The first customer to take delivery of one of the new Itiwit’s posted this extensive review of it on Facebook, for anyone curious about the boat:
First impressions of the 500 race kayak owned by Joseph Koh in Singapore (first buyer worldwide)
Short version:
A fairly quick workout kayak for calm lakes or flat water close to shore for those with limited storage/time. Much faster than the Itiwit x500, as you would expect, but it’s not a surfski by any stretch of the imagination
Long version:
Paddler profile (me)
Experienced sea kayaker (mostly folding kayaks between 4.2 and 5.5 m long and 50.5 and 58 cm wide). I have also had a KxOne 17 arrow inflatable surfski and have paddled a Nelo 510 surfski and the Itiwit x500 v1.
63 years old, 174 cm tall corner, short legs, and a puny 64 kg
Intermediate wing paddler (Zastera Z1 small wing paddle)
Edit: NB: at the time of this test, my fitness was low, due to an enforced 10 week break
Conditions: almost flat coastal water with around 10-15 km/hr wind and 3 km/hr tidal current
Speed measured with Garmin gps wristwatch
Assembly/fit/etc
I wasn’t there for the initial inflation, but Joseph said it took only a bit more than five minutes, not counting the rudder assembly – much quicker than inflating his 18 psi SUP
With three chambers, it’s a much safer kayak than my KX One 17 Arrow was, and hopefully much better built – the main chamber on my KxOne 17 ruptured at a seam, causing the boat to sink
While the seat is not adjustable, the foot rest is, so even short people should be okay in this kayak
The seat is slightly raised, but doesn’t give much support for your buttocks
The footrest seemed fairly solid, and the hull seemed to be pretty stiff
Build quality of the hull seemed good. Although the cockpit sides are fairly thin, they could easily take the weight of me resting on my hands without flexing. Rather unusually, the side walls forward of the cockpit slope inwards towards the deck and not outwards.
Joseph said it is easier to carry than his SUP.
Stability
Much more stable than we thought it would be. Joseph has limited experience, but had no trouble staying upright in it once he was moving. He gave it a 7 out of 10 for stability on flat water, but it is of course noticeably less stable than the Itiwit x500 v1.
Getting in and out of it was also fairly straightforward, but it’s not as easy to straddle as a surfski or sea kayak because of the high sides.
The underwater profile is a fairly shallow vee, and just like a single hard chine sea kayak of similar dimensions, it wants to flop to either one side or the other a bit, unlike a round bottomed surf ski. Not an issue at all, but i’s a bit harder to balance perfectly than a sea kayak with a similar underwater profile, partly because the cockpit is quite large and there are of course no thigh braces.
Perhaps because of the relatively high seat and the limited contact points in the wide cockpit, you don’t feel that well connected to the kayak, and it felt noticeably less stable than the Nelo 510 that I was trying at the same time and for the first time (an entry level surfski; 5.1m x 55cm, 22 kg).
While primary stability is good, once it gets to a certain point it suddenly wants to tip over quite quickly, unlike the Nelo 510, which has good secondary stability (similar to a sea kayak of a similar width).
It’s definitely not suitable for stretches of unprotected water but it’s a lot more stable than the KxOne 17 Arrow was, even when that was only inflated to 7 psi and had thigh straps fitted.
Despite the very high bow, it seemed fairly unaffected by side winds, perhaps because of the skeg-like protrusion built into the bow underside
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to practice self rescue techniques (we were paddling very close to the shore)
Speed
I could get up to 9 km an hour in the same conditions in which the Nelo 510 was easily able to achieve 10 to 11 km an hour (12+km/h on the KxOne 17)
It felt noticeably more sluggish to accelerate than the Nelo, perhaps due to the less efficient hull shape – there is a noticeable bow wave where the built-in front skeg is, and also some turbulence at the stern of the kayak where the drain plug is. My impression is that due to the wetted surface area and the turbulence, it’s also a bit more work to paddle at 8 km an hour than one of my shorter folding kayaks.
It didn’t seem able to catch the same very small waves that the Nelo was able to surf
Paddling efficiency is limited a bit by the high bow and high sides, even compared to a sea kayak, not to mention a surf ski. This makes it quite difficult to get an effective narrow catch with a wing paddle, but it does mean that very little water gets into the open cockpit.
Manoeuvrability
It tracks well with limited need for corrections to keep on course.
It could be how we set up the rudder, but the rudder didn’t seem to have that much bite (better than those puny K1 rudders though), so while the rudder does work, it doesn’t turn on a dime, unlike the Nelo
I know I’ve forgotten some of the other points I was going to make, so feel free to ask any questions you might have.
Pics show the underwater hull profile and Joseph holding his kayak![😊](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t1e/2/16/1f60a.png)
![](https://scontent.fagc1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/363421158_10160210332363110_390927039275296354_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg_p960x960&_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=Htmprxb9tbUAX9WqMfN&_nc_ht=scontent.fagc1-2.fna&oh=00_AfA6q2abmGz1Qcd6s8SUCFD92PpdnPfWkBszlhik0Q5nVQ&oe=64D8920D)