I watched the live feed of the Fastest paddler on earth 200m sprint in Germany overnight and it was interesting to hear Starboard has a 21 inch wide sprint for their paddlers to use there. Also Fanatic had a 21 inch Strike. didn't hear a mention of other brands but I believe these weren't the only 2 brands with this new super skinny width.

Connor won the mens but he used the 23 wide model in the final.
Defending champ little Aussie legend Trev used the 21 wide model in the final and he fell mid way. Afterwards he said he learnt his lesson that he should actually practise paddling the board before racing on it as he found it tippy.
Aussie, Jake came in third on the narrow strike.

Both the sprint and the strike both look to have some changes for next season. Not sure if these 21 wide boards are production anyone know?

Times.
Final Mens
Connor Baxter :53.12 seconds.
Boris Jinvresse :53.60
Jake Jensen :53.83

Final Womens
Seychelle Hattingh 1:02.50
Manca Notar 1:04.70
Amandine Chazot 1:04.90

Note. Connors qual race was a head to head dash along side Trev.
Connors time was quicker than his final at :51.6 seconds against Trevs :53.4 seconds.
but still a LONG way off the world record held by Danny Ching in 2014 at :47.6 seconds... someone can correct me but I am pretty sure dannys time was on a 24 wide board and on his 404 design that is not a dedicated flat water board like the sprint or strike.
If Connor can't break the 50 second barrier I don't see anyone breaking Danny's record for a generations time.

I dont see the 21 inch wide boards being the best to sprint on as the tippyness will probably out way the power that you can no longer put into each stroke but in the long race the narrow board could have a small advantage. Lots of things in play as well like tail wind or head wind as even the slightest wind can make a difference. Danny set a crazy fast time but it was still tail wind behind him on that day.

I actually just watched dannys race again. Can see the water moving in the right direction on that run for him.

I thought there was going to be a cap on how narrow boards can go??
I reckon 22/23 should be the limit.

why cap the width of boards?, if they can ride them and perform to their desired ability then go for it I say..wouldn't be a massive market for us average and less than average paddlers, but for the elite why not. I have zero interest in doing 200m in 53 seconds, but id love to see how good the elite can go and if that means 21" then let rip boys and girls

I think Jake was on a 12.6 too,

No 14ft x 21

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angie pangi said...
No 14ft x 21

His mum said they didn't have the 14 for him so he raced 12.6.doesent matter he's bounced back well.hell get stronger and stronger the more racing he does.

If it was a 12"6 it was a long one that looked 14foot long hehe.

Huge race today for all the Aussies there.
Hopefully all in the top 20, hopefully all in top 10 actually with one of them getting the win!

I paddled a 21.5" wide custom raceboard recently (12-6 and 14), built by Grey Paddleboards. My balance is appalling - I'm a typical wobbly old man. But even I didn't fall in. I waz dog slow on it because I spent my whole time bracing, but if I can do it, it should be trivial for the elites in flat water. Hell, if I can stay up on 21.5" wide then I'd expect there to be sub-20 boards this time next year, if not before.

I'll never race one. But if you start racing early enough in life (unlike me...) you could probably paddle whatever you like. The limiting factor for me is how comfortable your feet position is. 21.5" wide was pushing it for me. So I can imagine using an exaggerated surf stance to paddle in order to go narrower, to accommodate your feet. Then you'd get as low as you could by dropping one knee, to shorten the paddle and help stability. And then what you are doing is stand up Olympic canoe" just like Jim Terrell predicted a couple of years ago. It will look weird and freaky and not many people will do it. Oh well, it was good while it lasted...

