RAB's punch up thread!

Brett - who is the dealer? I still rate the v12.

It was "canoeing down under" a bit earlier in the year. There's still a few good 2nd hand ones on geartrade.

I also rate them, in the same way I rate the Think UNO Max and Carbonology Atom, if I was only paddling flat water they'd be great, but I don't think they make a good all rounder for a midpacker.

I reworded my intial comment, it was poorly thought through, while there are and have been quite a few V12's for sale in WA there are quite a lot in circulation here, so I guess if you look at it statistically those for sale probably are percentage wise just as representative of other types of lesser common boats for sale. It's great for the padfling community to see the 2nd hand market growing, when I started out 4 years ago it was slim pickings

For the curious:

From a grand total of a few almost forgotten test paddles in a performance layup, one initial shakedown paddle down the creek and two days in a row of heading out in my very own new Ultra.


Here is what I have found:
(always wanted to use colons)

My initial impressions of the V12 in testing was that it really was marginal in length for me.
But I took a chance thinking that I could do the shorty plate thing to get some extra length.

Surprise surprise!

When playing with the footboard, fitting some bump tape to the bottom of the bucket to stop the footplate wearing through the gelcoat (like my current one did) and stop a squeaking plate when pushed, as well as fitting my self centering mod and moving the footstrap to fit bigger feet, I had the whole thing in bits and when it all went back in, I found that with a bit of jiggling of the mounting screws and rail, that the footplate in this boat will butt up solid to the footwell end with zero dead space, as well as still (just) click the locating pins in the rail, so I magically gained an inch or so over the boat that I had tested.

Bonus! No shorty plate required and the most solid plate around seeing as it is fully supported by the bucket end.
It could almost be custom made for length for me.

Off to a good start! And less mods required by me.

A quick paddle down the creek confirms that I now have zero paddling fitness, from almost 4 months of pretty much doing nothing (three paddles) on the water, waiting for a boat, and that it still feels 'stable as' to me, even more so now that my legs are lower and have solid contact via the footplate.
(I still may mod this and make the pedals higher, but they have already been ground down to clear the cover, would be a lot of work)

First paddle out, swell and wind waves at ninety degrees, so no runs and a constant couple of foot, side on chop from the wind waves.
Bit of a slog really, but confirmed my like of a lighter boat with less initial stability that is also less influenced by small waves from the side.

Feeling no reason to keep my V10 at this stage.

Bucket is more comfy with a feeling of a bit higher seat(but probably isn't, just feels that way as it tips my hips forward a bit more) and the boat reacts far less to side chop with most of it simply rolling underneath the hull and the movement making much more sense to me with nothing unexpected happening.

I really like the lighter hull, it's extra little wiggles give me a closer connectedness with the water, without upsetting me.

Much, much more secondary stability, that I find very predictable.
Really confidence inspiring.
The timing of when the secondary kicks in really suits my build.

Way easier to remount, but a lot wetter ride with small chop splashing onto my legs courtesy of the lower waistline near the hips.
Doesn't fill the bucket up at all, just keeps your hips wet.

Dynamics wise, the front tends to ride up and over small waves where my V10 would plow through, not better, just different.
It adopts a different attitude in the surf zone with the rear sitting much lower into the wave and the ski staying much more horizontal compared to the V10 which tends to push it's nose under.
I had the entire front of the ski from the feet forward under water, pretty much submerged the same amount for the entire length, never saw that on the V10, it would sit more nose down and bury the front meter or so and the tail would get a lot more broach happy.
This makes the V12 much better when you get swamped by white water from behind, no tendency to broach at all, it just goes faster.

In the V10 I am often leaning forward trying to get my weight distribution right, no need to on The V12.
The V12 will hold a small wave for much longer before paddling, especially if you lean back a little bit and let the extra forward volume ride over any obstacles.

The downsides.

It is a lot more wobbly if you stop, especially with a side wave attacking you.
Almost to the point of wanting to put my feet out.
There is much more instability as you come over the top of a swell and begin to paddle hard down the front side.
But I think that it is just showing up my out of form stroke at the moment.
And not to forget the wetter ride, I mean a lot wetter.

Really, I'm so out of shape and with so little bucket time, I would have been antsi to head out in my V10, especially as a couple of weeks ago I rehurt my back a little and it is a bit guarded at the moment.

So I'm more than pleased to jump into a new boat and like it straight away.

At the moment, I'm thinking that if you are 85kg and over, this boat is the shit.


See if I change my mind after a couple of long paddles over the weekend.
I certainly haven't found it's jigglyness any more taxing mentally than my V10, if anything it's less.
Contrary to what other lighter paddlers have reported.

I'm now patiently waiting for the weather to change and send some proper downwind this way.


As an aside, I have always hated the stupid cover, especially as the back part of it starts to warp and doesn't fit very well.
I am also a bit worrysome of the sharp edge in a surf situation.

Really,I didn't think I would ever fit it.
I was actually a bit disappointed that the ski come with the base layer of velcro already attached to the ski.
I intended to not even fit it.

But, I got some rubber edge strip and put around the sharp edge and fitted for a try before I got to work removing the velcro, and to my surprise, it's actually pretty good.

I closed the bailer and headed out through the break today, took four or five foamies in the chest and face and when I finally got out, there was only 75mm of water in the footwell.
Seems I may just leave it on now.


To be continued.......

I'm not a fan of the v12, but if I lived on the Gold Coast would probably have different opinion.
Warm water, smaller sharks, less wind chop would probably cure the yips. I think you'll have fun. Damned good looking boat, definitely impresses other paddlers when it's on the roof racks. Geez this is fun. I've discovered the kids iPad. I can lie on the couch, watch the footy and the Olympics start in an hour or so. If I could just teach the kids how to use the coffee machine.....aargh.

