I’m done. Not spending another penny on a surfski without a built-in side handle. Is Think Evo my only choice in the V10Sport, Swordfish/XT, SEI/SR area? I have Sport, SF and XT and love them all- kind of. At yesterday’s Chattajack race, I am thoroughly exhausted after 5 hours and 31 miles, then I have to carry my ski (red tip sport) a long ways, including up stairs with metal railings and poles everywhere, in the rain and considerable wind,
and I’m banging the boat on every freaking obstacle around. If I were rested, boat was dry and not slippery, no bulky PFD, no paddle, no bag of plastic drink bottles (31 miles...), I could manhandle the ski, even in wind with obstacles everywhere. With solid built-in side handle, I think I could carry and keep ski straight with one hand, leaving my other hand for anything else with no risk of dropping. Any reason to think this is not the case? When I put ski under my arm, the Sport is a little too wide and with pfd, there is really not enough room under arm, plus a wet boat can easily slip and drop to ground in wind. At Gorge, where it is windy, I watched hundreds of ski exit water, and almost everyone throwing ski on shoulder had some left/right sway from wind (3-4 feet, but sometimes spun totally sideways). Since no side obstacles to hit (other than other people), no big deal at Gorge, or beach.... The few guys carrying ski low with solid handle did not seem to sway and just looked safer with less effort Am I giving too much value to side handle (“grass is greener...”)? Thank you.
and I’m banging the boat on every freaking obstacle around. If I were rested, boat was dry and not slippery, no bulky PFD, no paddle, no bag of plastic drink bottles (31 miles...), I could manhandle the ski, even in wind with obstacles everywhere. With solid built-in side handle, I think I could carry and keep ski straight with one hand, leaving my other hand for anything else with no risk of dropping. Any reason to think this is not the case? When I put ski under my arm, the Sport is a little too wide and with pfd, there is really not enough room under arm, plus a wet boat can easily slip and drop to ground in wind. At Gorge, where it is windy, I watched hundreds of ski exit water, and almost everyone throwing ski on shoulder had some left/right sway from wind (3-4 feet, but sometimes spun totally sideways). Since no side obstacles to hit (other than other people), no big deal at Gorge, or beach.... The few guys carrying ski low with solid handle did not seem to sway and just looked safer with less effort Am I giving too much value to side handle (“grass is greener...”)? Thank you.