Which Skis are working for the girls?

Hi , My wife and I are struggling to find a new boat for her to step up from her Epic V10 Sport(Performance).
The problem is , like a lot of ladies, she is only 5' 2" , and weighs only 50 kgs.
This weekend we have very kindly been lent demo boats from Craig at Adventure Outlet , and Julian at Paddle2fitness...thanks very much for that guys.

She has tried my new model V10 , but without some serious foot plate mods, it is still to long a reach.

The Vajda Hawx suffered the same issue.
The V10 L is a better fit , but the hump is still a little high.
The Stellar SES was a good fit , but she finds it very tippy!

I'd love to hear about what other options are out there that are
working for paddlers of similar dimensions, particularly the weight as it seems to make a huge difference as to how the boats react...I'm 80 Kg and found the SES OK.
We tend to paddle mainly on flat water.

Any suggestions??

The Swordfish. I think the new model has a smaller hump.

The Carbonology Vault should be only slightly less stable than the Sport. The Carbonology Atom is the right size but not only tippy but impossible to remount for a light person (I have asked Hein if he's making one with lower gunwales and he said yes but no sign of it yet...)

The Flow Superstar. Like a Swordfish. I've written a Small Person Review of it on this site.

The Stellar SES. Practice more. : )

The Custom Kayaks Horizon. Cheap, bombproof and great for bumpy days. Not a step up from the v10 Sport but it's nice to have an extra boat you can take out no matter what.

The Fenn Elite Spark is supposed to be for smaller folk, but I'm still waiting to try one. I expect it to be of similar tippiness to the SES. I'll let you know when I've had a go, unless you can tell me first!

Under no circumstances buy a Kevlar or carbon version of anything. The extra lightness just makes the increased tippiness you get from floating too high in the water worse.

I'm 5ft 6 and 58kg.

Michele Eray paddles a Nelo.
Quite a number of the women here in Cape Town are paddling the Fenn Elite Spark.
Alexa Cole likes the Allwave CX...!
There's also the Kayak Centre Genius G20 - requires a very slim bum and great balance!

In fact all the above mentioned are Elite level boats in terms of tippiness.

Interesting Marieski about the Swordfish hump because I bought one a month ago and the hump is a problem for me at 5'8", at my height the only ski that has not presented problems is the SES, its the perfect fit and if mainly paddling flat water I would suggest you persist with it as out of the four ski's I've had or have, its my favourite ski to paddle, its a great size. Just a bit elite when it gets bumpy. The Swordfish with a lower hump would be a great ski too, but its the first I've heard of that possibility.

We have had lots of success with smaller framed paddlers in the New Fenn Spark.
it's similar to the Fenn Glide but without the volume up front and the seat is closer to the footwell for the shorter legs.
The spark is an elite ski at 6.44m and 42.5cm.

We have a Spark in our on-water store that you can demo. it would be well worth it.
www.kayaknoosa.com/Shop.aspx
54555651

Greg, maybe there is no new low humped Swordfish. You sound like you have my model, where I agree it is a nuisance. The shorter the legs, the greater the nuisance. Gold Coast Kiwi's wife will find it a right pain.

The SES, of your boats, has the smallest displacement and would feel the most agile and responsive (rudder notwithstanding). Also least susceptible to being blown around. That's certainly how I felt the minute I got in one.

It will be very interesting to see how the Spark compares. You got one on the horizon?

Probably not Marie, I have to say I enjoy the shorter length skis more than the 6.4-6.5m skis at least until the conditions get bigger in a downwind, but the reality is for everyday paddling, the shorter skis feel better for me. I have the SEL for the bigger downwind conditions. And that SES goes well upwind!

Sure does. I'm about to go hop in mine. Have a good Monday. : D

My wife has the same "small paddler" problem. She's 5'1'' and weighs 51Kg. She is predominantly a "flat water" racer (smashed her age division record in last year's 111Km Hawkesbury Classic) and has tried out just about all the skis. The only (non elite) boat that she could efficiently paddle is her Stellar SR (in Excel layup) which has a low hump and the longest foot/leg adjustment of them all. We then added a lot of foam padding to the seat area to give her some contact as well as padding under her feet to lift them high enough for efficient steering. However, as soon as any wind comes up she gets blown all over the place. She will soon have a test paddle in a Stellar SES (again in Excel layup - so she can lift it onto her car) as this still seems to be the only ski round here that fits her efficiently; (just hanging back to see if a new V10L is coming and if it fits).

