One of the most common questions about SUP Race boards is ‘which is fastest?’ And that is a question that is impossible to answer honestly, there are too many variables to take into account.
As luck would have it I currently have access to 4 different SUP Race boards in the garage and I have completed the same 5km Time Trial, using the SUP My Race TT model, on each board so I have some data and I thought it might be useful to put the results of those 4, 5km efforts together.
The boards
EO SUP Nebula 2021, 23” 11,3kg, 260L
Infinity Blackfish Flatdeck 2022, 27” 12kg, 323L
Airboard Rocket Light 2024 27” 8,3kg, 306L
Infinity Everready 2024 22,5” - 10,79kg, 292L (Weight from Infinity website, actual weight for this board with rail tape was 11,18kg, check the SUP My Race review!)
 |
| Västra Ingsjön 5km TT course |
Control the controllables
One of Boothy's favourite mantras is "Control the controllables" which is what I intend to do here. To make this comparison as useful as possible, each Time Trial was completed on the same 5km course, using the southern edge of my training lake, I started at the same spot, paddled 2,5km east, did an elegant 180 degree turn and then back to the start as fast as I could
I used the same paddle, an EO SUP Fortis with a 95 square inch blade, and I used the fin supplied as standard with each board.
There are no prizes for guessing the fastest board, but the next two might surprise you!
 |
| EO SUP Nebula FW |
The fastest board - EO SUP Nebula
The Nebula recorded a time of 30m and 33 seconds in June 2023, an average speed of 9,83 kmh. This was set with a prototype fin made by Maris at EO SUP, which sadly went back to Latvia in 2024.
The Nebula is a no-compromise flat water race board, and it is no surprise that it is considerably faster than the other boards here. This Nebula moved to Sweden after a career as a demo board for EO SUP and as such it was built for a lighter paddler than me. Despite the handicap of a huge weight on it the hull shape enables it to slice through the water at an impressive speed. EO SUP make fully custom boards, so getting one with the volume you need is as easy as sending an email to Maris!
The slowest board - Airboard Rocket Light.
The Rocket Light recorded a time of 34 minutes and 23 seconds in July 2024, an average speed of 8,73 kmh. This was set with the supplied plastic clip-in fin, which is probably more suited to touring.
No surprise that the only inflatable SUP here is the slowest despite this also being aimed at flatware racing, but it still posted a time that many paddlers would be happy to achieve on a hardboard. My 5km time on this inflatable was in the top 20 5km times on SUP My Race at the end of the 2024 season.
Which board was second?
We are left with two boards from the Infinity Surf Co that represent two different flavours of the all-water race board, a flat deck and a newer dugout. They also represent two different sorts of paddler, the narrow-as-possible Everready and the Wideboy Blackfish.
A Photo Finish for Second Place
The Infinity Everready takes the honours, but only by 3 seconds! This result really surprised me, and there are some mitigating factors for both boards to consider. But first…
The Everready recorded a time of 32 minutes and 42 seconds in April 2025, an average speed of 9,17kmh. This was set with the supplied Infinity all-water fin.
The Everready was on loan from Infinity SUP Nordic, who happen to be based not that far from me. As their demo board, this example is covered in railtape, which has had a hard life but has obviously done the intended job protecting the board, and the fin was not in the best shape. I suspect that the battered tape did no favours to this time trial performance.
The Blackfish recorded a time of 32 minutes 45 seconds in May 2023, an average speed of 9,16 kmh. This was set with the supplied all-water ‘Clan’ fin as the Infinity fins were damaged in transit.
The Blackfish is my own board and was brand new when I set this time, in perfect condition. However the fin is long and not as quick as shorter fins I have used in the board since. It is great in the sea but a handicap on flatwater.
 |
| EO SUP Nebula, the fastest by far. |
Considerations - The Paddler
My fitness has improved in the time between the Nebula and Blackfish TTs and the Everready TT, but the water was colder for the Everready; it is not scientific, but let's say that evens out and move on.
