2016 Surftech Bark Vapor 14ft review

[Area 10]

There has been a lot of interest in the forums recently in this new Joe Bark design, and I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in Europe to get one. I had to buy it fairly "blind" since I'd never seen one let alone tried one, and although there is a bit of video evidence out there it is either from brands or retailers. So I thought I'd share my thoughts on this board with you, in case you are thinking of buying one too. I hope you find it useful.

BACKGROUND
What Joe Bark has done here is combine the nose shape from the Bark Commander traditional (i.e. prone) paddleboard with the tail shape from the Dominator and D2 SUP models. This seems like an obvious strategy. The Commander has been a hugely successful model for Bark since its introduction 7 years ago, with (according to the Surftech blurb) world records at the Molokai-2-Oahu and the Catalina Classic and numerous other race successes. The Dominator and D2 models should need no introduction. The Dominator was one of the first production displacement SUPs to be widely marketed, and it must rank as one of the most successful SUP raceboard designs in our sport to date.

The result is in the Vapor, and it is Joe’s take on the hybrid snub-nosed planing design that is proving popular recently with people looking for an all-conditions type board that is particularly suited to ocean racing in fairly mild chop, but also copes well with choppy, windy or confused inland waters. Similar concepts from other brands are, I guess, the 2015 and 2016 Fanatic Falcons, some of the Starboard All Star models, and the SIC Bullet FX. But whereas these other models tend to be slightly more oriented towards flat water race speed than difficult ocean or downwind performance, the Vapor feels instantly more oriented to pretty seriously choppy conditions.

CONSTRUCTION
Model: Surftech Bark Vapor 2016
Length: 14 ft.
Width: 26 inches.
Weight:  29lbs measured without fin, damp, on my home scales.
Volume: 271 L
Construction: Surftech Pro-Elite. Surftech’s proprietary fused-cell foam core is pressure-molded, with carbon (on the bottom only) and fiberglass and a high-density foam (PVC) reinforced standing area.

The first thing to note about this board is that if you are used to super-lightweight raceboards, then it will feel a bit heavy. But if you are used to heavy construction boards (like the Naish GS Glides or some of the older AST boards) then it will feel fairly light. At 29lbs (without fin) it feels like a mid-range type construction, akin to some of the better AST boards. Most people picking it up won’t comment “oh that’s heavy”, but not will they say “oh that’s light”. It’s right there in the middle. But it is heavy enough that when wet, and after a long session, if you’ve got a long walk back to a vehicle and you are loading it yourself, you will wish it was a bit lighter.

However, the fit and finish of my Vapor is excellent, and although some Surftech Barks have in the past attracted criticism for having paint that chips, this is not the case with my board. Reassuringly it has a factory QC sticker on it, (which reads 10.9/15 Sudjal W.) so I know when it was checked and by whom. I have managed to put a teeny tiny chip in it since I used it, but this was when I was surfing the board and really whacked the rail in a wipe-out. I was expecting to have dug a large chunk out of the rail, but in fact only managed to remove a microscopic amount of top paint. So I think this inadvertent test suggests that it is pretty durable. I’ve also rested it on the rail on gravel (I don’t recommend this but at the time there was no option at the time) and so far there are no marks.

The board comes with a lovely deep and rounded ledge-type handle, with enough room to get your hands in even wearing gloves. And above this is a comfy neoprene-covered strap (pictured). This offsets the weight of the board nicely, and the strap plus deep handle gives the best of both worlds in terms of carrying in wind, loading/unloading and having something to grab in a hurry in critical ocean or race situations. There is a Goretex valve.

STABILITY AND HANDLING
This board is very stable for a 26” wide board. It surprised me, actually. My balance is distinctly average old-guy compromised, but I feel confident on it moving from staggered stance to parallel etc in even choppy conditions. The stability I would say is only very slightly less than the SIC Bullet 14 V2 (27.25” wide), and it is actually probably a little bit more stable than e.g. the Naish Mk2 27.25” wide 14ft Glide in confused water. So, if your normal comfort zone is 27-28” wide, you might be surprised (as I was) at how comfortable this feels.

