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This is a great boat. You spend a lot of time with Doug learning about what you should want. He takes no prisoners and if you don't want him to make you a boat his way. He is fine with that as well. I have a T-X and do love it. I live in Florida and end up using my S1X alot because of the gators and my worry that I would have a hard time getting back in the boat. Haven't however done an unplanned swim for over 1000 miles now. This boat is way more stable and faster than the S1X. This boat is much better than anything I've tried from Kayak Pro or It however is still tippy and for me hard to manage in more than about 5 MPH winds. I'm 5'6" 144 lbs. Gave it a 9 only because it has blow up air bags instead of bulkheads, and I am still not a fan of the center bar steering system (legs straight makes the boat less stable for me). Interesting is that I only rarely bother to steer. It seems to know which way I want to go even in the wind with small waves. I will probably ask him to make me an EFT since I can only paddle about 5.5 MPH for long distances on flat water anyway.

I have 8 boats but wanted a stable surf ski. My wife wants more room in the garage an imperfect situation. The stellar rep I went to in Florida was a very nice guy and I wanted to like the S18R which he assured me was the same hull as the S18S surf ski. I'm 145 lbs and 5'6". I thought I would like the S18R and as many have said, it is well made. The foot peddles were very hard to adjust and I never did get the two levers to clip properly. Its something you never want to set and never fix. The bad part was how tedious it was, for me, to paddle. I can normally paddle with my wing for several hours at near 6 mph. I was having trouble maintaining even 4.4 mph. Also, I had to hold my elbows high and it was tiring. Instead of my usual 10 miles I quit at 3.6. The rudder bounces a real lot on every floating twig.

I was interested in Timothy Hladky's comments (12-24-05 review), since my experience is the opposite.
First off, both the T-rex and S1-x are at least 9's. But the T-rex is much much more stable (I am a 5 foot 6 inch 145 pound guy). I paddle about 200 miles a year for the past few decades and go out on all kind of water (ocean, waves, lakes, rivers). I have a Wilderness Systems Shenai (another great boat with a 9, about 18'4" and 18" wide) a S1-x, and also a thunderbolt (T-Rex).

The S1-x has got to be the most beautiful, and the Shenai, is very fast for a very stable boat even in 6 foot waves. The T-Rex however is the fastest and much more stable than the S1-x. For me, I cannot use the S1-x when there are even minimal waves unless the water is clean, since I can count on swimming once or twice when I get tired. I can't go full speed and can't use a wing paddle also due to balance and control issues. The T-Rex (west side boat shop) has a seat on the floor and the legs are not bent. This means that the center of gravity is very much lower, and means you can use your legs to help with the paddling. It isn't beautiful but it is amazingly fast and I don't mind when speed boats pass. I have never gone swimming.

T-Rex has the problem that if I were to exit, it would fill with water and be very hard to recover (no bulkheads). Having said that, I have rolled it for practice (you barely need a paddle). The S1-x is very easy to re-enter when you fall off (lucky for me).

This is by far my favorite boat. I have about 12. I got it in 2000 and it has about 2000 mi on it now. It is fast, has only a few cracked areas (and lots of scratches) on the surface over years of abusive treatment. It tolerates beginners in bad waves with ease. Good for large and smaller people.