Reviews

Many paddlers use Personal Locator Beacons, or tracker apps like SafeTrx on their mobile phones. But handheld VHF radios are also a great choice to consider – especially when they’re DSC-capable like the Standard Horizon HX870E.

I finally got my hands on a demo Fennix Swordfish S this weekend and did two Miller's Runs in succession to see if I could feel any difference in handling between the 2018 Swordfish S and the new Fennix model.  Conditions were challenging: False Bay was covered in whitecaps, whipped by a combination of a 25-30kt southeaster and small, confused seas.  The result?  I definitely want to spend more time in this boat.

The year: 2004. The place: Fish Hoek Beach in a howling southeaster. Dawid Mocke says to me, “Go paddle upwind for a while.” So, I did. Quite a way upwind. Eventually I turned around and surfed the runs back to Fish Hoek. Dawid met me at the beach. “What happened to you?” he yelled. “The lesson’s finished now!” And that was my introduction to Surfski School…

My opposition surged past me on the last lap of the Seadog race in Fish Hoek. In desperation, I steered to hook onto his side wash… To my surprise the XT S accelerated instantly, and I sat there with little effort riding the wash for the rest of the leg.

[Editor: Knysna Racing Kayaks released the Lee McGregor-designed Classic and Rhythm surfskis in 2017.  Contributor and passionate surfski paddler Erik Borgnes has been paddling both them; here's what he thinks of these "short" boats...]

[Editor: Sune Wendleboe (engineer, photographer extrarordinaire and mad keen surfski paddler) has owned no fewer than 27 surfskis in the last few years.  He recently took delivery of an Epic V11 Elite and in this article shares his impressions of the sleek black paddlling machine...]

Yeeeeeha!  As I accelerated down yet another small run, I thought, ‘I can definitely handle this boat’…”  In fact, in the conditions I was paddling in, the DNA gave me a taste of what it feels like to be an elite paddler…

As I shot down the face of the run, spray flying, I spotted the next dip in the water over to one side. A touch of the rudder pedal, a slight lean and the surfski turned towards it; through the dip and a neat curve in the other direction and I'd shot around the shoulder of the wave, accelerating again onto the next run. A crazy thought ricocheted around my brain: What was it that produced this feeling of extreme pleasure? Adrenalin? Endorphins? Dopamine? All three? Whatever it was, the feeling of playing with a new boat definitely added to it.

Last year, Nordic Kayaks CEO Fredrik Lindstrom started sending me drawings and digital renderings of the new NITRO surfski. All my life I've been on high performance craft, rowing, sailing and paddling - and this one just looked right to me. In April I finally got the chance to paddle it and its brother, the NITRO Plus.

I’ve been paddling the Evo II for a couple of months – it’s a stable, comfortable ski that goes like a rocket downwind.  Well worth checking out if you’re in the market for an intermediate boat.