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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Manufacturer Profile: Custom Kayaks

Monday, 06 February 2006 15:54 | Written by 
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(By Rob Mousley) 

In my first conversation with Mark Lewin in 2003, he told me that I should be banned from paddling…


The 2003 Cape Point Challenge Qualifier was held in a fierce southeaster and I had joined the race at Millers Point to do a downwind run. On my own, I had counted on the race’s safety organisation to help me out if I got into trouble. As Mark later put it, how would I have felt if the rescue crews had had to leave a competitor to drown while rescuing me?


But he didn’t put it like that to begin with – he calls a spade a spade and his initial bluntness took me aback. It was quite an introduction to one of the most visible (at 6’10’’ tall) characters in South African Surfski.

 

We’ve had many less contentious conversations since then and I’ve grown to respect Mark as a passionate advocate for the sport (and for his products).

 

When a team from Cape Town flew up to Durban in July 2005 to take part in the Scottburgh to Brighton (my first ever), he collected and delivered skis, and offered plenty of advice (it’s hard to stop him once he gets going) on handling the surf conditions at the various beaches.

 

Opinionated, brash, helpful to a fault, and as a Master still a highly competitive paddler, Mark has been part of the Kwa Zulu Natal paddling scene for nearly 30 years.

 

He started surfski paddling in 1977, after a ligament injury put paid to a budding cricket and rugby career. “My first problem was finding something to paddle,” he said, “at 6’10’’, nothing fitted me so I had to build my own.” Since then, Mark has shaped a ski, kayak or knee board every year for the last twenty five years.

 

His paddling pedigree in impressive: seven Sunshine Coast Challenges (244km over four days between Port Elizabeth and East London); four Cape Point Challenges (56km through some of the roughest water in the world); two Molokai Challenges and he’s represented South Africa five times. His best year was 1987 when won the South African National Surfski title, came fourth in the Molokai Challenge and won the 46km Scottburgh to Brighton marathon.

 

In serving the surfski community as a whole, he is currently chairman of the National Surfski Committee. Preparations are under way for the 2006 South African Surfski World Cup race to be held in Durban on 2nd July. “The race is key to our vision for the sport worldwide,” said Mark, “we intend to make it bigger and better than ever – our aim is to bring no fewer than fourteen international teams here to take part.”

 

Barry Lewin

 

 
 Barry Lewin at the World Cup in Perth Australia, 2005

Mark doesn’t hide his pride in his son Barry. Clearly a chip off the old block, Barry represented South Africa in the World Marathon Canoeing Championship in the UK at age 15 and was part of the successful South African team that won the inaugural 2004 Surf Ski World Cup in Cape Town.

 

Although he doesn’t play a role at the factory, “Barry is a wonderful ambassador for Custom Kayaks; his consistently great results are the best possible advert for our products.”

 

Like his father, Barry also contributes significantly to the sport as a whole. Manager and coach of the Durban Surfski School, he was instrumental in founding the first development surfski paddling team, which took part in the 2005 Winter Surfski Series.

 

Custom Kayaks and the MARK 1

 

Mark started Custom Kayaks in 2000 and hasn’t looked back. The company has grown rapidly to the point where he employs a staff of eighteen and manufactures a range of water sports products ranging from paddles to racing canoes, knee boards, fishing skis and surfskis.

 

The first Custom Kayaks surfski was the MARK 1. At the time, Mark saw a gap in the market for an

 
 The MARK 1 as an icebreaker - Vancouver Island, Canada
intermediate ski, faster than the Wedges and Hammerheads that dominated the entry-level skis, but more stable than the high-end Fenn skis. His estimation was that by far the majority of the paddlers in the top-end skis were not and would never be capable of handling them. In a nutshell, he designed “an open ocean ski that was a bit more stable and forgiving”.

 

Clearly he struck a sweet spot. There are over 4000 MARK 1 skis being paddled in seven countries around the world and Custom Kayaks still makes one each day.

 

ICON Ski

 

Having covered the majority of the market, the time was right to tackle the top-end with a faster ski. “We wanted to develop a fast competitive single ski,” said Mark, “but we felt that we could improve on the characteristics of the then current top-end skis.” Goals for the new design included: better manoeuvrability; good secondary stability; a better sitting position and volume distribution. “Overall we wanted a ski that you could paddle faster”, Mark explained, “and that would run more efficiently.”

 

The ICON ski was the result, and the first skis came out of the mould early in 2004. Mark didn’t expect to crack the market any time soon: “At the top end, skis are expensive and I wasn’t expecting guys simply to drop their current skis and buy the ICON. It’s only when they come to replace their skis that they have an opportunity to shop around.” He was pleasantly surprised: the ICON has been “staggeringly successful” in that it featured in 11 out of the top 15 positions in the 2005 Durban Summer Series.

 

Internationally the ICON has featured too – Nathan Baggaley won the 2004 Australian World Cup race in Perth on an ICON and raced one into second place in the 2005 Molokai Challenge.

 

Double Ski – the MARK 2

 

The double ski currently manufactured by Custom Kayaks is the MARK 2. Following the same basic design precepts as the MARK 1, this ski was designed for the majority of the market and has been successful in allowing a range of paddlers including novices to enter doubles surfski competition. That’s not to say that the MARK 2 is a slouch. “Put a combination of any two good paddlers in the ski and they are capable of winning,” said Mark. To back this up, he cited the example of son Barry Lewin who, combined with Matt Bouman won the 2005 Dolphin Coast Challenge, breaking the record by fourteen minutes. “And that wasn’t in optimum downwind conditions, either.”

 

Spec Skis – the TITAN

 

 
 TITAN spec ski
The latest addition to the Custom Kayaks surfski stable is the TITAN, a lifesaving spec ski. Part of the motivation to develop a spec ski was the lack of development and innovation. “The current crop of spec skis in South Africa,” Mark said, “are all just copies of Australian skis, the last of which came to South Africa over ten years ago.” Much effort has been given to improving speed through the surf. “We reversed the normal design of the stern,” explained Mark. “Most skis have a deep-V hull with a flat deck but we noticed that the waves tended to push the stern under the water. We’ve effectively done the opposite. The deck is shaped like an inverted-V and the hull is flattened slightly. The water now drains off the deck immediately and this gives much more buoyancy to the stern.” Such is the success of the new tail design that Mark intends incorporating it into his next generation of open ocean skis.

 

The first demo skis were shipped overseas in 2005 and proved an instant hit, and a large consignment was shipped recently to lifeguard stations on the US West Coast.

 

Future Models

 

What’s next for Custom Kayaks surfskis? Look out for a new double ski, currently under development and due out later this year. Just as the ICON was designed to be faster than the MARK 1, so the new ski is intended to be a top-end double, faster than the MARK 2.