Per Dave E:
There are times when I would like the convenience of a smaller craft when on
my own and have considered a surf ski (otherwise known as a wave ski here in
Oz) for training. I guess my thoughts were to have something which would
fit inside my sedan on the folded front passenger seat, limiting it to about
7 to 8 feet.

Surf Ski Wave Ski.

Surf skis are long and thin with displacement hulls.

Wave skis are short and fat with planing hulls.

For inside your car, you're definitely talking "Wave Ski" unless you have a
really big car or van and then you might look at the 10' version of Hunt
Johnson's WaveWitch.

Some have commented that a short surf-ski will be a real pain on flat water
as it will rotate too much under paddling torque. It has been some time
since I paddled a surf-ski but will give one a go shortly.

I've got the 12' Wave Witch - which is basically a big wave ski with a rudder -
something between a surf ski and a wave ski, but biased towards a wave ski.

Rotation isn't an issue. Hull speed is the issue. The diff between an
honest cruising effort and a flat-out sprint is 4.8 mph vs 5.6 mph. That .8
mph just doesn't satisfy in terms of rewarding more effort with a feeling of
acceleration and more speed.

I've been doing my exercise paddling on the Wave Witch since early spring and
will be going back to a surf ski for that function as soon as I can verify that
some particular make/model actually fits me by paddling it and doing a few
remounts.

I haven't paddled a wave ski yet (got one on order though). Ping me in late Feb.
But I expect it to have significantly less glide than the Wave Witch.

Bottom line for me: the WaveWitch doesn't cut it for glide/speed when paddling
for exercise and I wouldn't expect a wave ski to either. OTOH either of the two
surf skis I've owned did.

My personal agenda:
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- Surf Ski for training and distance paddling
- Wave ski for the waves.
- Wave Witch when I only want to carry one craft and
could go either way wherever I plan to paddle
that day.
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PeteCresswell