A friend of mine bought an Epic V8 earlier this year. It's an 18 foot by 22" beam surf ski. He's been paddling a few different surf skis over the years (Fenn XT, think evo, think legend, huki s1x-special). This year for the blackburn he managed to get second in the fast sea kayak class, in what sounded like a fabulous race. He was second coming out of the Annisquam river, led from the Annisquam to Halibut point, second to straightsmoth, led to the dogbar, then was passed on the way to the greasy pole. I do like the names of the land marks ;-) He ended up 11 minutes faster than his previous best time. Which included doing the race in the Fenn, Evo, s1x-special, and an outrigger connection stingray. It was interesting to a very real case of paddling a 'slower' boat being faster. Because there's no need to brace, or for the core muscles to get tired out from balancing. The V8 is 3 feet shorter and 5 inches wider than the huki s1x-special. For myself, I got tired out and paddled poorly for miles 12 to 17. That'll teach me to paddle a fast boat (probably not). I should go buy a comfy boat and pick up speed... I was about 10 minutes slower than last year - I blame that primarily on conditioning with contributions from hydration and nutrition. It can't possibly be me getting older ;-) Kirk -- Kirk Olsen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Kirk, I totally agree about stability. The 17 inch wide Fenn Elite was kicking my butt in the ocean, so I switched to the 19 inch wide Fenn XT. I'll be using the XT in the US Surfski Champs at San Francisco on August 4th, because the water gets so wild there. I also recently bought the 18 inch wide Fenn Swordfish as a step up in performance and will start using it after the champs. But I'll be saving the XT for the rough days. I don't believe I could ever be good enough to handle a 17 wide surfski well on the ocean. I can keep upright on them, but being able to apply full power for the forward stroke while bouncing around is another thing. Duane Strosaker Southern California >________________________________ > From: Kirk Olsen <kork4_at_cluemail.com> >Subject: [Paddlewise] observation from Blackburn Challenge > It was interesting to a very real case of paddling a 'slower' boat being >faster. Because there's no need to brace, or for the core muscles to >get tired out from balancing. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Good luck in the surf ski champs, I would love to hear your race report afterwards. The XT is a good choice for that race. I've had friends go out for the race. They paddle 17" beam boats here and were happy to be on V10 sports and XTs in San Francisco. Well all of the locals except Alex McLain - she used a 17 inch beam Huki S1X, and did well. I'm okay on the 17" beam boat for workouts and the first 2 hours of a race. After that it gets ugly. At least for me a fairly short paddle length (I use a 209.5 cm) and a high turn over are better than a longer paddle or a more deliberate stroke. A single brace can really mess with your speed and alignment.... Kirk On Thu, Jul 19, 2012, at 12:42 PM, Duane Strosaker wrote: Kirk, I totally agree about stability. The 17 inch wide Fenn Elite was kicking my butt in the ocean, so I switched to the 19 inch wide Fenn XT. I'll be using the XT in the US Surfski Champs at San Francisco on August 4th, because the water gets so wild there. I also recently bought the 18 inch wide Fenn Swordfish as a step up in performance and will start using it after the champs. But I'll be saving the XT for the rough days. I don't believe I could ever be good enough to handle a 17 wide surfski well on the ocean. I can keep upright on them, but being able to apply full power for the forward stroke while bouncing around is another thing. -- Kirk Olsen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
For a longer race a waterline of 18' long is already likely to be on the long side for the speed even a strong paddler can maintain for that distance. Even though a strong paddler might be able to sprint the longer kayak faster for a very short distance, due to the higher potential hull speed, the extra wetted surface of the longer hull will mean more drag at slower speeds, such as those speeds that can be maintained for long distances. In that case, shorter can indeed be faster. Given adequate stability or skill though, narrower will also reduce wetted surface (at least to the point where the underater hull makes a semicircle--which is considerably narrower than even Olympic flat water kayaks go). In an open water race how the kayak handles waves can also make a difference, as can paddler comfort. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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