It’s November and getting colder, windier and rainier out here in Central Oregon. Just the same I am scanning my weather app to plan for the days that will be best for this 74-year-old to go out for a river paddle. I have become part of the Starboard team from my own hometown through a social digital currency called Blue Tiki that brings the same sense of connection, community and sustainability culture that IS Starboard. YOU can be part of that too. Just go to Blue Tiki – and explore Starboard Blue to learn more.
Starboard is community, passion and lifestyle. Like me, I bet you have a passion for the ocean/watersports/nature/active lifestyle and want to protect that. We are all in the water as much as possible. That provides a connection. The team at Starboard knows us and that is part of what fuels Starboard to make the best products but also trying to protect the environment.
Read these excerpts from the November 7, 2023 SUPConnect Interview with Starboard’s Ollie O’Reilly to really see the “team connection” we can all feel. (Ollie O’Reilly in the field. | Photo © Supconnect)
For several years, Ollie has been on the product development team at Starboard and has helped to create some of the best standup paddleboards in the world. Recently, Ollie has changed roles and is now the Brand Manager for Starboard SUP.
Ollie explains his affinity to Starboard and his love for what the brand represents. He believes that Starboard has the best team, the products, and in his words, “we’re always pushing. It’s just making sure our story and the foundation of the brand really underpin where we’re going to go.”
With Blue Tiki, YOU can be part of that team too.
As someone with a quiver of Starboard boards and a passionate commitment to “blue Life,” I love the way Ollie answered this question posed by SUP Connect: Where do you see Starboard in five, ten years? Where do you see the brand going with how the industry is right now?
Ollie began by explaining, “Innovation and quality are always going to be our pillars on how we make decisions and the directions we’re going to go. That’s core to the brand. Sustainability and our impact is our third pillar. Quality, innovation, and sustainability, they’re the foundations that help us make our decisions on a daily basis and also longer-term planning. I think, again, just tightening the story and where we’re going. I feel like Starboard is a very encompassing brand. We have paddle boarding, we have wingboarding. There’s probably going to be something else in a few years and just making sure that when people come to Starboard, that question of ‘why Starboard’ is always clear, like always being the leaders but always being not just performance but also lifestyle, what the brand means, our impact and just having a very clear resonance to when people see the brand they know we’re a leader and pushing the boundaries of innovation, quality and sustainability.
Let’s hear that again: Starboard is a leader – pushing the boundaries of innovation, quality and sustainability. Want to participate in your own way? Go to Blue Tiki now and the fun and connection is all yours.
A high standard was set by the Founder, Editor and Publisher of Standup Journal, Clay Feeter and his team. They created the tribe, the culture, the stoke and stories that connected us from the “baby step” days of our sport to what it and we have become today. I love endless numbers of things about that publication.
A few weeks before, Ed and I had flown to Hopetown (Abaco Bahamas) revisiting the site of our honeymoon 49 years ago. The Hopetown marina was a challenging place to return to Windsurfing after about 35 years’ hiatus. Dodging moored boats, lots of ferries and floating moorings was a lot like a Frogger game. I was not stellar in skills but WAS 100% STOKED with the way the Compact 4.5 sail setup worked on the board. Flying with both the board and sailing rig was easy-peasey.
I fell asleep last night dreaming about the day Ed and I had out in the Pacific exploring the backside cliffs of Lana’i and hunting for fish in the cobalt blue waters beyond.
Elder SUP 
