Way cool!
These are the conditions the Taran will excell in (flat water too, of course). The overstern rudder, unfortunately, comes out of the water way too often, even with the large smooth swells in the first video above - not a problem to paddle down the faces or to maintain a steady progress in any direction. But compared to an understern rudder I know how frustrating it is to chase a wave aggressively at a bit of an angle to its face and the broach before even starting to surf it… No such problem with understern rudders of appropriate size -
Nice video’s!
– Last Updated: Oct-18-11 5:37 PM EST –
This thread got me to thinking! Toying with the idea of taking off the top of my Mako XT, build a mold and lay FG on it to fit within the area I cut out. Complete with hatches, cockpit to give it a look similar to the Taran, but a foot longer and a bit narrower and an understern rudder. A decked surf ski!
Hmmmmm, I may go ahead and do it!
Andy
Taran broaching…
Kocho/Mihail;
According to Rockpool and Mark Sundin - broaching wasn’t all that much of an issue on the Taran with the rudder out. That first video posted on this thread - it was done with the rudder “up”…no evidence of a broach if you go back and watch it.
Whereas the Rapier(s) and surfskis are useless without a rudder - the Taran maintains enough directional control without it to maintain a heading in most conditions. I (as you know) have had both Rapiers now - and know how “rudder dependent” they are…not to mention how the ski paddlers in my area fear rudder breaks/loss on their skis while offshore.
I am hopeful this is a boat I can live and grow with…as I heard from Mike Webb yesterday - I should have it in less than 3 weeks as it is in production now. It is being flown into the states from the UK, so I will have Christmas in November…YES!!
Can’t wait to see what you think of it
once you get it. I’d be curious to see how you feel it compares to the Rapier or an 18x… Hope it arrives in good order! Yes, the Rapier 18 (have not paddled the 20) was very rudder dependent. And yes, I’m spoiled by the surf rudder on my Epic V10 Sport in steeper wind-driven waves compared to the overstern on the Rapier or the small weedless on the ski -
EK Taran Video
Gday folks, Mark Sundin here, the maker of the video that seems to have got the armchair gurus in a knot.
The plodder in the V10S was me, and the reason I was plodding in comparison to my mate Rob in the Taran was because the water was quite multidirectional, and unlike Rob I wasn’t able to floor it the way he could.
This is what makes the Taran special in big downwind, it’s so reassuring that you never back off and blast away at everything. I’m no mug in my ski but I still hesitate from time to time in that stuff. On flat water or unidirectional seas it’s no contest, the ski wins, but then you can’t carry 3 weeks gear on a ski.
I did a 400km trip last year where we spent the majority more than 80km offshore in big seas and winds in the Taran, and also paddled a downwind 117km day earlier this year in the Epic 18X so I know both boats pretty well in regards their pointy end performance.
Hope that clears up the plodder reference, love seeing the reaction to these innocent jibes, this time self inflicted.
Mark.
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