First buy - beginner ski vs elite ski

I don't think the XT is a roomy as the Horizon.

I agree. The Horizon's bucket is slightly bigger than the XT.

Should find a buddy and paddle a double, the XT double front bucket is the most comfortable in any boat I have paddled. Smaller paddlers may not agree.

Hello Guys

Been our on a Think Evo last week. What do you think of it for a first ski?

As far as bucket size I found the Evo bigger than the XT. I still found it a tad tight, but plan to try again before I knock it off my list.

I think its a nice looking ski, quite a narrow catch compare to other skis of the same level, leg leash point and I like the separate foot straps.

Before the really stable skis, this was a beginners ski!

Thanks for the input Richard.

After I saw the footage and review of the Synergy 2 on this page: www.surfski.info/reviews/item/285-surfsk...-kayaks-synergy.html

I might consider it, what do you guys think of the ski?

Hi Smilicus

You are welcome to try my wife's Synergy 2 at the club, but I suspect that the ski will be too tippy for you at this stage. Maybe next year around this time. I suggest that you look at the Think Evo and Epic V10S as starter skis at the top end of your range of tipyness.

The Synergy 2 is quite a bit more tippy than the Think Evo and it might even be more tippy than the Vault and Swordfish.

Thank you for rubberDuck. I think I will stay with the think evo then for now.

Hi Smilicus, have you got any feedback on the Evo yet? I am thinking of testing one over the next weekend.

Hello Moll

I have tried both the Horizon (Custom Kayaks) and the Evo and feel that the Horizon will be a great starter ski (stable and fast) and the EVO is a bit more tippy to my liking but faster.

Think I might go with the EVO, since second hand Horizons are very scarce and if I go with the EVO i might struggle a bit more in the beginning, but will be able to keep the ski longer since it is a intermediate ski.

I can give some feedback now. I had a Synergy 2 and picked up and Evo to demo today. Obviously I couldn't resist and took it down to the local waterhole for a test. The boat is much more stable than the Synergy, the cockpit is not as deep and a bit more roomy. I only did a quick 2km in wind and small chop so can't really compare speed or comfort of the bucket yet. What I did notice is I am 183 and the leg adjustment is about at the limit where the Synergy I still had 5 adjuster holes. I know I wasn't going quickly but the bucket was definitely not draining. I would say worse than the Horizon, Synergy or XT Double that I currently still paddle. All in all though based on how stable it felt I am not sure it is going to be a fast boat but that said I am stepping back slightly as I never felt I could apply full power in the Synergy. Will update after a few paddles this weekend.

More thoughts, did a quick 5 km this morning on the Evo.

Disclaimers to performance:
1. I am 20Kg overweight (insulin issue, not my fault)
2. I paddle around 40-60km per week.
3. Only have access to flat-water and rivers.

After some tinkering with set up I find the boats primary stability brilliant. Definitely more stable than my Synergy 2. In terms of speed it was really easy to maintain 9.6Kph. With a little more time on the boat and pulling as hard as I do on the XT double I think 10-10.5 would be relatively easy to maintain (without riding wakes etc). I only spent around 35min on the water but there was no sign of dead leg or any other discomfort. I can see more experienced paddlers having a ball in the rough stuff.