Re: [Paddlewise] SURF SKIS

On Mon, 19 Jul 1999, SurfBuff wrote:

> 	Would appreciate if anyone here has any knowledge of surf skis?  I'm 
> anticipating getting one.  I tried to call Venturesport in Florida who 
> used to make them but the phone# I have no longer works and the Operator 
> does not have a listing for them 

I would be extremely interested in hearing what happened to them too.  I 
bought a wing paddle from them a couple of years ago.  

> Thanks for any help and suggestions

I paddle a Futura Carerra.  It's great for going fast and straight in 
flat conditions and mild chop.  It's extremly wet in waves more than a 
foot tall.  I believe the Carerra has been replaced by the Futura Blade.
I've got a carbon fiber ski, which leaks, there wasn't enough resin when
the boat was vacuum bagged and it has a few pinhole leaks.  Talking to
the local Futura rep he said pinhole leaks of the carbon boats was not 
uncommon and that he had yet to see a leaky 'glass boat.

The Current Designs speedster seems to be the currently hyped boat.  The 
local REI has a couple, and loaned one earlier this year to someone for
a race.  The person using it, a good paddler, didn't have enough time on
it and couldn't get it to remain correctly upright.  It's got a lot of
V to the hull and he paddled it leaned over for a lot of the race.  The
specs for the Speedster have it weighing about 28 pounds but, reportedly, 
one of the boats at the boats at REI weighs 37 pounds.  The speedster 
looks like it will be much better in waves than my Carerra, there's more 
volume and upsweep in the bow.

The guy I paddled with last week, Mike, was on a Hayden surf ski, with a bow 
wing(?).  It looked like it would be a blast in the waves.  It seemed to
be a good bit slower than my carrerra for our trip around the lake.  There
was a speedmate attached to the Hayden.  We were comfortably cruising
at 3 meters per second.  Mike said he's had it going 3.5 meters per second
but that was a fair amount of work.

I'm in New England, there aren't a lot of surf skiis around here.  

kirk
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