Readers rely on them, manufacturers fear them: The surf team's material tests. However, there are hardly any real slips of the tongue anymore, and the title of "test winner" has not been awarded for many years. Why is that? Head of testing Stephan Gölnitz and Manuel Vogel talk about buckets full of screws, penalty cakes and cellars full of boxes.
- Stephan Gölnitz is deputy editor-in-chief of surf and holds up the windsurfing flag in Munich. The engineering graduate is also responsible for the entire SUP division and finds his way to Lake Garda blindfolded.
- Manuel Vogelknows every beach on the North Sea and Baltic Sea and has been in the top 3 of wave windsurfing cups "for fun" for years. The riding technique expert not only tests windsurfing equipment from fin propellers to masts, but also everything to do with wingsurfing. Fortunately, he knows no pain threshold when it comes to temperatures.
Can you still remember your first test?
SG: Yes, that was also my first day at work at surf in 1996. I flew directly to El Yaque, without the diversions via the editorial office in Munich. After three quarters of a year working on my diploma thesis, I had pretty office hands and after a week I only had raw meat on my hands.
MV: For me, it was 2003, when Stephan picked me up somewhere near Frankfurt on the motorway, where I had previously been abandoned. That was when I was still a student, another tester had dropped out and I got in through contact with Gunther Baade on Norderney, who was also in the test team.
How big is the test team in general?
SG: It's a tribe of testers who are always thrown together depending on availability or the task at hand. The team that has always travelled to South Africa in recent years has been made up of six to seven people. Manuel also has a few testers in the north, so in total there are perhaps eight people who are part of the hard core, but who are not present at every test.
MV: Sometimes we also bring in people from outside. Sometimes it can be really good to get feedback from outside.
SG: Sometimes it just happens with the guest testers. During the foil test on Lake Garda, I had the case that a shop customer was interested in a foil that we had in the test. I then simply involved him a little. He didn't just try out one foil, but also three or four others.
Is the core of the testers put together according to certain criteria, such as weight?
MV: Of course, we make sure that people have a certain level of surfing experience. But it's also important that they have a connection to normal hobby surfers through their work in the shop or as surf instructors, so that we can understand the readers' problems. And with people who have a full-time job, it is of course difficult to be with us for weeks on end.
SG: Regarding your initial question and the weights, we always make sure that we have two people who are roughly the same weight. Of course, there are still certain differences in riding ability, but if you have a weight difference of more than five kilos, you can tell. One person always glides better and the other is always a bit faster. We worked with weights on Lake Garda because one tester had just got a bit thinner and the other had just gone through a bit of a party and pizza phase, so you can adjust things a bit.
Do you also have women with you?
SG: Not in the test team, no. The question comes up again and again, it's a critical issue: I'm of the opinion that there is no women's material at all, apart from wetsuits and harnesses perhaps. Everything else is simply chosen according to whether you are heavy or light. A tall, strong woman needs the same material as a man of the same height and strength. And a man with small hands also likes to have a thin fork. The second reason that makes it almost impossible for us to have a woman in the team is that we would first need two who really have a high level of riding ability. Women who ride at the same level as most of our testers, who then ride in the World Cup, and who are then also fully sponsored. There just aren't that many non-sponsored women with the surfing level, and that's the main reason.
Let's go through a test from planning to the finished test in the booklet. Let's start at the beginning: How do you plan the test groups and the products that are included?
SG: The test groups are naturally orientated towards the interests of the readers. The largest target group is in the freeride sector, as well as wave sails, because these are generally not only used in waves, but also as small sails on flat water. When we test freestyle wave boards, for example, we ask some manufacturers which size is sold most frequently. However, we also vary so that you don't have the same size every year.
The test groups are orientated to the interests of the readers." (Stephan Gölnitz)
Then comes the second step: "Which brands are taking part?" And this is based on market availability, reader interest and significance for the market. But we also try to expand the whole thing with brands that don't sell as much and make it more interesting and offer them a stage. So brands like Ezzy, like Hot Sails, like Lorch. They don't play such a big role in terms of unit sales, but they do crop up in our tests from time to time.
MV: Of course, we don't have enough capacity to test all products in all groups. There are brands that are simply not as relevant for certain areas. The big brands naturally get more slots over the year, because they are more available and more people are interested in them. Nonetheless, we try to include the smaller brands from time to time to represent a wide range.
And how do you work with the manufacturers? Do you enquire and say "I want the board and the sail" or do they also offer something?
MV: If, for example, we have defined Freestylewave 95 as a test group, then we look at what the individual brands have to offer. This is often done in consultation with the manufacturer, we ask "What would you recommend?" We don't pick everything from the top down.
SG: Sometimes we write out requirements in the same way as the customer would in the shop - i.e. area, skiing ability and available equipment as key points. Sometimes surprising things come up. We had this in the last foil test, where a brand sent its race foil for a group of freerace foils. It was called Racefoil, but it was really well suited to the target group. I might not even have chosen it otherwise.
A few test groups come every year, but there are always special tests, such as early gliding or the comparison of the freeride/freerace/slalom classes. Do you have a pool of topics or how do you organise these more irregular test groups?
