The famous Infinity Blackfish, a board that has been around in various incarnations since… well it feels like since SUP began but according to Infinity the first ones appeared in 2014. And in SUP years that means this board has real heritage.
If you put this new model down beside one of those early Blackfish you would immediately notice that the design hasn’t needed a radical overhaul in the years since it first appeared. Instead the board has evolved with incremental changes which is a good thing, it means when you buy a new model you have a good idea of what you are going to get, no surprises but a tried, tested and successful shape that works well.
Good design lasts.
My 14’ x 27” Carbon Flat Deck
This is my board, bought from Infinity SUP Nordic and it is fair to say that it took a while to get to me in Sweden. I have to confess I was a little fed up waiting for it but I must also confess that the first time I paddled my Blackfish I had a huge grin on my face. It was worth waiting for.
Mine is the new for 2022 Crimson / Gold colour scheme which I think looks really good as does everyone else who has seen it so far. It is worth noting that all the pre-production images I saw of this had a gloss finish for the crimson while mine is matt, probably a good thing as this will wear better and fits well with the distressed look that Infinity give their boards. If you buy one be prepared for “is it supposed to look like that?” or “I thought you had a new board?” questions all.the.time. I am a fan of the look, it hides any heavy handedness on my part and any scuffs or scratches simply add to the patina.
Unlike others Infinity decided to create a new board for those paddlers who wanted a dugout with the benefits that design can bring adding a new model to the Blackfish family. I think that was a very good move, dugouts are great but that isn’t what I wanted in a board I will use in rougher conditions which is why mine is the flat deck model.
The board comes with a good quality deck pad which is thin, grippy underfoot and has different textures depending on where you are on the deck. I like the chevrons cut into the pad showing the board under it, not only do these break up the black pad but they are great for learning where to trim the board for best performance. The kick pad is useful if you want to go that far back. It is also supplied with a nicely padded and positioned centre carry handle with the Speed Freaks branding on it and a race fin.
Tech stuff
From Infinity’s website this board has a volume of 323l and is good for paddlers up to 108.8 kg, I am well under that but wanted a wider board for fun, rougher conditions and winter training. Wider is more versatile.
The construction is ‘Team Elite’ and there’s not much more on that from Infinity other than they think it’s the best they can do which means it will be more than good enough for me. The quoted board weight is 11.79kg and mine comes in at 12.1 kg with the supplied fin, centre carry handle, a Dakine calf leash and a bungee set up to hold a dry bag and drink.
The original Blackfish were amongst the first, maybe the first, SUP race boards with a centre channel or a concave in the hull which set them apart from others at the time and that continues in the 2022 model. The Blackfish hull has always been a planing design, as you accelerate the nose lifts rather than cutting through the water and the current model obviously keeps this core feature of Infinity DNA along with a lot of the look and feel of those first production boards.
You can read Infinity’s words about the Blackfish construction and design here
On the water
Blackfish is one of the names for Orca or the Killer Whale and this board is killer fun, if that is a thing. It is playful, responsive, stable and fast. And if those things seem to contradict each other then so be it, that is my experience so far. It is a grin making machine.
Starting with the easiest attribute to measure, speed. I am in the middle of a training program with Michael Booth which means I have a lot of current training data for repeated efforts over the last 5 months and this ‘wide’ board has surprised so far with a decent turn of speed. Remember it is a 27” wide all water race board and I’m happily keeping it at 9.3 / 9.4 km/h for long intervals at distance race pace on flat water in neutral conditions - no wind, no current. This is a higher average speed than the board the Blackfish replaced but falls short of my pace on my more focused flatwater board. Sprinting speeds are similarly improved over my previous all water board which is great, the planing hull in action. I was surprised and impressed with this as when paddling it does not feel that fast, the bow wave does not inspire a feeling of speed but when you trim it right it accelerates and holds speed really well.
Next, stability. This easy to demonstrate with an image, I have never paddled any distance standing on one leg on any other board I have owned. On this it is relatively easy. Big grin.
A little harder to demonstrate are the playful and responsiveness attributes of the board, yes I can get my foot on the kick pad for a ‘good for the camera’ image of the bow pointing at the sky if I want to and yes I can line it up with some surf and ride it in maintaining directional control for the safety of others. Both are a given for almost any race board today although some boards seem to encourage this behaviour more than others. And the Blackfish is one of those boards, it has a little bit of hooligan in the DNA, encouraging paddlers to pick up boat wake when they can or step back and spin around for no real reason other than because they can.
Accessories
Is a fin an accessory? A fin is essential for a happy paddler and the fin supplied was not the rather good Infinity race fin I was expecting. I have paddled the 2021 Blackfish in flat deck and dugout versions with that fin and its great but problems with production meant an alternative was supplied by the European distributor. The ‘Clan Project’ fin that came with the board was deeper and thinner than the Infinity fin and I have another confession; I looked at it, thought it wasn’t for me and I put it in the box of fins in the garage.
That was a dumb thing to do, judging anything based on appearance usually is and when curiosity got the better of me I put it in the board and went for a paddle. And guess what, it works. Hard to say if it is better or worse than the fin I was expecting but it certainly suits the playful nature of board, tracking upwind was faultless, side wind and chop was perfectly acceptable and with the wind behind it was entertaining. I’ve yet to paddle in enough wind to call it a DW and when I do I will be using my FCS DW fin so performance in those conditions may remain a mystery for a while.
Extra handles are an accessory and a pair of Clan Project handles arrived with the Blackfish. These are the same length as the SpeedFreak handle in the middle of the board but with better padding and they work just fine. The board bag was also from Clan but that went to someone else as my Infinity bag is on the way. The quick look I had at it showed it to be well constructed with no loose threads on the seams, nice bright orange colour on the sidewalls of the bag and a decent carry handle on the side. The fin pocket was subtly hidden under the Clan logo on the top, nicely done. It would benefit from a handle on the top but that is being picky.
And to finish
How to wrap this up? I have paddled just over 100km on this board since it arrived in Sweden 11 days ago and I can say that initial impressions are good, it paddles well but that was no surprise as the shape is tried, tested and mature. I am happy I bought it, even with the delay it was worth waiting for and I think I’ll be keeping this one for a while.
What better way to finish this review than with some words from Dave Boehne at Infinity
If you paddle mostly in the ocean or a flat water area that gets changing seasons and conditions or flat water and simply want the best of stability and speed, Blackfish is for you and will be ready.