by members when we were testing in Miami in 1986. The whole process was
rushed and unscientific but we did get a chance to sail each board in at
least marginal planing conditions. I remember one particular board that
was a dog and I wrote it up as a dog. There was a lot of pressure put on
me by the magazine and the manufacturer to change my impression but I
refused. It ended up that the editor smoothed over my criticisms but my
ratings still showed in the tables. I would imagine that similar
pressures still come to bear on the testers but now the boards are
probably uniformly better so the chances of encountering an obvious dog
are much more remote and the differences are much more subtle as Ken
Winner mentioned. As long as advertisers are advertising however I'm sure
those outside pressures are always there for the test team.
--
Dr. Mark D. Powell
Research Meteorologist, CCM (Swimmer, Windsurfer, user of NEXTSTEP)
NOAA Hurricane Research Division (appropriate disclaimers apply)
Miami, Fl 33149 Voice (305) 361-4403 Fax (305) 361-4402