Fenn Swordfish

Hi, I'm a begginer to the sport of ski paddling, I'v been paddling an Apollo Craft XI ski off and on for over 12 months.Just got a new Swordfish and it is alot more stable then the apollo ski, the seat is a lot deeper and it could almost be a great ski for the begginer.
It's that good.

Hi Moran,

I jumped on this ski last week.
I'm an experienced paddler usually riding an Elite.

I loved it and didn'think speed was compromised particularly in a light chop.

I dare say this ski won't be limitied to beginners.

Cheers

It's an intermediate ski for sure. To appreciate this fully, try paddling a Fenn XT and you will see that there is a huge difference in most aspects. I agree, the speed and stability of this boat is particularly impressive. A lot of people are going from elite boats to the Swordfish and their results are improving!

Total agreement that it is an intermediate ski.
But a very impressive intermediate ski.
I have let a few friends use mine and they are all wanting one.
I went out a few days ago in horrible lumpy conditions with waves coming from all directions...rarely braced,never fell out and caught some runs and all this at a decent speed!
I would have braced 100 times on an Elite ski and would probably have had a swim!Forget the runs!
This ski is a gem...I want to try it with an eliptical rudder though.
I reckon it will be even better

MP7061 wrote: A lot of people are going from elite boats to the Swordfish and their results are improving!

Alot of paddlers need to read and understand the above. This season I have been racing in a boat from our fleet each race starting at the most basic and working forward. I have yet to be beaten by an intermediate level ski (so far raced V8, Eze, Spirit PRS, Vault, V10 Sport) and have always had a good whack of paddlers on "elite" skis behind mewhich suggests that they are either extremely unfit (I have only just started my training this week) or, more likely they are compromising their forward speed by wasting energy keeping the ski upright. OK that was a sweeping generalisation but it will hold true for most of those paddlers.

Hi Kiwial

so far raced V8, Eze, Spirit PRS, Vault, V10 Sport

Perhaps in a new thread you could provide a brief comparison of these skis and your regular ski over your normal race course.

Thanks

The Swordfish is on my short list. I have my carbon Millenium, and brand new XT up for grabs.
Once one them is gone.......
I am in Fl if anyone wants a deal on either of the above.
Cheers,
Richard

Picked up a new glass vacuum Swordfish yesterday afternoon.
Off to get her wet for the first time a little later today, can't wait.

Sounds interesting. I have a Fenn Millenium, what current Fenn model would it (the Millenium) be comparable to? Considering getting a Swordfish. Zebra, would really like to know how it paddles.

word of warning - the fenn swordfish is a great boat, but as always not necessarily the ideal for all intermediate paddlers!
I was very happy with every aspect of my vacuum glass swordfish other than the seat - now this is more of a reflection of my butt I suspect.
We all know different seats suit different people!
I found in the swordfish that after 30min I would struggle with dead legs & after 1hr it became most uncomfortable to sit in.
Have tried every conceivable modification, but found the addition of sponge counteracts the improved stability.
Am now paddling a carbonology vault as I want to do the molokai & need to find a ski that I can sit in for at least 5hrs.
Suppose the moral of the story is that try it out before buying to see in the seat suits you as the swordfish is otherwise a joy to paddle!
The carbonology vault is a worthy alternative competitor in this class.
Know many really like think evo 2 in this class as well.

I bought an ex-Doctor Swordfish on Monday and have paddled it three times now on flat water. My pace is exactly the same as in my V10L (Performance layup). This was a pleasant surprise!

Her first downwind is scheduled for tomorrow and I cannot wait!!

Hi Perth Chick,

I paddled the Carbon Sword in the Doctor saturday and Sunday.

I was stoked with it's performance.

I don't think paddling an Elite would have done me any better.

Sunday with the chop it was great fun. The boat even surprised my team mate who was top 15 in the elite boat.

Enjoy the downwind run.

I was the first on the Gold Coast to get a SF from the recent release. I rolled back from a light weight Vajda to get back to basics in terms of stability.

My times as a result are way faster. Beating 10k times by over 5 mins. The boat is really good in the big stuff and tracks/surfs really well.

Having low sides the SF has a tendency to get a bit of water in the cockpit in big runs. However, it is an intermediate boat with low sides designed for easy remounts. Its not such as big deal as its very quick to drain.

The SF does have its limits on the flat, but that is also paddler dependent. I would not says its slow, but is does not run like the thinner boats to state the obvious.

Tony H is right about the trying other boats and if anyone should know its Tony. He has owned just about every ski on the market at some time, so he be the man for reviews.

I have also paddle the Vault for a week and the Evo 2 for a week. It was a very, very close call between the Vault and the SF when I made my decision to buy.

The Evo is also a good boat and in my view the most stable. The Vault is about the same stability to the SF and has similar speed, however I found it easier to maneuver in the short chop. Probably due the shorter length.

