Is your Surfski faster than a K1 ?

Alright… winter's here.
For some of you, this will mean putting the surfski away for a while. Others will merely paddle "just a little less" with the colder temperatures hitting them. The more serious paddlers will cross-train some, with their flat water K1.

Man, I hope this hasn't been done before, otherwise, just call me "fool".

Surfskis that I believe will be as or faster than a Flat Water K1
Nelo probably has couple of crazy models.
Epic has their V12, and V14.
Huki S1 - nice feel if you can get your hands on one.
Fenn has their Glide model.
I have tried some of the above models, but have never compared them fairly against my Quattro. I believe that the weight of the surfski will matter a bunch.

Please add to the list or comment on your experience.
Is your ski faster than a K1 on sprints ?
Is your ski faster than a K1 on longer distances ?

If someone has done some tests, that would be really cool to see.

All other things being equal - on flatwater, the K1 is quicker!

In sprints the winner will always be the K1 in long distances there are examples where a ski can beat the k1

A K1 paddler very similar to my ability can reach ~19km/h in top speed, in my ski (Fenn elite S) I can do around
17 Km/h and with the glide a little more.
The Epic V12 is the worst-slower ski I have ever been on

Davelis wrote: In sprints the winner will always be the K1 in long distances there are examples where a ski can beat the k1

A K1 paddler very similar to my ability can reach ~19km/h in top speed, in my ski (Fenn elite S) I can do around
17 Km/h and with the glide a little more.
The Epic V12 is the worst-slower ski I have ever been on

That's interesting, because I would have thought that being in 2015 (and soon 2016) someone would've owned a super fast surfski for flat water.

the Huki S1-Z has the waterline of a k1.
they claim it's as fast or faster after 1500 meters. anyone try one?

www.huki.com/index.php?page=S1-Z

I'm definitely faster in my ski than in the K1's I've attempted to paddle.

Davelis wrote: The Epic V12 is the worst-slower ski I have ever been on

The V12 obviously doesn't work for you, but it is clearly not a slow ski. I believe Clint Robinson said after a year of training in it that it was faster than any boat he had ever paddled in or against. I think there is a big difference between epic and fenn ergonomics, and some paddlers have a really tough time switching from one to the other.

Take a look at YouTube they have the K1 finals from the past Olympics, in 2012 the gold medal K1 in the 200 meters race averaged 19.8 Km/Hr. from a standing start. Amazing to watch. Hard to see how a surf ski with any appreciable rocker could be this fast on flat water. Frankly 17+ Km/Hr. in a ski is pretty remarkable.
Also check out the C1 canoes, and K4 kayaks.

zachhandler wrote:

Davelis wrote: The Epic V12 is the worst-slower ski I have ever been on

The V12 obviously doesn't work for you, but it is clearly not a slow ski. I believe Clint Robinson said after a year of training in it that it was faster than any boat he had ever paddled in or against. I think there is a big difference between epic and fenn ergonomics, and some paddlers have a really tough time switching from one to the other.

I took what he meant was he hasn't paddled anything below/slower than a V12. I don't think he was casting aspersions on it.???

Those of us around this forum for a while have discussed this topic a few times now.

My view hasn't changed.

My good friend and sometime K2 partner and I have raced one another many times in both K1 and ski. We can both average the same speed in ski and K1 over marathon flat water races, depending on distance and conditions between 12.7 and 13.2 km/hr.

We both switched to K1 around the same time and both found that initially we were slower in a K1. K1's take a much longer apprenticeship to make work for you.

The one thing I know is this, if racing ski versus K1 over distance the K1 will have the advantage due to quicker acceleration when starting, coming out of turns or just putting on burns, and I've always found it easier in a K1 to washride a ski than vice versa.

The V12 is still right up there for the fastest flat water boat. For me it would be pretty close between the Think Uno and V12. Havent paddled a V14 or Glide long enough to know how they'd compare.

AR_convert wrote:

zachhandler wrote:

Davelis wrote: The Epic V12 is the worst-slower ski I have ever been on

I took what he meant was he hasn't paddled anything below/slower than a V12. I don't think he was casting aspersions on it.???

Maybe you are right!

Greg Barton said the v12 was the only boat he could paddle faster than an icf K1 back when they released it. he also said that that difference would be larger for less skilked paddlers. Now there are skis faster than the v12 of course.

Now i know Gregg doesn't beat his chest on this forum very often. But he is probably still pretty well qualified to assess the speed diference between ski and k1!

@zachhandler ... guess it has been posted several times: theoritical 10k time list www.northcoastkayaks.com/kayak-equipment...on-with-greg-barton/

To clear things up the V 12 was the heavy version and I paddled it for an hour felt very slow and I reject it.
I was paddling for months a V10 and I was happy, also test the V14 and liked it.
I have Jump on a Think uno max and I could go fast from the start.
The Glide is the fastest I have ever ride, but I wouldn't take it out to big conditions.
Nelo must be fast but very unstable for me.

Davelis wrote: To clear things up the V 12 was the heavy version and I paddled it for an hour felt very slow and I reject it.
I was paddling for months a V10 and I was happy, also test the V14 and liked it.
I have Jump on a Think uno max and I could go fast from the start.
The Glide is the fastest I have ever ride, but I wouldn't take it out to big conditions.
Nelo must be fast but very unstable for me.

Just for reference, can you tell us your weight and paddling ability ?
I often pull my hair out with a heavy boat… meanwhile, it doesn't seem to bother my buddies as much.

Are they that much stronger than me, or is it just that the 10 extra pounds of weight penalizes me way more than them?
- heck, they must be stronger - but I still thoroughly enjoy a light ski.

I'm 77 kg, paddling ability I can do 10km in flat with 12.5 avg speed (Elite S) although my training is mainly downwind.
Maybe was something wrong with the particular V12 I have try