kayakintro.com

Author: Kayakintro

  • 2025 Winter Paddling Series

    This afternoon I had the first race of the winter series at Akarana Marine Sports Centre, Okahu Bay. Normally I would have paddled it with my daughter on the Fenn XT double but the weather was crap and she might be getting a cold so it was just me with the Epic V7. I love that surfski for it no worry plastic and its hatch so useful when visiting the rocky islands here but it isn’t the best for racing. I ended up last of the long race, and did the mistake of following some paddlers who were doing the short race (one lap). I thought we had to turn around a marker near the start but I was wrong and did a long detour… Anyway, I was still happy to finish it and it is time to improve my fitness after my heart/coronary alert on the late afternoon before the 2025 King and Queen of the harbour won by Gene Prato and Danielle Richards. Gene Prato easily won the race today by the way.

    It was windy and cold, with some rain towards the end of the race. The V7 is very good in choppy water but at only 520 cm long there is not much to do against longer surfskis. There were some Epic V12, Fenn Elite, Vega, Think Uno Max… The wider surfskis were the Epic V9 Elite and an Epic V10 Sport from what I could see. The race was open to Waka Ama, SUP and sea kayak/any kayak but it was just the surfskis and 3 sups.

  • First post

    First post

    Welcome to my blog ! Here I will post about my kayaking experience. We have had many kayaks/surfski/paddle boards and hopefully this website will help to keep track of them.

    A quick introduction : we are three, our daughter, my wife and myself. My wife is a lot more into paddle boards than kayaks, our daughter isn’t much into paddling but I am trying to get her out at sea, and I am the one into kayaks in general, from basic sit on top to surfskis and sea kayaks.

    We started paddling during the covid time as we lived right by the beach and had to keep ourselves busy. We owned/own many kayaks & sup in the last 4 years.

    In sup : 5 Starboard (2 Allstar, 1 Ace, 1 Generation and 1 tourer), 1 NSP Carolina and 1 Red inflatable.

    In surfski : 2 Epic V7, Epic V10L Gen 2 Ultra, Fenn XT, Fenn XT double, Fenn Mako Elite carbon, Fennix Bonito, Fennix XTS, Fennix Swordfish S and a PRS 570.

    In sit on top : Viking Ozzie, Viking Nemo, Viking Espri, Viking 2+1, Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro TW, Perception Synchro, Ocean River Explora, Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140 and a Cobra Eliminator.

    In sea kayaks : 2 Perception Acadia 12.5, Riot Edge 14.5, Perception Spectrum, Perception Sea Lion, QK Penguin, Current Designs Squall, Current Designs Storm, Mirage 730, Challenge Breeze and a vintage sit in from the sixties.

    We live in Auckland, New Zealand, and it is currently winter so we paddle less with all the rain. In other seasons I paddle nearly daily.

    Videos of our paddles are uploaded on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@kayakintro and on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kayakintro/

    I hope to have enough time to keep the blog active. Next post will be about the 2025 Winter Paddle Series starting tomorrow afternoon at Okahu Bay. I plan to race it with my daughter on our double but she is starting to sneeze so let’s see.

    More details about the Winter Series at https://www.takapunaboating.org.nz/clubsailing-1-1-1