What is the fastest race board???
Anyone paddled the latest Sprint at 19.75" - is it all about narrowness?
The Sunova FAAST Flatwater at 21.5" is very quick....what about One Edge with that pointed rear and hollow construction???
Fanatic Strike was at a time the leader too???

Interested to hear thoughts???

I would claim that is no "fastest" race board.

There may be one for each given paddler level (how narrow can you manage?) and conditions (wind, chop).

Otherwise, just a simple test fitting an electric motor on each board in a pool with a 80kg weight on it would tell you what is the theoretical "fastest" board. But in real life, for you?...

The one that you don't fall off

And fastest for what? 200m sprint, 5km time trial in glassy conditions or a marathon with some wash from other competitors and maybe some open water with chop thrown in?

the youngest and fittest bloke with the best good technique on any decent 14' board.

Not necessarily the youngest. Nick van der linde won the 11 cities 3 times in a row. He's in his 40's. On a Fanatic Strike I think?
As others have said, fastest for what and it depends on the person.
This has been discussed a lot and fitness and technique will win every time. You can put a super fit person with great technique on an average board and he will smash a less fit person with average technique on a fast board.

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tarquin1 said..
Not necessarily the youngest. Nick van der linde won the 11 cities 3 times in a row. He's in his 40's. On a Fanatic Strike I think?
As others have said, fastest for what and it depends on the person.
This has been discussed a lot and fitness and technique will win every time. You can put a super fit person with great technique on an average board and he will smash a less fit person with average technique on a fast board.

irrespective of all other factors, age, fitness, conditions, paddler, distance etc...
opinions on fastest board....is narrowness the key, like 19.75 or even narrower if it can be handled and keeping volume up - like sprint? or less volume and more width like 21-22
e.g. is the current crop of board design trending towards high/deep walls and as narrow as possible with high volume better/faster than older style of less volume and flat decks with low walls - like the old Sunova FAAST as example, at 23 wide these things were incredibly fast with low volume and very low side walls...? older style Fanatics, go back 10+yrs - also fast low volume and low walls

As many have said so many factors come into play when saying one board is faster than another.

The easy way out is to just keep making boards narrower like 19 or 20 wide and then maybe next year 18 wide but i don't know about you but i hate standing in a board so narrow and if thats the best company's can do to make boards faster each year then its a **** road we are going down.

We have taken quite a different path these days on many of our boards and worked alot more on the hull shape and efficiency so we can widen the board up and make the standing area way more comfortable for most people(myself included). I once would have had to paddle a 21 wide board but now paddle a 23.5 and am faster and in fact in the last Scotts heads race I paddled a 25.5 wide board in the long-distance and because it was super efficient for its width it was for me the perfect choice. For us it's trying to make a super-efficient board while keeping the practical side of what we do on them, so a board that has amazing glide but can still turn and is stable where you stand so you can keep good power down without twitching.

What is the fastest board? I doubt anyone person could say but I know we enjoy trying to make it!!

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surgolrun said..
irrespective of all other factors, age, fitness, conditions, paddler, distance etc...

For this theoretical point of view: it is easy: the shape with the less wetted surface.

That means a cylinder. A log.

11" wide.

As Jimmy Terrell said 8 years ago already:

"if SUP boards continue evolving the way they are, it's going to become a ridiculous balance contest that deters people from participating and eventually kills the sport.

I could see it coming over the past couple of years and even built a few radical-looking (and radically-fast) hi-tech carbon shapes to stir up some welcome protests from other racers.

Just check out this video below. this is an 11 inch wide board. 11 inches. eleven! That's less than half of what the narrowest production boards are today. The deck is 16 inches wide but the effective water line (i.e. the real width) is only 11 inches, closer to a high performance high-kneel canoe than a SUP race board.

I didn't make this board to gain a sneaky advantage and win races (though I could certainly use it for that if I wanted). I built it to show everybody where the sport of SUP racing is headed, and where it's eventually going to get to if we don't do something about it sooner rather than later.

