robberg express

Surfski.info last reviewed the Knysna Kayaks Robberg Express in April 2006 and at the time we had a couple of reservations about the ski -in particular, in choppy water the cockpit filled with water.  I've spent the last few weekends paddling the updated model and found it much improved.

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…

Early in 2005 an outspoken manufacturer told me, “90% of paddlers can’t cope with top-end skis and shouldn’t be on them.” He was referring to the then current crop of tippy high-end surf skis.

Then the Epic V10 burst onto the scene – and here was a fast, fun, top-end ski that could be handled by paddlers with less than perfect balance.  (Click here for our review.)

And last week a demo Fenn Mako 6 arrived in Cape Town. Reports from Durban and East London spoke of its speed and stability.

How would it compare with the other new skis? Would it be as stable; as fast; as comfortable? Could it be even better?

To my delight, I got hold of it last Saturday, and this review is the result…

Towards the end of 2005 a distinctly different ski made its appearance in Hout Bay in the hands of Tom Thring, and it made an immediate positive difference to his race results… Knysna Kayaks, the ski’s manufacturer, is known more for their river craft, but they seem to have scored a hit with this design.

It’s been a long time in the making. The design was started in the late 1980’s by the late Daniel Conradie but was shelved when he died. Hubby Sandberg took it on and the final result is the culmination of years of iterative prototyping and testing.