: Good Stuff! Those are some nice looking waves.

: Any insights into the problems with the kayak you made? I am moving my surf
: kayak up to the top of the list (for what that is worth) and would
: interested to hear your impressions of your effort.

1. Rail is too hard.
2. Wrong hull side angle for rail.

Now what does that mean? Well you want a hard rail for speed and you want a kind of hard rail for carving. With this most boats I can turn 90 degrees easily with one stroke on flat water. This one the rail and side wants to load up on water and it is harder to turn on flat water. Also if you try to engage the beachside rail YOU WILL trip on the rail! On a lot of the newest boats you have one or more bevels leading into the rail more depth and a slight concave at the top. This allows you to transition from one rail to the other and prevents water load up and reduces tripping.

3. The stern has almost zero rocker.
4. The stern rails are almost parallel and straight.

This means that when you are in the pocket your stern is in the wave. If you try to use the rails for carving the stern will try to pull you strait.

Here are some good places to look at these things.

http://www.ptone.com/Kayak/surfboat/

look at the building notes.
The Gecko was made about 5 years ago. It was the prototype of the Bogie.

http://www.ptone.com/boatbuilding2002/

The 88 was made just a year ago. It was the grandfather of the Vortex.

I also have many pictures of the Intruder. E-mail me if you want to see some of these to get the idea of the rails and hull sides.

I will be babysitting a Vortex wave ski next week; The Vortex kayak is this ski with a deck.

I will be picking up the Gecko tomorrow (I got it at a great price) and will be cutting off the fins on the Surf Yak. I am going to have both on the water on Sunday.

More info then.

Sage