I'm not sure how much advantage you have going narrower once it is easy to get your paddle vertical without leaning. Connor might be able to use a wider board than some others because he's taller so can get good technique even on a wider board. At some point differences in individual body shapes are going to start to be reflected in board choices. Maybe that is already what has happened this year.

lets not get into the board width , length debate again suffice to say 23 wide should be the limit

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teatrea said...
lets not get into the board width , length debate again suffice to say 23 wide should be the limit

You've got more chance of being struck by lightning than stopping boards going narrower than 23. Because we've got fixed lengths and there aren't any revolutionary new construction methods, and board designs are starting to converge, the only thing retailers have to persuade you to buy the latest model is the "go narrower and you'll go faster" mantra.

Larry Cain did very well (especially for an old man) on a production 14x25 in Tahiti recently. Dave Kalama beat Kai Lenny at Maliko this year on (I think) a wider board, even though his balance can't be as good and he is twice his age. So I'm sure that width isn't going to be critical for many, in many situations, but that is going to be the story we keep hearing nevertheless. Any other marketing narrative takes too much time to get across, and if you are a 100lb kid, maybe it's true.

Jeremy Riggs custom bullet that he down winds is only 22 wide is that right? He has had that board for years and still every pic and vid I see still on that board.
He dancers up and down that thing on a down wind run like its 32 wide.

From Total sup

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AndyR said..

Connors time was quicker than his final at :51.6 seconds against Trevs :53.4 seconds.
but still a LONG way off the world record held by Danny Ching in 2014 at :47.6 seconds... someone can correct me but I am pretty sure dannys time was on a 24 wide board and on his 404 design that is not a dedicated flat water board like the sprint or strike.
If Connor can't break the 50 second barrier I don't see anyone breaking Danny's record for a generations time.

Are they still doing the starts the same way they did when Danny's time was recorded 3 years ago? As I recall, it was a rolling start rather than a gated start, or the time didn't start until the paddler moved or something.

Yes still a rolling start and i talked to jake and he was on a 14ft board.

Would of been good to see Danny there to put a time down to see if he is still the sprint King.
Would of been good to see if Danny and Travis were there how that long distance race would of panned out.
Personally I think boothy has it he is the real deal when it comes to hard grinding racers like that and boothy would of been at the front with Danny and Travis with Connor and T2 and I reckon boothy would still be there for the sprint to the line.

I reckon if boothy was at Carolina early this year he would of been at the front and possibly could of been the one to go with T2 at the end and could of broken him for a sprint finish to win.

Is there a race stacking up this year that will see
Danny/Travis/Connor/T2/boothy all line up together? Always seems to be one or two missing out of them at every big race.
Pacific paddle games distance race maybe?

Were any of the guys on 21" wide boards for the distance race?
I saw the finish and it looked like Connor may have been.

Connor and Jake both said they were in post race interviews as well as Trevor said he was too.
Not that it means anything but I reckon Jake looked at home on the narrow board in the few times you could see the footage of them paddling close enough.

Connor lost his balance in the final sprint, where boothy didn't who was on the 23 sprint.

Yeah I thought that was the case Boothy looked a lot more stable.

For myself at 90kgs and the wrong side of 50yo, I have enough trouble staying on my 23 Sprint but I'm sure some of the lightweight young crew could manage the 21's ok.
The 23 Sprint is remarkably stable really for it's width but as soon as there is a bit of chop or boat wake I am spending more time trying to balance than put the power down.

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AndyR said..
Would of been good to see Danny there to put a time down to see if he is still the sprint King.
Would of been good to see if Danny and Travis were there how that long distance race would of panned out.
Personally I think boothy has it he is the real deal when it comes to hard grinding racers like that and boothy would of been at the front with Danny and Travis with Connor and T2 and I reckon boothy would still be there for the sprint to the line.

I reckon if boothy was at Carolina early this year he would of been at the front and possibly could of been the one to go with T2 at the end and could of broken him for a sprint finish to win.

Is there a race stacking up this year that will see
Danny/Travis/Connor/T2/boothy all line up together? Always seems to be one or two missing out of them at every big race.
Pacific paddle games distance race maybe?

I would say PPG they will all line up and maybe the Gorge as well.

