Oscar Chalupsky, co-owner of epic kayaks, told me that if I loved the epic wing blade I used for my sea kayaking trips then I must try the matching boat: the epic 18x sea kayak.
How could I resist the loquacious world champion? Especially when he was willing to throw in some private lessons on a the nuances of the forward stroke. Oscar was born and raised in Durban, South Africa — home to the raucous Indian Ocean — and he’s considered the best big water paddler in that paddling mad country world.
I love going fast and I love rough water so I was eager to learn as much as I could from this big, bold ocean expert. Though we inhabit different niches in the kayaking world, Oscar has spent the last 30 years obsessing about training, technique and boat building.
I liked his can-do attitude. He reminded me of, well, me! Both of us also love to have fun so, bingo, it was a good match!
Within the first 10 seconds of my lesson, Oscar told me my stroke had more than a few problems — only he was a bit less diplomatic. "You must use your legs more," he said. Unlike more conventional sea kayaks, the epic 18 allows you to put your knees together. This allows you to drive with your legs and use far more body rotation. In other words, more speed for less effort.
The cruel side to this lesson was Oscar forbid me to use a spraydeck on this chilly day. He said he wanted to make sure I was using my legs properly but, well, his careful inspection was good motivation to keep my knees together :-))
While I quickly saw that he was correct, it took a while to change old habits — after all whenever I’d paddled in rough water I had my legs spread wide and my knees locked under the cockpit rim — a position that severely restricted how far I could rotate. If the water was calm I’d have my legs more or less straight on the bottom of the kayak, primarily because the key hole cockpit didn’t allow me to lift them up enough.
Furthermore, I’d used a kayak without a rudder, which meant I was edging and using my paddle for directional control. Fun, no doubt, but not efficient in the speed department. Putting it all together — new technique, new boat with rudder — was a bit tricky in the beginning. But this modified racing style felt great. (And I saw that if I needed to roll I could lock my knees under the rim in the epic 18.)
Pictures by Alex Craven, Hamburg
Afterwards I took a demo epic 18x performance kayak home to log some more water time. If I’m happy with it I’ll get my own…only I’ll have to get a spiffy ultra light black carbon version. No doubt about that…
Picture by Paul Caffyn, New Zealand
After losing my Epic wing paddle during my circumnavigation of NZ I figured I’d tie myself to this precious paddle so that I’d not lose it again!
Picture by Paul Caffyn, New Zealand
2 comments on “The epic story continues…”
Sounds great,going even faster.
Freya, I will look forward to your comments about the Epic 18! I own a QCC 600X which has a similar hull shape to the Epic boats, and about the same length as the Epic 16. I find it fast and a great touring boat capable of stowing lots of gear. Enjoy your ‘new’ boat!
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