Starboard Strategy

In the wake of what Windsurf Journal report as a strike by workers at the Cobra Factory in Thailand, Starboard today confirmed they’ll be a buying brand in the transfer market and confidently hinted that Pritchard and Albeau will stay on-board.

The inner force of the windsurfing board market’s leader in both sales and arguably, thinking – Starboard’s Chieftain and founder, Svein Rasmussen - today spelt out his current philosophy and plans for their star-studded ‘Dream Team’.

Influences on Decision-Making

First of all we look at which riders seem to try to help support the company to move forward. Do they send us updates on product feedback? Do they send the quarterly reports to us? Do they let us know how things are going with them? Do the riders take time to communicate with magazines to get their images promoted? Are the riders understanding of the need to, sometimes innovatively, somehow help sell more gear for the company to afford their paycheck?

Event results may be different from their actual potential, as things change drastically during an event and are at times outside the control of the riders themselves. It’s a relationship based on quite a few factors, and we more than anything choose to support those who really choose to support us.

Who’s in? Who’s out?

Our basic plan was to keep everyone and add a few more. Our wave team is reinforced with the return of Philip Koster who is arguably the largest talent in waves today.

Boujmaa has set a whole new standard in jumping in the last 5 years and is getting better than ever.

Jaeger [Stone] is sailing amazingly well right now, and as he is a soul surfer we wish to see him go in any direction he may feel comfortable with.

2-times PWA Wave world Champ Kevin Pritchard is still in my mind the man that can win any wave event, anywhere.

Scott [McKercher] will do a few events - but just the ones he likes to do. He’s served us well over the years with event results, coverage, and product development and will stay on for a long time. So, a solid commitment there.

In Freestyle we are of course very happy to see Sarah Quita becoming World Champ and her brother Quincy working his way towards the top ten.

Kiri [Thode], who just finished 3rd on the PWA Tour, will go for gold again.  Nicolas [Akgazciyan] is aiming at winning the EFPT and a top 3 finish in the PWA, and was over in Thailand last week to help finalize the new Flare boards.

We are also looking at signing a few more top 10 contenders, and are especially reinforcing tour efforts within Freestyle.

In Slalom we have offered Kevin and Antoine good arrangements and when we saw that Bjorn was interested in joining certainly thought that he was an incredible asset in creating possibly the best race team ever seen in windsurfing.

We are also looking at adding more slalom riders as we have quite a few sailors out there who, after the season has finished, have tested 09 boards from different brands and feel that Starboard will again have a clear overall performance advantage next year, and so have contacted us regarding doing a deal.

In Formula we’re renewing most contracts and possibly signing on more riders. It’s interesting to see 18 of last years various World championship sailors in the top 20 on our gear.

I guess we sort of are a product and rider-oriented company. People must possibly think we are mad having this many riders, but this is how we like it - to make good gear and see sailors win.

We basically aim to work with people that want to work with us, and see if in this way we can continue to have the best team, the best products and a healthy brand and company.

Market Forces?

I believe that in times like these one should work twice as hard and motivate your team, distribution and supplier partners to do the same.

Some companies will invest heavily and come out clear winners, others with less enthusiasm will not.

There’s no time to sleep, no time to complain, only time to see the opportunities and hope to be lucky - knowing that luck is defined as “where preparation meets opportunity”.

The Beach Telegraph Polls

The [hiring and Firing] Poll on the Beach Telegraph was fun and a good way to get more people to spend more time thinking about windsurfing.

I’m not able to provide a clear answer how the readers feel about our company being involved in that poll, but lets hope it will bring us all good luck :)

Many thanks to Svein for taking the time to fill us all in his thinking.

What are your thoughts on this? Please drop us a line or let the world know in the comments section below. There's no sign-in required, (although you can register and create a personal profile if you prefer) and enjoy extended forum threads on any discussion. Thanks.

Comments

[Snoop]

I met Svein a few years ago and was amazed at how motivated and focused he was, not just on his brand Starboard, but windsurfing on the whole and ways to promote it to a bigger audience. Refreshing to see also, that in times of financial downturn and rumours of brands not making money, that he and Starboard are obviously willing to put money into competitors and competitions and hopefully see the sport grow... I don't even ride his board either.

[Beej]

Hi Snoop. Yeah I sometimes get the impression some brands, understandably, only watch for their bottom line, but some, like a great restaurant, care more for the food they serve and the passion and pride they do it with than what's in the register at closing time...and of course, these joints often have more cash in the bank because of that love for what they do and how they do it.