The Reflex Fast, Radical and Short…a major step in the design revolution of surf kayaking….

I’ve been looking for some time for a kayak that has the performance of the Fury, but the Take-off speed of something like the Prowler. For competition surfing and fast flat water speed is a definite advantage and for dropping into steep take-offs you need to be up and planning quick. The Reflex is the closest thing to this I have surfed…

…aptly named, as the 1 st time I took the boat out I was blown away by the responsiveness. I definitely had to speed up my thinking about manoeuvres.

This is the most ski-like kayak I have paddled and although slightly shorter than the Fury, has many advantages. The extra volume seems to play a critical role in the advanced performance, enabling the surfer to sit further back which means all the turning is coming from the back rails. Bottom turns are really snappy and the boat holds the speed up the face really well. The thicker rails keep the boat sitting high in the water, which means that the boat planes quickly and holds it speed during the most critical points of manoeuvres. Yesterday I was out near Newcastle on a small but punchy beach break and was putting my bottom turn in right below the pocket, coming almost straight up the face and throwing a big slash in the most critical section of the lip. The boat held speed all the way through without stalling on the top, so I could drop straight back into the pocket and continue riding…awesome feeling!

Although extremely edgy, the boat is remarkably stable on steep walls and barrels. This is probably because of the sitting position again, being further back, keeps the nose and front rails up slightly. With slightly more nose rocker than the Fury, the Reflex also out-performs on floaters and when hitting the lip slightly late. By lifting the nose up over and white, you can maintain speed and regain the next section much easier.

So what price do you pay for performance?... The kayak is comfortable, with a similar sitting position to the Fury, so that’s not an issue. With the seat slightly raised and the extra volume in the back deck, the kayak is more difficult to roll and much harder to duck-dive through waves. With the faster flat water speed, getting out back is a little easier in most conditions and the hump does help to get over steep ‘lumps’ without loosing much speed.

The Reflex is a great step in the evolution of the sport and is going to enable top paddlers to push even more radical moves… watch this space!