Latest Surfski News

Tuesday, 17 October 2023 07:11
“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” I thought to myself a few moments after launching on the brand new V10 4G for the first time. It was getting dark; it was raining; the squalls were lifting sheets of spray off the water… directly offshore. What WAS I thinking? The answer is that I’m a sucker for new toys – and if I get my hands on one, I HAVE to play with it. Damn the weather, full speed ahead… Since then I’ve paddled the boat many more times, in much pleasanter weather. Here’s what I think of this,…
Thursday, 08 June 2023 12:42
East London, South Africa: Angus Warren watched helplessly as the shark’s teeth crunched through the hull of his surfski. “It seemed to go on and on,” he says, “pushing and chomping. I was thinking, why is it not working out that it isn’t food? “I can’t tell how long it took, but I had enough time to shout a couple of times to the others.” The next thing he knew, he was in the water…
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Thursday, 27 April 2023 18:42
CAPE TOWN - Hank McGregor and Josh Fenn convincingly claimed back their Prescient Freedom Paddle title on Thursday in a dramatic race marked by tough conditions and a rain-delayed start.  Conditions were extremely tough - a brisk northwester blowing spray from the big confused chop into the paddlers' faces as they headed out to the island.  Huge breaking surf on the far side of the island ensured a wide line but the wind dropped as the fleet started on the journey back to the finish, making it that much more difficult and energy sapping to catch the runs.  
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Tuesday, 25 April 2023 11:50
Last Friday, however, I paddled with Dawid on a windless autumn evening in Cape Town. Cruising from Fish Hoek to Muizenberg, we paddled together, stopping at all the coves to surf a few waves. In short, the operative word was "fun". This was a different Dawid - off duty - and, well, I've never paddled with anyone so noisy before. Whistling, singing, shouting to folks on shore - yahooing as he caught a wave. Heading home at dusk we crept up behind a group of seals lazing on the surface. Dawid began barking like a five-year-old paid by the bark...until…
Thursday, 09 February 2023 07:39
A look back - aaaaargh! A mountain. Let it go through... A smaller one, with a glimpse of something massive lurking further out to sea. Catch it, catch it! Sprint, sprint, you’re on it, here’s the break zone, keep going, keep going, the roar from behind and the sudden acceleration as a massive foamy caught up to me, keep it straight, keep it straight... Phew. Arrived. Panting. Stop the watch. ok. Made it. Empty the boat, pick it up to prevent it knocking you down. Done.
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Saturday, 26 November 2022 17:16
The South Africans cleaned up today at the most prestigious surfski race in Australia – arguably the most prestigious race in the world - taking five out of the top six places and the entire podium at the Shaw and Partners “The Doctor” in Perth. Defending women’s champion, Kiwi Danielle McKenzie won the women’s trophy.
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Saturday, 19 November 2022 13:01
Gold Coast paddler, Cory Hill, took first scalp in the five-event ocean ski racing series, the Shaw and Partners WA Race Week, winning the inaugural race today, the 24km Fenn West Coast Downwinder from Fremantle, just south of Perth, to Sorrento Beach. In fine conditions with a 16 knot SSW wind courtesy of the famed Fremantle Doctor, the start off Port Beach was intense with the top paddlers in a terse battle to make the first break.   But it was 33-year-old Hill – the 4-times DOCTOR champ who relishes the Perth conditions – who was able to shake the field…
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Tuesday, 16 March 2021 13:54
It’s not easy to catch a rolling, runaway single ski in 30kt of gusting wind – and as they attempted to grab it, Alex and his doubles partner lost their balance and fell into the water. By the time they’d remounted, the single ski was gone – blown away by the strengthening near-gale. They turned and paddled back upwind to find their buddy.
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Wednesday, 03 March 2021 12:08
Accident reports are easy to write when the story ends happily, but this one didn’t and it’s with a very heavy heart that I’m writing this, with a view to learning what we can from it.
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Wednesday, 15 July 2020 09:13
When the NSRI found Duncan MacDonald, he was approximately 6km off Smitswinkel Bay, drifting rapidly further offshore. Gale-force squalls whipped sheets of spray off the waves, reducing visibility almost to nothing. What Happened? Given the small size of the surfski community, there’s always intense interest whenever there’s a rescue. What happened? What did they do wrong? What can we learn from it? Clearly there are lessons to be learnt from any mishap – so here’s a description of what happened, shared with the permission and cooperation of the folks involved in the hope that we might all learn from this…
Friday, 24 April 2020 11:41
Durban – As the continued coronavirus lockdown grips the country, Canoeing South Africa will host a 24 hour Canoeing4COVID-19 event this weekend as a way to raise funds for members of the broader paddling community that have been badly affected by the lockdown.
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Wednesday, 11 March 2020 14:35
“Hey, Rob! Help!” The shouts penetrated the sound of the howling wind and crashing waves – and even through the noise it was obvious from the tone of his voice that something was seriously wrong. I turned and headed back upwind.
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Tuesday, 03 March 2020 14:43
Many paddlers use Personal Locator Beacons, or tracker apps like SafeTrx on their mobile phones. But handheld VHF radios are also a great choice to consider – especially when they’re DSC-capable like the Standard Horizon HX870E.
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Monday, 24 February 2020 12:01
I finally got my hands on a demo Fennix Swordfish S this weekend and did two Miller's Runs in succession to see if I could feel any difference in handling between the 2018 Swordfish S and the new Fennix model.  Conditions were challenging: False Bay was covered in whitecaps, whipped by a combination of a 25-30kt southeaster and small, confused seas.  The result?  I definitely want to spend more time in this boat.
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Thursday, 26 December 2019 10:30
The shark smashed like a freight train into Roger Swinney’s surfski in an explosion of noise and spray, knocking him off into the water.  “I managed to get back on the ski,” he said, “but I fell off again and as I remounted the second time, I saw the swirl and tips of the shark’s fins. “I didn’t see it clearly, but from the force of it and the movement in the water, it looked big!”
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The V10 Story

Sunday, 14 May 2006 12:43 | Written by 
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ImageAnyone who's had the sales pitch from the Big O, knows that "the plug for the V10 was CNC machined - that's why the hull has such accurate lines."

