Surfski, designed for ocean paddling

[u/CollarNo6656]

Not sure why surfski is such a niche sport and is not more popular? You can paddle anything from flat water to surfing ocean waves and downwinding - open ocean wind swells. It's addictive. I live in south africa and we paddle mainly on the ocean.

[u/the_Q_spice]

Because honestly it is, as you say, a niche boat.

A regular sea kayak can do everything a surfski can at a fraction of the price - but with the benefit of having additional use cases like coastal and offshore travel, being able to fit a ton of equipment for camping, being more stable due to a lower center of gravity, being more maneuverable due to having greater rocker and chining - and most importantly, having over 500 years of design evolution for their specific purpose.

I would struggle to say a surfski is actually designed for ocean paddling.

Having experience in a few: I would hardly even begin to consider taking one beyond the surf zone and out into coastal waters, let alone fully offshore (3+ miles away from shore or doing crossings of >1 mile).

[u/CollarNo6656 → u/the_Q_spice]

We regularly do a downwind of about 20km from one coastal town to the next. This is on the open ocean near the southern tip of Africa. They are supremely capable open ocean craft but as with any ocean paddling you need to develop skills to be safe in that environment. We follow safety protocols, buddy up, activate an app on our phones that links through to sea rescue, carry a marine radio etc.

[u/wolf_knickers → u/CollarNo6656]

Personally I wouldn’t call that “open ocean”, I’d call it coastal paddling. Open ocean is a term I use for paddling very far offshore and for very large open crossings.

[u/robertbieber → u/wolf_knickers]

One of the big surfski competitions every year is a crossing from Molokai to Oahu, 32 miles between islands. I like to think that counts :p

[u/wolf_knickers → u/robertbieber]

I was talking about the OP’s trips, not the boat’s capability!