Results of 14' race board speed test

[Argosi]

We tested 6 14' boards with 5 paddlers.


The boards tested:
Starboard Ace 25 (2012)":


Starboard All Star 25 (2013)":


Starboard All Star 26 (2013)":


Bark Dominator 27.5 (2012)":


Custom Bark (based on Dominator shape) 26.5" (2012):


JP Race 27" (2013):



The paddlers:
The testers were all experienced paddlers and competitive racers. To provide an idea of their speeds in flat water, they all competed in a race last fall and averaged between 5 - 5.5mph over a 9 mile course.

- Male 5'11", 148lbs, racer
- Male 6', 185lbs, racer
- Male 6', 190lbs, racer
- Male 6'4" 225lbs, racer
- Female 5'6", 135lbs (estimate), elite racer


Test methodology:
- Length of the run was about 0.3 miles (or 1600 feet or 485m)
- Paddlers were allowed several seconds to reach full speed before hitting the start line for each run.
- Straight line runs with no buoy turns
- Each paddler tested all 6 boards doing an upwind run and downwind run for each board (actually 7 boards were tested but there was insufficient data on 1 board so it was eliminated from the results. Each paddler completed a total of 14 runs)
- About 3 minutes of rest between the upwind and downwind legs for the same board. About 7-8 minutes rest between boards.
- Staggered starts were used to avoid competitive racing effects


Conditions:
- Lake Ontario
- Flat at start with about 5mph side-offshore breeze
- Wind speed increased to about 7-8mph and shifted to side-onshore, creating small chop as test progressed

Conclusions:
The fastest boards were the Starboard All Star 25" and Starboard Ace 25".

Beyond that, it was more difficult to draw reliable conclusions since the times were pretty close and there were also some data gaps (software glitches and some missed times due to spotting problems since there was only 1 person recording all times at both ends of the course with binoculars). One lesson learned doing this test is that we need at least 2 time keepers/spotters to make sure we capture all results. We just didn't have that luxury this time round. We used paddler signalling at the far end to mark lap start and finish times.
Because of data gaps, changing water and wind conditions, and fatigue effects in later trials, I only feel comfortable listing the overall speed order of the boards tested and not all the gory details. With those caveats, here is the order of the boards tested (fastest first):

1. Starboard All Star 25"
2. Starboard Ace 25"
3. Custom Bark 26.5"
4. Bark Dominator
5. JP Race (2013) 27"
6. Starboard All Star 26"

The 25" All Star and 25" Ace were very close (although if we removed the 225lb tester's results, the Ace would be slightly faster). Of course, the order will depend on the individual paddler and especially their weight. In general, all the testers were comfortable on all the boards with the exception of our heaviest paddler at 225lbs. He did better on the wider boards. It's interesting to see that the 25" All Star was the fastest board while the 26" All Star was the slowest. It goes to show you that these shapes were very close to each other in our test.

The 25" All Star was the board our elite female tester and our fastest male tester (6', 190lbs) said they liked best. The Ace was just as fast if not faster, but it's unusual shape has more of a learning curve and testers may feel uncomfortable on it the first time round.

In general, narrower boards are faster but some shapes are more flat water focused while others are more of an all-round shape. Of course, if you get too narrow for your weight, you end up being slower - and we saw this in our test, particularly with our 225lb tester. Being a flat water focused shape seemed to help in our test (for boards of the same width), which was mostly in flat water. Of the boards tested, the Barks are the ones that have more of a flat water shape. However, when the wind and waves picked up a bit in the second half of the test, paddlers made favorable comments on the speed and handling of all-round shapes - particularly the All Star.

It's interesting to see the different approaches to nose design by Starboard vs Bark. Starboard's noses are blunter/higher volume and have some rocker - particularly the Ace and to a lesser extent, the All Star. Bark noses are piercing and try to take advantage of the full water line of the board. The Starboard noses tend to splash as they're being paddled, even in flat water. It looks like you're going slower, but that wasn't the case. They also tend to ride over small chop. The Bark noses cut more quietly through flat water and when it gets a bit choppy, the nose will cut through the water more. Depending on the paddler, they have different preferences on which nose style they prefer. Our fastest elite male racer (who couldn't make it to our test) prefers the piercing Bark-style nose since there is less up and down movement of the nose going upwind. He's been riding a Dominator for a few years though and that's what he's used to. Personally, I prefer the Starboard nose that rides over small chop and it's definitely faster for me upwind (and downwind). My All Star and Ace go faster upwind in chop for me than my 25.5" wide custom Bark did. Recent 2014 race designs by Fanatic and NSP/DC also seem to be adopting the Starboard style nose. Just make sure your board is well suited to the type of conditions you like to paddle in. And of course, demo in your local conditions.

