Well "we" (Ed and Mariola and myself) finally got a production Black Swan made in time for the recent World Surf Kayak Championships in Nags Head, NC (October, 2011). The boat is 7'5" and about 24 1/4" wide at the hip. Features very minimal tail rocker with hard chines in the stern. Recessed cockpit. Hull design is basically a bonzer hull with spiral vee and double concave with additional e-wings. Five fin boxes for ultimate flexibility in fin setup. Had some good input from Tim Stafford in the UK with respect to the hull design.
Very preliminary impressions from myself and other more talented paddlers (Jorge Anchorena, Anthony Bell, Barry Jones, Jared Licht) at the worlds: Boat requires very little fin due to the rail design. I had it set up originally with way too much fin and I was down to one 3" center fin by the end of the week. Seating position is critical in allowing the tail to release due to the minimalist tail rocker and large stern volume pod. I was continually moving the seat forward with each session. Still need many more days in the water and many more paddlers to try the boat. Particularly now that the seating position and fin setup has been worked out to some degree. The boat is very comfortable and lots of volume to accommodate any sized paddler.
Carbon-Inegra Layer in the Hull with BlackBurst Edges
Recessed cockpit in the front with drainage facilitated in the rear.
Color-shift micro flake and black splatter graphics
Vee and Bonzer hull
E-wings and bonzer channels
We will keep tweaking things with rider feedback and post an update in the future. There is now a demo in Southern Ontario for any great lakes paddlers to try. Just contact MurkyWater (ed@murkywaterkayak.com) to arrange a demo time.
