Hank joined Epic?

So has Hank moved to Epic now or just a once off winning a race in a V14?

No not a once off, he wants to win the Molokai this year.

Hank is now part of the Epic Racing Team. See Epic website and Facebook page. It will be interesting to see his performance on the V14 - it is a very fast ski and with that motor it could be difficult to beat.

2013 Molokai - 5 of top 6 finishers were paddling V14's
With new moves to this ski by Hank & Jeremy, Clint is going to have some interesting competition at this years Molokai.
Hopefully Rob can broker some live coverage from afar???

I am sure Hank could win a Molokai on any of the skis that he jumps in whether it be an Epic, Think or Fenn. The fact that he and now Jeremy have the largest ocean ski manufacturer behind them for the journey will no doubt make it hell of a lot easier.

As for a once off, Hank did jump on the Epics a few years back as well for a brief period. I remember seeing footage of him coming through the pass with the rest of the Epic team in Mauritius. Anyone else remember that?

Good luck to team Epic.

Hank won the Mauritius Ocean Classic the Molokai, The Southern Shamaal (4 days 260km) and the Cape Point in the same year (2009) on an Epic surf ski. Not a bad performance!

Whaaaaaat Fenn guys going to Epic can be attributed to two reasons.

1/ $$$

2/ The V14 hull IMO is a blatant copy of the Fenn Elite hull.

The Fenn Elite has been the dominant ski for years with speed and surf handling and now Epic finally has an equal.

Rob when are you going to do a hull comparison?

nice provocative one Barry

the elite & v14 hulls are not even remotely similar mate, so assume that was a joke

if the money comment is correct, it begs the question why Fenn doesn't look after their paddlers better??
in terms of money, the top elite guys deserve more of it given how much energy & effort they commit to the sport
if you are correct Barry, good on epic for supporting our top talent & putting some of their hard earned money back into the sport

There was no funny hah hah in that Tony Would love to see someone do the Rob comparison with blue tape etc. Top deck and seat are different but below the waterline they look identical to me when side by side upside down (rocker, rudder placement and shape).

Epic though did try hard with the straight bow entry point V14 lol.

I agree the top paddlers deserve better funding to get them to Molokai and paid sponsorship or performance payments.

When Fenn had the best ski he probably didn't have to pay any of the top guys to paddle an elite for "free". Now the game has changed. Similar to when Nelo came on the scene and the Epic paddlers jumped ship.

Fenn has been pretty dominant for a while, and I was wondering when epic would start to rebuild its team.

I think it's all good, the athletes should get more support and the sport benefits from good healthy competition.

You must be joking, a copy? The similarity is that they both float!

They are so different a blind person can see the difference between the two.

Tim Jacobs left Epic because he is affiliated with Nelo, and when they built a ski it was a natural progression, I bet he had something to do with the design as well.

The move from Fenn is also not money driven. Fenn spend a lot on their paddlers as well as the other manufacturers, I would bet most of the top 10 paddlers don't pay for their skis and travel. This adds up a lot if you have a few sponsored paddlers and good on them for doing it.

Ranga,
I really would not worry about a troll like Barry, he clearly has limited knowledge. After all, he thinks a SEI is a fast draining ski.
Anyone that thinks that that the V14 is a copy of anything knows nothing about the industry and its players.

Hulls side by side look the same to me! (I would stand corrected if Rob could do his thing with the blue tape and rocker test).

Top deck and stickers different and Epics little straight tip nose.

Have you actually seen them upside down next to each other Fuyang and Ranga or is it just Epic fanboy denial or shoot the messenger stuff?
I am not trying to be a troll and am happy for my opinion to be proved wrong.

Fuyang, my mates SEI with double venturis and factory bullets is a fast draining ski............have you actually even paddled a twin large venturi/bullets ski?

Fuyang you talk about an industry that is "inspired" by what the opposition is doing.

Hi

None of the top manufacturers would do a “blatant” copy of someone else’s ski. Obviously they all look, test and get comments from users on all the craft out there. In the end there is not much variation that you can put into a hull designed to give all round good performance. Making a ski just for flat or downwinds result in two very different hull designs and seat placements.

Yes the hulls look similar (as do some motor cars) – in length 4mm in it, width 1mm in it – where the maximum volume in the hull is and the seat placement are quite different – are they the same – NO.

Yes both are great skis. Which is better – well that is up to each paddler to decide. In SA Hank has been beating Grant van der Walt, and Matt Bouman, both on V14’s, whilst he was on the Elite and he now does so on the V14. Perhaps though if you look at the results of the ICF World Cup you see something different – The V14’s did rather well. So maybe the V14 has the edge over the Fenn skis in flatter conditions and pretty much the same in downwinds. But = you, the paddler must decide which is best for you and in the conditions that you paddle in.

Giving wind to these debates is fun – but doing a downwind on any ski is far greater fun!

barrypaddle1 wrote: H

Have you actually seen them upside down next to each other Fuyang and Ranga or is it just Epic fanboy denial or shoot the messenger stuff?

Given that Ranga's surname is Chalupski I'd dare say he knows a thing or two about Epic boats

He is also the predominant ski repairer in Perth which has a vibrant downwind following so would have a pretty good idea about almost every other ski going around

antonsa wrote: Hi
Yes the hulls look similar (as do some motor cars) – in length 4mm in it, width 1mm in it – where the maximum volume in the hull is and the seat placement are quite different – are they the same – NO.

In my previous comments I have said the top deck and seating is different. Hence obviously would have a different overall volume. My point is still the hull shape is identical..........but hey 4mm and 1mm obviously means that the hull is not the same. Epic has not done a hull that shape before and it is now very Fenn inspired with rocker and shape.

AR_convert wrote: Given that Ranga's surname is Chalupski I'd dare say he knows a thing or two about Epic boats

Would never be any bias then.

Hey AR should be easy then for Ranga to do the comparison with the blue tape and rocker comparison then having access to both skis?

barrypaddle1 wrote: Hey AR should be easy then for Ranga to do the comparison with the blue tape and rocker comparison then having access to both skis?

I tried to get hold of a V14 to do a review but Walter had sold the one(s) he had and the retailer with the only remaining demo ski wasn't keen on letting it out of his sight (I guess you cant blame him with how much they cost)

I must admit I'm surprised to hear you think the Elite and V14 are similar, are you sure you dont mean the Glide? I was under the impression the V14 had less rocker than the previous V10/V12 and I know the Elite has lots of rocker.

agree with Brett above, the glide & v14 are similar
elite hull has substantially more rocker than the v14 & it seems most people on this forum agree the v14 is not a copy of the fenn elite