[SUPpaddler]

Thanks for putting all that together!  Given that the two All Stars placed first and last, but only differ by an inch width, do you notice any design differences between their hulls, or do they pretty much look identical? 

And given your test, if anyone might think to buy the 25" All Star instead of the 26", would you say there is a significant stability difference between them?  How about between the 25" All Star and 25" Ace?

[corlot]

Awesome test!! My only wish is that both 14 Sprints were included in the test ( looking at buying one). Good variety of rider weights etc.. I have been playing around on my brother's Allstar 14x26 and have found its stability astounding compared to my 14x25 Ace. It is interesting to see how a stable strong pull compares to a tippy slippery board. I think the new shapes are nailing the best of both worlds.
Thanks for sharing the test!

[beaner]

I was surprised to see on-line pic's of the new 2014 Allstars and Sprints. Looks like noses are changing again, back to piercing style like used on the 2012 Ace Pro and BOP.

[XLR8]

Nice Work!

[Argosi]

Thanks for putting all that together!  Given that the two All Stars placed first and last, but only differ by an inch width, do you notice any design differences between their hulls, or do they pretty much look identical? 

And given your test, if anyone might think to buy the 25" All Star instead of the 26", would you say there is a significant stability difference between them?  How about between the 25" All Star and 25" Ace?

Oddly, the 25" wide All Star has 238L of volume while the 26" one has 235L of volume. I guess Starboard wanted to add some more stability to the 25" wide model. On the water, the 25" All Star definitely feels more slippery and faster. It's surprising how much bigger the 26" board felt. Despite having a bit less volume, the 26" wide All Star felt significantly more stable than the 25".

As for the 25" All Star vs the 25" Ace, the All Star feels more stable. For me, the Ace is faster though - both upwind and downwind. The All Star has the advantage in side winds as the Ace's big nose can get blown around more. The All Star is better for surfing when conditions get bigger. The Ace is tricky to surf because of its pin tail. The All Star is also easier to do buoy turns with. To turn the Ace quickly, most people do a cross bow draw in combo with stepping back but not as far back as with a more traditional board.

The Ace is a board that has a learning curve but if you spend the time to get used to it, there are some nice rewards.

[stoneaxe]

Nicely done. I've been thinking about getting a bunch of boards and paddlers together too and doing something similar. I'd like to mix it up with a test of race boards (think I might borrow your format) and a subjective commentary on touring and distance boards. We've got a ready made test crew of all the CCBC paddlers and a wide variety of 12-6 and 14' boards.

[Argosi]

Nicely done. I've been thinking about getting a bunch of boards and paddlers together too and doing something similar. I'd like to mix it up with a test of race boards (think I might borrow your format) and a subjective commentary on touring and distance boards. We've got a ready made test crew of all the CCBC paddlers and a wide variety of 12-6 and 14' boards.

The CCBC event would be a good opportunity to get that done.

Board speeds can be pretty close between fast boards so we tried to avoid things like turns and standing starts so that any speed differences between boards would be more isolated from other variables. Also having a relatively long test distance allows paddlers to have a more natural level of effort and cadence. If the distance is too short, the testers may end up sprinting too hard, which wouldn't be reflective of how the board would normally be used. The downside of a longer run is that fatigue becomes more of a factor if there are lots of runs.

Ideally, we would've had the same number of boards and testers. That would allow each board to be tested in all the order slots and should minimize differential effects of fatigue.

If we had any more boards to test, I would've reduced the test distance.

Even having different fins can affect the speeds.

[Boludo]

Argosi,
thanks for the testing.  I love it when people put boards through tests and document it for others to view.

Everyone has different likes and dislikes.  I used to have a 12-6 flatter rocker board with a cutting or piercing bow.  Hated the board in the ocean as it was constantly diving into oncoming swells.  I now have a 14' board which I picked up used (2012 custom 14x25 ace).  This board has changed everything for me.  I actually want to get out and paddle in the open ocean now.  It's helped me realize that I don't like the piercing bow.  I wonder why they changed the 2014 Allstar to a more piercing bow.  Any thoughts on that Argosi?

[peterp]

I commend you for giving it a bash and going through the effort. I do however have strong reservations about results achieved with only one run each way per board per paddler.

From my experience it's very difficult to achieve the same result on even a short sprint distance over and over again even on the same board. I have a 200m course which I've done a fair bit and my times on the same board vary by up to 7-10seconds (200m takes me 65-75secs) despite feeling i'm putting in the same effort (and confirmed by HRM). The slightest bit of wind for instance will affect the time significantly.

