12'6 switchblade vs. bark competitor

[brian_s]

I am looking for a 12'6" board that is race oriented, but will be durable, good in chop and wind and will be fairly stable and fast.  From demos and reading on this forum both the C4 Switchblade and the Surftech Bark 12'6" look like good, durable options.  Anyone ridden both and have any opinions?  TEC vs Tuflite construction?  Or other thoughts or opinions?

Thanks!

[westbeach]

Lot's of feedback on the bark. Haven't seen too much on the C4. Search in Gear Talk, there's a few good threads to start with.

[Bear-E]

I own the C4 Switchblade.  Been paddling it here on the Puget Sound since April.  I'm a bigger guy (6'4" 210), so keep that in mind.

Its a good solid board, but it is very different than the Bark.  The switchblade has quite a bit of rocker, and very vertical and hard rails.  C4 claims its a "do it all" type board, which to some extent it is, so consequently its not great at any one thing.  Its not that fast, its not that stable, and it can't catch waves that well.  Its not bad at those things, but they aren't really strengths.  Its more like what I would imagine a downwind board to be (which it could be quite good at - i don't know).  Also, interestingly, its fin box is quite a ways forward (especially compared to the Bark). 

My biggest beef with the board is how unstable it gets in chop, especially side chop (which, unfortunately, is almost always the case on the Sound).  Because of the rocker, the displacement-style nose sits well out of the water, causing you to go up and over chop rather than through it.  If you step forward to push the nose down, you cut through the chop a bit better, but then it seems like your tail is lifted up out of the water and the board gets very squirrely, lots of yaw(?).

I've actually been meaning to post a thread here to discuss why this board is so squirrely for me (i suspect the vertical rails and the rocker), and start looking for alternatives - the new Bark's being one of them.

-Barry

[Tecpartner]

Your description of the displacement nose / rocker/tail make the Switchblade sound like my Starbord Pin.  Only the Pin has realtively soft rails.  The Pin is squirely (hard to paddle straight), too.

[Flores]

I have the Dominator in addition to the Switchblade.  I agree wholeheartedly with Bear- on the side chop performance.  I would recommend the Bark over the Switchblade.  In fact, I am going to sell my Switchblade and look for another 12'6" that performs better in more overall conditions and Bark will probably get the nod.

[Area 10]

I went the other way: I had a Bark Competitor and sold it to get a Switchblade.

The Switchblade is a very interesting board. It’s pretty technical, and I’m not sure that the C4 marketing blurb about it gives the full impression. They present it as a kind of all-rounder for any ability. That’s not really my impression at all. I kinda think of it as a surfer’s take on a distance board. It’s pretty reactive. I saw a video where Todd Bradley was describing the stability as a “push-back” type, like a paddleboard (as far as I remember). I have no idea what that really means, but what it translates to is twitchy primary stability with good secondary stability. You think you might fall, but actually – assuming you don’t “fall off in your mind, and let your body follow”, you don’t.

I have a lot of sympathy for the views of the Switchblade owners expressed here. I was actually pretty miffed when I first got the board at how twitchy it was, especially after owning the Competitor. This changed with two things.

First, I stuck a 13.5” Jimmy Lewis number 4 fin in it, which made the handling a heap better, especially downwind – it allowed me to get right forward and stuff the nose into the trough without the tail sliding out.

Secondly I got used to the board, and tried it back-to-back with some others. It’s actually surprisingly fast in the flat. Comparing side-by-side with a friend of mine with the Bark Competitor, we came to the conclusion that the stability of the Bark made going fast a little less effortful, but there was very little difference in the speed. The bow looks like its pushing water, but it doesn’t seem to actually slow you down much, and the release off the tail is outstanding.

To test the glide of the Switchblade relative to the Bark Competitor, a friend and I did an exercise where we paddled, in dead flat calm conditions, alongside each other until we were as matched for pace as we could be. We both then, on a signal, stopped paddling, and saw how far the boards travelled before stopping. The Bark ended up ahead. BUT, only by about 6 inches after many metres! I have no idea how scientific this is as a comparison, but it did underline to us how close the board were in the real world. We tried the comparison with another distance board, and there both the Bark and the Switchblade were noticeably better than the other one.

The Switchblade is particularly interesting in chop, where it doesn’t seem to get much less twitchy than when it is in dead flat water, which is really odd! But its great strengths are in-and-out type situations, and downwind. I bought the board because one of my regular training routes is a course which takes me a couple of miles upwind, and out to sea, and then round a wreck, and back again. It gets hellishly choppy and rippy, especially around the wreck. The Switchblade, once you get used to the reactivity element, is excellent in this role. It is great upwind, and even better downwind, once you get the technique right.

By contrast, the Bark’s main role is to make going quickly as easy as possible for all folks.  It is very stable, and effortless. But I sold mine because I found it strangely unrewarding – I appreciated the board rather than loved it. Also, it is so stable and boat-like in its handling that if I had a prolonged period paddling it, and then went back to SUP surfing, I found that I spent half the session getting used to the reactivity of my surf SUP.

To get an idea of how reactive and fast the Switchblade is, I’ll give you a comment a friend of mine made when he swapped his Coreban Alpha 12-6 for the Switchblade for a trial. We were on a choppy downwind section, and he is no expert. He immediately said “Whoaa, this is FAST!” as he shot past me on his board. He was right: stepping onto the Coreban after the Switchblade, it felt a big and a bit cumbersome – nice board though the Coreban is in many ways. Now, there is no way that you’d call the Coreban Alpha 12-6 a “big” 12-6 distance board, in terms of e.g. volume or dimensions etc. But my friend was right, downwind, once you learn where to stand, and get the fin set-up right for you, the Switchblade really flies, and that curious shape nose, half-displacement and half-planing, starts to make a whole heap of sense.

I’m not sure how or why the Switchblade feels so small in the water: it’s certainly not light, and it’s not small (12-6 x 28.2” I think). Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have an “edge” anywhere, the rails are extremely soft all over. It also has proper displacement-type bottom (albeit quite mild). I think this is the source of the reactivity, but may also be what makes it handle cross-chop and cross-winds well, once you get used to it. It also has a lovely flat deck and pad which extends a long way forward, so you can move around the deck well. I found that the deck and pad of the Bark meant that you tend to be restricted in your movement, and actually sometimes I wanted to get further forward on the Bark than the domed front deck section would allow (in downwinders).

So, in summary, in my opinion the Switchblade is a really quite a clever, and technical board, that is extremely rewarding for in-and-out type situations and downwinders. SUPers with a surf SUP background in particular will find the feel familiar. In dead flat water it is stable enough for most, but I wouldn’t call it a relaxing paddle. There’s no doubt that it does have less primary stability than many other distance SUPs out there, especially the Bark.

So if you are a newbie and just want something for long cruises, or you are beginning to race, my advice would be to get the Bark. No-one will tell you that was the wrong decision, the Competitor is a really great all-rounder board, perhaps the best out there.

However if you are into BOP-style events and downwinding, and already have decent technical skills, and don't want your distance paddling sessions to compromise your balance for SUP surfing, then you may well find the Switchblade, like I did, advances your SUPing further, and puts a bigger grin on your face.

For these reasons, it is also, in my opinion, an excellent everyday distance training board, if your main race board is something bigger.

Hope this helps.

[Flores]

Area 10, excellent review!