Latest Surfski News

Tuesday, 17 October 2023 07:11
“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” I thought to myself a few moments after launching on the brand new V10 4G for the first time. It was getting dark; it was raining; the squalls were lifting sheets of spray off the water… directly offshore. What WAS I thinking? The answer is that I’m a sucker for new toys – and if I get my hands on one, I HAVE to play with it. Damn the weather, full speed ahead… Since then I’ve paddled the boat many more times, in much pleasanter weather. Here’s what I think of this,…
Thursday, 08 June 2023 12:42
East London, South Africa: Angus Warren watched helplessly as the shark’s teeth crunched through the hull of his surfski. “It seemed to go on and on,” he says, “pushing and chomping. I was thinking, why is it not working out that it isn’t food? “I can’t tell how long it took, but I had enough time to shout a couple of times to the others.” The next thing he knew, he was in the water…
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Thursday, 27 April 2023 18:42
CAPE TOWN - Hank McGregor and Josh Fenn convincingly claimed back their Prescient Freedom Paddle title on Thursday in a dramatic race marked by tough conditions and a rain-delayed start.  Conditions were extremely tough - a brisk northwester blowing spray from the big confused chop into the paddlers' faces as they headed out to the island.  Huge breaking surf on the far side of the island ensured a wide line but the wind dropped as the fleet started on the journey back to the finish, making it that much more difficult and energy sapping to catch the runs.  
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Tuesday, 25 April 2023 11:50
Last Friday, however, I paddled with Dawid on a windless autumn evening in Cape Town. Cruising from Fish Hoek to Muizenberg, we paddled together, stopping at all the coves to surf a few waves. In short, the operative word was "fun". This was a different Dawid - off duty - and, well, I've never paddled with anyone so noisy before. Whistling, singing, shouting to folks on shore - yahooing as he caught a wave. Heading home at dusk we crept up behind a group of seals lazing on the surface. Dawid began barking like a five-year-old paid by the bark...until…
Thursday, 09 February 2023 07:39
A look back - aaaaargh! A mountain. Let it go through... A smaller one, with a glimpse of something massive lurking further out to sea. Catch it, catch it! Sprint, sprint, you’re on it, here’s the break zone, keep going, keep going, the roar from behind and the sudden acceleration as a massive foamy caught up to me, keep it straight, keep it straight... Phew. Arrived. Panting. Stop the watch. ok. Made it. Empty the boat, pick it up to prevent it knocking you down. Done.
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Saturday, 26 November 2022 17:16
The South Africans cleaned up today at the most prestigious surfski race in Australia – arguably the most prestigious race in the world - taking five out of the top six places and the entire podium at the Shaw and Partners “The Doctor” in Perth. Defending women’s champion, Kiwi Danielle McKenzie won the women’s trophy.
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Saturday, 19 November 2022 13:01
Gold Coast paddler, Cory Hill, took first scalp in the five-event ocean ski racing series, the Shaw and Partners WA Race Week, winning the inaugural race today, the 24km Fenn West Coast Downwinder from Fremantle, just south of Perth, to Sorrento Beach. In fine conditions with a 16 knot SSW wind courtesy of the famed Fremantle Doctor, the start off Port Beach was intense with the top paddlers in a terse battle to make the first break.   But it was 33-year-old Hill – the 4-times DOCTOR champ who relishes the Perth conditions – who was able to shake the field…
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Tuesday, 16 March 2021 13:54
It’s not easy to catch a rolling, runaway single ski in 30kt of gusting wind – and as they attempted to grab it, Alex and his doubles partner lost their balance and fell into the water. By the time they’d remounted, the single ski was gone – blown away by the strengthening near-gale. They turned and paddled back upwind to find their buddy.
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Wednesday, 03 March 2021 12:08
Accident reports are easy to write when the story ends happily, but this one didn’t and it’s with a very heavy heart that I’m writing this, with a view to learning what we can from it.
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Wednesday, 15 July 2020 09:13
When the NSRI found Duncan MacDonald, he was approximately 6km off Smitswinkel Bay, drifting rapidly further offshore. Gale-force squalls whipped sheets of spray off the waves, reducing visibility almost to nothing. What Happened? Given the small size of the surfski community, there’s always intense interest whenever there’s a rescue. What happened? What did they do wrong? What can we learn from it? Clearly there are lessons to be learnt from any mishap – so here’s a description of what happened, shared with the permission and cooperation of the folks involved in the hope that we might all learn from this…
Friday, 24 April 2020 11:41
Durban – As the continued coronavirus lockdown grips the country, Canoeing South Africa will host a 24 hour Canoeing4COVID-19 event this weekend as a way to raise funds for members of the broader paddling community that have been badly affected by the lockdown.
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Wednesday, 11 March 2020 14:35
“Hey, Rob! Help!” The shouts penetrated the sound of the howling wind and crashing waves – and even through the noise it was obvious from the tone of his voice that something was seriously wrong. I turned and headed back upwind.
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Tuesday, 03 March 2020 14:43
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.
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Monday, 24 February 2020 12:01
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.
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Thursday, 26 December 2019 10:30
The shark smashed like a freight train into Roger Swinney’s surfski in an explosion of noise and spray, knocking him off into the water.  “I managed to get back on the ski,” he said, “but I fell off again and as I remounted the second time, I saw the swirl and tips of the shark’s fins. “I didn’t see it clearly, but from the force of it and the movement in the water, it looked big!”
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The Kayak Centre EOS 660 – a 2nd opinion

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 20:44 | Written by  Dale Lippstreu
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Paddling the EOS 660 Paddling the EOS 660 Credits: www.surfski.info

One of the benefits of being associated with Surfski.info is that one gets to paddle lots of new skis often before examples appear on the water or in the local paddle shops.  

