Category: Activities

So for the first time since I bought my Valley Skerray RMX in 2004, I bought a brand new boat. It’s an Epic V10 Sport Ultra. Now hang on, I can hear you say, don’t you already have a V10 Sport? Yes, I do. But it’s very old. It’s been a Baycreek demo boat, then it was sold to Dennis Mike, then he traded it back in because the seating was too uncomfortable, and then I bought it. It may have had other owners along the way. It was old, it leaked a bit, and it was “Club” layout (aka “blue stripe”), which is Epic code-word for “extremely heavy”. And because it’s so old, it has a huge bucket (that’s the seat for those of you not into surf ski terminology). Oscar Chalupski, surf ski legend and co-founder of Epic, is infamous for having “fat phases” and “skinny phases”, and it’s often joked that this one was designed when he was in a “fat phase”.

This one is brand new, off the boat. I’m the first person to paddle it. And it’s so much better than my old one. For the first thing, it’s “Ultra” (aka “red stripe”) so it’s light – at least 10 pounds lighter than than my old V10 Sport and a few pounds lighter than my Thunderbolt. It also has a narrower and more comfortable bucket. And it’s just crammed full with nifty little new features.

The first and foremost feature in my mind is the new scupper drain (aka “bailer”). The old V10 Sport had an open venturi – when you started off, or any time you slowed down, the footwell of the cockpit of the boat filled with water. At the start, it always filled up just enough that your first paddle strokes would slop cold water out of the footwell into your crotch. Sometimes I’d cover the venturi hole with tape, leaving a big loop, and that way if I needed to drain the cockpit I’d pull the tape loop, but from then on, you were paddling with water up to your ankles. There would often be a bit of internal debate on the matter of pulling the tape, because you didn’t want to do it too early. The new boat has an adjustable scupper drain – you can close it up, open it wide open, or any position in between, and adjust it as you go to meet the needs of right this second.

Other nifty features include nice deep cuts along the side of the cockpit to enable you to get your paddle in closer to the side of the boat for a more efficient stroke, a notch in the foot board to let you route your drink tube through it, a tie down spot in the cockpit for attaching your leash, and grab handles on the front and back.

Another feature I didn’t see advertised was a little tie down right near the stern of the boat. I wondered about that for a second, and then realized it’s there so you can attach a GoPro or other camera and have a safety line on it in case your suction cup pops off. That could be a real money saver, and shows a nice bit of thoughtfulness.

One of the strange features showed up when I first brought it home and wanted to put the rudder in. Unlike my old boat, newer Epics have a pin that goes through a hole in the rudder shaft so that the rudder doesn’t fall out of the boat and get lost at sea if the bolts holding it loosen off. But I couldn’t find the pin, or the hex wrench for the rudder. I had to call the shop, and Ken enlightened me – one of the two Epic logos on the rudder cover/flag is actually a velcro pocket. Even with him telling me that, it was hard to figure out – it’s just that well hidden.

But the proof, as they say, is in the paddlin’, and today I finally got a chance to paddle it. It’s too cold to go out on the lake, which is where this boat will really shine, but I took it for a nice long paddle on the canal.
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It wasn’t a perfect day – it was cold, it was overcast, there was a bit of wind, but it was good enough. And I have to say, I love this boat. It feels so much faster than the old one, if only because of the lightness. A couple of times I got water in the foot well, either through paddle splash or maybe the scupper drain doesn’t seal completely, and I could just open it half way, put in a couple of strong stokes, and close it, and my heels would be in the dry again. Nice!

Objectively it’s probably just as fast if not faster than the Thunderbolt, which means the Thunderbolt is only going to get used for places where I’m worried I’d scrape the boat on the rocks, like next month’s Round The Mountain race, or when it’s too cold to have water spray landing on your legs with every stroke. I’m keeping the old V10 Sport – it’s so old and beat up it’s probably not worth anything to sell, and the weight and the fact that I don’t give a shit about keeping it pristine means it’s probably more suited for rougher conditions than I’d use the new one for.

After paddling, I brought it home, washed it down, and applied some UV protectant. Ever since getting the Thunderbolt, which came with a bag, I’ve liked to keep my boats in bags to protect against UV while sitting around, and against stone chips while driving with them on the roof rack. But I’ve been warned that Epic changed the design of their bags and they now suck, so I’m currently researching my options. One popular option is “The Bag Lady”. Another is TC Surfski, the same people I bought my latest round of Vaikobi clothing – they sell Epic and Stellar boats, and they sell factory covers for the Stellar boats. If anybody could tell me if the Stellar covers would fit an Epic boat, it would be them, but I have my doubts – the Stellar “stable” surf ski is only 19’2″ and their faster boats are 21’6″ while the V10 Sport is 20’0″.

