Funny you should say that...  I visited Mark Lewin at his factory this afternoon to find...  the raw unfinished plug of his new ski.

He gave me permission to take a few photos - see attached.

Definitely post some photos! 

I've found that the cradles from Thule are great until there's some wind around - when the ski simply breaks the cradles as it twists sideways.

Not for me, because I've never used the mapping function - when using the navigation feature, I've only used the GoTo function that displays the compass. 

The 405 has this - but, and this is another "don't like feature" for me, it doesn't show the Distance Remaining.

The only thing that kept me sane during Molokai was watching the distance-to-go come down (albeit excruciatingly slowly).

No - I prefer SportTracks which, as you say, allows you to assign the sport type to each individual track so that it doesn't actually matter that the 405 has only Running/Cycling.

Yes it does - but you can lock the bezel to avoid this.  So the sequence is:
Switch on GPS,
Switch to training,
select the view you want
Lock the bezel
Press start
Pretty good - it's a crisp, sharp display, better quality I'd say than the 305.
However, it only shows a max. of 3 numbers and the smallest is very small.

Indeed it is.  I've been using the 405 & 305 together for the last week.  The 405 has taken a bit of getting used to but I'm almost ready to publish the review.

What I like about it:

• Smaller, lighter on the wrist for runners.
• Very sharp display - easy to read
• Quicker to synch with satellites
• A joy to synch with the PC - come within 10m and the PC automatically makes contact & downloads the data.

What I don't like:

• Had to get used to the bezel - I find it quite fiddly to use
• The battery time - have to remember to switch off GPS otherwise the battery is drained in 8hrs
• The battery is supposed to last a week in standby mode (showing time only) but it seems to drain faster than that which means it spends a lot of time on the charger.
• Wasn't obvious how to get out of GPS mode, had to look it up in the manual.
• When you lock the bezel a message keeps popping up telling you that you've locked the bezel!
• You can't select an "other" sport so your paddling tracks are stored under "running" in Training Center

Overall I like the unit - I haven't yet tried the training features, but I'm fairly sure that they'll be similar to the 305.

I think some people will prefer it, especially guys who do cross training on bikes/running.

For more on SPOT:

http://www.findmespot.com/Home.aspx

Here's a great little movie, made by Kenny Howell's escort boat:
http://tinyurl.com/5gf9ym

It's great because it gives a really good overview of the race:

• the big shore break on the beach
• the chaos with the mass start of the escort boats
• the runs during the second hour
• going past Portlock Point

Great one Kenny!

Not sure about that but one of the schemes suggested is something like:

Load all the paddlers & skis on the Super Ferry for Maui.
Paddle (race?) from Maui to Molokai
Spend two nights on Molokai in a tent city/block booking
Race from Molokai back to Oahu.

Can imagine the vibe?  Obviously some people would want to do their own thing - but the opportunity for all the paddlers to meet/paddle/relax together...  That usually only happens at the after-party.  This would be like a massive road-trip.  Awesome.

There is some video on the way...
I'll try to get some it in the form of clips onto youtube or blip.tv.

 

This appeared in Canoe & Kayak Magazine recently:

http://preview.canoekayak.com/kayak/dubairichestkayakrace/

Nice one!

There's the sport rudder and the elliptical rudder.

The sport rudder is smaller and produces less rolling moment i.e. it doesn't turn the boat as fast but the benefit is that the boat feels more stable.

The elliptical rudder is larger and makes the boat turn faster but it also induces a stronger rolling moment when you turn and this makes the boat feel less stable.

If you're a beginner, it's best to start with the sport rudder, but if you get to the point where you're doing downwind runs in big conditions, you'll definitely want the improved maneuverability that the elliptical rudder brings.

The rudders are reasonably easy to change with the aid of an allan key.

Brilliant thread - I've also just ordered a set of mounts - from GoPro, the manufacturers of the GoPro Hero camera.  I'll report back on how they work.  (Should arrive from Amazon in a week or so.)

GoPro have a set of products - suction caps, mountings, spare parts.  Search for "all products from GoPro" on Amazon.

Not explicitly - so I infer that he used it set to 2.15.

Thanks for that, Scott.

As announced earlier, we will be ranking everyone who takes part in a World Series race from the beginning of the new season.

The formula you describe is pretty much the percentage formula we use in South Africa - except that of course for local races there's no "F-factor".

You're right that the percentage calculation does give a useful gauge of your speed relative to the winner...

We'll definitely be looking at building this into the results moving forward.  What we also do in South Africa is place athletes in grades according to their previous results ie if you race percentage is 90% or above, you're an A-grade paddler; if 95% and above you're an Elite paddler; 80% - 90% you're B-grade, and so on.  It might be fun to do this too for everyone who takes part in a WS race...

We have promotion rules too - so if you perform better in the next race, you can be immediately promoted to the next grade; if you perform worse, two races in a row, you're demoted.

Thanks for the great suggestion.