A lot of this feeling of stability is actually due to the outstanding handling of this board, I think. It is enormously well-mannered, and does nothing surprising in even the most critical conditions. Handling is a very difficult thing to quantify or explain. But you know it when you feel it. It is about predictability, and a board doing what you want it to do when you want it to do it. And this is perhaps the best board I have even tried in that respect – and I have tried a LOT of boards. I haven’t yet managed to find a situation that seems to unsettle it. It is IMO a hugely refined and very well thought-out board. I jumped on it in tricky conditions (onshore 20 knots, 1-2ft messy bumps) and felt immediately at home. The board actually feels more stable the choppier the water gets. You can roll it from side to side by weighting the rail, but it seems to do this in such a predictable way that it is easy to naturally compensate for it, especially if you are experienced in chop.
 
FLAT WATER SPEED
The flat water speed is not remarkable for a 14x26. At medium pace, and with an average paddler on board, it is roughly comparable to an average 12-6 displacement nose race board. At full-on sprint pace it fares better however. There is something about the nose design, or perhaps it is the volume distribution throughout, that means that the board stays nicely level in the water as you put the power down – there is relatively little pitching, fore and aft.  So I can imagine that powerful sprint paddlers might be able to make good use of this feature to extract more speed from the board than the cruising pace might suggest. It is also very easy indeed to kick turn. So if the race were a series of short sprints and lots of buoy turns, this board might fare reasonably well.  Also, the board does draft very well, and can seem to get sucked along behind another vessel.  So there may be many situations where these aspects might compensate for average flat line speed in a race. But in general, if you are looking for a board to use substantially for pure flat water racing, then you might want to look elsewhere. The nose does the “sprinkler” thing, so you can see where energy is being wasted. 

TOURING
This board might actually make a pretty comfortable tourer for a reasonably experienced paddler, as long as you weren’t carrying much kit. As mentioned above, it is a lovely board in terms of the “paddle experience”.  The stability/width ratio means that it is quite easy to get the paddle perpendicular to get a technically good stroke, and there is good glide between strokes, which means that you can slow down your cadence and still make decent progress. The weight of the board might actually help a little here – it is smooth to paddle, not a stop-start kind of board.

SURF
The Vapor surfs quite well for a 14ft. It isn’t quite as good as e.g. the SIC Bullet V2, but is better than many. It tends to want to sit quite high on the wave, which can actually be rather useful in fat unbroken-type waves. You aren’t going to be pulling any radical moves on this board, but slow cutbacks are possible even for average surfers like me, and surfing it is fun.  Two weakness of the Vapor show up here however. First, the deck pad does not go back far enough. In order to surf boards like this you really have to get your back foot right over the fin. But in this case the deck pad stops short of the fin. So I’ve had to wax the back of the board. It looks a mess. So I’m going to buy an aftermarket kick pad to put back there. This annoys me. So, a message to Joe Bark and other shapers out there: for heaven’s sakes, if you are producing a board that is going to be used in ocean conditions, or technical surf races etc. then PLEASE extend the deck pad back to cover the fin area. There really is no excuse not to. If you don’t it looks like you don’t really understand how these boards will likely be used. I thank Coreban every time I used the kick pad on my Dart: Whenever you are using it (e.g. big downwind drops or waves), the situation is likely to be pretty critical, and you really want things to go well. Having your foot slip at those times is dangerous and unnecessary. A kick pad is also useful to hold onto sometimes when you are in the water, and it also just looks cool…

The second weakness is the fin. The standard Bark fin looks a lot like the Laird Ocean one, and is fine for flat water tracking, with a wide base (see picture). It also keeps weeds at bay. But it isn’t much use for surfing – the width of the base makes it still to turn.  It also isn’t much good IMO for quartering wind and waves, or downwind. A smaller area fin with a much narrower base (e.g. a cutaway) improves performance considerably for surf and general ocean work.

