Well, I got my new board yesterday and will be taking it for the first ride tomorrow. Assuming I don't immediately dislike it this will kick off stage 3 of midlength testing.

Stage 1 wasn't especially a "midlength" but it was the smallest of the Kalama e3 prone/dw boards.

Stage 2 was a true midlength. Sunova Carver.

Stage 3 will grey the line between true midlength and mini dw board with the Sunova Aviator 18.

The dims:
E3: 5'3"x22"x83l 11.5lbs (75 sessions) BARGF = 3.83
Carver: 5'10"x20"x85l 10.75lbs (125 sessions) BARGF = 4.49 (.66 increase)
Aviator: 6'6"x18"x90l 11.25lbs (0 sessions) BARGF = 5.38 (.89 increase)

Knowing this would be a prolonged test I tried to avoid making any drastic changes to liters and I'd argue that a 7l swing at almost neutral (I'm 86kg) is going to have a pretty minimal impact. The E3 and Carver can be compared with their performance on Cloud IX foils and wings. The Carver and Aviator will be compared with Silks and Ocean Rodeo wings.

The first transition from stage 1 to stage 2 was 100% improvement. There was nothing about the E3 that I missed or thought was better than the Carver. Everything from takeoff to carving and even carrying the board around on the beach was better.

Stage 2 to stage 3 I am quite honestly unsure how it will go. The Aviator is 8" longer which makes me confident about easy takeoffs, but how much better do I really need over the Carver which has gotten the job done for the last 2100 miles? Is this the point of diminishing returns? I was definitely worried about the extra .5lbs and length but upon measuring and weighing, 100% of the added weight is behind the foil, and only 1.5" are added in front of the foil. So, perhaps the extra length and weight won't impact in the traditional sense? Last, is 18" too narrow? There are times when my toes hang off the deck pad on the 20" Carver. I just lost .75" of deck pad on either side of the board so I am sure that will be noticed at times.

Anyone have predictions about how this might unfold? Extra questions worth asking?

If I was predicting where stage 4 would be headed in 6 months I would expect that it would be lowering the volume on whichever length/width was decided upon as most fun.

I am interested on thickness and how that affects the feel of the board. Maybe you can comment on that or add that to your tests.

My prediction is you like the 6'6 x 18 more. More flow in turns, even easier take off.

Do Sunova deck pads come as close to the edge as possible. When I started dropping width, I kept my deck pad width the same. I was just reducing the edge of pad to actual rail distance. Went from 2.5 inches pad to rail, down to 0.5 inch eventually. It tricks the brain. Feet have same amount of room to dance.

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winginglkemich said..
I am interested on thickness and how that affects the feel of the board. Maybe you can comment on that or add that to your tests.

I'm interested in that as well.

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DWF said..
My prediction is you like the 6'6 x 18 more. More flow in turns, even easier take off.

Do Sunova deck pads come as close to the edge as possible. When I started dropping width, I kept my deck pad width the same. I was just reducing the edge of pad to actual rail distance. Went from 2.5 inches pad to rail, down to 0.5 inch eventually. It tricks the brain. Feet have same amount of room to dance.

I hope your prediction is right! The Sunova deck pads don't go all the way unfortunately. My next board I'll ask to have delivered with no deck pad so I can diy. This one has plenty of room left to add some scrap pad.

Crossed the 100 mile mark on the 6'6" aviator today and have a few thoughts:

The 18" width has a bunch of benefits:
Very responsive carving.
Best slogging board I've had.
Touchdowns don't seem to matter at all.
Takeoffs are altered. I don't hardly pump anymore. I hold the wing and wait for the board speed to happen naturally. Then, 1-2 pumps and I'm in flight. My shoulders love it.
The pointed nose makes the board seem a lot smaller than expected.

Things to be critical of:
The thickness is noticeable for touchdowns at the start. It's about 3/4" thicker than my current board and as a result, I commonly have accidental touchdowns when riding swell where I think I still have time to wait, but actually should have pumped already.
My loosest foil was nearly out of control on this. I'm doing a bit of tuning to sort this out but my kit was already so responsive that going a little narrower made it crazy.
Some foils do feel like they would appreciate a slightly wider deck to be manipulated by. This is speed related. All foils seem to have speeds they like and speeds they don't. Specifically, my smallest foil prefers to be muscled a little more at low speeds which is hard on 18". I need to try it in some big swell, hopefully soon.

That's it for the moment!

Thanks BW for the updates and ongoing research/commitment!

How do you find the on-water starting stability of the different width/length/shapes that you've tried?

As a tall & big guy (6'4" and 100kg) on an Omen Flux 84l (5'11" x 21.5") the most challenging scenario for me is starting in super choppy conditions. Stability going from stinkbug to my feet sometimes means 3-4 attempts and swearing in between :-)
(Also really light winds if I have no pressure in the wing. but that's where I've realized the neutral volume mid-length is a great solution.)

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kiwiupover said..
Thanks BW for the updates and ongoing research/commitment!

How do you find the on-water starting stability of the different width/length/shapes that you've tried?

As a tall & big guy (6'4" and 100kg) on an Omen Flux 84l (5'11" x 21.5") the most challenging scenario for me is starting in super choppy conditions. Stability going from stinkbug to my feet sometimes means 3-4 attempts and swearing in between :-)
(Also really light winds if I have no pressure in the wing. but that's where I've realized the neutral volume mid-length is a great solution.)

Totally valid question and tough to answer honestly because every board I get is after 2000+ miles of practice on the last one. What I can say is that I never use the stinkbug, I fell too much using that water start. I do a knee start, nose of board pointed straight downwind, and brace on the wing for lateral stability. Lift and go! I've done this in 60 knots with raging swell and a 2m wing and I've done the same thing in 10 knots with a 4m wing. So, I stick to just the one technique and try to perfect it in all conditions!

Neutral volume is 100% the way to go for light wind or for ultra small wing/foil combos!

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kiwiupover said..
Thanks BW for the updates and ongoing research/commitment!

How do you find the on-water starting stability of the different width/length/shapes that you've tried?

As a tall & big guy (6'4" and 100kg) on an Omen Flux 84l (5'11" x 21.5") the most challenging scenario for me is starting in super choppy conditions. Stability going from stinkbug to my feet sometimes means 3-4 attempts and swearing in between :-)
(Also really light winds if I have no pressure in the wing. but that's where I've realized the neutral volume mid-length is a great solution.)

I'm the same as you. 6'4", 93kg on 95l x 20" x 6'2" board. Lots of swearing at times, but it is getting better with practice. As long as I've got 7-8kts to lean on I can stand up and then the board's efficiency is great. Less wind and it's a diabolical greased pig!!

Hi,
I could not find what BARGF means in terms of performance, board features, etc.

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FranP said..
Hi,
I could not find what BARGF means in terms of performance, board features, etc.

It's a way to evaluate takeoff expectations. www.wouzel.com/post/calculating-your-barg-factor