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TOP 10 REASONS WHY U.S. BOARD TESTS ARE BOGUS
(or at least have been until this one, and it will be too, if you take it as gospel)
Number 10: As Randy French says, “Maui [or any test site] is basically just one condition. A board feels different in every type of chop or wave pattern, and it reacts differently every time you add 10 pounds.”
Number 9: As Roberto Ricci says, “Ultimately what matters is the balance between the board, the sail and the sailor. To look at just one parameter is wrong.”
Number 8: As Jeff Henderson says, “There’s technical testing and there’s ‘feel’ testing. It’s crazy to say it’s technical testing. That leaves ‘feel’ testing, which is totally subjective. How did I FEEL before I got out on the water?”
Number 7: As Barry Spanier says, “You need to take all the boards of the same size and category out on the same sail, consecutively, in both underpowered and overpowered conditions, in both flat water and chop, with different styles and skills and weights of sailors; and take all the sails of the same size and category out on the same board, consecutively... “
Us: Sigh. “We aren’t able to do that, at least not…”
Spanier: “Then it’s all bogus.”
Number 6: Evaluations by guest testers are merely brief first impressions, with no significant time to get to know a board or sail. Their ratings always change with second and third sailings.
Number 5: Fins, like tires on racing cars, are everything. Fins don’t always come with boards; when fins are supplied with such boards they aren’t always ideal; testers or volunteer equipment managers switch fins without noting the change; even when the correct or production fin is fitted, the board’s traits can be changed with another fin, making a truly meaningful evaluation open-ended, if not almost endless.
Number 4: Board tuning. The ideal mast, footstrap and fin positions should be found for each sailor in each condition, and to do that you need to try all the positions.
Number 3: Sail tuning. Ha! The Great Bugaboo. Close isn’t good enough; every sail deserves to be dialed-in when it’s rated, and that takes some patience and perseverance—time. Tuning one sail whose characteristics you’re familiar with is not difficult; keeping 50 of them correctly tuned at all times when testers are tweaking them left and right is virtually hopeless. We invite all sailmakers to stand on the beach with their eagle eyes trained on every sailor headed toward the water. They may carry long bamboo whipping rods.
An extended part of this tuning is mast compatibility. Sailmakers always recommend a range of mast stiffness, with the correct choice depending mostly on the sailor’s weight. Two-hundred-pound sailors and 120-pound sailors use the same mast at a test. It can’t be right for both of them, and the innocent sail pays the price in the judging.
Number 2: Ratings numbers. They unfortunately speak louder than words (they take less time to read), when maybe they should just shut up. Equipment tests should be essay tests. When one tester says a board is boffo (5) and another says it sucks (2), the rating (3.5) says: just average, nothing special. When in fact there’s a special dynamic dilemma.
Finally, the Number 1 Top Reason Board and Sail Tests are Bogus:
People believe them. As Steve Gottleib says, “It’s amazing the impact the magazine tests have. It’s really scary.” We share your fear, Steve.
Consumers walk into their dealers and say, “’BS Illustrated’ [for boardsailor, of course] says this board or sail is great, so I want one.” And vice versa. It’s irrelevant how strong the writeup may be; chances are still great (see above 9 chances) that any individual sailor is being steered wrong, and ultimately will be unhappy. The best thing you can say about ‘BS Illustrated’ is that it’s clueless and careless. The worst you can say is that it’s indifferent, selfish, self-serving, irresponsible, dangerous, dishonest, and pandering to advertisers while exploiting windsurfers, to the detriment of the sport. It’s eating its young.
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