To have reliable speed tests you'd need a much bigger sample imo. The problem with a bigger sample is the fatigue factor starts setting in so you'd have to spread out runs as well, maybe over several days and then you will still get irregular results because conditions are never the same - not an easy job....

I'm not a statistician but maybe someone can help in this regard.

[Fog City Rider]

Thanks for testing & reporting back!  

I'm totally with you (& Boludo) on preferring the hybrid noses to full displacement; I hate plunging the nose & prefer riding over it, even it there is nose slap.  It does less to upset my rhythm out there than tanking the nose, and it feels more aggressive.

The new All-Star may have some secrets to it that are yet undiscovered, but from my limited experience on both, I prefer the 2013.  

Also, I'm starting to think that new Fanatic Falcon I demo'd is sort of a merging of the All-Star and the Ace.  Bulbous nose & pintail like the Ace, but flatter elsewhere and less volume like the All-Star... feels more "normal" to paddle.  

[Argosi]

I commend you for giving it a bash and going through the effort. I do however have strong reservations about results achieved with only one run each way per board per paddler.

From my experience it's very difficult to achieve the same result on even a short sprint distance over and over again even on the same board. I have a 200m course which I've done a fair bit and my times on the same board vary by up to 7-10seconds (200m takes me 65-75secs) despite feeling i'm putting in the same effort (and confirmed by HRM). The slightest bit of wind for instance will affect the time significantly.

To have reliable speed tests you'd need a much bigger sample imo. The problem with a bigger sample is the fatigue factor starts setting in so you'd have to spread out runs as well, maybe over several days and then you will still get irregular results because conditions are never the same - not an easy job....

I'm not a statistician but maybe someone can help in this regard.

You're right that one paddler testing each board on 2 legs (upwind and downwind) then comparing with other boards tested in the same way, isn't reliable enough to make solid conclusions on the speed ranking of those boards. However, if you have multiple testers doing the same thing, the statistical reliability increases a lot. The more testers you have, the greater the reliability, even if each tester is testing each board just once.

As for fatigue, the effects are decreased when you average results over the whole test. This is because each board gets tested by the different paddlers at various points during the test. So a particular board will be tested first by one paddler, but it will also be tested last by another paddler.

In our test, we had some glitches that I mentioned, so that didn't help. However, I'm pretty confident in saying that the 14x25 Ace and the 14x25  All Star were the fastest boards tested. In addition, I'm pretty confident that the custom Bark 14x26.5 was in third place. Beyond that, I'd only say that the other 3 boards fell into the bottom 3 (Dominator, JP Race, All Star 14x26).

Two of the test paddlers were looking for new boards and after the test, they both were looking to buy 14x25 All Stars.  They had their own GPS units running during the tests as well.

There are still lots of things that could be done to make the test more reliable but we did what we could given the time and resources we had available. One good idea was to have a control board that would appear twice in the test. Theoretically, both identical boards should have similar results. If there are big differences, then the overall reliability of the test would be in question.  

When it's just me testing boards, I only test 2 boards at a time, alternating boards so that I test each board 4 times. That's a total of 16 500m runs (2 boards x 4 runs x 2 legs per run). For me personally, I know the 14x23.5 Ace is fastest among the boards I've tested. My second fastest board was a custom 14x25.5 Bark that I used to have. The advantage got larger for the Ace as the wind picked up.

By the way, the software we used to record times was an Android app called Sports Timer Lite. It works great for this type of thing:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=biz.mewe.mobile.sportstimer&hl=en
It tracks up to 12 testers/racers. Their Pro version tracks up to 100.

[Boludo]

When you say 2 of the paddlers were looking to buy new boards and looking to buy the Allstar. Would that be the 2013 or 2014 because the boards are so different from each other?

[Rideordie]

It would be interesting for inquiring minds to see the timing data and averages, etc.  Places tell you something, but does not complete the whole picture.  I could place second behind Danny Ching in a six man race, but still does not mean I am nearely as good.  Just means I placed second.  Timings will help to better establish the meanings of the places.  Thanks for publishing the test and impressions.  Really interesting stuff.       

[surf monkey]

Argosi

Thanks for the test it takes a lot of effort to do such a test  and you had some of the top boards. For me I don't need the fastest board just one that's in the ballpark and tests like yours helps me make those choices. It would be nice to see the times and hear some of the rider's thoughts too.

I jumped on the crazy train a few weeks ago and bought a 2012 14x25 ace. Nice to hear it still is fast as the new boards and Barks, now i just need to keep it up right on the downwind stuff.

Thanks again.