Owen, did your wife try a Think Eze? I've got one customer who's 5' and is really comfortable. Another guy bought one for his wife, and his young daughter is on it all the time. He sent me this pic.

Goldcoastkiwi wrote:
Any suggestions??

If she's looking to step up in stability and performance and a short leg length is the issue, an Uno might be worth a paddle. I'm only 172cm and I have 9cm of adjustment left to the shortest setting on an Uno or Uno Max. No problem with the hump on either, but don't know how it would work for someone shorter.

Another ski which might be worth looking at it the Carbonology Atom, by all accounts has a nice bucket and hump and is designed for smaller people looking for a fast boat.

My wife who's 5'4.5" and 60kg paddles a Epic V10 Sport Ultra - tried the 10L - too tippy - I think if they could adapt the new V10 to a V10L, that would be a nice compromise.

I can confirm that the roadmap for Epic is:

"new V10 Sport"

then

"new V10L"

The timeline is "this year".

Nelo skis have almost no hump.

I'd like to thank everyone for their fantastic feed back!
There are some really great gems of information in the replies.

We have lined up demos in some of the suggested skis, and have taken onboard alot of advice regarding lay ups etc

Again thank you all........and lets hope those new Epics aren't far away!

Let us know your impressions and decision.

Greg, maybe there is no new low humped Swordfish.

I was curious so I called Fenn. They confirmed that there is only one model of Swordfish - there's no such thing as a low humped version.

Thanks for that Robin.

I don't know, perhaps I have a short hip to knee bone length? I couldn't paddle the V10L for any length of time due to hip flexor pain, I've had to move my seating position up and forward on the SEL to clear the hump, also the swordfish I've moved the seating position forward as my calves bottom on the hump, could probably do with moving it forward another 5mm which I'm going to try next time I paddle it, so anyone shorter than me like Marieski must really struggle in some of these skis.

Janine paddled the Fenn options today , the Swordfish, and the Spark, she really enjoyed the Swordfish, and had no issues at all with stability.The Spark was perfect size wise,in fact I believe it would even suit someone smaller than her, the footplate still had 3 or 4 holes left on the adjustments.It was a nice snug fit , and the hump wasn't an issue, unfortunately the stability was!
The short term conclusion is some lessons to perfect her technique and improve her balance so she will feel confident in a ski of this nature.She got some really helpful tips from Amanda during the session today, and was markedly better in our evening blast in the double!

That would mean the top contenders would be the Stellar SES ,and the Fenn Spark.
I paddled both , and at 80 kgs was at the top of the weight range for the Spark, but what a great little ski it was! very responsive
and quick, it feels tiny and knifes through the water beautifully.
The SES is also fantastic, perhaps slightly more tippy, but a great boat for a much wider range of paddlers.

On thing we did find different on both the Fenns was the angle of the footplate, it seems much steeper than any other brand we have owned or paddled...are there any pros or cons with this?

On thing we did find different on both the Fenns was the angle of the footplate, it seems much steeper than any other brand we have owned or paddled...are there any pros or cons with this?

Haha - you may have sparked a whole new debate with this question!

I think that for elite level paddlers, this may be more of an issue. I have to confess that I've paddled quite a number of skis ranging from Fenn to Epic and back again and I find the best angle is whatever I've been paddling... So if I've been paddling Fenn and I paddle Epic, for a short time I feel as though my feet are going to skid off the top of the footplate (although of course the Epic footplate pads help with this). When I go from Epic to Fenn I feel as though my calves are going to cramp.

But either way, a few paddles and I get used to whichever boat I'm in.

Nelo's footplate is angle adjustable.

Another way of getting around this is, on a Fenn, to block up the bottom of the footplate.

But you'll probably find both Fenn and Epic adherents will swear down blind that their angle is better!!