I paddled yesterday my 20km round through the city and canals over flat water with the JP Flatwater 14x24.5 of a friend, and i,m impressed!
At start the board felt less stable as my Sprint 14x26 when a boat was passing by, but at the end I got used to that.
I doubt if any 24 can be as stable as a 26 board, but I think I can used to this as well.
Main reason for me to choose the Sprint26 over the 24 is that i,m 90kg so a bit of a borderline in weight wich one would be the most effecitive and that I paddle a lot in wintertime where air and water are something between the +8C and -5C ...at those days you don,t wanna fall in and I really appriciate the little bit of extra width.Any way the JP...looking good, light and stiff! It got a nice splatter free way of cutting through the water like my Sprint and feels very efficient.
When I tried a couple of short sprints I could easily get it up to 11.7km p/h (and that is fast for me).
With the very flat waterline it is a true flatwater board, and I wouldn't try it in any swell but in the canals...awesome!
The rails seem to have a bit more grip on the water with a bit o sidewind as my own board with rather rounded rails, but it feels less stable when you put the weight more to one side.
The 24.5 wide JP is faster as my 26wide Sprint, although i,m not sure how much. That said, I really like the extra stability of mine when its cold.
Performancewise I think the Sprint14x24 I paddled is still a bit faster as the JP but the open flat tail of the JP is a lot easier to turn 180degree around a buoy as the Sprints.
If people are in doubt of the gear has evolved...
Last year I was on a Fanatic Flatwatter14x27.5 working my ass of (PTE5) to do this round in 2h30minutes.
Yesterday I was taking it easy (PTE 3.4) and did the 20k tour in the same time while anwsering 2 calls from my work
.
If i,m pushing I think I can take easily 15-20minutes of that time with these new boards.
