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Messages - Lake Paddler

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91
If you did OK on a 23 in 4 bft your first time trying it, you should be OK on a 23. But it will take a deliberate practice to get those buoy turns down. Like, you'll want to practice at least 10 buoy turns every session, even if it's choppy (especially if it's choppy).
Thanks a lot for the this valuable piece of advice! I'll definitely practice buoy turns alongside regular training.

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AllStar 14x23 is a safe bet. SIC RS 14x23 is quite similar in stability and speed to the AllStar.
If this SIC RS model has no obvious flaw, I might prefer it over the AS. Seeing a whole lot of AS or Sprint locally makes me a little bit tired of that Tikiman. :P

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14x25 JP Flatwater would also be a safe bet, and possibly better for long distance and choppy water races where your legs might start to get worn out from balancing on a 14x23. Maybe a tiny bit slower than the 14x23s on pure flat water, but not a huge difference.   
You're totally right. Maybe I should try to paddle some long distance (> 10 km) on an 23"-wide AS to see whether I could possibly handle it.

92
@Area 10 Thanks very much for the detailed feedback!
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Ok. Well the first thing to say is the the SUPBoarder comment about water in the SIC handle is frankly just stupid. They must have been really reaching to try to find something negative to say.
It did leave me this kind of impression, for it was only very briefly mentioned at the end of the video. Certainly I wouldn't reject the board solely for this reason. Water will flow around anyway once it gets choppy.

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The second thing to say is that you are contemplating a huge leap in board widths. Racing alongside other people is a lot tougher than you’d think. There’s a lot of chop in the pack. You need a margin of comfort. Going down 3” or so in one go is probably quite enough, and going down 6+ inches is a huge drop. Only you can know if you’d be biting off more than you can chew for this coming race. Even some elite racers don’t choose a board as narrow as 21.5” wide for racing.
You're right. It would be a huge leap to go down to 21.5", and 23" does seem to be a safer choice. Back in May, I first learned paddling on a 31"-wide inflatable and then bought the 28"-wide one which I currently own. The 28" inflatable felt almost as stable as the 31"-wide one and I got a little bored after a week or two. Kept it anyway for touring with my beloved one and for friends visiting us. I think I did overestimate the learning curve a little. So, I also considered narrower boards even if they might take me weeks to get used to, especially after I'd tried boards with width in the range of 23"---25". But maybe the learning curve is much steeper in the sub-23" range, I suppose?

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The third thing to say is that you should buy used if possible, until you know a bit more about what is best for you. If you buy wisely you will lose very little if you make a mistake.
Thank you for this suggestion. The second-hand market here (inland) appears however to be quite small and I've only seen demo inflatable boards being sold by sponsored test centers so far. But I'll keep looking.

93
Aloha Zoners. I've been looking for my first hard board for flatwater conditions with small chops and swells. I live inland and have paddled so far mostly on lakes with a 14'x28" inflatable. Only recently I started preparing for a 10-km race and contemplating upgrading to a hard board. For what it's worth, I'm 1.87 m (ca. 6'2") tall and weigh approx. 76 kg (ca. 168 lbs).

FYI, here is a list of hard boards that I've tried thus far in chronological order. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to collect any timing data.
  • Starboard All Star 14'x23" (2017). Tested for less than an hour with wind gusts of 4 Bft. Felt tippy at the beginning but quickly adapted to it. Given some extra hours I might've been able to do a step-back buoy turn (tried several times but failed halfway).
  • JP Flatwater Race 14'x25" (2017?). Tested for half an hour with wind gusts of 4 Bft, first 15 min upwind, last 15 min downwind. Felt more stable than the 23"-wide All Star.
  • JP Flatwater Race 14'x24.5" (2016?). Tested for two hours with wind gusts up to 2 Bft. No stability issue from minute one. Suppose I could go with something narrower.

Here is a list of hard boards in alphabetical order that I'd like to try out.
  • Blue Planet DO (Dug Out) Racer 14'x21"/22.5". Robert has always been an invaluable source with his Zen Waterman blog, Board Meetings (with Evan) and the like. Personally I'd also want to return the favor some day. 21" does sound a bit scary, but Robert (6'2", 195 lbs) managed to feel comfortable on it after a day's tour (https://blueplanetsurf.com/news/sup-11-city-tour-and-paddle-expo-euro-trip-report/). I suppose that I could get used to it in a few weeks' time. However I've never seen any Blue Planet board locally (in Southern Germany) and the nearest test centers are all too far away. Might not be easy to have a go.
  • Light Nelo Signature Race 14'x23". Strongly represented by their team riders in local events. Shame that I haven't tried one yet. The design without an EPS core sounds appealing.
  • SIC RS 14'x23". I've only read positive things about this one here. Although Reuben indicated in the SUPboarder review that the handle would store quite some water, it is possibly only a minor issue.
  • Starboard Sprint 14'x21.5". I've seen people consistently stressing its stability in the forum. Not so sure whether I'd like the deep dugout though. I could imagine that it wouldn't be very comfortable when I fall in and have to climb back onto the board.

Sometimes I ask myself whether it's really worth the efforts, and whether I should just grab any board and paddle my heart out. Indeed, any hard board listed above would be a big leap from my inflatable. If you disagree, I'd like very much to have some feedback regarding, e.g.,
  • any board that I should try but has not been listed above;
  • your impressions about any board that would suit my needs, and, if it's not too much trouble, how it is compared to a board that I already had a go on;
  • whether any two boards listed above are genuinely comparable, or whether one board would clearly better suit my needs than the other, so that I could narrow down the choices.
Never thought it would be so difficult to do test runs of boards of various brands. Possibly it has to do with the geographical location. Found a local retailer shop of SIC which insists any board rental service be bundled with a basic course at their SUP center. I may be an amateur in SUP but would rather not pay for another basic course...

Mahalo and looking forward to your replies. :)

94
You can always send him a PM and see what he can arrange for you.
Good idea. Thanks!

95
Yeah for flat water 23 is pretty wide.  21.5 or less makes more sense based on what top racers are on.  For me as well 23 feel draggy vs a 21.5 spear.

RS used a 21 custom for 11 Cities.  So for really lightweight paddlers a 20 should be fine.  23s just have so much more form drag vs 21.5 and less spears.

"The 14' x 21" Blue Planet dugout race board"

https://blueplanetsurf.com/news/sup-11-city-tour-and-paddle-expo-euro-trip-report/

That BP 21" racer has been available for a while.
https://www.blueplanetsup.eu/products/d/race_touring/dug_out_series
I would love to try it out but I cannot seem to find any local event where they have a stand (Southern Germany). :(

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