Epic V14 Ultra, My First Impressions by Wesley Echols, SurfskiRacing.com

I spent many years running road races and I rarely talked to my training partners about anything other than “training”. The topic of conversations were how many miles did you do this week? Did you do interval training? How is your recovery? Are you at optimal weight? How many long runs do you have in before the marathon? etc? As far as equipment we would discuss heart rate and heart rate monitors but not much else as far as equipment beside the occasional shoe questions. The focus was training.

What strikes me often since racing surf skis is that we talk a lot boats and how they perform and I am the worst. I can talk surf skis endlessly. Only with a few training partners do I get to talk about training, what is working, what is not. That too is fun for me. I love to paddle and train or often for me, over train. However, rarely does anyone ask me how my “training is going”. If they do it, they want a simple reply. Few want to here the details of your training plan. Once you have a ski(s) that you enjoy paddling, training is the key, a lot of it. Boat choice is very important particulary between the HPS and the intermediate skis. What I like about surf ski training is that it is so varied and you have to put it all together on the water to be really efficient.

Like any competitive sport or business you need to have a bias for action in order to stay ahead of the competition. As I grow older, I am having to work harder to stay competitive. Working harder means more focused training(off season/in season), better nutrition(my downfall), and taking advantage of better equipment(boats/paddles). We all agree that training is fundamental in racing that includes the same components of any other sport: cardio, strength, endurance, but what is different are the balancing, paddling, and ocean skills needed to be more efficient in the dynamic waters we paddle in.

So in October of 2013, I thought perhaps, the V14 could help me with at least part of that training: balance and paddling techique while paddling a very fast ski. While all this is true, I am not kidding anyone here. I was very curious to see how fast and how stable the V14 is. So I bought my V14 used but like new. It had the Big boy footplate which was too big for my size 9.5 feet so I ordered a standard footplate. Having the larger footplate gave me less rudder control since my toes just touched the pedals. Nevertheless, my first paddle on the V14 was successful. Steps to a successful first paddle.

1. Put on large rudder, the elliptical.

2.I adjusted the footplate to what I thought it should be and then again after 5 minutes of paddling.

3.I shortened my paddle for better control to 207 cm.

4.I went to a semi protected beach, while windy, had some one foot chop. This is winter in New England with air and water temps in the 30’s. While I have my drysuit on, I prefer not too capsize.

So after the first 10 minutes going in a large circle, I got used to the V14 and for the next 20 minutes felt good about it. I thought this is very doable as far as stability and the speed is outstanding. I took it out several more times on the flat days on the Sakonnet and then latter on the Narrow River, our flat water training river. I used all three rudders and each has its place in terms of speed and stability. In November, we had our last race of the season, a flat water race called the Potato Race on the Connecticut River with plenty of competition. I debated about racing my V14 or my Ted Van Dusen Mohican. I opted for the speciality flat water ski, the Mohican, because my training partner would be racing his V14 so I would get a sense of the speed comparison between the two. Chris, web master, would also be in his Mohican so it would be a comparison too. Chris normally is 15-45 seconds faster than I am on the 4-8 mile races with explosive starts that I can’t match. Tim in his V14 and I over the past 6 years are evenly matched on flat and ocean races. I told Tim the difference today would be that his V14 turns better than my Mohican and this is where he would have an advantage. Although my sense was the Mohican was slightly faster which proved to be the case albeit one race.

Chris true to form got off to an incredible start leading most of the race until Adrius(K1) caught him after missing the start. Tim and I were neck and neck until the three turns where he would gain 2-3 boat lenghts before I would catch up again. The last turn, my stern was pushed by a novice C2 around the can so I was headed across the river vice up the river losing about 5 lenghts this time. I closed again on Tim but did not have enough to over take him so he finished about 5 seconds ahead of me while Chris fended off Greg Lesher(v10) to come in second behind the versatile, all sport Adrius. So this race confirmed for me the how close the Mohican and V14 are in a flat water race with the Mohican slightly faster, more stable, yet turns only adequately around buoys.

Chris warming up in Mohican at Potato Race

Chris, Greg, Andrius, Wesley at Potato Race

McCorrie Time Trial

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390436201#.UwQJb308Tlk.email

McCorrie 2 mile Time Trial

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/393462975#

Potato Race

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/399869680#

The Mohican for years has been one of my favorite skis albeit, a speciality flat water ski. It is the fastest ski in the garage with excellent seating, narrow catch, very stable on flat water and excels in suck water. Although vastly different designed skis, I enjoyed paddling the V14. The seating was excellent, the bailer worked better than I thought it would. It has a narrow bucket that fit me great and I only needed some padding on the calf area to further enhance my leg drive. Acceleration is only two strokes away and the glide is excellent.

Stability is a relative thing depending on your skill level, water your train in and the types boats you paddle. While I was able to hop in the V14 and apply good power, it requires paying attention with a quick yet predictable roll rate. I am sure if I paddled the V14 two times per week, my confidence in ocean conditions would increase. I paddled with Tim(v14) in August on a windy day with three foot seas and Tim did not capsize. I paddled my Hawx and finished about a minute behind on the 3 mile downwind section to the Jamestown Bridge at race pace. Tim also paddled his v14 in the L2L 14 mile ocean race with good results although boat fatigue came into play the last few miles for him.

For me, any race I would use the V14, I would opt for my Mohican like the Essex, Narrow River, Rotc. Any ocean race, I would opt for a more stable ski like my Uno Max Ultimate or my SES and be faster due to stability. However, if I did not own my Mohican, I would keep my V14 for flat water racing and have a blast in it.