The following is quoted from: http://www.thinkkayaks.com/blog/?p=24

Think Evo surfskis arrive at US east coast

Three Think Evo surfskis arrived at Charles River Canoe and Kayak in Boston during October, and all 3 were purchased within 10 days. Here is a letter from one of the happy customers.

Hi,

I just got my new glass Evo 10 days ago. What a wonderful ski!!!

The cockpit is the most comfortable ski I have paddled. The seat is above the legs for excellent leg drive. The width of the footwell is just right. Not too tight for winter paddling and just right for summer paddling here in New England. The cockpit width is perfect for me. 33 waist, 5ft 9, 175 lbs. No rubbing of tailbone like on the Epics for some of us. Catch is more narrow than S1R. Micro adjustment is great for the single footwell. Drainage is super with it more aft than any other ski I have paddled. Contact points for my calves is perfect.

Stability: I found it more stable than XT, S1R or v10sport. That is hard to do but you guys nailed it while keeping the speed up. It absorbs every bump there is. It initially for 30 seconds felt like the v10sport when I sat in it. That twitchiness quickly disappeared unlike the v10sport where for some novice paddlers find this off putting. Secondary stability is outstanding. Wow! I could not believe how stable it is. No bow slap at all compared to other stable skis.

Speed: Just my opinion of course. I currently own my 3rd S1R, a Mako XT(wife’s), Mako 6 in glass,Mako 6 in carbon and a Mohican for flatwater racing. I have also owned a s1x, v10L, red 7, and v10 sport within the last 2.5 years. Having qualified that I found the Evo to be much faster than XT, comparable to v10sport and s1R. S1R is faster with 4 in rudder but most paddlers don’t paddle with this rudder. Your rudder size I found excellent in all conditions atleast those here in New England. The 8/9 inch is over kill for New England conditions, while the R with the 7in is good but the 4in makes the R very quick but loses some stability and gets overwhelmed in 3ft seas and above. The glide factor of the R seems to be slightly better than the Evo.

Steering: Very Responsive, though very slight delay in bigger conditions compared to Mako and Huki due to cable vs line. Certainly better than epics.

Build quality: excellent. Judes construction is superb. However yours is flawless provided it holds up to the wear and tear over the years.

I think Epic missed the market that they thought they would capture when it came out with the v10sport. Seat too wide and initial stability for novice paddlers or sea kayaker may have been too great to over come and with the wide seat exacerbating this with no contact points for small to mid size paddlers. The Evo with its price point should do extremely well. I found the weight of the glass one to be exceptional. Not too light and not too heavy. I have not weighed mine yet but I am guessing it comes in at 29/31 lbs.

I paddled my Evo the day after I got it for 7hrs 2 minutes covering 39.5 miles in some very big seas for New England. My partner and I (he paddled my s1R) though normally he paddles an v10L paddled around Aquidneck Island, Newport, RI. 4-5ft mixed swell and chops though felt bigger for 3 hours of the 7 hours. I braced only once during this stretch and absolutely had no boat fatigue at the end of the paddle. What a comfortable and forgiving ski with excellent speed and build quality. I bought mine from Charles River Canoe and Kayak and am the demo guy for DeAnne here in New England. We have a growing but avid surfski market here in New England.

Thanks for making a great ski. Hope you do well with it. Wesley Echols, Newport, RI

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 10:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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