The Vault has high sides like an Elite boat and is very dry as a result. However the novus paddler should also consider remount are more difficult on the Vault.

If you have the full range in your location don't be shy, try them all. We a pretty spoilt on the Gold Coast and have most models available for demo.

Interesting you should say that the Vault and Swordfish have similar speed and stability.

I paddle with a Swordfish owner a fair bit lately and I don't think it is any slouch in the flat.

Rightarmbad wrote: Interesting you should say that the Vault and Swordfish have similar speed and stability.

I paddle with a Swordfish owner a fair bit lately and I don't think it is any slouch in the flat.

Even though the hull designs are different the Vault & Swordfish seem to offer similar performance.

Fenn have definately taken the limelight from Carbonology over here in Perth bringing so many Swordfish in for the Doctor race then selling them off.

I reckon it's great for ski paddling here to have all these new ski's in the market, with all the second hand ski's filtering down there are plastic paddlers now looking to upgrade!

As a result there are some good deals on elite level ski's on geartrade too!

I look forward to racing my Vault against all the new swordfish paddlers in races to come

The Millennium is closest to the Mako Elite I guess.
But they are very different boats - the Elite is much more stable, more comfortable, and faster downwind (in my opinion)!

Stay tuned for the local SF vs EVO ii battle!!

On the subject of the SF and intermediate ski's, can anyone share their experiences of a glass Legend compared with the SF, Vault or Stellar SEL - SE?

Cheers

I'll give it a go. I've owned a Legend and a Vault and have paddled an SE a few times. They're all good boats and you probably wouldn't be disappointed if you bought any of them.
Speed wise, on flat water the Vault and the SE would be faster than the Legend, but by using a small rudder you can bring the speed on the Legend up to something like an elite ski.

Downwind, the legend is as fast as anything on the market. Once it gets up and going it flies from runner to runner. The SE is a good downwind boat and the vault picks up every runner on offer, but doesn't have the run of the longer boats, so you have to work a bit harder.
The Vault and the Legend are about the most comfortable boats going around. Good narrow catch, great buckets. They just feel good.
The SE is a very idiosyncratic cockpit. It just doesn't feel right to me. It will suit larger guys, but I felt like I was swimming in the bucket. The SE is a very stable boat, a little twichy on the primary stability, but as solid as a rock secondary stability. The large bucket made the boat feel more unstable than it is for me, and it has a very wide catch. The cockpit and the catch would be the reasons I wouldn't buy one. They are probably the best value boat on the market, with really good aftersales service and they are surprisingly fast. If they fix the cockpit ergonomics and narrow the catch they would win a lot more fans. This may be the SEL, but I've never seen one.

The Legend is a beautiful boat to paddle but is very twitchy on the primary stability, almost as much as my old red 7 pro, but has amazing secondary stability. Just when you thought you were about to swim, bang, it just stops rolling. I never fell out of this boat, but I felt I was going to a lot. In small sideshore chop I found it difficult to handle, but in most other conditions it was a lot of fun. Great finish and the painted finish made it really easy to fix small scratches etc. Lots of good innovations with bungs and leash points.

The Vault is a great allround boat. I borrowed a demo one day, paddled it for 2 minutes, then bought it. I am as fast in this boat as I was in my red 7, but a whole load more stable. It doesn't have the same sudden secondary as the legend, but overall is a lot more predicable in the sloppy stuff. It has a tendency to wander a bit but nothing alarming. I am sure this is due to the rudder, and I'm hoping a more balanced rudder will cure this. If I broke it tomorrow I would go straight out and buy another one. I can't wait for the new rudder to arrive because I'm convinced this will make a good boat better.

So in summary. If you are looking at the second hand market, any of these boats will give you a lot of fun. If you can afford new, buy the Vault. If you have a big backside, buy the Stellar.
If you only do downwind, buy the Legend.

My Swordfish is amazing.

Before I tell you how amazing, here's some info on where I'm at: In September 2011 I contracted a massive bacterial infection on my aortic heart valve that required reasonably risky and complicated emergency open heart surgery to repair. Needless to say, not quite five months on, after three months of not paddling so my sternum (and heart) could heal, I've lost a lot of power and fitness. My downwind speed had plummetted and I was doing about 6:00- 6:10/km with a LOT of wobbling and unhappiness.

So I decided to give this sport one more really good effort and bought a Swordfish, on the strength of the recommendations that this ski was receiving.

And I am SO HAPPY I did. Today was her first downwind over a course I have done several times since the surgery, and even with not much power in me I was able to put all that power down and did the course SEVEN MINUTES FASTER than I had been doing in my trusty V10L. It's only a 12.5km course so that's a massive improvement, and in conditions of only 12-13kt winds.

I'm thrilled with this ski - if you're in an elite ski and find yourself wallowing, bracing, falling off the back of waves, I can highly recommend moving to the Swordfish. The extra stability doesn't make the ski slower - I have no idea how Fenn accomplished this, but they're onto a damn good thing!!