With much excitement I lined up to race Sunday in “my” new ski the Fenn Swordfish. I say my ski because as much as I love the XT and train in flat Newport in the Elite…..I,along with many other paddlers, have been begging for something in between. So my hope was that it lived up to the billilng it was getting in South Africa.My opinion is just that, and I love Fenn skis so take what I say knowing that and I am also a Fenn dealer. Totally biased…and totally blown away by the performance of this ski. It is comfortable with the lowered hump under the knee..not a deep seat like the Elilte, and not the roomy seat like the XT, but something, well..in between. The speed in the flat is no where as sluggish as the XT..and not the effortless glide of the elite, but rather again, in between. I find it rides the wake surprisingly well..lifts you right up from the tail and puts the nose right smack down and your on….makes for splendid into the wind behind a big strong guy..that was you Austin I was bumping ever so gentle on Sunday…nice pull out to the turn around..thanks.
And the surfing..well all I can say is I forgot to paddle cause I was always on a wave…surfing left and right and then when I wanted to go more…boom, boom 2 strokes and up and over to the next one…with the elite its the same,but sometimes my stoke is interupted by a wiggle in my hips and a little unbalance on the top of the wave. Never, not once did this happen with the Fish…The XT is similar that way, but the Fish glides faster..speedier in the trough so less effort to pick the next go…
Never spun out, never flooded, never shouted a cus word out loud..But to be fair it was pretty mild on Sunday and it gets way bigger and windier and the potato patch is something else..but I can say with confidence that this ski will handle it all for those of us who want the security of a ski we can control….25 years of experience or not..I know what I can handle….and I am lucky to have the Swordfish.