colour of the AtomIQ UNDERSIDE was a solid dark grey in contrast to the washed light grey pictured on the Starboard website.
I was explaining myself these differences with a reconsideration by Starboard at a later time to make it more durable, but today, with the help of another member of this forum -antonputtemans -or shall I call him doctor Watson I realised that two respectable Windsurfing magazines describe that board differently. I the British Windsurfer they describe the 120L version as very lively , racy and slalom like
http://www.windsurf.co.uk/test/starboard-atomiq-120l-2014-test-review/
while in the German Surf they compare the 110l version to a Limousine:
http://www.surf-magazin.de/test_technik/test/boards/freemoveboards/starboard-atomiq-110/a14561.html
This is consistent with my own observations while sailing it as being to sticky compared to the Firerace and the Firemove which a local pal let me try. Obviously there is close to a kilo of a weight added to the bottom of the board-paint ; raisin or something else has been evenly spread front to back. The question is: for what purpose and is it done to the 110 only ?
My own conspiracy theory at this moment is that they decided at a later stage to make it easier for less experienced and not to canibalise the Futura at the same time.
I believe I have a twisted plot on hand, which may intrigue those of you who like the dangerous detective work
Ok seriously, what do you think?

[jingebritsen]

there are some additional considerations:

+ or - 6% weasel words from COBRA. at the plus side, naked 8.0136 kg.

0.6 kg for foot straps puts it just within tolerance.

approval boards variance: subtract or add 1 kg or so for that slop factor on serial numbers ____0001 and ____0002. very rarely, when these boards weigh out extra light, if i like that design, i will retain that board. if i really love it, i will love it to death.

due to steve g.'s relationship with exocet, we often get these approval boards of exocet's. esp the larger boards. more often than not, they tend to right on the edge of their weasel word range on the heavy side. not quite as rarely as the ones tending lighter than tolerance are those that are heavy.

the frequency of approval boards being heavy is 30% greater than regular production runs. typically, the durability is about the same.

[adywind]

In other words those boards are slightly defective and the manufacturer sells them cheaper to some distributors who sell them at a regular price to the end consumer without telling us about their flaw and makes a better profit out of them. Is that what you are saying?
But how to explain that Surf Magazine tested similar board 8.0kg naked with the same solid dark grey bottom?

[jingebritsen]

no, weasel words are there because some boards come out heavier than others. what serial number is the board in question?

again, approval board(s) have a wider range of weight. BTW, i am not saying anything about seconds, who is cheating whom, just letting everyone know what i know.

and, am not defending cobra, by any means.

should i consider your questions hostile? thought i was helping you understand, but are you kicking my teeth in?

[adywind]

No offense here, I appretiate your help! I don't think this is it dough and certainly the factory has nothing in it.
My theory is that after analyzing the reviews in the British magazines /the picture in "Boards" clearly shows that they reviewed the original design with the washed grey bottom and "Windsurf" weighs it at 7.56kg /Starboard realized that they have a too good for their target buyer board on their hands-basically a Futura killer -and they decided to detune it a bit. Also I'm not saing that the board is bad -it is great, I wish I've gotten the killer one though
Im also wondering if the weight gain/detune was done to the 110 only or to the 100 and the 120 also wich is more logical. I really hope other owners to share their experience. I know Tom/NOVAAN/ observed the same issue and maybe it played a role in his decision to get rid of his board.

[jingebritsen]

serial number?

again, weight is only slightly on the max plus side of the 12% range.

as far as testing in the UK, vs west oz, vs maui, vs pozo?????

shoot i've tested boards, diagnosed a fin change and still boards get panned. sometimes tests are done in way too much wind for a given board and fin combo. we saw it a bit that first week in hatteras.

one year, the sting from exocet got a bad review, as well as the naish grand prix and fanatic ray because their fins were for either pro's or really light wind app's. for the rest of us.

remember the reaction differences we shared vs the more recreational folks concerning the jp all ride, exocet cross and the sb carve? you and i liked them the best for their versatility in huge wind ranges, yet the weekend warriors did not have much to say about them at all. three swiss army knife boards that we could take to the moon and back, yet the rest of the crew were not impressed. sometimes boards don't get their just reviews.

i'm rather curious, what's the serial number?

[adywind]

Sorry it took me a while

[jingebritsen]

so it's just a regular board, it's within weight tolerance.

[antonputman]

Hi I just called the shop who has the 2014 100L model in house and asked to describe the hull. He says it's definitely NOT black but the same washed gray like the top.
He also said that there have been some boards around coming from Croatia that where not meant for production but I think he just told me this to assure me his boards are legit.
Can you post a picture of the bottom?

[antonputman]