Got to demo one of the new Starboard SUPs yesterday in St. Augustine. I think I was on the 9'8 Element? My current SUP is the 10'6 Kites ETC board, which I still really like. Compared to most of the other SUPs out there, my 10'6 is a bit smaller(which I like). This new Starboard is about a foot shorter, but just as floaty as my board. I would say I can probably catch a wave a little sooner on my board, but not by much. The main difference to me, is I could turn this Starboard on a dime and it was much livelier on the wave. Also, I could drop in later on a steep face(we actually had several here in Florida yesterday), and would still make the drop without pearling the nose. They definitely figured out the shape on this one. Very fun board! Kylie likes it too....