#17 SUP - Facts for the future

SUP – Facts for the future 

This exciting episode presents parts of the unique and extensive product tests that are conducted annually at Kona Sports, one of the world's leading developers of SUP . In this episode, the focus is on functional testing of inflatable SUP boards. Based on the test results, Niklas, Joakim and Magnus discuss the future of SUP and the truths behind “chosen truths” within SUP and SUP boards . Enjoy! 

Broadening SUP knowledge with tests

We at Kona are a company that is passionate about SUP and work daily to broaden both our own and others' knowledge of SUP. This means that a large part of our work consists of testing and improving.

As a company, we naturally want to contribute and create value to what we do. Not many brands drive as much development in SUP as we do, a large part of that development is product testing to confirm the calculations we make based on the results of our theoretical tests. Of course, you can't calculate everything, which is why we regularly test our stuff not only in a test environment, but also in real situations. We are extremely curious as a company to delve deeper and dive even deeper into our tests to ultimately create good products and above all truths, not untruths like there are so many on the market.

Testing “truths” within the SUP world

We at Kona like to test the truths that exist in the SUP world, we do it to be able to create value for our customers and the value for the products that we create. When you buy a product, you should understand that there is a difference between an inflatable SUP in its different sizes and designs. We have managed to increase the stability of our products at the same time as we have made them narrower, we think that is cool. It is an old truth that wider boards are more stable to stand on, but if you make the boards too wide, it goes too slowly and you do not get a good experience.

We generate data and compare different models. There are so many things we have improved that we have come to understand through experience and all our testing. It is not always possible to do it on the drawing board, then we have to try it out.

Technical prerequisites for evaluating a SUP

Magnus has tried a lot within SUP and has been very interested in finding out all these things himself. Are there greater prerequisites now than when you started testing SUP properly in 2012? Are there greater technical prerequisites to test these things now with the technological developments than what has been done before?

With the technological developments that are taking place, the conditions for testing our thoughts and ideas are also increasing. The reason I started SUP myself was to gain a better understanding. It was an activity that was very appealing in so many ways, but unfortunately there is still very little research on SUP today and that means that what we ourselves come up with is always exciting. If you test, you get a result, that's all. Whether it's good or bad, it's the same thing. You can still move on from that result and that's how it started.

The art of trying your luck

There were quite a few boards when we started paddling, there were few brands and few types (competition and training boards). This meant that you had to start testing what was available and gradually you compared new brands and new boards and models that came along and discovered that "well, this was interesting". What was stated was that these would be much faster than their predecessors, but in some cases this turned out not to be true. Over the years, it has been shown that, for example, next year's board has been slower than the same model of the same brand's 6-7 year old boards. A lot of this becomes marketing, and then the question is what this marketing leads to and what the purpose is instead of working on something that actually works and will work even better in the future.

Performance analysis of SUPs

We contribute knowledge, and are interested in the truth at the same time as we can contribute with both technology and training. What we do can be described in short as a performance analysis, we create performance regardless of whether it is in product, physiology or technology. We are interested in increasing performance, accessibility and ergonomics, we want to contribute something valuable and not just sell a plastic product called SUP. In the last two years we have tested everything possible and all possible variants of SUPs, which means that we have also put a huge amount of effort into inflatable SUPs. Almost 80% of our tests have been on inflatable SUPs and it is surprising what we have seen. We also run the Kona Racing team, which allows us to develop new technology and test boards in an environment that allows us to create boards of this high quality.

How do we test a SUP?

When we test our SUPs, we actually start at the drawing board to get an indication of what works, you build a prototype for example. If you want to test something completely new, you notice pretty quickly that, no, this probably won't work, you can often see that already on the drawing board. What has been good about the tests is that we have been able to refine our algorithm, our design, it is a process that just gets better and better. When we started and developed our race boards, it was an innovation that we succeeded in. Now a lot of people are trying to copy what we have already done, which we see as a kind of confirmation that we are doing the right thing. But what we have gotten into more recently and really focused on are inflatable SUP boards.

Balance between speed and stability

When we test our boards, the most important thing to think about is the purpose, why are we testing? We constantly want to improve the experience of SUP, so that more people can have the best experience of SUP as possible. This means that the better products we can create, the more fun and effective people will find it as a form of exercise.

Regarding performance development, it is about being able to use our natural function in the best way, we have our own conditions and that means we have to be able to adapt it to what we want. In this case, SUP is part of this whole performance. The equipment itself is what will help us paddle faster, or longer, or  what we are looking for. What we have done before is look at, for example, what the fastest board looks like, how should it be designed to be able to glide as easily as possible in the water? Then it might have to be a certain way, but if it is too unstable you might not be able to paddle it anyway because you have to compensate with balance all the time. So the aim is to always find the balance between speed and stability.

Adapt the SUP to the person - not the other way around

The goal is to be able to work with the right muscle groups and preferably the large driving muscle groups that we have. We look at the body first and foremost, this is what a person looks like, how should we be able to use our function, how should the board be adapted so that we can use our function and power as easily as possible in the cheapest possible way. In this case, it is about being able to use gravity and our body weight to be able to drive, instead of pure muscle power. Adapt the product to the person and not the other way around.

What is a good SUP?

It is not acceptable that it becomes unstable or that it goes slowly. What does easier paddling entail? We assume that. What you can see quite clearly when you get to slightly larger SUP boards is that the weight of the board is a very important factor. Also the design and stiffness. This has meant that we have had to rethink the construction, especially on large boards that you have to try to keep the weight of the board down. It makes a big difference to the paddling experience. That it should be thick and stable materials is not always correct, then you have not started from the individual's paddling, then you have only checked based on the product's conditions. Getting the product's and the individual's conditions in symbiosis means that you get the product and experience you are looking for.

It's easy to believe that the lighter the better, it has its advantages but not in all situations, this means that when we talk about and measure boards we often look at how much buoyancy the board can handle. Bi often examines volume and the lighter the board is, the better the buoyancy it will have. But if we are going to paddle into a headwind, it is advantageous to have a heavy board and a heavy paddler, but in a tailwind it is the other way around. You may not think about all this before you see the facts, and the data, and that "aha, I didn't think about that". Or you have predicted that this board will be faster than another board, and suddenly it turns out that it is not so. Then you have to go into detail to figure out why it is not so.

How do you create a good SUP?

When making an objectively good SUP board, you need to examine several parameters. It can be everything from weight to wet surface (the surface that is in the water), the larger the wet surface, the more friction is created. It can be shaped in different ways, a wide short board will always be slower than a long narrow board with the same wet surface. Then it is also the case that a short wide board does not always have to mean that it is more stable than a long narrow board. It may sound contradictory, but it has to do with lots of parameters, and that is what we report. Our tests are done exactly the same with an individual paddling in exactly the same environment, and the same frequencies. The data is very reliable, and we measure everything we need to know. In this case, speed is part of it all, but also course stability or "winding", how the board moves from side to side.

Knowledge from other sports

Much of the knowledge that exists today comes from other types of paddling, in most cases sit-up paddling. There has been much more research done there because it has been around as a sport for so many years. But this becomes a problem because when looking at the competitive sport of SUP, the references you had from other types of paddling were taken quite directly. The problem is that stand-up paddling, also connected to canoeing and other sit-up paddling, we move in completely different ways. In a standing position, we always have the opportunity to use our entire body weight to create power. If you sit down, you are very limited, you can lean forward a little, but your legs are the way to be able to put full force on the paddle. What we saw is that stand-up paddling on SUP is more similar to the activity of skiing than sit-up paddling. We have had this with us over the years to understand.