Best Ski for a K1 Paddler

I am a K1 paddler from UK. I normally paddle a Nelo Vanquish K1.I am thinking of buying a ski for paddling on the sea mainly on flatish water. Unfortinately I do not know anybody who has a ski I can try to get a feel.

I normally paddle a Nelo Vanquish K1 but I have no experience of paddling boats with pedals. I weigh about 75kg.

Regards

Mike

I am in the process of buying a surfski in the UK and you should speak to Ivan Lawler at Ultimatekayaks.co.uk if you are close to London. I don't have your experience and haven't been in a kayak for many years but i coped with a V10s OK (maybe Ivan was being kind to me) so you should be more than able to handle a V10 or V10L.

Give him a call and try one out - it's a lot of fun.

Regards,

David

The skis with the closest feel to a K1 are, from comments I've heard, the Nelo ski and the Epic V12. Ivan should be able to supply both of those.

Also, check out the WellSimple site and the SurfskiGB sites to find events near you...

You'll usually find friendly people who will let you try their skis out.

Hi Mark

Just to share my experience.

I paddle a Vanquish 1 ML on flatwater.

I have owned a Fenn Mako, then a Fenn Millenium, then a Red 7 Pro70 and now a Carbonology Atom.

Of all of these, the Carbonology is by far the closest to a K1 I have owned.

I've briefly paddled the V10, V10L, V12 and the Fenn Elite.

If you are not regularly paddling in big seas and are similar size to me, I can honestly recommend the Atom as a great boat - I love it and my results have improved from top 30 to some top 10s in our series in Durban.

Not sure if anyone stocks them in the UK though! If not, have a look at the V10L.

Cheers
Andrew

Of the racing skis that you would find in the UK, the ones with the higher flatter seats and narrower catch area should feel similar to a K1. Specifically, the Nelo skis, the V12, and the Think Uno have a pretty K1-like feel and should be available to try/buy in the UK. In my opinion, the Fenn elite and the V10's, while very good skis, have less of a K1-like seat and overall feel to them. Erik

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like the V12 or the Nelo skis may be an option.

Thanks

Mike

I am in a similar situation.I love my nelo k1 vanquish too!!
Its fantastic,tons of FUN!!Feels wondefull.The thing is I
need a super fun/fast kayak for open,rough water as well.There
seem to be so many out there.Some guy told me get any entry
level ski.I can paddle the vanquish no problem whatsoever.
I think there must be one brand that really is better than the
others in many aspects/features.The ski type kayak is really
what is needed when paddling in open waters whether totally
flat or not.One has to be able to get back in if one tips.
I tried Ted van Dusens Mohican.It seems good.He also uses
an autoclave in construction.This is supposed to,I hear,make
a better boat.The mohican also can easily be used with a k1
style seat.I like that.Gives more versitility.It also can be
used easily with tiller style steering.Then a guy who has the
Mohican told me it was not so great in rough water.He told me
to check out the Huki S1z & S1x special.But Huki uses no autoclave,does not have nice hood over feet.(EOS 660 looks as
if it has the hood feature)cannot be easily fitted with a K1
style seat and Huki makes no tiller steering system for it.
Huki S1z &S1x special can take a gull wing to help seaworthiness/stability when/if needed.S1z is supposed to be
as fast as Vanquish on flat sprint and faster for marathon!!
Would be real nice if all these top skis were available to
checkout in our neighborhood wherever.Best luck!!!
www.vandusenracingboats.com

Mr americana.

Do you use some sort of third party editor?
The reason I ask, is because your posts are very hard to read because of the way they are laid out.

So bad in fact that I copied them and then pasted them into a new post to make some changes, to show you how you could make it much easier for the rest of us to read.

When I pasted it into the dialogue box, low and behold, there were line breaks, paragraphs etc.
But when your post is displayed here, it is just a mess.

So if you are using something else to compose your message, it isn't working.
Just compose directly and you may have much more readable posts.......

Well, According to me, Keith Fenn’s surfskis is best ski. Cosmetically the ski has a curved cutaway at the paddle entry-point, a first for a Fenn ski, with a curved black seam line that gives the craft a slinky contemporary look and adds strength to the ski.

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