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12’6″ Final Results

Rider	Fanatic 27	Naish 28	SB/Race 27	Fanatic 30	Naish 30	SB/New 25 (AST)	SB/Race 31 (AST)	Coreban 29
Hock 189/89	3:25	3:20	3:23	3:18	3:20	3:42	3:30	3:37
Bren 182/80	3:15	3:19	3:19	3:22	3:18	3:28	3:21	3:26
Jean 174/71	3:43	3:36	3:48	3:47	3:46	3:52	4:02	3:59
Warwick 168/71	3:21	3:24	3:20	3:25	3:21	3:28	3:34	3:45
Jonathan171/70	3:31	3:39	3:35	3:32	3:38	3:32	3:46	3:41
PTWoody170/60	3:21	3:24	3:21	3:29	3:34	3:26	3:37	3:42
Total	20:36	20:42	20:46	20:53	20:57	21:28	21:50	22:10

PT Woody’s Data 12-6 Race Board Comparison:

Analysis by Area 10

This is a good set of data. We can understand about 85% of what is going on here, in terms of variations in people’s times, with the information recorded (like who was riding the board, which board it was, etc.). This is really excellent for this kind of trial, so everyone involved should be congratulated. This was clearly a very well-organised and well executed trial, and it is very likely that the numbers here are meaningful as a consequence. So these results are definitely worth paying attention to. Now, what did the results show? Well, the first thing to say is that BY FAR the most important factor in determining the board speed was who was doing the paddling. In fact, a whopping 60% of the differences in speed can be attributed to the differences in paddler ability. To that we can add another 7% for knowing how late in the day the board was paddled – the conditions must have changed slightly as time went on. The fastest paddler completed all their trials in a total time that was 3 mins 45 seconds faster than the slowest paddler, in a total paddling time across all 8 boards that was on average 28 mins 14 secs long. That is a margin of 13%. Obviously, the racers amongst you will know that that is quite a lot – if you had a 30 min race and someone beat you by nearly 4 minutes it would look like quite a lot, even if it is only 13% difference overall. But the most important statistic is the 60% – in other words, that most of what went on during this trial, speed-wise, was down to the paddler, plain and simple. You might be interested to know that in this sample, the height and weight of the paddler didn’t really make much difference at all. It was who they were that mattered. But what about the differences between boards? Well, the differences in speeds between the board were tiny in comparison to the differences between the paddlers. Less than 10% (actually, 9.3%) of the differences in times could be attributed to which board the paddler was on. But there were two boards that were clearly slower than the others, and contribute by far the most to this 9%. The first, unsurprisingly perhaps, was the only true planing nose board here – the Coreban Alpha race 12-6. This result probably reinforces what we already knew about race boards – that in flatwater (but probably not necessarily choppy water), you really need flat rocker and a displacement design. So no great surprises there, and Coreban shouldn’t be worried – it’s a lovely board that arguably has greater all-round flexibility than the others (e.g. I’ve downwinded on one and really enjoyed it), and isn’t intended to be an out-and-out specialist flat water race board. The other board that was a bit slower than the others was the Starboard Race AST 31”. However, this was hardly far behind the next slowest (only 22 seconds in 20+ mins of total paddling time), or just 7 seconds per run behind the average board time! In contrast to the Coreban, in statistical terms, this difference would not be regarded by scientists as “significant” – i.e. it could have happened by chance. So the thing to point out here is that the margins between all the 6 leading displacement hull boards are REALLY SMALL. Not just a little bit small, but ABSOLUTELY TINY, and we can’t be sure that the order of the results that this trial showed up (i.e. if you just ranked the boards from the one that covered the course in the shortest time to the longest across all paddlers) is not just a chance happening, and that if you did it all again tomorrow, there wouldn’t be a different result. And did the weight and width of the board make a difference? Well, I did the statistics, trying to see how well I could predict the times if I just knew what weight and width the boards were rather than the model. And guess how much of what was going on I could predict that way: 0%. Yes, that’s a bit fat zero. In other words, as far as this sample of 12-6 boards go, in this flat water comparison, there was no need to worry about the width or the board of the weight – they were not the key to speed. I actually found that very surprising, and it has caused me to re-assess my own board selection…I think I might go a little wider for stability in chop, and forego the carbon option… So what was the key to speed? I have no idea. But you should ask Bren. He might know. The second heaviest and second tallest paddler in this trial was also the fastest – albeit by a margin of less than 50 secs across all runs on all 8 boards. So, who said that 12-6 boards disadvantage heavier riders? Maybe if you are a really beefy unit, but not at the kinds of weights in this trial. So, what is the take-home message? Well, you probably need a flat rocker and a displacement hull if you want to be fast in flat water. But as long as you have those characteristics, the rest (e.g. weight, width etc) don’t seem to matter much. Really, the differences between the “fastest” 6 boards were fantastically small, and only a fool would take these results to mean that any one of them is definitely faster under these conditions, and these paddlers, than any other. A puff of wind, a boat wake, or a momentary lapse of concentration from one paddler are pretty much all that separates them in speed. I suspect that people will see into these results whatever they want to see. But what I have learnt from them is that if you want to go fast, train hard and get good technique. Don’t worry too much about your board – all the top models seem very close indeed to each other, at least under these conditions. And don’t forget that differences might well emerge under much more testing conditions where e.g. cross-winds and stability might play a significant role. Perhaps then the relative positions of the boards might even be reversed. Anyway, thank you very much PT Woody and his crew for a fantastic race-board comparison, impeccably conducted. These results (and those of Robert Stehlick) will affect my own personal buying choices considerably.