DOWNWIND
Now we get to what the Vapor does best. Heavens, this is a good downwind board! Really, this is one of the very best I have tried. And I own 8 downwind boards. And have tried very many more. The general principal of the Vapor is a bit like the SIC Bullet 14v2 (or perhaps the 2015 Fanatic Falcon) – a fairly voluminous nose, low rocker type (see pictures of rocker line). But it has a much wider and more voluminous tail than the Bullet V2 (see pics), less nose rocker and softer rails up front (see pic of the head-on nose profile). The lack of rocker and the volume in the tail actually worried me before I tried it downwind. I thought that I’d be dancing backwards and forwards on the board to keep it from pearling. But I was completely wrong. It doesn’t jump onto the plane quite as quickly as board with harder rails throughout tend to, but once it does, it tends to want to sit quite high in the bump rather than shoot down it and clatter into the one in front. This is actually very nice – you don’t have to slow the board down so much with the paddle to stay in the trough. The feeling is of the board just sitting there and kinda getting sucked along by the bump somehow. It is perfectly easy to tail steer (assuming that you have replaced the standard fin with something a bit more manoeuvrable), and changes of direction are pretty quick for a board that is not light. You don’t really feel that weight too much on the water, and it does gives a smoothness to the ride. But perhaps the best feature of its downwind performance is how the board doesn’t stop when it reaches the bump in front. A heavily nose-rockered hard-railed board will tend to clatter into the bump in front and come pretty much to a dead stop, so you have to make sure you don’t. But the Vapor doesn’t seem to stop, but either just hangs there in the trough, or if you poke it, it carries on regardless and recovers well. You can then use this consistent speed to charge over one bump into the one in front if you feel the urge. The good stability and handling of the board helps enormously downwind. I took it downwinding when it was gusting 40 knots (with 6C water and air 5C) and frankly expected to have a bit of a ‘mare of a session. I was taking it out to see what the limits were, really, having already tried it in small stuff. Well, I didn’t fall at all, nor even came close. This really surprised me. I am no expert downwinder, and my balance is distinctly average. On a 26” wide board in confused conditions with gusts of 40 knots I was expecting to be showing Humpty Dumpty a thing or two. But instead I ended up actually overheating because I’d worn so much neoprene in anticipation of falls. Both top speeds and average speeds were very good for the conditions, and most importantly of all, it was huge FUN on this board!

UPWIND/CROSSWIND/CHOP
Again, this is a strength of this board. Upwind it is good, although not spectacular. The weight doesn’t help, and this is a fairly flat-rockered board with a snub-nose so it was unlikely to ever be an upwind missile. But it is still pretty good. However, crosswind it is one of the best boards I’ve paddled, and confused water and chop that would unsettle other boards just don’t seem to bother it at all. The soft rounded rails and nose up front mean that the nose can tend to want to weathervane. But it also means that it is quite easy to turn back into the wind (again, a change from the standard fin can help enormously here). If you paddle in choppy and unpredictable waters, you will definitely be wanting to demo this board.

OVERALL
I have instantly fallen in love with this board. It is just so nice to paddle, and in the windy confused choppy conditions I go out in a lot, it makes life very easy. It would be a great ocean race board for choppy seas, and I can imagine that it would fare well for technical surf races too.  And it is a superb downwind board for short period chop (we don’t get Hawaiian style conditions round here so I can’t comment on that). It should also make a great fitness or touring board for inland waters that frequently get windy/choppy  - maybe even  for racing if conditions really get hectic. I’m finding myself choosing to paddle this board in pure flatwater (canals) over my other flat water boards just because there is something nice about paddling it. It has good glide and the stability/width ratio is comforting and easy. But it is downwind and in the sea where most people will want to use it, I guess.

Its nearest competitor in the market is probably the enormously popular SIC Bullet V2. Possibly  also the Starboard All Star\Falcon, but as I’ve already said, maybe these latter boards are tipped slightly more towards flat water racing than the Vapor, which is more oriented towards difficult conditions and downwind (i.e. more like the SIC Bullet V2).  Recent discussions on the forums have revealed huge price differentials across different markets for the Vapor. Here in the UK, the Vapor is priced similarly to the Starboard Hybrid construction All Star, and is massively cheaper than the SIC Bullet V2 in SCC, or the full carbon boards from other manufacturers. IMO the Vapor makes huge sense at the price we have it here, i.e. as a mid-price-range board, and if you are in the market for something like this at that price point I think you really should demo a Vapor. If you live somewhere where the Bullet V2 is a similar price to the Vapor then you have a much harder decision on your hands. The SIC is very much lighter, and there is a lot more carbon there.

