Need help: flatwater hard boards for long-distance racing/touring

[PonoBill]

I see surfskis and tandem OC1's on dinky cars every day. Recently, when I was modifying a jetski trailer for two unlimited OC6's the guys brought one of the 40' unlimiteds for a fitting on top of a compact truck. They rigged a brace to the front bumper, dropped the front rack and used the back one (not wise to support a strong but flexy structure in three places). 40 feet of boat on a 14' truck. Worked fine. You won't have any problem with a narrowly spaced rack as long as you restrain the front from pushing up in the wind. A wimpy rope will do the job just fine.

[yugi]

I have a question that is slightly off topic. Today I went to a garage to see what kind of solution they offer for the transportation of a 14 ft (ca. 4.27 m) board. One guy suggested that my car, being ca. 4.44 m long, is too short for such a task (or conversely the board is too long). What do you guys think? Is it really the case? Which vehicles do you normally use for transportation? Below are some dimensions in mm.

[Lake Paddler]

Really :-)   
I regularly transport my 17'4" on top of my Subary Outback 15.8" and do not plan anytime soon to leave it at home :-)

That's really reassuring to know! How do you distribute that excessive 1'8", or how far back is your board sitting on top of your car?

Almost all excess is at the back.

I see. Thanks!

[Lake Paddler]

Just balance your board on the rack. Don't shift weight to the front or back - balance is the key.

I'll keep this in mind. Thanks a lot for your advice!

[ukgm]

1) Then you’ll know when you get your ass kicked by a teenager on a 23” wide one, that thinking
2)  “If only I went narrower I’d be faster” is just not going to work for you
3) There’s something reassuring about not being able to blame your equipment
4) Stop giving yourself excuses for your failure to achieve the goals that your ego has set you

Here's some dry answers:

1) That already happens (courtesy of Ben Pye or Aaron Rowe in the past) but to be honest, I'd be a bit worried for the sport if they couldn't beat a 43 year old.

2) I don't have that concern. It's about risk vs gains and I don't believe I've had many (if any) bad SUP races due to to equipment choice alone.

3) There really isn't when you're looking for progression. To give you an example, in my cycling my power output has plateua'd over the last 18 months no matter what I do to try and break it. I've been going faster than ever though because I continually tweak my aerodynamic set and equipment up to find more gains. However, its the former that is annoying - I just see the latter as low hanging fruit that I don't reflect much on.

4) As far as SUP goes, I don't have any (although I've still got a couple of big ones left in cycling that niggle). I only paddle twice a week and its unstructured most of the time and we also have no proper national championships (which is the kind of event I would focus or train for intensely if we had one) so my attitude to the sport is quite relaxed (which is why I don't mind offering out nuggets of info in both articles and videos). I've never used equipment as an excuse - more a realistic acknowledgement of knowing my skills and their limitations but I still want to see some kind of personal progression. Frankly, I got more personal satisfaction out of the winter time trial series I organised last winter than I did in my races this year as I could see stark improvements straight away.

[Lake Paddler]

I see surfskis and tandem OC1's on dinky cars every day. Recently, when I was modifying a jetski trailer for two unlimited OC6's the guys brought one of the 40' unlimiteds for a fitting on top of a compact truck. They rigged a brace to the front bumper, dropped the front rack and used the back one (not wise to support a strong but flexy structure in three places). 40 feet of boat on a 14' truck. Worked fine. You won't have any problem with a narrowly spaced rack as long as you restrain the front from pushing up in the wind. A wimpy rope will do the job just fine.

Wow, 40 ft boat on a 14 ft truck. That should've looked amazing!

[Area 10]

1) Then you’ll know when you get your ass kicked by a teenager on a 23” wide one, that thinking
2)  “If only I went narrower I’d be faster” is just not going to work for you
3) There’s something reassuring about not being able to blame your equipment
4) Stop giving yourself excuses for your failure to achieve the goals that your ego has set you

Here's some dry answers:

1) That already happens (courtesy of Ben Pye or Aaron Rowe in the past) but to be honest, I'd be a bit worried for the sport if they couldn't beat a 43 year old.

2) I don't have that concern. It's about risk vs gains and I don't believe I've had many (if any) bad SUP races due to to equipment choice alone.

3) There really isn't when you're looking for progression. To give you an example, in my cycling my power output has plateua'd over the last 18 months no matter what I do to try and break it. I've been going faster than ever though because I continually tweak my aerodynamic set and equipment up to find more gains. However, its the former that is annoying - I just see the latter as low hanging fruit that I don't reflect much on.

