Huki: New Double Ski

[Editor: It's not only this side of the pond that new surf ski designs are being developed... Jude Turczynski of Huki Skis recently made this announcement.]

Prototype Huki Double

Jerry Montgomery and I have been working nine months full-time on the development of our Tandem Surf Ski, and we're finally ready for production. This has been our greatest design challenge yet; Engineering a small, dry, stable, fast, rough water surf ski with a wide weight range is no easy task.

Three days of testing in rough water of the severe Point Diablo variety and differing/unbalanced weights tested. Looking like a dead center bullseye hit. An official announcement will be made shortly on www.huki.com.

Here are a couple pictures of the very first one and only one in existence, embedded in the text field below...GPS speed graphs and paddler comments as well...

In the tracks below, Red areas are where speeds were above 7. MPH, top line is max hit of 10.7 MPH, line just below is 10 MPH. Green areas are sustainable marathon race speeds, blue areas are sub race speeds. Flat water course was back and forth as marked on the top map.  

In the tracks below, Blue = < 7, Green = 7 to 8, and Red = > 8. NOTE, this was not flat conditions. You can see us surfing at 10.5 MPH on the way back where the red repeatedly hits the topline. She is fast. About 8mph average for 4 miles into Larger windy/stormy conditions at a good, but not max pace. 

In a message dated 2/27/2006 4:02:34 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. writes:
took her out again in some 2 to 3 foot wind waves today. She is stable, and fast too. Surfed Great, Very dry ride and the short interval steep wind waves very seldom came over in the front or back. It Did not take long at all to get used to her. It is a great big water boat, no doubt about it. The volume is perfect for larger conditions and functionally you need it in the waves. In lesser conditions though, it does look large, but just looking large should not hurt its speed. Knowing that I will want to cruse the coast in her without sitting under water, I personally would not want anything else. Perhaps lake people will feel differently? But... it is a Surfs ski, not a k2. We did dump deliberate. I was able to get back in moments. I had no issue at all.

In a message dated 2/25/2006 9:09:39 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. writes:
Sally and I took it out today for a long time today. The water lines looked great when we put it in the water as I mentioned on the phone, even with both of us sitting in it. We think it is dead on. We went out to PT Bonita in a Major current and good size waves and wind. It was a very dry ride today. Not a single wave breached the decks. It sits very high above the water which is worlds of difference than the V2-Z hull. This boat did Perfect in big water. The stability we found is very different than the Prototype double. This one seems to roll from side to side easier, giving it the perception of less initial stability, but once on the side, say 15 degrees off up right, you are still very stable. Almost like comparing the S1-R to the S1-X. The over all stability I would say is better, but a very different feel that we will need to adjust to. Paddling the prototype for so long has me in the habit of correcting anything that is not perfectly up right. Paddling the same way was not necessary in this boat; however letting go of that habit will take me some time. It just waist lots of energy on balance checks that were not warranted. Sally commented that when she did a long open ocean paddle with Jensen in the fenn double, it was the same way. They paddled for a long time tilted to the left or right with no worries.

Jude can be contacted at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.