Anyway, overall  I can’t praise the Vapor highly enough. It feels like a very sophisticated and finely tuned design. I suspect that many people would like it to be lighter. But then it would be more expensive, and probably more fragile. And it isn’t a pure flat water race machine. But in every other way, really, I’m finding it hard to fault as an everyday all-conditions sled for a general paddling, downwinding, and occasional racing.

Disclaimer: I have no connection to Surftech/Bark, or the Watersports business, and I bought my board from a local retailer just like any other punter.



Prone paddleboard type nose reduces pitching and makes it deal well with cross-chop and winds:



Quite a wide tail with plenty of volume, gives good stability for kick turns and parallel rails that make for good tracking:





Here is the rail width at around the handle:



Hard rails at rear, very soft up front:



Nice fin for flat water tracking, but you might want something with less base width for general ocean work and downwinding:



Lovely smooth nose for ocean work:


Useful deck depression aids stability and gives nice soft edges to rest your feet against in confused waters:





Fairly flat rocker compared with many downwind-capable boards:




Lovely comfortable handle and strap:

[Luc Benac]

OK now make the CAD go up so that I can afford one next year 

Interesting review as usual.
I was a little bit surprised that the board is closer to the Bullet V2 rather than the FX or SB Allstar 2016.
Here in Canada the V2 and the Vapor resell for the same price.
The weight seems in line with teh Downwinder (they are about the same volume) and I do agree with your statement. WHen things are moving it is a blessing, when things have calm down it is not quite a curse but noticeable compare to a 25 lbs board.

It almost feels that the Vapor and the Downwinder are competing against each other with failry similar attributes.
You have paddled both, what is your take on this?

Thanks for the excellent review again.

Cheers,

luc

[Area 10]

OK now make the CAD go up so that I can afford one next year 

Interesting review as usual.
I was a little bit surprised that the board is closer to the Bullet V2 rather than the FX or SB Allstar 2016.
Here in Canada the V2 and the Vapor resell for the same price.
The weight seems in line with teh Downwinder (they are about the same volume) and I do agree with your statement. WHen things are moving it is a blessing, when things have calm down it is not quite a curse but noticeable compare to a 25 lbs board.

It almost feels that the Vapor and the Downwinder are competing against each other with failry similar attributes.
You have paddled both, what is your take on this?

Yes, its a good point about the Vapor vs. the Downwinder, and one that I have thought about, and deliberately avoided addressing in the review because it would make a lengthy review even lengthier.

It's a conundrum in many ways. The Bark Downwinder seems to me to be a great all-round board rather than a downwind-specific one. It LOOKS like a downwind board, but actually its strengths IMO are within its all-round abilities rather than particularly with its downwind ones. It's a good DWer in smaller lined-up stuff, but in bigger stuff the fairly flat rocker and slim nose mean that a lot of footwork is required to avoid poking the nose, and the rounded rails mean it doesn't hop onto the plane particularly quickly. But it is a lovely stable all-round board with a decent turn of speed in the flats and good upwind performance for a 28" wide board.

The Vapor, by contrast, feels like a full-on downwind board when you get it into a decent blow. It makes life relatively easy for downwinding. In steep short period stuff it gets on the plane quicker, and requires less footwork and less skill to avoid a mishap. It is also quicker.

So in many ways IMO the Bark Downwinder should be called the Vapor, and the Vapor should be called the Downwinder.

The question I was asking myself (and I was thinking of you specifically here when I was, as well as a couple of my friends) was "if I already owned a Bark Downwinder, would I have reason to buy a Vapor?". That's a very tough one. I suspect the answer would be "no" for most people. They are kinda too similar in their skill sets, price and construction. But if you already have a Bark Downwinder, and like it, but feel ready to go narrower, and like downwinding a lot, then it might be worth changing the Downwinder for the Vapor. I can't particularly see a reason for someone to go the other way (i.e. from a Vapor to a Downwinder), unless they find that they really can't cope with 26" - but the stability difference isn't huge.

