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…
Read more...
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.  
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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…
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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!”
Read more...

Latest Forum Topics

First looks: the Fenn Mako Elite Triple

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 18:00 | Written by 
Rate this item
(1 Vote)
Fenn Mako Elite Triple Fenn Mako Elite Triple Credits: Owen Middleton

Most of us know the sadness and despair of breaking a ski, and usually the pieces are consigned to a dumpster.   But when Dale "T-bone King" Lippstreu smashed his new Fenn Mako Elite Double recently at the end of a downwind paddle, he met the challenge full on.

For a larger version of the image, click here 

"T-bone King"

His "T-bone King" sobriquet is derived from his habit of losing control and ramming his paddling buddies during high speed downwind runs, and some say that the accident with his new double was caused by an attempt to claim yet another scalp as he came through the surf line.

Be that as it may; the fact is that he ended up with a long face, a short double and a conundrum: what do to with the wreckage?

Answer: strap the wreck together, take a mould off the centre section and add a new seat to make it into a Triple!

Why a Triple?

In South Africa particularly, we often have big surf conditions - and this can be somewhat intimidating for visiting international paddlers.  Think of the Durban World Cup for example or, even worse, the Southern Shamaal PE2EL Challenge where Day 2's start at Woody Cape is notorious.

It has been suggested in the past that "ski jockeys" would take visiting paddlers' skis out through the surf.  That's all very well, but you can't really ask them to swim back - and there remains the challenge of transporting the paddler to the back line.

The Triple solves both these problems.  The ski jockey takes the paddler's ski out through the break, while the timid paddler goes out in the centre seat of the Triple.  Behind the backline, the paddler gets onto his ski while the ski jockey gets into the Triple to be taken back to shore...

(From a surfski.info website point of view, there are other advantages too - imagine the spectacular video footage as a ski that long is taken out by the massive waves at Woody Cape!)

Fenn Mako Elite Triple!

For a larger version of the image, click here

Fenn Mako Elite Triple!

For a larger version of the image, click here

How was it done?

The rehabilitation started by doing a light repair to tack the hull back in position and alignment after which a mould was taken off the deck between the rear of the front bucket to the back of the rear one.  Once this new deck section had been fabricated the entire ski was then mounted on a long a very long keel line jig and the new deck centre section was put in place.  The new and old sections were faired in at this point but in fact little fairing was required because the sides are essentially parallel at the midpoint of the ski. 

The ski and jig were then rotated and the new deck sections were heavily reinforced with unidirectional carbon fibre tape and 2 layers twill weave 200g carbon cloth.

Once the deck was reinforced a foam/carbon keel was made up and bonded in place as reinforcement and a link between the front and back sections.  The new hull centre section was then made by laying up 2 layers of 350g Kevlar / carbon cloth over a coremat on a sheet of glass.  When the resin was cured to the "B" stage the laminate was removed from the glass and placed over the hull of the ski so that the t acted as a former for the new section. 

When the new section was fully cured the joins were reinforced by a further layer of carbon /Kevlar followed by 2 further layers 200g glass.  The last 2 layers were added as sacrificial layers to ensure that the structural Kevlar layers were not affected by the sanding which was required to fair the hull to its final finish.  Finally 3 coats of medium solid were applied followed by final sanding and application of 2K white enamel. 

In anticipation of racing next season, some spare Men's Health stickers were even applied to the new section.

The Triple has an overall length of 9.85m and weighs in at 37kg.

Fenn Mako Elite Triple!

Paddling the ski

In a straight line and on flat water the ski is amazingly fast and it is very easy to sustain 13kph very comfortably (even with the third paddler out of synch).  As is to be expected the turning circle is huge; this is definitely not a ski for around the cans racing.  Performance on the runs is really dependent on conditions.  In small long period swell conditions it is unsurpassed but it becomes very wet in rough water when the centre paddler sometimes disappears under water for up to a minute. 

It is definitely a specialist ski.

Fenn Mako Elite Triple!

Putting the Ski into Production?

Keith Fenn said that he would wait to see what demand the prototype generates, since it would mean extending his factory to accommodate the mould. 

"I've actually looked at doing this before," he said.  "I've got two kids and it's always an issue when I take one of them out in my double - the other sits on shore sulking and yelling that it's his turn now.

"I take my hat off to Dale and his team putting this together," he added.  "It's not too easy to do!"