Surfski vs OC-1: flat water sustainable speed?

If you paddle both - using hulls of comparable speed, how do your sustainable speeds compare on flat water with no wind?

I am an old guy paddling a Huki S-1R and my sustainable pace is a litte over 6 mph - i.e. 10-minute miles

OC-1's are calling out to me because of the higher seating/better view and I have been dabbling with a sort-of OC-1 called a "Raptor 16".

But the Raptor is a stone pig to paddle - best I can sustain so far is low 4's.

I am wondering how my times will be in a "Real" OC-1

Two More Questions:

Deep-Water Remounts:
No problem for me with the Huki, but the increased freeboard of the Raptor has me resorting to a line between fore and aft akas. How much harder are OC-1 remounts?

Heavy Air:
Suppose you get caught in a squall on an OC-1. .. Does the ama make turning difficult or inpossible when it's gusting into the thirties?

Somewhere in the low-to-mid twenties, the Raptor becomes uncontrollable by paddle alone bco windage on the ama/akas.

I can't answer your question but I would add one. As an old guy injuries become more common. Which one would offer the least chance of injury to the shoulders, elbows, knees, back etc? An OC wouldn't work for me for this reasons alone, even if it was faster,which I don't believe it is.

I paddle both the OC-1 and surfski quite extensively, and find that I'm about 0.5 mph (0.8 kph) faster in a ski than an outrigger in flat water. This gap is even larger going upwind and smaller going downwind. In real smoking downwind conditions, I may be nearly as fast in an outrigger as in a ski, but this may be because I have decades of downwind outrigger experience, and only a few years in the ski.

As for remounting, an ordinary OC-1 is much easier than a ski, and turning around in windy conditions is easy as well.

...old guy injuries...

Me experience so far:

• Back: some muscle soreness 1st couple times on the OC, but nothing since
• Shoulder: Tore a rotator cuff 25+ years ago, no surgery (i.e. it's still torn, but more-or-less protected by compensating muscles). Got a wild hair up my ass a few months ago about doing pushups and chinups - and the predictable came to pass...
  
  My sense is that the single-blade stroke is easier on it than the double-blade wing paddle/vertical catch stroke because I don't have to raise the arm so high.

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Agree with downwinda on the speed differences
oc1 hulls should theoretically be faster on flat since they are narrower but the kayak stroke is more efficient, hence the speed advantage. some guys use a kayak blade to paddle oc1s for the long ultra races for this reason.

that raptor sounds terrible. you will do much better on a regular oc1, which are equally seaworthy to a ski

By my observations and conversations of/with OC paddlers, there seems to be more disabled OC paddlers than surfski paddlers. Just seems like the asymmetrical body movement of OC paddling puts more stress on a persons spine. Specifically the lower back. I find surfki paddling to be good for my lumbar spine. I hurt just watching OC paddlers paddling. But then again, what do I know.
I put a 1" seat pad in my evo so I sit nice and high. It works great other than the reduction in stability. Manageable though. I think surfki is faster than OC, but, foiling watercraft are light years ahead.

Agree with Fath2o’s observations of oc1 causing more injury than ski. Pete, you mention your top arm is higher with kayak technique? My experience with paddling both craft and coaching is that the top hand is very similar height on the canoe and kayak catch- somewhere around ear/ forehead. The major difference is that a proper canoe catch requires top hand almost directly above bottom hand, which can put the top shoulder in an unstable position if youre not careful.

By contrast, the kayak catch puts the top hand closer to centerline, making it easier to keep the shoulders level and stable. This is true even with relatively vertical catch like in sprint k1

This is veering away from the OP's question, but as far as technique and shoulder injury, I agree that the stroke you see in OC (especially in OC6) can put a lot of strain on the shoulders, especially if the top arm is straight and the top shoulder is "stacked" so that it is vertically above the bottom shoulder. But that is not the only way to paddle canoe. Marathon canoe racers (open aka canadian canoe) use a slightly different stroke that keeps the top arm a bit more bent and the shoulders less stacked. I think it is a stroke that favors endurance over power, but can still sprint extremely fast. Greg Barton grew up doing marathon canoe racing, and at his peak (he was already an olympian) he could keep up with and sometimes beat the best marathon cancers in the world, but he was never able to dominate like he was in K1.

Here is a long video of some marathon canoe racers you can click through. They are in a shallow river so the tempo is increased a bit from what they would do in deep water:

I have a Nelo 550, V14 and Anteres OC1. I have had all three out this past week and would say that (in my case) in the V14 is about .7mph faster and the 550 is about .4 mph faster for the same amount of effort.

I love all three boats and would never sell my OC1. Sometimes I don't want to have to think about leg drive, rotation or balance for that matter. Sometimes you just want to plug in some tunes and grind out the miles.

Sorry for the OT post, but its kinda related.

To Zach's point, I can easily injure my shoulders from overwork with an OC but much less so with a marathon canoe (like in the video). I think this is partly because the OC paddle area is huge and provides an extremely strong catch and pull (too strong I would argue). I paddle OC with the exact marathon canoe paddle in the video (ZRE) and specifically ordered the smallest blade area available. The small blade significantly reduces stress and likelihood of injury to my shoulders even compared to a similar paddle that is 1" wider.
for reference, the ZRE small blade is about 7" wide, and equivalent outrigger paddle is 9"+.

From what I can gather, the larger blade is so that the stroke cadence can be lower and output the same amount of work, which is beneficial when you have to synchronize 6 people paddling in unison. Personally, I despise large blades and always buy the smallest available. My joints will not tolerate high loads so I increase cadence, not power.

I paddle OC with the exact marathon canoe paddle in the video (ZRE) and specifically ordered the smallest blade area available. The small blade significantly reduces stress and likelihood of injury to my shoulders even compared to a similar paddle that is 1" wider.

That was my thinking when I just bought an adjustable paddle to get my length dialed in - so I got a 91 sqIn blade that is 8" x 16".

There is a clear diff between that and the cut-down SUP paddle I had been using (8.5" X 18").... Definitely a lower gear.

I started paddling surfski due to a shoulder injury I picked up with SUP.

The surfski stroke has actually fixed my shoulder. I had to be careful not to use a poor technique and focus on keeping the elbows down but after close on a year of paddling a ski my shoulders feel better than they have in years.

If I paddle my SUP for extended periods or sessions the pain will slowly start to return. To date I am not sure why but am not that fussed. I love the ski, can easily cover large distances and my shoulders are happy with the stroke.

The only time I still SUP is when I SUP surf for general paddling, downwinding etc. it is always the ski.

I realize we've gotten a bit off topic here, but, I just wanted to share my experience. I have been surfing for 50 some years and it has taken a toll on me. Specifically my neck and shoulders. Almost impossible to prone paddle now with out severe pain. Had neck surgery to remove bone spurs last year. Actually am becoming somewhat disabled.
I find SUP surfing to hard on my worn knees. I tend to get a little too aggressive. Also aggravates neck and shoulders a bit.

Surfski paddling/surfing is a great alternative that is enjoyable and a lot less painful for me. Much more user friendly.