Imbalance Trainer

This design/build took a long time to conclude. Feedback is welcome...

Being a newcomer to ski I found this interesting. I have padded my bucket a bit to raise center of gravity as a training aid. i'm curious as to what experienced paddlers think about your training aid.

I wonder if your trainer offers better stability training than simply raising the COG as I have done?

Regardless I like the design concept

How much weight at the top of the trainer?

At what point does the elastic band component return the trainer to vertical? Need one have the hull flush with the water or will the trainer return to upright with a lean to the ski?

i would not copy your design however for a fair price i would certainly entertain buying a trainer.

i have no idea of what is a fair price.

Although the surf ski community is not large compared to some other sports you may want to patent your design.

just a thought.

Using pads to raise the COG is the easiest and most cost effective method of reducing balance. The Imbalance Trainer weighs 2 pounds. The trainer returns to vertical without assistance from the paddler.

I wanted to design and build a balance trainer than would not change the paddler's contact with the hull, but further reinforce the idea of "control" with the surfski.

I hope the video leads others to improve upon my design from an open source perspective.

I like the idea.

For land based training I made one of these:



it works well when I don't get on the water often enough

Good morning Jim,
Thought I'd throw my $.02 for what it's worth.
Your device is very interesting. Quite clever, well engineered and fabricated. Kudos.
My concern would be that, IMO, the device is very likely to damage
your ski by delaminating the composite and separating the composite from the stringer.
If I were looking to improve my balance in such a fashion, I think I would go find an old Fenn millennium and pad up the seat a couple inches. That would certainly challenge your balance, even in calm conditions.
Around here a Millenium can be picked for around $300 - $500. Then you also have a super fast ski to race in calmer conditions for those of us more balance challenged/impaired.
Time to head down to the beach. Cheers!

Very nifty! Before I saw the video, my first thought was that the swing period will be way too slow to simulate the quick real imbalance action. Then I saw your flexible joint and I think that takes care of that issue. I too am concerned about potential damage to the ski. Oh, and I feared it might smack you on the head

An easier method is to pad the seat up. Even 1/4" makes a difference. My stable ski right now is a Think Eze. With a 1/4" or so raise (or whatever my Yakpad gel pad of 1/2" thickness provides), it becomes less stable and probably a but less stable than your new V10 Sport. Padding is not ideal, but so is having a stick sticking up behind you

However, I like your design for a camera mast - the camera will be light enough to not wobble, while the whole setup will bend rather than snap off if you tip over and it hits the water!

Padding in the seat works well and it is inexpensive. I used some cheap marine engine room insulation (abt 1 cm thick) to elevate a fenn xt by 4cm ( abt 1.5") to prepare for a fenn glide. Pretty similar stability. If you use standard double sided carpet tape it is quick to put it in and take it out.

Okay, Kocho, as usual, you cut right to the point and figured me out!

I originally designed this as a camera mast, but it was so difficult to paddle with that I could barely keep the boat upright when it was mounted just in front of the rudder access hatch. The camera was tossed around at the tip so frantically that the footage looked like what you might expect from a hornet in a hurricane. I have since designed a new camera stern mast but kept this piece as an "imbalance trainer". Trust me: this thing is an incredible challenge on the stern but I moved it closer to the bucket for filming purposes. I NEVER paddle with it close to me, so there is no danger of being struck, and besides, it is padded with an inch of foam. I can't imagine this design causing delamination, because the mast wobbles so much on the base plate.

Make of this contraption what you will: I am curious what you all think of the narrative describing "contact point control" and the effectiveness of holding the boat firmly in rough water.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's feedback here at surfski.info. It is a great opportunity to be able to share designs and projects with a large group of intelligent and positive folks.

Jim Smith
Wilmington, NC

Just to let you guys know Epic have adjustable seat pads designed by Oscar for imbalance training.
There are 4 pads that Velcro together with the top pad that is very thin with a plastic layer to replicate the ski surface finish.
All you do is put as many pads as you can handle to make your craft unstable to train on and then when racing you remove them to give yourself much better stability.