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…
Read more...
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.  
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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…
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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.
Read more...
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!”
Read more...

Surfski.info Review – Epic V10 Ultra

Monday, 02 March 2009 15:50 | Written by 
Rate this item
(1 Vote)
Paddler's view - Epic V10 Ultra Paddler's view - Epic V10 Ultra Credits: www.surfski.info

It has been my good fortune to have an Epic V10 Ultra to paddle for the last month - and it's been a treat. 

Varying Conditions

I paddled the ski in conditions that varied from hot and flat, to choppy (a triangular lap race in Hout Bay), to a semi-hectic Millers Run (I'd call it a 8 out of 10 on the Mousley scale).  Add two glorious downwind paddles in Mauritius last year and sundry other paddles around Cape Town.

But first things first...

Build Quality

From the point of view of build quality, the ski is simply beautiful - close to flawless.  The fittings show the same attention to detail: the rudder is an all-carbon work of art; the tiller bar is a clever design in gleaming stainless steel; the foot plate assembly is easy to adjust - and the rudder line self adjustment works beautifully.  There's even a measurement tape next to the footplate runners - so that you can be sure of your settings when you readjust the footplate on your own (or anyone else's) ski.

The ski simply exudes "quality".

Epic V10 Ultra

Epic V10 Ultra

Epic V10 Ultra

The weight of the ski is ridiculous - it comes in at just over 11kg and is a delight to pick up.  (Be sure you have some assistance when the wind is blowing however - light skis are a handful when you're trying to put them on your car in a gale!)

Carbon skis are notorious for their susceptibility to dings - they're rigid and structurally strong, but don't have high resistance to puncture damage.  This doesn't seem to be the case with the Epic boats - in spite of the label in the cockpit that encourages owners to take "appropriate care" of their skis.  (What's that mean? "Appropriate care", forsooth!  I know some guys for whom appropriate care means chucking the ski in the garden after they've used it.  If they mean, "don't put the ski down on gravel", why don't they say so?)

Epic V10 Ultra

Click here for a larger image

Epic V10 Ultra

Click here for a larger image

Paddling the Ski

The first thing I did to the ski was to install my trusty Lincke Seat Pad .  I am one of the few people in the world whose backsides aren't compatible with the Epic bucket - 10 minutes in an un-padded Epic seat and my coccyx is toast.

Then it was time to adjust the footplate assembly.  That took about sixty seconds - literally - and included a walk to the back of the ski to check that the rudder was still straight.  It was.

Flat Conditions

I paddled the ski in flat conditions only once - it was comfortable and I didn't disgrace myself.  Enough said - I don't enjoy the flat!

Hout Bay Race

I paddled the ski in a race around Hout Bay.  Conditions were brisk - a 15kt southerly wind and some challenging chop.  The first lap was triangular, giving us an upwind leg and two diagonal downwind legs.  The next two laps were sausages - out into the wind and back.  All three legs took us across a kelp-covered reef over which sets of waves were breaking...

I had a slow start (fiddling with my GPS), and as I set off a set of waves came through.  I fell off and spent the next two minutes floundering around in the water.

After that however, I had a ball.

The ski went well in the choppy conditions.  Within the first km I had caught the back-markers and as I approached the reef I saw that Chris, one my paddling buddies, had taken a swim and had only just got back on his ski. 

The first long diagonal downwind leg took us right across the bay.  The ski handled beautifully - I was turning to catch the runs then, having accelerated, back on course, riding the waves at a diagonal.  The ski tracked down the wave fronts as though it were on rails - and I overtook Chris before the buoy. 

I maintained my lead through the next lap and a half - but felt myself beginning to flag as we set off upwind on the last lap.  As we approached the reef for the third time, a huge set came through and I saw a ski flying through the air and - when I got closer - the rescue boat busy chasing someone's runaway ski.

I sprinted to get through the break zone unscathed.  As I rounded Barnacle Rock for the last time I saw that Chris had made up some ground and was only about 50m back.  There was someone else with him and I knew they'd be after my blood.  The last section was exhausting - halfway back to the beach we had to take a loop through the harbor -sprinting on flat water.

Finally we got back to the beach and I'd held off both Chris and - to my delight - the T-bone King who'd been one of the casualties at the reef.

In spite of my terrible start, I felt exhilarated at the finish - and thoroughly enjoyed paddling the V10.  The highlight was undoubtedly the way it handled the diagonal downwind legs - catching the waves easily and then tracking beautifully.

Millers Run - 5 out of 10 hectic scale

My favorite test run (well, let's face it, my favorite paddle) is our 12km downwind Millers Run from Millers Point to Fish Hoek.  It's a good test because you paddle out 700m diagonally into the southeaster, before rounding Bakoven Rock to head directly downwind to Fish Hoek.  The downwind section is rarely entirely straightforward and most often you have to contend with a couple of sets of waves running in different directions and that makes for challenging "technical" runs. 

This run was relatively benign - 15-20kts and the waves weren't all that big - 1-2m.

For me one of the highlights of the V10 is the big surf rudder: it gives the paddler superb control over the boat - especially going downwind.

To me the boat really comes into its own downwind - it feels eager to catch the runs, and I felt that in contrast to some other skis, it is relatively easy to push over the "next wave", when you need to get over the hump to the next dip.

Millers Run - 8/10 hectic

The next Millers Run we did was a lot more challenging - the deep sea swell was coming from the southeast - straight into False Bay.  And the wind was much stronger - gusting to 30kt.

(I should explain that the prevailing direction of the swell in Cape Town is southwest - so when it does come from the southeast, it produces a very different set of conditions for the Millers Run.  The wind swell and the ocean swell run at about twenty degrees to each other and the bay becomes a maelstrom of constructive and destructive wave fronts - in short, it gets pretty messy and it's difficult to stay on a run for very long before you get knocked off it by a crest coming from the side.)

I felt extremely tentative going out through the crosswind to Bakoven Rock - something akin to sitting on a tightrope - and I'd brace whenever a gust hit me.  Suffice to say that my paddling buddy, John Blacklaws, got to the rock well before me. 

My confidence returned after we turned downwind - but I still felt a little unsure of myself and I missed some of the runs through being hesitant to take the power strokes necessary to launch onto the waves.

The next Millers Run we did, I put John onto the boat.  He also found the ski a little twitchy going out to the rock (he normally paddles a carbon Mako6), but he couldn't stop exclaiming how nice it was going downwind.

Tippy or Not?

I was disappointed in my paddling ability on the more extreme Millers Run.  After handling the choppy conditions during the race in Hout Bay I was feeling pretty much bomb proof and it was a shock to find myself floundering on the Millers Run. 

At last year's Molokai, I questioned whether I should have used a V10 instead of the V10 Sport that Oscar Chalupsky advised so strongly. 

Now I know that I would not feel comfortable to paddle the V10 Ultra in a big Molokai. 

But in anything less than a "hectic" Millers Run, I really enjoy paddling this ski.

What I like about the V10 Ultra

Pretty much everything, but in particular:

  • The weight:  at 11.5kg it's a pleasure to pick this ski up.
  • The hull finish: As noted, there's scarcely a blemish on these boats
  • The fittings: the attention to detail is extraordinary
  • The rudder: I love the control afforded by the elliptical rudder.
  • The footplate assembly: and its ease of adjustment

What I don't like

  • The bottom of the bucket - it's a personal and highly subjective thing but I don't like using a bum pad and I wish the V10 bucket was more compatible with my coccyx.
  • The tippiness of the ski - in extreme conditions. 

Epic Kayaks on the web

Epic's website is at www.epickayaks.com