I freaking love my Joe Bark unlimited

[deepmud]

I've had some time to compare it and the Hobie, do some back-to-back paddling with a friend to paddle one or the other with me. The Hobie is a bit faster in a straight line on flat water,  I can manage about 9kph on the Hobie with what feels like the same effort on the Bark doing 8-ish - but it REALLY doesn't turn well - unless you have wind from the side - then it REALLY only wants to turn downwind. I bet it's great as a downwinder. I plan to add a steering rudder - maybe I'll like it then. The Hobie was actually really good as a river tourer this last winter. But the Bark - it's so stable yet makes very good speed. A couple weeks ago I did a couple laps of about 4 miles on a local lake in fairly windy conditions. I looked it up on local pilot-forecast sites, 10 knots with gusts at 15 to 20. Waves on the lake were under a foot - they don't have a lot of time to build. My first lap averaged 5.1 mph even with the battle upwind being pretty strong. The downwind was really really fun - I could actually feel the push of the waves, and when they rolled up under the board a few times they would pour over my feet as I tilted to steer or keep balance on the EXCELLENT secondary stability. What really had me happy was being able to turn across the wind at the bottom of the run and paddle (on one side) while getting hit over and over by waves on the side and STILL I stayed up and felt confident. I really must have liked it because after one lap I did another - at 4.7 average - I blame the wind Maybe it was higher the 2nd time? Man if I lived in Seward I'd be arranging a sea-taxi ride up Ressurection Bay about 2 times a week That downwind stuff is really fun.

I took the Bark yesterday on a river "Race" our local paddling group has put up the last 3 years. This year there was only one other "Racer" - mostly it is people wanting to hang out, take it easy. The one other racer is actually pretty fast, he's paddled the Yukon River Quest. He was in his single canoe he had built especially for racing the YRQ  - he said he's had a couple of attempts with doubles but the partners bailed out so he went solo. I don't think he was putting it all in - but he was tough to catch up to - and to my surprise I passed him and ended up a good half mile ahead for the "win" About 8 miles at about 1:02 - I figure the river is 3mph and I managed a solid 5mph. My GPS on deck was still KPH  - and I was  somewhere from 11 to 14 kph all the time, minus some coasting to take photos. Perhaps if I keep losing weight on Keto I'll get a bit faster - it can't help to have an extra 65 pounds (I'm dreaming of getting down to 200 ) but it's for sure better than the 85-90 I was hauling around before.

So - I love love love the Joe Bark. It's almost perfect. Make it hollow with hatches to stuff it full of gear and I will take it touring on Kechemak Bay. Add steering and (maybe a lee-board?  ) to help with crosswinds/sidewinds and I feel like it would handle more weather than my tendency to get seasick can handle. I wasn't sure that the amount of rocker it has would be good for the paddling I do (mostly flatwater lakes)  - but it's clearly part of the magic of this board. Stable enough, fast enough, maneuverable enough. Not enough tie downs .

I found a video from 2009 with Joe talking about this type of board - so the design is at least that old. Talldude - than you THANK you for putting me onto this board. The Hobie is fun too - but the Bark is awesome. And even with all the shipping costs I have way less cash into BOTH boards than just the Bark at new price (2009 Joe says "about $3500" in the video).

[TallDude]

I'm so glad that Bark is working out for you. Joe Bark and Craig Richmond were following the original master of open water prone paddleboards Mike Eaton. Joe and Craig took an already developed hull design and adapted it to Standup Paddleboarding. Essentially just making them a little wider. They do have the magic rocker. The Hobie is a prototype and unique. Without a rudder the quartered wind can be brutal to paddle in. You end up correcting the nose direction with every stroke. That wears me out. A center fin can be added to reduce that. Other than the funky standing area on the Bark, they do paddled and glide really well.

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