for newbie in a 24-mile race, kayak or surfski?

Hello Group,

I'm a relatively inexperienced sea kayaker (have done three 15-mile paddles in races over the years but only paddle to train for races; maybe 40 lifetime excursions in a kayak) who is doing a 24-mile race in a lake in two weeks. I've been having a hard time finding a sea kayak to rent and have been offered the use of a surfski, a Mako 18. I've never been on a surfski and won't until race morning. My questions are:

1) Is it realistic to think that I can learn surfskiing "on the job"?

2) Which would likely be faster?

3) Which would likely be easier on the body (especially the legs: this will be the first stage of a triathlon)?

Thank you for any comments.

Can't speak for you, but I would definitely *not* want to be in *any* kayak or ski for a first time on race day, provided that race means anything to you in terms of finishing or finishing well. You don't even know if your legs and bum will fit in the ski physically...

As for paddling a tippier than you are used to craft over 24 miles on flat water, you should know that it is not easy. If you feel even a bit of tippiness on the ski, you will lose energy to maintain balance. During my first nearly 20 miles race (the Blackburn Challenge) I used the Rapier 18 kayak, whcih is very comparable in stability to intermediate skis like the Epic V10 Sport. Towards the end of the race, after 15 miles hard work, I was getting tired and my balance was not good enough to maintain good speed. I would not have had these problems when not tired, nor would I have them in a more stable kayak.

That said, I was still faster in the tippier but "faster hull" kayak than in a slower and more stable one. But there is a cross-over point, which is different for eveyone, where getting a "faster hull" that is too tippy leads to results worse than you would get in a more stable but "slower" craft.

Your problem is that you have not had a chance to compare the ski to a kayak for your kind of race. So, tough choice -

Oh, and because you said you are a "newbie", I would suggest that you need to really look into hydration and nutrition for the race. For anything over 10 miles you need to get some energy from food and you need to plan on drinking probably something like 1 gallon of liquids *with electrolites* over that 20+ mile race. That will make a huge difference.