Watch the video again. Is this where we want to see our sport go?"

www.supracer.com/the-death-and-rebirth-of-sup-racing/

Alas the video is not available anymore, but you can see him on a narrow canoe here:

"Jim Terrell from QuickBlade Paddles displaying extraordinary balance in an Olympic sprint canoe. These high-kneel canoes (also known as "C1") have a waterline width of about 11 inches, which is half that of today's narrowest SUP race boards. They also have a rounded bottom and no fin, all of which combine to make them a nightmare to balance even on one knee"

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1510408702376509

So you have your answer. Just go buy a race canoe...

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colas said..

surgolrun said..
irrespective of all other factors, age, fitness, conditions, paddler, distance etc...

For this theoretical point of view: it is easy: the shape with the less wetted surface.

That means a cylinder. A log.

11" wide.

As Jimmy Terrell said 8 years ago already:

"if SUP boards continue evolving the way they are, it's going to become a ridiculous balance contest that deters people from participating and eventually kills the sport.

I could see it coming over the past couple of years and even built a few radical-looking (and radically-fast) hi-tech carbon shapes to stir up some welcome protests from other racers.

Just check out this video below. this is an 11 inch wide board. 11 inches. eleven! That's less than half of what the narrowest production boards are today. The deck is 16 inches wide but the effective water line (i.e. the real width) is only 11 inches, closer to a high performance high-kneel canoe than a SUP race board.

I didn't make this board to gain a sneaky advantage and win races (though I could certainly use it for that if I wanted). I built it to show everybody where the sport of SUP racing is headed, and where it's eventually going to get to if we don't do something about it sooner rather than later.

Watch the video again. Is this where we want to see our sport go?"

www.supracer.com/the-death-and-rebirth-of-sup-racing/

Alas the video is not available anymore, but you can see him on a narrow canoe here:

"Jim Terrell from QuickBlade Paddles displaying extraordinary balance in an Olympic sprint canoe. These high-kneel canoes (also known as "C1") have a waterline width of about 11 inches, which is half that of today's narrowest SUP race boards. They also have a rounded bottom and no fin, all of which combine to make them a nightmare to balance even on one knee"

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1510408702376509

So you have your answer. Just go buy a race canoe...

that's awesome - look at the size of the blade too!

Another speed factor, not mentioned here, is fin selection. I have found that fin selection can play a significant factor in my board speed. It is especially noticeable in flatwater conditions, where you can experiment and isolate the impact of that variable. Generally, I have found that less depth equals greater speed. However, tracking is really important too. If your board doesn't track well then it can effect your stroke and your ability to put down power without weaving. You need enough surface area to keep the board from kicking sideways under power. Finding the best placement of the fin in the box (another factor), can really help to maximize the tracking.

I have found that for me, a fin depth of 6-7 inches is all that I need. I also find that I like the way the board feels when finned this way. It feels to me that I am more in tune with the balance of the board, rather than the feel of the fin slowing the roll of the board to assist me in balancing. I don't know if this makes any sense to anyone else.

I also totally agree that narrow is fast, if you can stay on it and put down the power. Fastest is not always the best though. There is a tipping point somewhere in the chase for speed that your paddling enjoyment rally starts to diminish with such a narrowly focused board. It comes down to maybe three factors to avoid for me.

1. The board is just too narrow for my skill set and I am struggling to stay upright and put down power. With the constant narrowing of boards, I expect a lot of people are over estimating their capabilities. I am 196 pounds now and I have gotten down to 24.5 width. I don't think I have any interest in trying to go more narrow. That's about my limit.
2. The rocker is just too flat. I had an SIC X- Pro 14x 26. It was a Really fast shape on flat smooth water. However, it had no real rocker and it was a handful in step short period swells and was not great in cross chop either. Zero fun downwind for me. I didn't have the skills needed to move around as much as would be required.
3. I don't really dig dugout "logs". Board shape is important to me. That sounds funny! I mean I like the balance improvement in getting you closer to the water and all, but I don't like the aesthetic and I don't want to bust my ribs on on those bathtub walls.

