However, the one area where they’ve struggled to compete is on any board with ‘wave’ or ‘freestyle’ in the title – there haven’t been many good big ones.

I know there have been some 110-120 wave boards – and they’re good on a wave but not particularly early planing. It’s not entirely the fault of manufacturers wondering how many they’ll sell – it’s also a design conundrum.  It’s not just a case of scaling the thing up – as you make the board bigger and flatten out the rocker to help the big fellahs plane early, it necessarily makes the thing less manoeuvrable.

Long story short, I was delighted to see Starboard introduce the Kode 109 fsw this year – but would it work? It’s unlikely a Starboard tram rider would say ‘no’ … But it really does. 

As an ultimate test, it was the only board I took on recent Tobago clinic, where typically the wind averages around 15 knots – a frustrating big man strength that normally consigns them to big kit. At 90kg, I’m not a monster but still put powered by a Bolt 6.5, I was flying all week. The other option might have been my Atom 110; but by having the Kode and the choice of a smaller fin and inboard strap settings, the sailing options were far greater. Most of the volume is hidden in the shoulders, so if you take it into waves, you have the a little wary of full rail turns on the face. But it generally feels like a much smaller board – until you stop and realise you can uphaul easily.

Peter Hart loving the 2016 Starboard Kode 109

It’s got the thruster option which definitely helped on the cutback (heel) side in waves. For waves I also preferred a bigger central fin (25cm) than the one given.For general messing around, the 32 Drake crossover worked fine. That’s it. So big men, I’m afraid there are now NO excuses!

PicHarty loving the Kode 109