Considerations - Conditions
Conditions always play a part in any race, be that in the real world against other competitors or, in a virtual race like the SUP My Race time trial. And I do not usually keep data for the actual conditions on each paddle. For this blog, I have checked Garmin Connect and while their weather data often does not reflect true conditions and for the sake of comparison, I have used it here.
Board | 5km Time | Wind speed / direction | Air Temp |
Nebula | 30m 33s | 9 / SSW | 7,2 |
Everready | 32m 42s | 9 / SSE | 8,9 |
Blackfish | 32m 45s | 11 / S | 12,2 |
Rocket | 34m 23s | 11 / S | 17,8 |
By pure coincidence, all 4 time trials were set with wind conditions that were similar, air temperatures, however, ranged from 7,2 degrees to 17,8 degrees Celsius, the fastest run was set on the coldest day, albeit that was very early in June and it warmed up very quickly.
Water temperature is something I have no data for. Warm water is faster than cold and the water at the lake warms up quickly once Spring kicks in. Usually, by July it is warm enough to swim in. Warm water is faster but it is also more attracive to other people and that is why most of my fast times are set in cooler months, there are fewer boats / anglers / swimmers to avoid! This is another reason why my fastest times tend to be set early in the morning, before Sweden wakes up!
Conclusions
There are two obvious conclusions to take from this blog:
- A board designed for flat water performance will be faster than a board designed to perform in rougher water.
- A hardboard is faster than an inflatable SUP.
But you knew that already.
I think there is more to learn from the boards in the middle of this test, the narrow dugout board and the wider, flat deck board from the same company. Marketing and mainstream SUP media tells us that narrower is faster, and that is the case in this test. But not by much! And on a different, tougher day the flat deck is faster. For me.
 |
| Tall paddler, wide board, smooth water |
But I am an outlier, I am significantly taller than most people (193cm) and heavier (98kg) so the wider board works for me. The Everready is, by a small margin, the narrowest board I have paddled fast but it has the right volume for my size so it works quite well. I suspect that the next size up in the Everready range would be faster for me but without access to one I will never know.
What can you take from my data?
The most important thing for any paddler looking for a new board is the question, what do you want the board for?
If you must go faster than anyone else then a narrow, flatwater specific hardboard is the clear solution. But there are drawbacks with them, we all have seen images and videos of Elite paddlers surfing very narrow flatwater boards, but for most of us that skill level is out of reach. And we either go for a wider board or a different shape, an all-water board.
With an all-water board comes a slight drop in speed, less than 2 minutes over 5km for me, that equates to 327m at Nebula speed. That time gap vanishes if you fall from the narrow board more than once, it vanishes more rapidly in rough conditions.
It vanishes in race conditions in a mass start where all that chop stops you getting the power down, I talked about exactly that in this post where I first raced the Nebula, a terrible start with several swims before taking the lead and then loosing it when I fell, again!
 |
| Racing on a fast board, count the falls (there are 4) |
In that race would I have finished better than third on a different board? I probably would have stayed upright at the start but could I have kept up with more balanced paddlers? I will never know!
With the two different all-water boards there is an insignificant difference in speed over 5km on flat water. The two boards have a very different feel when paddling them hard and I was very surprised at the result, the Everready feels faster but my Garmin doesn't lie. There is no difference over 5km.
My conclusion.
The question at the start of this blog was "Which is the fastest board?" and my answer ... it depends but for all out speed the EO SUP Nebula takes the crown as the fastest board I have ever paddled. After that there is no clear answer.
Training - Invest in yourself
Investing in yourself is the BEST upgrade you can make, with no exceptions. And that is what this series of blog posts are all about, investing in this paddler with the help of World Champion Michael Booth.
You can find out more about Michael's training on his website Booth Training, from his Booth Training Instagram account and on his YouTube channel BoothTV.
You can find me running the Facebook group SUP My Race and now, occasionally, on Instagram.
See you on the water!
You can read the previous training logs here Training Logs and you can get to individual blog posts using the labels in the sidebar.