Here's what I do like. For me, the SIC RS Pro gets it right from the nice rocker, moderately dugout shape, handles, webbing, enough volume to float me well with a wide stable tail. Even the paint job is nice. It is fast in nearly all conditions and tracks really well with the bottom chines too. Maybe not the fastest board, but for me, the Best board yet.

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Rideordie said..
Another speed factor, not mentioned here, is fin selection. I have found that fin selection can play a significant factor in my board speed. It is especially noticeable in flatwater conditions, where you can experiment and isolate the impact of that variable. Generally, I have found that less depth equals greater speed. However, tracking is really important too. If your board doesn't track well then it can effect your stroke and your ability to put down power without weaving. You need enough surface area to keep the board from kicking sideways under power. Finding the best placement of the fin in the box (another factor), can really help to maximize the tracking.

I have found that for me, a fin depth of 6-7 inches is all that I need. I also find that I like the way the board feels when finned this way. It feels to me that I am more in tune with the balance of the board, rather than the feel of the fin slowing the roll of the board to assist me in balancing. I don't know if this makes any sense to anyone else.

I also totally agree that narrow is fast, if you can stay on it and put down the power. Fastest is not always the best though. There is a tipping point somewhere in the chase for speed that your paddling enjoyment rally starts to diminish with such a narrowly focused board. It comes down to maybe three factors to avoid for me.

1. The board is just too narrow for my skill set and I am struggling to stay upright and put down power. With the constant narrowing of boards, I expect a lot of people are over estimating their capabilities. I am 196 pounds now and I have gotten down to 24.5 width. I don't think I have any interest in trying to go more narrow. That's about my limit.
2. The rocker is just too flat. I had an SIC X- Pro 14x 26. It was a Really fast shape on flat smooth water. However, it had no real rocker and it was a handful in step short period swells and was not great in cross chop either. Zero fun downwind for me. I didn't have the skills needed to move around as much as would be required.
3. I don't really dig dugout "logs". Board shape is important to me. That sounds funny! I mean I like the balance improvement in getting you closer to the water and all, but I don't like the aesthetic and I don't want to bust my ribs on on those bathtub walls.

Here's what I do like. For me, the SIC RS Pro gets it right from the nice rocker, moderately dugout shape, handles, webbing, enough volume to float me well with a wide stable tail. Even the paint job is nice. It is fast in nearly all conditions and tracks really well with the bottom chines too. Maybe not the fastest board, but for me, the Best board yet.

yes agree..currently using this fin below in Sunova FAAST 21.5 Flatwater - great board and speed - fin big difference to performance for flat water

Anyone paddled the 2021 Starboard Sprint 19.75? It's narrow yes but so deep and so high volume, I too had the SIC X-Pro and was a grea board, also had the old Sunova Fast before they wen dugout and at 23 they ere low volume low rail and real tippy but super fast and I reckon they were as fast or faster than current crop of board design going high volume deep side vertical walls and narrow as possible????

Then there's the whole planing vs displacement thing - wow! All race kayaks and skis are displacement with very rounded bottoms but can be that way because balance is better with paddlers so much lower centre of gravity, so is this faster with a bit more width than planing and narrow with heaps of volume???

I paddled the 2021 Starboard Sprint Carbon/Wood at 23 and it was a total pig - like the titanic

Surgolrun,
I have an older version of that same VMG Time Trial fin. I found it to to be a bit draggy and slow. Just my opinion. If you think that fin is fast, then you should get this one. They call it the Thresher on the Paddleboard Specialists site. I don't think that is the correct name that Larry Allision gave it. I think it is actually called the Stinger, but whatever. Here's the link:

www.paddleboardspecialists.com/Thresher/productinfo/LA16TH/

I have the six inch version and it is my favorite fin!! You have to try it!! You can choose 6,7,8 and 9 inch depth. It is a solid epoxy fin, so it it is certainly heavier than the "floaty" VMG fin, but it is absolutely indestructible and much less expensive than the VMG.

I tested one of those Sunova FAAST before dugout and yeah it was Super Tippy!!