Bark 12'6" Elite Pro Competitor - First Impressions

[bbarry]

I did a brief fading daylight paddle yesterday and got a personal best for speed - 12:14 minutes per mile over 3.2 miles or 4.92 mph.  I have been paddling a Starboard Pin Sport Tech version for about 14 months and have a pretty good idea how to make that board go. 
Yesterdays paddle was with my surf paddle which is not as fast as my bent shaft, but I want to install rail tape before I use the bent shaft which does not have a rubber rail guard on the edges. 
 
So, it was very quick for a first run, especially since I was messing around a bit with fore and aft placement, lost a bit messing with the few boat wakes that came by, and on a less efficient paddle.  The board seems to slice thru the water effortlessly and as Don has noticed with his larger Bark, you can easily paddle into a plane on a wake from a standing start. 
 
It is very evident while paddling my Starboard Pin that something is always out of the water.   If I am trying to get upwind, I need to go well forward and then the tail is out of the water and the the stern waddles like  a ruptered duck.  This loses waterline, stability, and tracking because it pulls the base of the fin with the highest surface area to counteract yaw out of the water.   Downwind the Pin is very fast and moving well aft makes it perform more like a surfboard with a foot or more out of the water.   The Competitor was just perfectly balanced and the water was shooting cleanly over the nose and exiting cleanly off the stern meaning all 12'6" was engaged.   The few wakes I got were really easy and just a few quick shuffles aft got the most out of them, then forward again.
 
My biggest impression however was the lack of effort.  The Pin is very stable, but technical.  Tonight  I just climbed on the Competitor and paddled.  To do 3% better tonight with a bit of screwing around than my all time best when I had my head down and didnt mess around with anything means this thing is pretty darn quick.  And did I say effortless?    It seems that without any wind a low 12 per mile pace should be easy to maintain for several miles.     I came in because it was dark.  Can't wait to be able to pace against my buddy Don on his new Dominator.

The board feels really light but I have not weighed it yet.  And haveing read several posts regarding flex, yeah, this thing seemed really flexy fore and aft compared to the rock solid Pin.  I shuffled back and forth a few times to try some pivot turns and really noticed it.  I did not go thru enough chop to get a feel for flex under way.

Bruce Barry - Puget Sound

[highlander51]

Bruce, I'm very interested in your comparision with the pin, as I have a pin also. What fin were you using on the pin? Was it the stock fin? I have been using a 10" long rake wide fin in mine, and the board tracks way better.
I have a Fly race standard that I'm comparing with the pin. Was at the lake today and for two miles avg. 4.8 and hit 6.1 with th Fly race. I did not take the pin with me, so next time I will and compare. I have a very light pin 24 lbs. and the Fly race is 30 +. I do feel the weight paddling.
Mike

[bbarry]

Wow Highlander - at 24# you have a very light Pin.  My Sport Tech weighs 32#.   I have used a variety of fins with the stock being my favorite from a performance standpoint.   Very slippery, good downwind, put picks up weed like a kelp harvester.   The thin high aspect stock fin has been the most yaw resistant of any fin I have put on the board.  I tried longboard fins, sailboard fins, and a very expensive Curtiss low aspect racing keel.    I ended up using a 10# Futures race weed because we live in a weedy area and about the only way to shed weed once on the stock fin is to stop and floss and it seemed the best compromise between weed shedding and performance.   In flat water with no wind I frequently change sides more because of fatigue than yaw.   I think the stock has been a bit better in that regard simply because the low rack high aspect leads to almost immediate directional changes and any other fin I have tried has had noticeably slower response time.

I immediately noticed the weight dif between the 32# Pin and the advertised 25ish weight of the Bark.  It simply did not take any stroke effort.   

Bruce Barry

[highlander51]

I wonder if I should re-check the weight on the pin, make sure what I remember it to be.  It's way lighter that the Fly race to pick up.
Mike

[highlander51]

So after re- checking te weight on the pin it is 27 lbs. with a very large Dora Dacat fin, 25 without fin. 5.5 lbs. lighter than the fly race. Next week I'll put the gps on the pin up at the lake and see if I gained anything with my new board.

[sbsup11]

The board feels really light but I have not weighed it yet.  And haveing read several posts regarding flex, yeah, this thing seemed really flexy fore and aft compared to the rock solid Pin.  I shuffled back and forth a few times to try some pivot turns and really noticed it.  I did not go thru enough chop to get a feel for flex under way.

Bruce Barry - Puget Sound

I am a fairly new paddler, and I see the topic of flex come up a lot. So you guys DON'T like flex? I would think a little rebound would help when there are little swells/water distrurbances. I've spent some time surfing, and flex is a positive board characteristic in that world. Maybe not so on flatwater...