If the Bullet V2 and Vapor are the same price where you live, then either the Bark is over-priced, or the V2 is a bargain. I'm pretty sure that Surftech will not have been expecting the Vapor to be competing directly with the V2 on price. The V2 is a full-carbon premium-construction board that is really quite light. They were both made in the same factory, so a full-carbon board should not be the same price in the marketplace as a half-carbon one. In the UK, the Bullet V2 is about £1000 more expensive than the Vapor. That's nearly 2000 Canadian dollars! They aren't even in the same ballpark, cost-wise. Given that price differential, the Bullet does not look good value in terms of performance bang for buck, frankly. But if they are the same price, that is quite another matter.

[Off-Shore]

Area. That is one awesome review and as I have said previously, Joe Bark is IMHO one of THE Gurus out there when it comes to designing SUP boards. So it is no surprise that you loved this board. There is something about being on a well designed board which handles well and predictably, and the Vapor seems to have hit the spot. What attracts me to this board over the SIC Bullet 14V2 is the ability for it to pierce through the wave in front in a downwinder. That, and its all round performance would make this a one board choice for me and pip my current one board choice: the SIC Bullet 14v1 TWC. The reasons I have the v1 TWC vs the v2 is purely price and durability.

[Area 10]

Area. That is one awesome review and as I have said previously, Joe Bark is IMHO one of THE Gurus out there when it comes to designing SUP boards. So it is no surprise that you loved this board. There is something about being on a well designed board which handles well and predictably, and the Vapor seems to have hit the spot. What attracts me to this board over the SIC Bullet 14V2 is the ability for it to pierce through the wave in front in a downwinder. That, and its all round performance would make this a one board choice for me and pip my current one board choice: the SIC Bullet 14v1 TWC. The reasons I have the v1 TWC vs the v2 is purely price and durability.

Thanks. Having seen the conditions you paddle in, and the techniques of you and your friends, I think you'd really love the Vapor. The handling is so friendly and neutral, and once you get it connecting the bumps, it goes like stink. But of course board preferences are very personal choices, so this is just a guess. I'd be very interested indeed to hear your opinions if you get a chance to try one.

I actually think that this is the most successful of Joe's designs to date - and that is REALLY saying something.

[Luc Benac]

So in many ways IMO the Bark Downwinder should be called the Vapor, and the Vapor should be called the Downwinder.
They are kinda too similar in their skill sets, price and construction. But if you already have a Bark Downwinder, and like it, but feel ready to go narrower, and like downwinding a lot, then it might be worth changing the Downwinder for the Vapor.

I was kind of thinking exactly the same after digesting your review.
So the Vapor would likely be in the cards as an upgrade for the Downwinder some time down the line if price goes down drastically.

On the other hand, I might decide to pick-up a used full on downwind board instead which would complete my board range nicely in the meantime.

Flat = 14x25 Eradicator
Chop All-around = Bark Downwinder
Downwind specific =

Cheers,

luc

[Muskoka SUP]

Wow!  .  Area 10, you just raised the bar for reviews... Dedication above and beyond!

I have to agree on what appears to be an overlap in functionality between the Vapour and the DWinder.. It certainly looks like Joe tried a couple different shapes, and in the end, found both worked extremely well.. So why not sell both. I'm guessing all the Joe Bark fans will be both applauding, and crying at the same instant - given the spendy nature of these boards..   If any of you do buy both, then there's the question of which one to use on any given day, and a lot of second guessing once your out on the water...

Thanks for the awesome review. 

[photofr]

Nice review Area.
The norm this year seems to be less nose rocker and more tail rocker, but it's interesting to see how well the Vapor handled 40 knots downwind. Another common denominator for boards this year might be wider noses, making it a little more difficult for smaller paddlers.

I am so surprised you didn't mention the color scheme - perhaps I missed it. Either way, those are some sharp colors: another big bonus for 2016.

[coldsup]

And there I was, looking at the Allstar x27 hybrid construction but maybe I should be looking at this one! Mind you, I know you say it is stable for a 26 but maybe I might be pushing it a bit.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Area 10]

And there I was, looking at the Allstar x27 hybrid construction but maybe I should be looking at this one! Mind you, I know you say it is stable for a 26 but maybe I might be pushing it a bit.

