The holy grail of surfski design - ultimately ...

The holy grail of surfski design has ultimately been found announced:

www.surfski600.com/

Sounds like a paraphrase on the German Graf Spee micro cruisers (faster than any stronger ship, stronger than any faster ship).

Most unfortunate tone of skepticism there Impala that a new ski on the market almost and not quite yet soon to be in production could be advertised as almost twice as fast as elite skis (eg Fenn Elite S) and almost twice as stable as beginner skis (eg Fenn Bluefin). Yes. That.

Mate I have no doubts this can be done. I will shortly be first first on the beach after a run - the impossible will be possible! Go Surfski*600 (*0.600 HP)

Given the merits of the new ski, I expect sales of real world skis to stop until Feb 2018.

I like that the dimensions were to be announced, they haven't decided yet what would be both faster and more stable than anything else on the market I guess.

Foil.

Total game changer in the sup world. Downwind a sup foil runs circles around OCs and Skis.

This is a really old video from when SUP foil was first discovered. Kai Lenny says that in the year since this was filmed, foil technology has improved 100 fold. Since this video was shot he has done a 50 MILE open ocean crossing in 4:15. That is averaging nearly 12 mph. For 50 miles. On a sup.

Think about it

Check out the discussion on Boyan Zlatarev's facebook page. Boyan seems really confident about their discovery. He is the world-known Tarifa instructor, so I guess he is not intent on ending up as the community joke. I am really curious what they have come up with, but foils do not seem to be the means (Boyan claims not even to know what dat is ...)

I was able to obtain a top secret photo of this new ski undergoing testing. I must say it's as narrow as I thought it to be. It would have to be in order for it to be twice as fast as our current elite skis.

Pretty short too, 600 mm?

About a foot long I'd say. It has to fit in the garage.

@impala, talking DW I'd guess and not flat water racing, rather V5 dimensions (width 600mm ...) + planing hull from a waveski ? ... and in black

Boyan's graphs of speed and stability agree with what a beginner would experience in downwind conditions.

Graphs without numbers are nothing new in marketing. Plug in any numbers you want. If the paddler is new, fits the boat and listens to advice, they will have a blast.

Right on Boyan, or anyone else marketing a new ski. I like pros. They have helped me immensely. Just last week I had a downwinding lesson and my numbers are soaring - with less effort and less stress on the old bones. Priceless.

McGregor Mocke and Rice brothers Cory Hill and so many other elite paddlers they have developed those slow skis and now Boyan with some good downwind skills and bellow average stroke technique comes with his own ski that is 40% faster from an elite ski 50% more stable from a novice ski and I won't be surprised if it is 50% lighter than the carbon skis.

Maybe the new ski will have horizontal fins attached to the hull which lifts the boat out of the water. Then all we will need is a longer paddle to reach the water and giant muscles to paddle fast enough to reach lift-off.

I am decidedly skeptical but who knows? I also immediately thought of foils but it looks like that is out. But a faster, more stable, shorter PLANING boat has my interest, at least temporarily.

I also agree that bar graphs without a legend are not only useless, but are designed to deceive.

Hi LakeMan,
please let me know when and where this photo was leaked?
We had been very careful not to release any pictures of Surfski 600 and now I am seeing this here. Its a bit disturbing to know one of our team members may have leaked it.
Regards!
Boyan

Hi Develis
thanks a lot for the comment here but I would like to argue that an athlete ability to paddle fast a surfski equates to them being involved in the design. I would guess that some of the names you listed have probably given feedback on design improvements as surfski users but that by no means makes any of them a surfski designer.

Think about this. If someone is the best person in the world in their Photoshop skills does that mean that they actually designed and created the Photoshop application? I highly doubt that and I believe that designing a surfski is a totally different profession to paddling one.

Of course there are rare combinations when a good surfski paddler is also a good designer but this is an exception rather than the norm.

In relation to the above I also don't see how my "below average" paddling technique is related to the design of the surfski?

I remember that one of the most successful swimming coaches in the Hungarian team couldn't swim at all but has multiple olympic champions.

I actually like that you are saying I am just a below average paddler because I just had a great paddling in the 600 and my splits were hovering around the 3:30 min per km mark. Imagine what one of the top paddlers could do with this boat?

Best Regards
Boyan

Hi Sandysan,
I totally agree with you. We should always remain skeptical and challenge any claims online. Too often people post things online that are not supported by any real data or when the data is presented it is skewed and taken out of context.
Best Regards
Boyan

This is really cool!

Boyan

Boyan,
you are talking DW and Levante conditions I guess .. and planing?
Faster than a V14 or 560 on flat water would be hard to believe, m.b. your claims
should specify the conditions.

Will it be faster than the first wave?


Try this one with Levante and track the speed

haha...

To be honest I try not to venture anywhere outside surfski paddling. If i have time I practice my surfski skills or study the conditions so I could make better decisions when going out with students.

Those look like fun but I don't see myself ever use one.

Most surfskis I have here have some degree of planing and they don't have to be as flat as a surfboard....although Surfs 600 is pretty close.

Boyan