Genius G40

Hmm... just took delivery of a Genius G40, built by Knysna Racing Kayaks.

It's their top of the range racing boat.

First impressions?

• The hull seems to be extremely narrow - narrower at the catch than my Mako Elite. The cockpit is a very snug fit too. Feels comfortable though (on land )
• It's light. This is the mid-range lay-up: vacuum bagged glass/epoxy. The thing weighs in at around 14.5kg.

I'm told it's less tippy than the Mako Elite... I thoroughly enjoy driving the Genius Blu - which is their intermediate boat. It's going to be fascinating to see how tippy the G40 is.

Can't wait. Should get on the water this afternoon (in the choppiness of Hout Bay) with any luck.

Had an interesting paddle in the G40 last night.

The southeaster arrived in the afternoon but we couldn't get to Fish Hoek early enough to do a safe Millers Run before dark so we paddled in Hout Bay.

Conditions were fairly hectic - the southeaster was blasting across the bay, occasionally sheeting which indicates that the wind was gusting to 30kt+.

Being on an unfamiliar, narrow, long ski, I was tentative at first as we heading into the chop and wind. Dale was on his Swordfish and I was under the impression that he was just sitting there cranking away. (Actually he said that he was also being blown around - especially on the second lap. In the steep chop, the nose of the ski would go up into the air, catch the wind and be flung sideways...)

I was bracing quite frequently and coming almost to a stop whenever the wind caught the nose of the ski, blowing it sideways. I didn't feel at all comfortable.

Eventually we turned around and shot off downwind. The waves were very steep and close together - extremely tricky conditions. Dale got ahead of me and several times I caught up to him only to broach and fall behind again.

So far, not so good!

But as time went on, I realised that actually I wasn't feeling very tippy in the boat.

The second time we went upwind, I felt much less tentative. In fact, far from it - I relaxed and started focussing much more on my stroke, and this time left Dale behind.

I turned, waited for him, and we diced downwind again. This time I was a lot closer to him, but still broached once and he was ahead of me when we reached the beach.

The footplate felt a little far forward so I went to the beach to adjust it. When I got back in, I felt it slip - I hadn't secured it properly. But we'd had enough of the conditions anyway so we headed back to the harbour.

To get there we had to go through the roughest water of the lot - the incoming chop reflecting off the harbour wall to create a maelstrom of klapotis. Dale challenged me to a dice through it... We set off... and I pulled away from him quite easily.

Once inside the harbour we had a dice on the flat(ish) water. We went pretty much neck and neck.

Bearing in mind that this is a sample of one paddle, in extreme conditions...

- The first out and back I was getting the feel of the boat. Not having paddled an Elite boat for a couple of months now, I was expecting to feel tippy and was therefore tentative.
- The second time out I felt comfortable and actually felt myself relaxing into the seat.
- The downwinds were a little squirrely - the boat felt stable but there was no denying that I was unable in that short distance to overtake Dale (who also said that he wasn't pushing the pace on the downwinds). I'm looking forward to a) spending more time in downwinds, b) doing it in slightly longer waves and c) with the elliptical rudder instead of the standard rudder.
- We were both surprised that I was able to push so hard in the very rough water on the way back to the harbour. This seems to me to show pretty conclusively that the ski is not tippy. I'm out of practise with paddling Elite boats!
- I was surprised that Dale was competitive in the flat water in the harbour - but again this was a sample of one, it wasn't that flat and my leg length wasn't quite right - it was a bit long and one side of the footplate was slipping. But we'll be doing plenty more of these...

Genius G40 - first paddle

Anyway - suffice to say that I'm intrigued by the ski... I'm astounded at its lack of tippiness...

Can't wait to try it in some less insane conditions. (A northwesterly storm is coming through tomorrow - 29-35kt forecast! So we may get a reverse Millers in...)

Weight? Layup of each ski?

After 3 weeks of bludging, I got done by a carbon Swordfish this afternoon.
Normally I could catch him at will upwind and leave him downwind.
Today he simply beat me upwind and I fell of downwind and cramped my hips getting back in, so beaten downwind as well.

It was quite windy and every time the boat slowed down coming over the back of the wave upwind, he gained a boat length on me.

I'm still believing that a lightweight intermediate is as fast or faster than a lessor layup skinny ski.
Even in the flat.

Hmmm, more paddling to done now, the challenge has been thrown down.

I think you really do need to be in a skinny ski most days to get the best of it.

Dale's Swordfish is vacuum glass epoxy: 13.5kg
The G40 I was paddling is vacuum glass epoxy: 14.5kg

I'm still believing that a lightweight intermediate is as fast or faster than a lessor layup skinny ski.

I agree - all other things being equal and on the assumption that skinny = tippy.

Last night:

• Clearly I was on a new ski I'd never paddled before.
• The leg length wasn't optimum - it was one notch too long.
• I had the standard rudder on; Dale had an elliptical surf rudder on which was optimal for the conditions. I'll be trying the G40 with an elliptical rudder, hopefully tomorrow!

Once I get the G40 set up to the right leg length; with a decent rudder on it, then I would expect to be able to pull away from Dale on his Swordfish under all conditions! So we'll see...!

Ok, I know this is an old thread, but did you do any more paddling on the G40?

I'm thinking of upgrading from my Swordfish to something a little faster.

I've tried a G40 and a Fenn Mako Elite (on a flat day) and I found the G40 to be not that much tippier than a swordfish. The Fenn Mako Elite was a bit of a handful, and will probably be too much for me on a big day.

I live very close to Knysna, so would like to support the locals, but just want to see if there is anyone out there with some real experience on the G40 (especially around durability and downwind)