Boothy is on a tear , powerfull paddler. Young trev was going well until he fell , so was beau obrien . Jakey done an excellent job staying with them till the end , he burst his eardrum surfing only a few weeks ago and has suffered a bit of jetlag too by the sounds of it. He will close the gap on the top guys as the season progresses. Fairdinkum it was painfull watching that live feed Better than nothing I suppose.

I guess the live feed is a start and hopefully it is just a platform for what is around the corner. Would be good to get parker a good camera that can go straight on the net so he could do it with a bit better quality. Having a good Internet is also still a big issue by the looks of it and maybe some of the events could look at for bigger events. I like the live posting kind of adds a bit of humor.

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paul.j said..
I guess the live feed is a start and hopefully it is just a platform for what is around the corner. Would be good to get parker a good camera that can go straight on the net so he could do it with a bit better quality. Having a good Internet is also still a big issue by the looks of it and maybe some of the events could look at for bigger events. I like the live posting kind of adds a bit of humor.

Yeah not complaining its was good to follow the comments , you can only work with what you have.

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paul.j said..
I guess the live feed is a start and hopefully it is just a platform for what is around the corner. Would be good to get parker a good camera that can go straight on the net so he could do it with a bit better quality. Having a good Internet is also still a big issue by the looks of it and maybe some of the events could look at for bigger events. I like the live posting kind of adds a bit of humor.

the nudist beach sounded interesting, not sure about the German sausage hanging loose though!

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angie pangi said...

AndyR said..
Would of been good to see Danny there to put a time down to see if he is still the sprint King.
Would of been good to see if Danny and Travis were there how that long distance race would of panned out.
Personally I think boothy has it he is the real deal when it comes to hard grinding racers like that and boothy would of been at the front with Danny and Travis with Connor and T2 and I reckon boothy would still be there for the sprint to the line.

I reckon if boothy was at Carolina early this year he would of been at the front and possibly could of been the one to go with T2 at the end and could of broken him for a sprint finish to win.

Is there a race stacking up this year that will see
Danny/Travis/Connor/T2/boothy all line up together? Always seems to be one or two missing out of them at every big race.
Pacific paddle games distance race maybe?

I would say PPG they will all line up and maybe the Gorge as well.

Crap I left kelly off that list too. Genuine race winner any day of the week the old fella

The Gorge. My bucket list race! Must get there one year soon!

Hey does anyone know the weight of these 14 foot 21 wide boards? Sprint and strike?
Strike must be like 8kgs yeah?? Falcon and strike at 24 wide are crazy light surely this 21 wide pro model must be like a feather???

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AndyR said...
Hey does anyone know the weight of these 14 foot 21 wide boards? Sprint and strike?
Strike must be like 8kgs yeah?? Falcon and strike at 24 wide are crazy light surely this 21 wide pro model must be like a feather???

Just over 9kg i heard

check this out , very poor technique if you ask me. Connor better than Trev but still very bad. Trevor not getting good power , no positive blade entry sacrificing power for cadence.

www.facebook.com/LostMills/videos/1083900241685444/

compare their technique to these guys in c1

see the difference

boothy great tech also

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teatrea said..
check this out , very poor technique if you ask me. Connor better than Trev but still very bad. Trevor not getting good power , no positive blade entry sacrificing power for cadence.

The results seem to suggest that in 200 metre sprint racing, cadence is king. You can see from that head to head with Connor and Trevor that Trevor has him covered to about the half way point but then he bonks. It's an all or nothing gamble as you have nothing in reserve. Maybe he went out too hard too soon in that heat.

Michael Booth's technique appears to be really efficient and again the results show that it holds him in good stead for the distance races, but I suspect it would be even more taxing to try to increase cadence dramatically using that stroke. No doubt someone clever could run a computer simulation to work out the optimal approach but at the moment, the results seem to indicate that Connor and Trevor have the 200 metre thing worked out better than the others.