You'd probably be fine mate. You've got a M14, right? Well, the Vapor is a bit more tippy than that, but not THAT much at all. I actually bought the Vapor because I was looking for something that would test my balance like my Starboard Ace 14x25, but which was easier to climb back on - because the Ace tips me in the drink regularly after the first 30 mins. But in fact I might have to go back to the Ace as a balance trainer because the Vapor is so stable.

Now, don't go expecting complete miracles. But, really, if you think you can paddle let's say a Dominator in chop, without completely making an ass of yourself, then you should be fine on a Vapor. I think Joe Bark has nicely timed it so that those of use who are ready to go down a size in width from a standard 28" board can do so with the Vapor, without ending up into the tippiness realms of many 23-25" wide displacement race boards that frankly, I am never going to be able to paddle comfortably. Even in perfectly flat water, after an hour on the Ace my legs are toast. But after an hour on the Vapor, I could easily do another. Or two.

[coldsup]

Looks very tempting but I reckon I will have a better idea after this summer has been and gone....see how much I get out.

[Area 10]

Might be just as well: when I told the retailer I bought this board from that I thought the board might be popular he said that the distributor isn't bringing many into the UK so he wasn't sure he'd have any stock to sell. I heard that the distributor only brought in something like three Bark Downwinders in the whole of last year. I don't know how accurate this is, but it seems plausible from what I know. I know the guys that 2 of them went to, and one had to buy the distributor's demo board.

[robon]

Nice review. Like coldsup, I'm also between a board like the 14 x 27 Allstar or 28" and the Vapor. If money wasn't a factor, I would definitely be considering the Vapor as a second board. As it stands, I'm leaning towards a bit more volume and width to for a wider window of use. Too bad our dollar is so horrible right now, because the Vapor is a decent value in the States right now if you don't want a super light carbon board.

I don't think the local dealer will be bringing any vapors in to this area considering she is still sitting on a couple downwinders from last year that won't sell.

[Eagle]

If the Bullet V2 and Vapor are the same price where you live, then either the Bark is over-priced, or the V2 is a bargain. I'm pretty sure that Surftech will not have been expecting the Vapor to be competing directly with the V2 on price. The V2 is a full-carbon premium-construction board that is really quite light. They were both made in the same factory, so a full-carbon board should not be the same price in the marketplace as a half-carbon one. In the UK, the Bullet V2 is about £1000 more expensive than the Vapor. That's nearly 2000 Canadian dollars! They aren't even in the same ballpark, cost-wise. Given that price differential, the Bullet does not look good value in terms of performance bang for buck, frankly. But if they are the same price, that is quite another matter.

Nice detailed review A10.  Probably the Vapor is overpriced here if anything.  Seems like Joe's integration of his successful prone nose onto a SUP works a charm.  And your comments about the Vapor nose poking much less than the Downwinder makes sense.  It seems the Downwinder here is a tough sell compared to other boards - as one can be had for 40% off retail right now.

As a side note - keep an eye out for little pressure dents like in these pics - as only our 26.5 lb Pro-Elite Dominator has them.  Nothing that affects performance much - just somewhat of an annoyance is all.  Overall it seems like Surftech beefed up your 29 lb Vapor - which should help improve its durability.  Sounds like a fun board.   

[Area 10]

Yeah, I owned the first Dominator in Europe, and it got pressure dents like that. They never really affected it though and the board is still going strong despite seasons of hard racing and thousands of miles.

The Vapor is made of tougher stuff. It feels very solid. Which is why it is a fair bit heavier, no doubt. But for ocean work you need a tougher layup, really IMO.  The SIC Bullet V1, which is made for heavy ocean conditions, is quite a bit heavier than the Bullet V2, which is meant for smaller conditions. It would be natural for a board builder to make subtle alterations in layups according to intended use. Downwinding is notoriously hard on equipment, which is why people like DJ don't necessarily rush to buy the most fragile high-spec versions. Given the price of production boards now, my friends and I might go custom next time for our DW boards. And when we do we will be asking for the toughest layup rather than the lightest one. Constantly fixing dings gets old very quickly. Fragile boards are for sponsored riders, people who don't downwind often, and millionaires.