HUKI S1-XL
Newly released in June of 2012

The Huki S1-XL is a Wide Version of the S1-X Special for those paddlers who need a little extra secondary stability in rough water, or need a little extra volume any reason. She is an 18 inch wide modification of the S1-X Special. We added one inch extra 'beam' (width) to create the new more stable design. We added beam beginning at the mid-cockpit and ending at the rudder. We carefully kept nearly all the added volume above the waterline to reduce any effect on speed. The result is a great surfski for intermediate paddlers who need a notch more stability in rough water without any loss of speed, and no measurable loss of speed for intermediate paddlers on glassy water.

I designed the crown of the fore-deck to part and shed water fast. Her low stem on the fore-deck reduces windage. Don't worry about water reaching the deck...it won't stay on it. The high volume fore body has a steep ridge line down the center that peaks 1 foot from the tip of the nose to knock off any water that has pearled over the top. We placed a sharp V bottom in the fore hull to allow pearling water that travels in a downward direction over the deck to come back together smoothly at the bottom of the hull without any turbulence and thus reduce downward drag. I placed the cockpit in the same position as the S1-X Special to maintain the high forward volume and place the body weight nearer to the front in order to goose the nose down whenever pitched on a crest. All of the above design features have enabled many paddlers to try to burry that nose into the back side of tall-steep wind chop swells without diving. Everyone brags about how she can't be pearled long or deep when rushing a wave, and how she keeps her forward momentum to help get over that wave and onto a new face.

The S1-XL carves the faces as well as the S1-X Special, allowing you to surf a diagonal so well you'll giggle as you skim along. Straight down faces, you'll notice she doesn't pearl easily and rises fast when she does. Her rudder will stay in the water, even in the super-steep-stacked tidal stuff. In tall-nasty-slop this is the ski you want to be in. She'll go to weather faster than her competition and will track better as you rock over crests. She is clearly fast in flats as any 17 inch wide surfski.

Our rudders play a big part in the agility of our surfskis. We offer six different thru-hull rudders, and each will change the handling so significantly that you would think it was a different surfski. Interchanging between thru-hull rudders takes 15 seconds and does not require any tools. The S1-XL has the HUKI adjustable response rudder system that is only found on Huki paddle craft and that allows you to adjust how responsive the ski will be to the push of the pedal. The kick-up rudder is a fantastic custom addition to the S1-XL...just request we install the special mount into the tail. It will mount onto the transom with a pull pin, and extension cables will join to the standard cables with the clevis pins that come off the thru-hull rudder's yoke. Conversion from thru-hull rudder to kick-up will take about a minute without need for any tools.

The cockpit is the size and shape as found in the S1-X and S1-X Special, a great fitting and comfortable seat bucket for a wide range of butts and hip bones and a heel plate that also suits a wide range of feet. As a result, slighter framed and large framed people are able to hang their legs over the sides very comfortably on the newly restyled gunwales. Another benefit of the lowered seat rim is the ability to spill excess water if the cockpit gets flooded.

On the S1-XL, you can wear most sandals or booties, and self-bailing foot-well drains come standard. We can install bungees on the fore-deck and aft-deck, in the cockpit, or wherever wanted. We can place stow hatches at both ends of the cockpit, as well as under your knees where you can place your water system, among other things, for easy access while on the water. For those paddlers who need to store large items, we can install much larger hatches than the three sizes seen in our website... Just email jude@huki.com to ask about other hatch options. We can install a variety of custom items like recessed handles, external handles, anchor blocks for mounting lights, cameras, or hook loops. We can also create eye holes through the stem and stern for end ties.

The S1-XL is available in a variety of constructions for paddlers' particular needs. We offer open-ocean racing constructions that are super light and stiff. We have everything from recreational constructions to log-hopper and even rock-hopper constructions for river racers and adventure racers. Finally, we can modify any of our constructions to better suit your desires for lightness, durability and price.

Dimensions:
21' Length Over All, 18" Beam Over A..
20' 9 " Length At Waterline, 16.6" Beam At Waterline @ 200 Lb. paddler, static
Weights include 4" rudder:
22.7 Lb Vac'd Carb/Kev
23.8 Lb Vac'd Carb
25.2 Lb Premium Vac'd Glass
29.8 Lb Std Vac'd Fiberglass
6" & 5" stow w/bag adds .75 Lb.... 4" adds .5 LB.
Printed Fabric inlays add between half a pound and three pounds, depending on size.
Carbon inlays don't add weight.
Other options may add several ounces

Testimonies:

AMEN ! now for some nitty gritty for Jon, for ME , the stability advantage of the XL far outweighs what is for ME a negligible difference in speed compared to the S1-X Special , my ID tells my EGO to put a sock in it and get the XL and PARTY ON ! No I don't have any fancy gps track , I am not a hell bent for leather racer head and my preferred paddling environment is some beauty bump ,wind , and dolphins..... The recessed handle design works really well , the steering ( of both boats) FAR excels the competition , and the shape.... oh la la ! I think Huki has a real winner here (IMHO) and I am going to the quote form next . Got a little bump to play with outside of Dana Point Harbour (guessing 10+kts of wind and 2 ft bump) not huge by any means but surf able and the XL picked these up nicely and was quite well mannered for a demo driver used to a very different style of [surfski] (hard chined [popular brand]). Seat was comfy (only paddled for 70 mins.). With the side by side comparison (XL to Special) well , Special is Svelte , XL is "curvy" in all the right places. XL IMHO is not half way between S1-R and S1-X Special , definitely on the X Special side of the equation. Nicely finished Jude , now....is huki pre-pegging these lovelies ?????? Inquiring minds (and potential consumers) want to know !
Sandy Giltinan