TEST BY BOARD:

Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30” – 13 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
1	1	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.18
2	10	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.32
3	17	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.29
4	24	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.25
8	43	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.22
8	44	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.47
		TOTAL	20.53

  Starboard Race AST 31” – 17 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
1	2	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.21
3	18	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.34
4	19	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.30
5	28	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.46
7	39	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	4.02
8	46	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.37
		TOTAL	21.50

  Naish Javelin Carbon 28” – 13 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
1	3	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.36
3	14	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.19
4	23	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.24
5	25	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.20
6	36	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.24
7	40	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.39
		TOTAL	20.42

  Starboard New AST 25” – 16 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
1	4	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.32
2	11	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.26
4	20	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.28
5	30	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.28
6	33	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.52
7	37	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.42
		TOTAL	21.28

  Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27” – 12 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
1	5	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.21
2	9	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.43
6	32	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.15
7	42	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.21
8	48	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.25
8	45	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.31
		TOTAL	20.36

  Naish Glide Carbon 30” – 14 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
1	6	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.21
2	7	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.20
3	15	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.46
5	26	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.18
6	34	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.38
7	41	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.34
		TOTAL	20.57

  Coreban Alpha Race 29” – 10 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
2	8	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.26
3	16	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.41
4	21	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.59
5	29	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.42
6	31	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.37
8	47	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.45
		TOTAL	22.10

  Starboard Race Carbon 27” – 12 kg

RUN#	TRIAL#	RIDER	TIME
2	12	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	3.20
3	13	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	3.23
4	22	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	3.35
5	27	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	3.48
6	35	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	3.21
7	38	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	3.19
		TOTAL	20.46

 

RAW DATA:

Run 1

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
1	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30”	3.18
2	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Starboard Race AST 31”	3.21
3	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Naish Javelin Carbon 28”	3.36
4	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Starboard New AST 25”	3.32
5	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27”	3.21
6	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Naish Glide Carbon 30”	3.21

Run 2

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
7	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Naish Glide Carbon 30”	3.20
8	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Coreban Alpha Race 29”	3.26
9	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27”	3.43
10	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30”	3.32
11	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Starboard New AST 25”	3.26
12	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Starboard Race Carbon 27”	3.20

Run 3

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
13	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Starboard Race Carbon 27”	3.23
14	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Naish Javelin Carbon 28”	3.19
15	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Naish Glide Carbon 30”	3.46
16	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Coreban Alpha Race 29”	3.41
17	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30”	3.29
18	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Starboard Race AST 31”	3.34

Run 4

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
19	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Starboard Race AST 31”	3.30
20	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Starboard New AST 25”	3.28
21	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Coreban Alpha Race 29”	3.59
22	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Starboard Race Carbon 27”	3.35
23	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Naish Javelin Carbon 28”	3.24
24	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30”	3.25

Run 5

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
25	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Naish Javelin Carbon 28”	3.20
26	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Naish Glide Carbon 30”	3.18
27	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Starboard Race Carbon 27”	3.48
28	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Starboard Race AST 31”	3.46
29	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Coreban Alpha Race 29”	3.42
30	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Starboard New AST 25”	3.28

Run 6

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
31	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Coreban Alpha Race 29”	3.37
32	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27”	3.15
33	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Starboard New AST 25”	3.52
34	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Naish Glide Carbon 30”	3.38
35	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Starboard Race Carbon 27”	3.21
36	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Naish Javelin Carbon 28”	3.24

Run 7

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
37	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Starboard New AST 25”	3.42
38	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Starboard Race Carbon 27”	3.19
39	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Starboard Race AST 31”	4.02
40	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Naish Javelin Carbon 28”	3.39
41	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Naish Glide Carbon 30”	3.34
42	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27”	3.21

Run 8

TRIAL#	RIDER	BOARD	TIME
48	Hock – 89 kg 189 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27”	3.25
43	Bren – 80 kg 182 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30”	3.22
44	Jean – 71 kg 174 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 30”	3.47
45	Jonathan – 70kg 171 cm	Fanatic Fly Race Carbon 27”	3.31
46	PT Woody – 60 kg 170 cm	Starboard Race AST 31”	3.37
47	Wooz – 71 kg 168 cm	Coreban Alpha Race 29”	3.45