The king of endurance paddling, Bart de Zwart completed 193.8kms (123.4 miles) after paddling all day and all night around a lake near the Swiss town of Erlach. Bart did roughly 19 laps of a 10.5km loop on what was supposed to be a calm, flat water venue. The weather didn’t cooperate though, with a storm rolling through at 11pm that brought thunder, lightning and wind from all directions. Riding a customized 18’ Starboard Bart chose the Maliko fin for its efficiency and increased glide. The increased stability and tracking offered by the Maliko fin would also help him as fatigue crept in especially in these conditions which were more challenging than expected.

Joanne set her record a couple of months before Bart in cold weather in the UK. She was riding a production Naish fitted with her trusted Maliko race fin. He record attempt was on canals and the 45 degrees angle of the Maliko proved useful as the water had lots of debris. Like Bart (they are great friends) Jo has taken to longer distance and exploration events and the Maliko’s added tracking and stability are important to her especially in the later stages of races. Joanne’s 24 hr record of 179.99kms (111.84 miles) briefly held both the outright record and female record. It was fitting that she was on hand in Switzerland as part of Bart’s support crew. While Bart’s took her record she still holds the female record and is keen to go further.

While fin choice may not make or break a record attempt of this nature it is an important part of the puzzle. In a world of marginal gains the smallest of advantages when added together make a large overall result. Just as nutrition and diet have become central to any athletes performance for serious (and recreational paddlers alike) paddlers the correct fin will make a significant difference to performance. It is important to analyze what paddling you do and choose the fin which best suits your needs (refer to our comparison table for info). The Maliko was chosen by these two record breakers for a number of reasons including increased glide, efficiency, tracking and stability. Over the course of 24 hrs of paddling these small advantage gains result in more miles. Even a 0.1 mph average improvement results in 2.4 miles over the course of the record attempt, our GPS testing shows larger gains and hence bigger advantages for Bart and Joanne.