Huge changes for Bark in 2017

[baddog]

Check out the new Bark line up at:

https://issuu.com/surftech4/docs/surftech-2017-paddle-finalweb

A ton of boards are discontinued.  The classically shaped cutting bow Competitor, Contender, Dominator and Eliminator are gone!  Along with the Downwinders and the Excursion which have been morphed into the new narrow Expeditions.

The other big news, full carbon Vapors!

Are cutting bows dead?  Is it the end of an SUP era?  Fire sale upcoming.

[burchas]

Area10, it looks like they killed your favorite Vapor shape.
Decreased nose rocker and by the looks of it, decreased nose volume, more
like the SIC FX. although it's a little hard to judge by the existing images.

[Luc Benac]

Not sure if I am reading this properly (and I do not really trust much catalogs) but is looks like the 28" wide Bark Downwinder has become a 26" Bark Expedition. Not sure what happen to the weight but a 26" Downwinder could be a very nice board. Except that I remember reading that Bark said that narrower prototype where not faster than 28" one...

[Eagle]

Looks like the Dom is now the Dom S - but the D2 is still there.  For heavier paddlers the S makes a lot of sense as my original Dom is super stable for an old lightweight paddler.  Just about impossible to fall off that board.  The D2 would have been a better choice for me as my first board - but on CL you get what is available at the time.  Good thing was the board I picked up was from an excellent local racer who by chance also sold to me my AS23.  His racing bro is on the Zone as well.  Both really nice guys and fast.  There is another AS23 for sale in this area if anyone is interested.  PM for details.

But it does look the Dom shape is still out there.  Just a bit thinner and a bit fatter. 

[Night Wing]

Thanks for the link. Bark has a nice brochure. The 9'x30" Firefly caught my eye.

[Area 10]

Area10, it looks like they killed your favorite Vapor shape.
Decreased nose rocker and by the looks of it, decreased nose volume, more
like the SIC FX. although it's a little hard to judge by the existing images.

Interesting - thanks for sharing. I shouldn't think that this Vapor 2.0 is aimed at the FX market, rather it looks aimed at the Naish Maliko to me. I can understand it - the original Vapor is really great downwind and messy conditions board, but inevitably the trade-off is pure flat water speed. More customers will be looking for the Maliko-type combination (good flat water/ mild ocean race capability with respectable DW) than will be looking for Vapor 1.0 characteristics (excellent small-medium DW and acceptable flat water/ mild ocean racing ability).

It will be interesting to see how the changes have affected the DW ability. A light Vapor with better flat water/race ability might be a wondrous thing.

[robon]

Wasn't long ago that other high profile brands were getting major criticism on here for making big changes to boards  shortly after releasing their lineups. Welcome to the discussion Bark/Surftech.

[starman]

I think it's mostly a Surftech decision when it comes to choosing what models come out of the Cobra factory.

Joe Bark will custom shape anything your heart desires.

[Area 10]

Wasn't long ago that other high profile brands were getting major criticism on here for making big changes to boards  shortly after releasing their lineups. Welcome to the discussion Bark/Surftech.

I don't see that much change in the Bark line-up. Most of the rest of the Surftech offerings are a bit meh IMO. But then they are probably not aimed at me.

[SaMoSUP]

It's interesting how Bark has fallen off the elite race circuit. Once Surftech dropped Candice there are no top 20 Bark riders on their team anymore.

[robon]

Wasn't long ago that other high profile brands were getting major criticism on here for making big changes to boards  shortly after releasing their lineups. Welcome to the discussion Bark/Surftech.

I don't see that much change in the Bark line-up. Most of the rest of the Surftech offerings are a bit meh IMO. But then they are probably not aimed at me.

The Downwinder has been dropped and the Expedition looks like the Downwinder but two inches narrower. That's a significant change and redesign in one fell swoop for two models. The Contender is two inches narrower and appears to be a lower volume board now. The Vapor has undergone a redesign after only being on the market for a relatively short time. Sure, Bark can shape a board to a paddler's liking, but the stock offerings have changed across more than one board. Maybe not a bad thing, but a big change nonetheless. I like the tie downs for the Expedition and would like to give a 26" wide board like this a go.

[Area 10]

Well he had to make some changes at some point. Bark's boards have been in existence in more or less the same form for longer than any others. I don't see it as a bad thing, as long as the new boards are better or offer something different. What gets my goat is when brands dump a great design for a poorer one in the pursuit of sales. Or relegate good designs to poor constructions and make weaker boards in the top specs. One good thing about the pro race circuit is that it's making the shapers consider their designs a little more carefully, and the tendency to radically change models every single year seems thankfully mostly to have changed into a tendency to tweak and update - develop - each year instead.

[Area 10]

Actually, the pics of the 2017 Vapor in the catalog don't make it look different from the 2016 one, so is it possible that the catalog just contains text that has been carried over from 2015/2016 when the model was new? Has anyone actually seen a 2017 and 2016 Vapor next to each other?

The new carbon Vapor is very appealing - 8lbs lighter than the pro-elite construction!? That's a lot. This board could be a serious contender in DW races.

[baddog]

Actually, the pics of the 2017 Vapor in the catalog don't make it look different from the 2016 one, so is it possible that the catalog just contains text that has been carried over from 2015/2016 when the model was new?

The ad copy is definitely the same as 2016 with the exception of "2017" added in.  Looks like no changes on the Vapor except for the full Carbon versions.

[Area 10]

Yeah that seems more likely than a re-shape after only a year. The majority criticism of the Bark boards is that they don't have an uber-light version for avid racers. Well, they do now. I'm surprised they haven't brought out the D2 in the Ghost Carbon as well.

So now maybe we can add Surftech to the list of candidates for the "misleading catalogs of the year award", alongside Starbosrd and SIC, the perennial frontrunners.

Actually, that would make a good thread of its own.