Also on an iPad watching the road race and formula one qualifying.

Interesting, because wind chop is where I think the ski excells.
Headed out again today, back rested, I don't think it wobbles around at all today.
Also no insecurity as I paddled hard on bumpy wave faces.

Spent ten kilometers just catching small waves in the alley.
No way I could have run on these in my V10.

This ski continues to impress.

It has a very different attitude to the V10, it likes to stay closer to the wave and the steering is a huge improvement as it stays deep in the white wash and maintains traction.

I was always leaning forward on the V10 to keep speed up to stay on a marginal wave, the V12 is the opposite, I found myself laying right back to keep the speed up.
It has a completely different dynamic.

I want some big waves and wind to give it some stick now.
I also want some paddling fitness back, I suck right now, turtle in a fast boat.

Anybody want to buy a v10?

I have been paddling my V12 now for almost a year and every time I use it I like it even more. The V12 is very stable - mostly secondary stability - so even in pretty messy stuff I stay onboard. The scupper is also a great idea. The only criticism would be that you can't reach a bottle when the cover is on without turning it sideways which is difficult when you are trying to maintain your balance. Someone also made refernce to the V12's looks on a roofrack. Reminiscent of a cruise missile

With the footboard slammed forward there is no room for a bottle anyways.
I now have trouble reading my GPS in late afternoon light as it is under the cover.
I'm going to try turning on the backlight.

If you do get swamped by a wave from the side rear, that cover ensures that you get totally swamped.

Going upwind I am finding that I have to open up the bailer almost all of the way to keep it dry.
This may well be because my boat speed is under 10kmh doing this at the moment.



So I've done a few more paddles, and as I have been out of the water for a while, it's base building time again, so nice low heartrates and concentrating on finding the dynamics of the ski.

Takes a lot of discipline when the other two take off, but it's not time for me to play boy racer yet.

So to that end, my paddling is generally around 20 beats under 10km race pace, and I have started a dialogue with an imaginary Oscar sitting on my shoulder.

He's there all the time saying 'wait, wait', in a rerun of Rob's videos.

I actually say this out loud to myself and it is very illuminating to see the results.

I did 5km around 142 bpm, really doing the Oscar thing, being patient and taking the good ones when they come along.
I then let it go a bit and lifted my HR to 152, and the result?

I went no faster at the higher rate and the data file showed higher top speeds and less slow time at the easier HR than the higher HR.
It felt like I never missed the good ones at all when being patient, whereas I grabbed heaps more runs going harder but often missed the ones that count.

It's quite an enjoyable mind game to play, especially by myself.
I've also instigated a new rule.

Every time I get back to the rocks at Currumbin I roll out and remount.
I picked this place because the waves focus there and there are always rebound waves to make it a bit harder to remount.

I've also instigated a 'no big pull rule', as in, if I have to paddle hard to catch the wave, let it go, just keep ticking it over, don't loose boat speed and let the wave come to the boat.

In doing this, I have discovered that the boat will grab onto much more than I thought and that it also has the peculiar habit of sitting right on the crest of the wave with a meter of the bow just hanging in the air out over the wave face and it doesn't fall off the back or go down the face, it just sits there and rides the wave like this, weird.
It also responds to leaning back to go faster, or pull onto a waveface, opposite to the V10

So in the last week, getting out and trying to get in 15km or better each paddle, I've put more time in my V12 than I have paddled my V10 since Xmas.

So far ,so good.


Still waiting for some bigger conditions to test it out though...





And like others, I have found that the rudder hatch is always full of water.

Nice post!

Very bleak though - I'm off paddling for the weekend thanks to a tweaked rotator cuff...

Very impressed with your remount practise regimen... so many people (including me in winter!) don't do this and when the time comes that you have to do it, it can become an issue, and in our cold water, you only have about 3 attempts before you become too frigid and exhausted.

Re the rudder hatch - I tend to leave the hatch off my boats, which means I can see what's going on under there AND can rinse it out easily.

Happy weekend paddling!

Headed out in the V10 today, found it way more wobbly when sideways to the swell than the V12.
Much more affected by a wave from the side when riding a swell.

Definitely felt like I had higher feet, lower bum than the V12.
And the boat is much heavier on the paddle.

Was a nice run though, wave period has dropped to around 6 seconds and only two foot high, so wind dominated with the small swell running at quarters making holes everywhere, eminently catchable and linkable.

Some nice runs in the alley too afterwards.

Had to patch up 4 more cracks in the V10 before I put it in the water.

At this stage, I see no benefit in any conditions by being in the V10.
V12 just beats it hands down at everything.


The really strange thing is that I was a bit worried that the V12 might slap over the waves upwind more than the V10 due to less rocker, but it slaps far less.
Obviously rocker is not the important factor when it comes to slapping down.

Anybody want to buy a poorly repaired V10, no more than 20 or so cracks and a crap paint job?
Be warned, it has already had a taste of surfer and will seek revenge whenever it sees the enemy........

Hey RAB put it on the roof when you drive over the Nullabor to pick up good value West Aussie skis you mentioned (we'll show you a good time - a paddle around Rotto and a few waves for example) and we can test V10 out off Mullaloo or Cott to see how it stands up to some real treatment.


I guess this means that photo is attached somwhere.


Nothing posted yet .. waiting ..

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"Hey RAB put it on the roof when you drive over the Nullabor to pick up good value West Aussie skis you mentioned (we'll show you a good time - a paddle around Rotto and a few waves for example) and we can test V10 out off Mullaloo or Cott to see how it stands up to some real treatment."