review

During September I was lucky enough to have a brand new Custom Kayaks Synergy surfski to play with while its owner Billy Harker was overseas.  Thanks Billy!  This is what I found.

A New Generation Double: The Custom Kayaks Apex

With time we will look back on the decade from the mid nineties to the mid noughties as a time when new boat design was caught up in an indecent flurry, aggravated by the scrapping of the ICF kayak width rule. In a drive to be faster and cooler, boats became thinner - and dramatically less stable. However as Dave Macleod found after testing the new Custom Kayaks double ski, it is time to enjoy the new age where speed comes with stability.

The new Fenn Mako Elite has now been out for, what, 8 months?  And, like others, I've been looking for a thorough review of the ski but haven't seen one.  So, exercising fiduciary irresponsibility, I went ahead and purchased one before I had seen or paddled it. 

Fenn Mako Elite (pic: www.oceanpaddlesports.com)

[Editor: Adventurer, writer and highly experienced paddler Brandon Nelson wrote this review of the Think Legend surfski. Their blog is at http://ultramarathonpaddling.blogspot.com/]

Heather and Brandon Nelson (Pic: http://ultramarathonpaddling.blogspot.com)

Red7 recently sent us one of their new Surf70 Pro skis to try out.  I've found it a fast boat with exceptionally good downwind characteristics.  After paddling it in two races and about fifteen downwind runs (some in extreme conditions) here's my view from the cockpit...

The Red7 Surf70 Pro in action on a recent Millers Run

Naming a surf-ski after a mass executioner from Bolivia might seem a bit weird. Once the Cuban revolution was won he ordered the execution-without-trial of hundreds of prisoners at the La Cabaña Fortress prison in Havana as Castro's "Supreme Prosecutor". But almost everyone who celebrates the freedom fighter seems to have forgotten that.

... So Honcho may as well cash in on Che's famous mugshot-in-a-beret too.

Surfski.info last reviewed the Knysna Kayaks Robberg Express in April 2006 and at the time we had a couple of reservations about the ski -in particular, in choppy water the cockpit filled with water.  I've spent the last few weekends paddling the updated model and found it much improved.

[Editor: Canadian Chris Nagle sent us this review of the Think Evo ski.  Think Kayaks is based in Vancouver, Canada, while the skis are manufactured in China.

Many thanks to Chris for the review.]

Red7 brought the first examples of an all-new surf ski design to Durban for the 2007 ARB World Cup.  Red7 CEO Peter Mote asked me not to take any photos as the skis were not production grade... 

But I received a selection of images via email today - the secret is out!  Here they are along with some video shot of Tommy Woodruff paddling the ski in Durban.

It's not often that a totally new ski from a new manufacturer is released onto the market - but we were lucky enough to lay hands on just such a one in the form of the Oceans Pro ski from Honcho Surfskis. 

Here's what we found.