Love at First Sight

A few have been absolute dogs, most pretty unexceptional, but there have however been 3 skis that I have been sufficiently impressed with to place an order shortly after paddling them for the first time.  The EOS is one of them. (The others were the Epic V10 - where I got to paddle one of the first preproduction prototypes - and the Red7 Surf70 Pro.) The purpose of this little diatribe is to plant the suggestion that I can spot a good ski early on.

So what’s to like about the EOS?  Firstly it is nicely turned out.  The finish is about the level of Fenn & Think and just little shy of the Epics ex China.  The ski is resin infused and at approximately 15kg for the glass version represents very good value as a competitive ski. Its good looking with attractive decals and while I am not wild about the aesthetics of the cockpit coaming it does definitely work.

Hull Shape

One of the first things one notices when sitting in EOS is the length and narrowness of the bow.  It does not have the distinctive bulge at the nose of the V10 and Red7 to create volume and lift downwind.  The underside of the nose has noticeably less volume than the Red7 and the distinctive flat midsection of the Red7 is a lot softer. It has a broad tail with lots of volume that is very reminiscent of the V10.  It all goes to suggest a fast ski with good speed both down and into wind.

Three surfskis compared

From top: Fenn Mako Elite, Kayak Centre EOS 660, Green7

For a larger image, click here

Surfski Rocker Comparison

The three skis without their rudders, flat on the deck showing the difference in rocker

Surfski noses

The Green7 has the least rocker; the Mako Elite by far the most.

Surfski tails

And at the back - again, Mako Elite has the most rocker, the Green7 the least.

So how does this pan out on the water?

The first thing that I noticed was that the seating position seemed nicely raised and very comfortable.  This is very good for me because I am used to the V10 and feel like I am up to my elbows in Fenns which typically have very low seating and deep buckets.  The ski does however feel a bit unstable as you get in but once moving you quickly discover that while the primary stability places the ski on the tippy end of the spectrum the secondary stability is good. Having now paddled the ski in a broad range of conditions and I have to say that as a mid pack paddler I was comfortable throughout.  What took some getting used to is that the ski is very responsive to steering input to the point of feeling directionally unstable.  However once I was settled in I found the issue went away.  I should add at this point that the test ski came with a raked high aspect rudder which was pretty useless downwind. However once this was replaced with a larger elliptical rudder supplied by Kayak Centre and the problem was solved.

Kayak Centre Rudders

The two Kayak Centre rudders

What really got me going about the ski was a paddle around the 16km circuit from Fish Hoek through Simonstown and back via Roman Rock lighthouse. The wind was a gentle South East and small shallow runs started to appear on the last 5km home.  I started lifting the pace to try pick up the runs and the ski seemed to come up on the plane and just stayed there as I linked from run to run.  Rob who is definitely better than me downwind dropped rapidly behind in his Fenn Elite and I got the definite impression that the ski was making a very marked difference.  This together with the results upwind with Rob paddling an EOS (described in his review) the previous week caused me to order my EOS the next day.

Since then I have done a lot of paddling in the EOS and have refined my opinions a little further.  My particular liking is that despite its maneuverability the ski tracks well. All skis turn away from the angle of lean when rolled due to resultant hull asymmetry and the effect increases with increasing rocker.  This can be helpful for steering downwind but can compromise your stroke hugely on the flat. With its low rocker the EOS runs true and does not turn away.  If you are like me and do not have strong core this is a huge benefit.  The fact that it achieves this while still remaining very maneuverable is hard to explain but it remains true nonetheless.

Tail Volume - Positive and Negative

The big tail volume which is so helpful in small runs turns into a handful on big ones. Rob described how Jurgen Geitner fell behind us in big swells off Hout Bay only to come past us when conditions moderated.  I did a Millers Run with Rob in biggish conditions shortly after running away from him in small runs and found myself unable to keep up. The issue should not be overstated and just serves to underline the obvious point that one ski cannot be best at everything.

So all in all what are my conclusions? I think that:

  1. The EOS is right up there with the very best in terms of hull speed.
  2. It is at the tippy end of stability spectrum but is not very different from the other top end skis out there.  You also need to recognize is that tippiness is in the eye of the beholder i.e. there is no absolute scale of tippiness and the rating will vary considerably from paddler to paddler depending on style.
  3. The ski is magnificent on the flat and in small conditions but its length and tail volume count against it in big conditions.
  4. The ski is well made and finished and the resin infused glass version is a great performance for money package.

My guess is that with sustained quality of manufacture and dependable supply Kayak Centre should do well with the EOS.  It is certainly a very dramatic improvement on their last effort (the Illusion).

Positive Castor Rudder

I have ordered my new EOS with Johan van Blerck’s positive castor rudder system and am hoping that it might arrive in time for the weekend.  Expect to see an update soon.