What is the "Kona feeling" and why do Kona's SUP boards work and perform so well?
First and foremost, what makes Kona's SUP boards for training and competition so unique is that they are designed based on the new effective paddling technique, the so-called Nordic stroke. This scientifically developed paddling technique for SUP is based on from the cross-country skiing double-staking technique and where we mostly use our body weight to drive the SUP board.
The prerequisite for us to be able to operate a SUP board with the help of our body weight and gravity is that the board has the right width in relation to our own body length. When we paddle a board with the right individual width, we also get a more ergonomic and powerful paddle grip.
Stability For Performance ™
We at Kona realized early on that how stable an SUP board was perceived was absolutely decisive for how fast it could be paddled. Because we want the board to be able to paddle as efficiently as possible, we can not build stability based solely on the width of the board, as a board that is too wide in relation to our body length becomes very difficult to paddle and can in the worst case lead to injuries.
A large part of our development work is therefore about continuing to design SUP boards that are narrow enough for everyone to be able to paddle them with as ergonomic and thereby effective paddling as possible, without worrying about the balance.
"Nordic stroke"
The new and effective paddling technique for SUP, “Nordic stroke” which is developed by our expert and high performance specialist Magnus R Lindstedt, is based on the fact that each so-called paddling cycle, i.e. from the time the paddle blade is put in the water until it is put in the water again, is divided into five different phases between which our body center of gravity is continuously moved. In Kona's own unique design process, we can calculate what shape the boards need to provide optimal stability and glide in each individual phase.
That we at Kona have succeeded in constructing such functional SUP boards is about our extensive design process where our development team through advanced naval architectural modeling programs can calculate basically everything we want to know about a board's properties even before the first prototype is built. When the first prototype is manufactured, it undergoes stressful function and durability tests on the water here in Sweden to ensure that the board meets all the requirements that we believe an SUP board should meet.
“Kona feeling”
What we discovered during our extensive tests of different prototypes, board brands and models was that when we stood on a Kona board again, there was always the same feeling, a feeling of stability and response. A feeling that we now also strive to find before we launch a new SUP board - the "Kona feeling". A feeling that we are convinced that you too will apply as soon as you paddle a SUP board from Kona Sports.
Each SUP board from Kona is designed in the same way so that we can ensure that our products live up to our promises and that you get the very best experience of SUP, hence we will never be the cheapest but instead we always strive to have the best products.
By 2020, all our boards are designed according to the Stability For Performance principle ™
Magnus 25/02/2021 12:16