custom kayaks

There’s a whole crop of new and updated surfskis from around the world.  Here’s a round-up of just some of them.

Custom Kayaks recently released a new entry in the beginner’s surfski market – the Horizon.  The name was inspired by the idea of novice paddlers expanding their “horizons”…  So, does this ski lend itself to doing just that?

[Three weeks ago, Dale Lippstreu and I did back-to-back Millers Runs in two different double skis: the Fenn Mako Elite Double and the Custom Kayaks Apex.  Dale was the driver in both cases.]

During September I was lucky enough to have a brand new Custom Kayaks Synergy surfski to play with while its owner Billy Harker was overseas.  Thanks Billy!  This is what I found.

A New Generation Double: The Custom Kayaks Apex

With time we will look back on the decade from the mid nineties to the mid noughties as a time when new boat design was caught up in an indecent flurry, aggravated by the scrapping of the ICF kayak width rule. In a drive to be faster and cooler, boats became thinner - and dramatically less stable. However as Dave Macleod found after testing the new Custom Kayaks double ski, it is time to enjoy the new age where speed comes with stability.

What's the fastest ski on the market?

Ask any six paddlers and you’ll likely get six different answers… And you can bet that the answer will likely be: “the ski that I own”!

A group of Cape paddlers got together on Sunday to try to answer the question objectively. This article describes the method used, the results and conclusions…