Carbonology Sport "Flash" Review

After 3 days spent paddling the recently released Carbonology Sport "Flash" I have just finished my write up on what I think about the ski.

If Rob can drag himself away from cocktails by the poolside in Mauritius it should be edited and posted up sometime soon.

I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the review and answering any questions.

The WA distributor has kindly allowed me to race it in a 27km river marathon this weekend so I may add an addendum to the review afterwards here.

I for one am looking forward to reading some reviews on this ski.

As a matter of interest, why didn't you post your thoughts here? Now we have to wait for Rob to spring into action, and he could well have been infected with "island fever". One of the symptoms of this malaise is an intense aversion towards anything administrative. Another is the liberation of vast amounts of the procrastination hormone. I know this, as I have indeed suffered from this infection myself.

I'm not suffering from island fever, but things are certainly hectic, and I'll need another day or so to finish editing and to post it.

But it is worth the wait - great article.

Just one more thought before the review is published I forgot to include....

In my review I jumped straight to a triangular course I had compared the Vault to the Flash over, but forgot to mention my very first paddle the day before.

I joined the regular Saturday morning group in Mandurah for a 15km paddle through the estuary and canals. The tide was ripping in that day so any thoughts of figuring out what speed the ski was doing were thrown out the window. I decided the paddle would be more about how the ski felt.

Although I noticed a smidgeon more "life" in it's primary stability than the Vault I had all but forgotten I was paddling an elite level ski within 7-8km's. It also tracked very well on washes which was one bug bear with the Vault. Although the Vault wash hangs really well I feel I have to do a lot of rudder work on my Vault to stay in the sweet spot, the extra length in the Flash has given it better straight line tracking. I will see in this Sundays 27km river race how well it wash hangs.

Now if Rob can stop making all of us insanely jealous with his updates on Mauritius and get back to work we may see the review this weekend

Okay, todays 27km river marathon done and dusted.

Pretty happy with the result getting 2nd ski over the line, but with some of my main competition in Mauritius I was more interested to get home and download the garmin track to see what the numbers were.

Before I reveal the race results we finally got some still weather here on Friday, the ocean was like a pond, with slack mooring lines in the boats moored off my beach and each one facing a different direction I knew the conditions were perfect for some comparison runs with the Vault.

After warming up in both skis and paddling a 1km straight line over the same water at about 80% effort (marathon race pace) I established that the Flash showed a .3km/hr speed advantage over the Vault.

My last marathon race about a month ago on the river my average pace in the Vault was 12.2km/hr over 18km. Today over 27km it was 12.5km/hr or again .3km/hr faster;)

Another difference today was that I was doing a lot more turns washleading than the previous race, so I must have been paddling at a reduced intensity!

One other thing to note was that as I fatigued I didnt feel any less stable in the ski, somewhat important in an elite level ski.

Interesting Brett - what was the current doing when you paddled the Vault at 12.2kmh? Today's race had an outgoing tide which would have assisted you.

Congrats on the race too, 2nd place not bad!!!

Awww there you go getting all technical on me

During the Bayswater race High tide was at 10.53 at barrack st jetty, so I assume it would be later further up the river. We raced between approx 0930 and 1100.

For an up and back paddle in that race my speed looked pretty consistent
While looking at my Garmin track scroll through my training and racing, you will see that I have been building to this for sometime so it wasn't a bolt out of the blue so to speak

For future reference the review can be found here

It would be very helpful if reviews would list the bucket widths and the foot well width. Measuring the top width of the bucket AND the width of the bucket at about 3" above the deepest point (where the hip bones would be at their widest).

Can you list these for the Flash and Vault? Thanks!

Kocho wrote: It would be very helpful if reviews would list the bucket widths and the foot well width. Measuring the top width of the bucket AND the width of the bucket at about 3" above the deepest point (where the hip bones would be at their widest).

Can you list these for the Flash and Vault? Thanks!

Good point, the flash bucket width at the hips is 380mm. Useable footwell width (excluding slide and brackets. At top of footplate where peddles hinge) is 220mm.

Have traded the Vault in now so hopefully a current Vault owner can help?

Thanks! That's almost exactly 15" and 8.66" for the metrically challenged among us (and about the same for both measurements as in my V10 Sport with the narrow bucket, it seems)...

And for those of us with bigger feet, distance from bucket bottom to hinge point on pedals/footboard?

Rightarmbad wrote: And for those of us with bigger feet, distance from bucket bottom to hinge point on pedals/footboard?

170mm

An update on Carbonologies one way valves in the venturi's is with Rob and should be up on the site soon. There is also a change to the hybrid construction skis.

On the review front I have heard back from Fenn and Epic that there will be ski's available to do reviews on in January after the Doctor race, so I am looking forward to giving my impressions on the Fenn Glide and Epic V14. Would like to do the latest Nelo and DD3 ski's too, but yet to hear from a WA contact for them.

Thank you for the review of the flash.

I read that the bucket length has an extra 2 notches for 6"2 paddler leg length. I am 6'7 and wondering roughly how long in inches 2 notches is?

Or if anyone knows an equivalent ski suited to very tall paddler.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

I'm "only" 6"4' and fill the Epic V10 Sport (the gen before the latest redesign) all the way forward with low profile shoes, perhaps 1 notch back barefoot. I am told the new generation V10 (not Sport, just V10) will have an extra inch or so leg length available. There are 2 options for foot plates too: "big foot" (higher toe pedals) and "big boy" (gives you an extra half inch beyond a standard or big foot foot plate but cutting off the lower part of the foot plate. The V 12 is too short for me even barefoot, for comparison.

And I read the Stellar SEL is longer (the older SE i paddled once wasn't, despite claims to the contrary). Think Evo II also has extra room for me, I forgot how much but I was not at the last notch for sure (but seat was a bit narrow, a touch wider than it but like in the V12, causing slight rubbing for my bones).

Choco32 wrote: Thank you for the review of the flash.

I read that the bucket length has an extra 2 notches for 6"2 paddler leg length. I am 6'7 and wondering roughly how long in inches 2 notches

Just to clarify I am 6'2" but I have 5 notches left to the end. There is an extra two notches in the overall length of the bucket. That means that MUCH taller guys than me will fit. Those 5 notches equate to about 2.5inches.

I measured the distance between the bottom back of the bucket seat and the footplate where your heels contact it at 109cm. If you were wearing clothes it would be where your belt sits when you sit down.

If you are evenly proportioned you should fit okay. If however you have a big frame (big hips) that might be the limiting factor as the bucket is just big enough for me and I am fairly lean.

Hopefully you can find some of the skis mentioned to sit in and check the fit. I know of a local paddler who had had to resort to having a ski custom modified to fit his big frame.