Yeah sorry Husq, thought after I let off some steam that that may have been what you were getting at....

And Lacey all is forgiven mate.

I guess the 'reaction' came about because we went to so much effort to make the whole thing as un biased and transparent and fair as we possibly could, how on earth can you find paddlers who don't at least have a favourite brand.

Oh and by the way, Starboard is the best....OK?

Now that's better Finally some pertinent empirical data!

I recall as a 7 year old, on Xmas day, sitting outside my house comparing the the BMX bike I got off Santa with the neighbourhood kids. There was half a dozen of us and we all thought we had the best bike. Words to the affect:

"So I reckon mine is the best cause it's got handle bar brakes".
"No way Johnny, back pedal bakes are heaps better".
"Anyway mine has a bell, listen ring ring"
Bobby says "Mine's got plastic toughs which are unreal and heaps better then those crappy spokes on yours".
The local greek boy George steps in and says "My bike is faster then all of yous-cause it's a red one".
"Ok George, lets have a race from the Jones's house to the milkbar and back"

Little did George know that dragsters are the slowest bikes on the planet.

laceys lane said...

Scotty88 said...

I recall as a 7 year old, on Xmas day, sitting outside my house comparing the the BMX bike I got off Santa with the neighbourhood kids. There was half a dozen of us and we all thought we had the best bike. Words to the affect:

"So I reckon mine is the best cause it's got handle bar brakes".
"No way Johnny, back pedal bakes are heaps better".
"Anyway mine has a bell, listen ring ring"
Bobby says "Mine's got plastic toughs which are unreal and heaps better then those crappy spokes on yours".
The local greek boy George steps in and says "My bike is faster then all of yous-cause it's a red one".
"Ok George, lets have a race from the Jones's house to the milkbar and back"

Little did George know that dragsters are the slowest bikes on the planet.

haha, if thats a response to the sabre i came across in supworld, i'll put your house up this would not be the slowest board


it's strange that we we only see certain brands about in oz.

the jp race boards are another in mind that you here nothing about.

and we hardly see a sb racer on the gold coast .

No reference to anything in Sup World - I only look at the pictures anyway. Just find it amusing and sadly entertaining how Breezers get all worked up and sweaty over Sup brands. Stoked I just enjoy SUPing with no ties to jack sh1t.

Simondo said...

The 12'6 board test was very transparent in my opinion. If you read the report, top to bottom, there's isn't much to moan about.

My only comment for the 14 test is to consider "no turn" during the timed run. Or at least make sure all riders practice 2 turns, before each timed run (if the timed run involves a turn). This would help reduce the possibility of a bad turn (on a foreign board) effecting the times.

i would agree with that, a turn really brings the skill factor into play

Throw the Naish 17 into the test.

Sabre looks real fast , would like to read a review.

so pt woody, can we have some info.


which boards are being tested, its a big call if they all aren't being tested.

jp, jimmy lewis etc? dc's come in two sizes in 14' now and thats it.enough of them around.lahui kai 14 is a standard size so they aren't customs


and who is sponsoring the test if any?

who is supplying the boards?

cheers

Ted the Kiwi said...

laceys lane said...
and who is sponsoring the test if any?

Potential bias

your words ted, not mine

My brain is hurting from reading all these posts, also if someone was able to do
this test successfully, by the time they completed the tests and released the results
I'm sure every model of board that was tested will of had a new model done , all claiming to be faster then the older one. this would be a never ending test.
ouch! my brain is hurting again.

Thanks for doing the 12'6 test Woody and Co it was a great experiment well documented and executed as well as very thought provoking.


Phill

And Woody, guernsey expected for 14' test,

I'm already dark on ya for leaving me out of the 12'6 shootout,

.

Grab a copy of the latest ASL mag.

It has a board test, the way these work is that surfboard companies pay a certain amount of money and supply the board at their expense which is returned. They get the surfers to ride them and give reviews.

The costs pay for the logistics and production costs, writer, photogs, video etc. You get a full page ad also. Aaaaah, ask Flounder, he's done more of these things than anyone.

The flaw in this is that as paying contributors the mag can not actually say which board was a dog etc.

BUT, in this case if it was simply to review a seasons boards of a certain class with scientific unbiased results there would be no reason not to publish the results.

Car mags do this, nearly all products do.

Supworld, Casso?? Surely there's a way to make a buck out of this and provide info that people obviously want to read.


P.S, PT and Co as much as I like your 12'6 test when it is performed by a retailer and some team riders it will always face criticism. It is just a test of certain products by certain people but maybe it is better termed 'the fastest 12'6 sold by RPS or whoever it was'

You can reasonably expect that the 14 test will happen much like the 12'6 test did - with as broad a selection of boards, riders' personal boards as well as shop demos - and paddlers as can be mustered locally on relatively short notice. Because of variability in our local weather and water conditions it's difficult to plan much in advance, unfortunately we don't have a Currumbin Creek to play in. Properly flat days are very rare here and when one comes it's "righto what have we got? who have we got? Let's go NOW...". You'll recall from the 12'6 test report that two of the planned test riders were unavailable on short notice on the day. With a bit of luck the pool of test pilots will be a bit bigger next time.

As has been said before, down here we are a bit limited in the range of boards that are readily available (but the range is growing) - don't have access to the whole universe of production boards let alone all the customs. Maybe you blokes up on the goldie that have access to some of the ones that the Viccos don't could replicate the testing up there and add something to the knowledge base?

And sponsorship/industry support of the type CMC describes? Hardly. The whole sport just isn't that big here yet. "Team Riders" is stretching things a bit too, one or two of the previous test group could be called that, at a long chalk, maybe. Brand conspiracy? You give us too much credit, we don't have the time or the brain space to be that clever or conniving.

And now my dinner's ready. Man that lamb smells good

laceys lane said...

camo hosk said...

laceys lane said...

so pt woody, can we have some info.


which boards are being tested, its a big call if they all aren't being tested.

jp, jimmy lewis etc? dc's come in two sizes in 14' now and thats it.enough of them around.lahui kai 14 is a standard size so they aren't customs


and who is sponsoring the test if any?

who is supplying the boards?

cheers

Nice try Lacey,
but the 12'6 test or the upcoming 14' test shouldn't be a call about which is the no.1 best of all,
its just a test that shows which board was paddled the fastest on average on flatwater by a chosen group of paddlers on a particular day,
heaps of other factors on what board suits the individual best for them, such as resale, customer support,most common conditions the board is going to be used in, ect.,
Cheers.

nice try what i'm asking for some information on the 14' test setup.

i'm interested in it. how many different boards etc

so the questions are too hard or nobody wants to answer them.


i now know resale, custom support and common conditions are part of the fastest 14' production test now.

surely the terms and basis of the testing isn't too much to ask or isn't it all open and transparent

cheers

To be frank, the who, what, why, when and where is too hard to answer until we get a bit closer to the test. As mentioned previously, we are waiting on some new boards from SB, JM and Coreban in the next few weeks so that's pretty key to the test time frame. Also, we're right in the middle of race season right now and we have state titles just a few weeks away so time is a bit tight to put the plan together and answer everything you would like to know. We'll try to be transparent but there's no point providing answers that are wrong if the plan has to change.