4) As far as SUP goes, I don't have any (although I've still got a couple of big ones left in cycling that niggle). I only paddle twice a week and its unstructured most of the time and we also have no proper national championships (which is the kind of event I would focus or train for intensely if we had one) so my attitude to the sport is quite relaxed (which is why I don't mind offering out nuggets of info in both articles and videos). I've never used equipment as an excuse - more a realistic acknowledgement of knowing my skills and their limitations but I still want to see some kind of personal progression. Frankly, I got more personal satisfaction out of the winter time trial series I organised last winter than I did in my races this year as I could see stark improvements straight away.

Go and do the M2O, before you are too old. Then we’d all be impressed

[Luc Benac]

Really :-)   
I regularly transport my 17'4" on top of my Subary Outback 15.8" and do not plan anytime soon to leave it at home :-)

That's really reassuring to know! How do you distribute that excessive 1'8", or how far back is your board sitting on top of your car?

Almost all excess is at the back.

I see. Thanks!

Which means that the board is balanced weight wise with the pin tail at the front and the wider nose at teh back.

[yugi]

^ depends which continent you're on

[Lake Paddler]

Which means that the board is balanced weight wise with the pin tail at the front and the wider nose at teh back.

Thanks a lot for the nice picture! One day when I have my own unlimited, I won't hesitate to put it on top of my car.
I checked the regulations here. No excess at the front is allowed, while a maximum excess of 1.5 m is possible at the back. So I should be good to go.

[ukgm]

Go and do the M2O, before you are too old. Then we’d all be impressed

It doesn't inspire me. I do fancy the 11 cities though at some point.

(I think Jo Hamilton Vale did M2O and she's a lot older than me.)

[mr_proper]

I have a question that is slightly off topic. Today I went to a garage to see what kind of solution they offer for the transportation of a 14 ft (ca. 4.27 m) board. One guy suggested that my car, being ca. 4.44 m long, is too short for such a task (or conversely the board is too long). What do you guys think? Is it really the case? Which vehicles do you normally use for transportation? Below are some dimensions in mm.

btw
After paddling with a 28" board for half a year, I tried a 23" Sprint and thought that was really great. Even 10km worked, although sometimes a bit shaky. Then the first race on a river with a lot of current and I fell off the board 14 times.
Immediately sold the Sprint and bought a 25" all water board (Sidewinder) and that was ok.
Now I have a 24.75" racer and an 26" all-water and only if it's really flat, the racer is faster. Starting in the race is much better with the all-water and as soon as there are just some waves, the racer loses.

[Lake Paddler]

btw
After paddling with a 28" board for half a year, I tried a 23" Sprint and thought that was really great. Even 10km worked, although sometimes a bit shaky. Then the first race on a river with a lot of current and I fell off the board 14 times.
Immediately sold the Sprint and bought a 25" all water board (Sidewinder) and that was ok.
Now I have a 24.75" racer and an 26" all-water and only if it's really flat, the racer is faster. Starting in the race is much better with the all-water and as soon as there are just some waves, the racer loses.

Nice photo Mr. Proper, thanks! The SIC RS does seem to be a nice option for me, too. How does it compare to the Allstar 2017 that you once owned?

[mr_proper]

Nice photo Mr. Proper, thanks! The SIC RS does seem to be a nice option for me, too. How does it compare to the Allstar 2017 that you once owned?

I also tried the RS 14x24.5 and I can say that it was more stable and faster than the Allstar for me. Even the RS 14x26 is a bit faster for me than the Allstar 14x24.5. I have no idea what it is. But in the conditions where I paddle, the RS works amazingly.
I am 6.4 ft tall and weigh 202 lbs and maybe the >24.5 wide boards dive too deep or are too tippy. Anyway, right now the board is the best I've ever had.
Boat and ship waves from the side? No matter. Cross chop? No matter. buoy turns at waves? No matter.

10 months ago I had my fastest time on the 10 km of my home track with my Lightcorp.
Yesterday, in very similar conditions, I was only 7 seconds slower on the RS.

The RS makes so much fun. It glides on every little wave. Also drafting behind slow boats works better than on all my boards so far.

My recommendation is therefore a RS in 24.5 or 23 width, depending on your ability.

[Area 10]

Go and do the M2O, before you are too old. Then we’d all be impressed

It doesn't inspire me. I do fancy the 11 cities though at some point.

(I think Jo Hamilton Vale did M2O and she's a lot older than me.)

11 cities is too close to what you know - it would be just like going down the gym for you. The M2O is an entirely different level of challenge.

And there are people older than Jo who do the M2O. But we are talking about YOU

How long are you going to keep getting a kick out of slogging round some dreary cold and wet European lake, river or canal?