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.