Oscar always goes on to point out the myriad of other features - the computer design, the venturi drain, the cockpit design, and so on.  One thing's for sure: the guys at Epic are not shy about their achievements - and when I asked, I was presented with a range of fascinating photographs and information about the development of the V10 ski.

Computer Design

The story began in 2003 when John Dixon, a computer wizard based in California, wrote software to design, analyze and optimize hull shapes.   He had spent years studying and researching hull shapes, with help from naval architect Andy Toros, himself an Olympics paddling medallist.  Andy had also been Greg Barton's coach in the 1980s. 

While developing the software John had built a hull measuring rig and had validated the theoretical results by comparing what the software said with the actual characteristics of the various hulls.

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John Dixon's hull design software

"In contrast with other hull modelling and CAD packages, our software allows us to change parameters like water line, keel line and so on and watch the changes with a much better understanding of what's happening."

In 2004, he joined forces with Oscar Chalupsky and Greg Barton to design a new surfski for Epic.

John said, "The design goals we started out with were:

  1. It should be as fast as the current top end racing skis.
  2. The new boat had to be more stable than the current top end racing skis.
  3. It must handle rough conditions well and surf exceptionally well.
  4. The hull shape at the seat area must accommodate a seat that's wide enough for most paddlers (including Oscar).
  5. The paddle entry point should be as close to the centerline of the boat as possible, without risking catching the paddle on the foot pedals."

By using his software, John was able to analyse a number of hull shapes rapidly.  "By modifying various hull features we discovered that we could make the hull more stable without sacrificing speed," he said.  "I would select the designs that I felt were best, send them to Greg and Oscar for review, and then I'd repeat the process based on their feedback.  After 10 of these cycles we had a hull and deck we all felt would have the right balance of speed, stability and seaworthiness."  Hence the name, "V10".

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Software rendering of the V10

The software showed the theoretical stability and drag (speed) characteristics.  Performance in waves was analysed intuitively with input from Oscar Chalupsky and Greg Barton.

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Software rendering of the V10 stern
 

The cockpit details were mostly modelled by Greg using a commercial Computer Aided Design (CAD) package.  John added, "Surface modelling of this sort on a computer is particularly gruelling, but Greg did an excellent job of making all the details come together."

Building the Plugs

The plugs were built in South Africa during December 2004.  Oscar Chalupsky and Greg Barton laminated the plug for the hull from 18 planks of 25mm superwood, working through the night.  The planks were compressed with barrels of water.

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... 18 planks of 25mm superwood
 

Moving the plug took 40 people - each plug weighed a ton (literally) and was mounted on lengths of railway track.

The CNC machining was done at Dormac in Durban - a firm specialising in ship repairs.  The machining of the hull plug took 3 days, working 24 hours a day.

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The CNC machining...

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The hull taking shape
 

After machining, each plug was painted with 3 layers of wood primer followed by polyurethane primer.  The plugs then went through multiple iterations of sanding with 2000grit sandpaper and polishing to achieve the mirror-like surface. 

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After machining...
 

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...after sanding and polishing
 

The Deck Plug

The deck plug was built up from 26 layers and over 70 pieces of laser-cut superwood planking.  Oscar said they made a mistake by screwing the deck plug together.  "We had to take all the screws out again," he said, "to avoid damaging the CNC machine's bit.  All part of the learning process!"

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...over 70 pieces of laser-cut planking

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The deck plug taking shape

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Greg Barton checking the seat plug
 

The moulds were built from fibre glass using infusion epoxy resin.  (One of the benefits of epoxy is that it hardly shrinks at all as it cures, so the moulds retained the accuracy of the plugs.) 

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Deck plug ready for the moulds
 

The Venturi

Another selling feature of the V10 is the single drain hole in the cockpit.  A characteristic of single footwell skis like the V10 is that they hold a large volume of water, which must be drained as rapidly as possible.  Greg said they started with a simple pipe that drained too slowly and again a CAD system was used to design a venturi instead. 

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3-D rendering of the venturi on the CAD system

What is a venturi?  In essence it's a pipe that has a larger diameter at one end than the other.  A pressure differential is created between the two ends of the pipe that has the effect of sucking the water out at a higher rate.  A layman's explanation of the venturi effect may be found at: http://home.earthlink.net/~mmc1919/venturi.html

The prototype venturi was also created using a high-tech process.  A kind of 3-D printer using a process called stereo lithography literally grew the prototype.  Stereo lithography is a process similar to inkjet printing where droplets of plastic are "printed" instead of ink.  The result is a 3-D solid rendering of the object being created.  The principle is explained further here: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/stereolith2.htm

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The venturi being grown by stereo lithography
 

Stringers

The stringers in the new skis are built from Nomex Honeycomb using space-frame designs - space-frame structures are characteristically strong and light and are used in applications like crane booms, roofs and space stations...

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The Nomex Honeycomb stringer used in all new V10s

And what of the plugs?

And what happened to the plugs after the moulds had been built?  Sadly wood isn't stable enough for long term storage and they were dumped, not having any further purpose.  (Glass fibre plugs were created from the initial moulds.)

V10 L

We just received these images of the V10L with the low volume nose.  

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V10 L with V10 behind

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The V10L's cockpit is shifted slightly forward