It was forecast to be 46°F, so a group of us agreed to meet up at BayCreek today at 5pm. On the drive over, my car thermometer was saying it was actually 53°F! Not bad after the harsh cold we’ve had this winter. Present when I arrived were Paul D in his West Side Boat Shop (WSBS) EFT, Doug in his WSBS Marauder, and both Furtoss brothers in their Epic 18xs.

The water was quite a bit lower, and quite a bit slower, than it had been on Saturday. It was still challenging in places, and there were a few places where one or more of us was carried across the stream into somebody else’s boat. But really, it was all about enjoying the evening and the company of our fellow paddlers. We didn’t see any mink this time, but did see some mergansers and mallards. We also saw several people out walking their dogs, which might be one reason we didn’t see any mink.

We went up 3.5 miles. Once again I still don’t have a GPS, so I don’t know how long it took. With the lesser current than Saturday, the pace was probably a bit better this time. On the way back down, a couple of the guys seemed to want to talk rather than paddle, so I forged on ahead, but I soon found myself surrounded by them again. Not sure if I was slowing down or they were speeding up. Probably both.

The way downstream was more fun with navigating tricky currents and eddies, although not as tricky as they’d been on Saturday. I love the feeling of speed when you’ve got the current pushing you along, but somebody remarked that you don’t see as much along the bank when it’s whipping by at 7 mph.

The piece de resistance came right near the end, with less than a kilometer to go. A huge bald eagle was standing on the bank. One of the Furtoss brothers got to about a boat length from it when it took off. But it perched in a tree that was over the creek where we were heading. We all drifted to it trying not to startle it. We were all wishing we had a camera, when I realized I had my phone in my pfd pocket. I pulled it out, and couldn’t see a damn thing in the screen. At the time I thought it was just glare, but afterwards when it was too late I realized I had polarized glasses on and could probably have seen better if I’d taken them off. But as it was, I shot about 10 pictures blind, and one or two of them were ok.

Yesterday Doug and I met at Baycreek for my first paddle of the season. Compared to previous years before my surgeries, this is relatively late for the first paddle, but it’s been a pretty harsh winter. The creek was open and running very strong, and it was 46°F, so it was a perfect first paddle.

Doug and I were both in our West Side Boat Shop boats, him in a Marauder and I in my Thunderbolt, and we still had our race numbers from the Long Lake race last year, which by coincidence were consecutive. Our boats looked like they belonged together. I was dressed in my farmer john wetsuit with long johns underneath, and a NRS Hydroskin light neoprene shirt, OR wind shell, and PFD up top, paddling gloves, and wool cap – all of that worked just fine. Unfortunately on my feet all I had were regular socks under neoprene socks, and that was *not* fine. My feet were cold before I even got in the boat, and when I got out afterwards they were numb and very painful as they thawed out. I’ve got to figure out something better. Somebody suggested plastic bags under the socks, maybe I’ll try that next time.

The strong current on the creek provided some challenge to my boat handling skills. Lots of swirling eddy currents, especially around corners – at one point the current caught my bow and whipped me across the creek right into Doug, which could have been bad for both of us. After that I was careful to go through the big corners single file, and start sweeping on the outside before the current caught me instead of after.

Later that day, I heard Doug telling somebody that I had tired him out and several times he saw me stop paddling to wait for him. In fact, what had happened was I’d powered ahead through a corner or other tricky bit to go through in single file, and I needed that recovery.

It was a pretty good day for spotting wildlife. At one point a mink was running along the bank going the same direction as us. It went into a pile of something and I thought he’d gone to ground, but Doug said “I can see him looking out at us”, and sure enough a few seconds later he pops out again and runs some more along side us, before finding another pile of stuff to hide in. Later on, we saw a diving duck that had a lot of white on the body and a roundish white cheek patch. I originally thought it was a Bufflehead, but I think it was probably a Common Goldeneye. We also saw several Common Mergansers. The Canada Geese were out starting to stake out nest areas.

I didn’t have my GPS, but Doug said we did 2.5 miles up in 45 minutes, and then returned the same 2.5 miles in 20 minutes. My shoulder started twinging a little bit with about a mile to go, so I guess we turned back at about the right time. But I did some stretches afterwards and the pain went down to background levels, so that’s comforting.

Later that evening, we were discussing plans for the season. It looks like Round the Mountain on May 17th is a definite, as is the Long Lake race in September at the end of the season. I doubt I’ll bother with Armond Basset, it’s always a drag. Blackburn is a stretch goal – it’s longer than any race I’ve done, and it’s on the ocean. I’ve also got the “TC Surfski Immersion Weekend” on June 5th-8th, and Oscar Chalupsky is giving a clinic here in town on July 13th. Mostly I think I’d like to spend more time out in the wave on the lake rather than pounding out miles on the canal like I did last year.