A New Perspective

In the interest of field research, we’ve been conducting an experiment on an unwitting participant. You might know that we edit this magazine from a clifftop lair overlooking the Atlantic Ocean which also serves as an instructional base for ocean sports, and recently, we’ve tasked one of our new coaches, young Frankie, with paddling every single day after work regardless of conditions.

- Dom Moore & Jamie Crossman

What Frankie didn’t know was that the seemingly random allocation of boards had a method to it. The basic pattern was a high volume board one day, lower volume board the next, repeat. The plan was to see what effect it would have on Frankie’s overall ocean fitness at the end of summer, which we will quantify by making him paddle out on the first hurricane swell of the year. An interesting by-product was Frankie’s open-minded, fresh eyes feedback on the kit – Frankie comes with no prejudices or expectations when it comes to budget, premium, inflatable of composite boards.

July and early August gave us still days, onshores, howling offshores, swell, chop, two rescues (fortunately for these tourists Frankie was in the right place at the right time), huge tidal sheers and the odd surf. Our test apparatus included the accessible Gladiator Lite 12’6 tourer, the tough, sporty double-chambered Two Bare Feet 10’0, Bic’s everything to all paddlers 10’6 Performer Air, the gorgeous RRD Aircruiser 12’0, and Red’s igneous 15’0 Tandem in an inflatable class as diverse as the conditions, and the standalone hardboard courtesy of Hypr Nalu and the 11’0 Pono.

As well as our lab-rat we put quite a few customers and trainee BSUPA instructors on these boards, and of course the now standard test team of Jamie Crossman and myself. Overall what we’re seeing is the entry-level pricepoint boards represented by Gladiator and Two Bare Feet in this test are rising fast in terms of construction and design, and we’ve had more interest from locals and passers-by on the inflatables in this test than ever before. The premium end occupied by RRD, Red, and Bic in this instance is showing continued refinement to deliver future-proof keeper boards that owners are unlikely to out-paddle anytime soon.