SG: We collect such topics, some of which also come from our testers who work in the shop. They know the questions that come up and of course it's our job to answer them. Do I buy the freerace board now or do I buy the freeride board? Or people who don't know whether they can put the thick or the thin mast in their seven-square-metre sail. That doesn't happen at a desk, but from questions that arise out on the beach.
MV: Sometimes it's also a bit due to the fact that we want to offer a topic for a specific area, such as freerace. However, there aren't new products from all brands every year, and then it's of course good to highlight general aspects and do an exemplary test that can also be transferred to other brands.
There hasn't been a big freestyle test for a few years now, simply because of a lack of interest in the group?
MV: Of course, the priorities are always a little different. We used to do it every year, but we also realised that it can get a bit boring if you have the same sequence in the magazines every year. The problem with Corona was that a lot of things weren't available in time. The freestyle stuff used to be the first, now it's sometimes the last to come out. But we're already planning to cover everything, to present freestyle stuff at least in loose form in "Schon Gefahren", but also to do a proper test again.
You've already mentioned that the material that comes from the manufacturers ends up in your cellars. Can your postmen still handle it?
SG: More bad than good (laughs). It's actually a logistical matter, because we don't put the material on eBay afterwards as some people think and then sweeten the rest of the year with it, but it's collected, unpacked and has to be packed up again afterwards for the return shipment. There's a situation where you actually have to be able to run away very quickly: When the DHL man has carried the board up to the third floor in our Munich office, he's dripping with sweat and then the lady at reception says it has to go down to the basement, then it's time to run away when he can heave it all back down again.
The time spent on the water is only part of the time spent working with the material. (Manuel Vogel)
MV: The boxes also have to be kept, we don't throw them away to avoid creating a mountain of rubbish. And then, of course, you have to store it all somewhere and keep track of it. All the logistics, weighing everything, sorting, repacking, getting it ready for dispatch again, writing delivery notes, all that is involved in a test. The actual testing time on the water is only part of the time spent working with the material.
What about the measured values, do you measure and weigh everything yourself?
MV: Our standard is to at least always check the weights, partly because we don't want to have lighter dummy boards foisted on us. It's clear that there are tolerances, but the reader expects that a six-kilo board in the test won't suddenly weigh 7.5 kg. We also measure length and width again and again. It's about such trivial things as "Will this thing still fit in my van or the board bag?". Also the height of the fork recess and so on, these are details that you can't get anywhere else.
Does the legendary bathtub in Munich where you measured litres still exist?
SG: It was demolished last year, but they haven't used it for several years. This volume measurement was very important until about ten years ago because there were large deviations. Sometimes you had the feeling that the manufacturers wanted to have a 95-litre board in the range and wrote that on it, regardless of how big the board actually was. Back then, the shapers used to shape a board, weigh the foam core and then calculate the approximate volume. But then they added a sandwich laminate. Today, all shapers use 3D software to design their boards, where the volume is immediately displayed.
Is there any criticism or feedback from the manufacturers afterwards?
SG: Yes, of course, there is that. In the past, the criticism was even harsher and, from the manufacturer's point of view, a bit more important because the boards were in use for a long time. Nowadays, if a product has a bad test, you can bring it back onto the market the next year with a slight revision.
MV: You always have to be relatively sure of what you're doing. But we usually are, which is why we can defend our results. Nevertheless, there is of course the moment when Stephan or I write it and realise that it's really not a good test. Then you know for sure that the phone will probably ring the day after publication. What's also nice is when you hear something similar from team riders a year or two later, when you get confirmation of exactly what you found out yourself.
There are tests where you know that the phone will ring the day after publication. (Manuel Vogel)
Do you ever get really excited about a product because there might be a new trend and you've read the marketing texts beforehand and are really excited to see how it really performs?
MV: Yes, enthusiasm for innovations and products should be part of the tester's DNA. Of course, it's always exciting when you unpack the boards and everything is there. The brands don't always have it easy, and when they come up with new ideas, you have to be open to them. In the past, there have been many things that have really proved their worth.
SG: Over time, you get a feel for what makes sense technically and professionally. What we disseminate is always based on real practical experience and not just theory. There have been some adventurous explanations for some products.
A question that comes up from time to time: Why hasn't there been anything from Duotone in the test for a long time?
MV: It's an amicable agreement, they don't want to put any more products to the test because they didn't agree with one of our tests. This has also happened in the past with other brands, where they were sometimes stubborn. We still believe that we described the product well in the test in question. If we test a product that obviously doesn't work properly, we don't just leave it at that. We then look at whether it's the mast or the trim - and of course we did that in this case. Ultimately, it's up to the brand to decide whether to send us something.
SG: Of course, we could also get products, but that would really lead to a lot of tension. And testing a product also has a certain marketing value for the brand. I also don't see why our team should put in a lot of work, time and money for a brand that isn't interested in it, while there are other brands that really want to be involved. There is no real bad feeling between surf and Duotone, but they are currently of the opinion that our tests do not describe their products correctly. We are of the opinion that we have written it correctly, so there is no compromise.
