Matt, that was my experience. The 18s is lighter and longer adding to the speed. That said most of my training is and was in the 18s so familiarity likely added to the speed difference. Your results may vary.

The speed difference you claim between the V7: 5.8/6.0 mph, and 18s: 6.3/6.4 mph is huge for "beginner" level skis. That's a 10% difference. You really feel you would lose 6 minutes every hour on the V7?

G'day mate,just a few questions,I'm in Australia so I have no idea where your talking about so what sort of racing are you doin?I race a v10L elite,sum are flat water river races,most are ocean downwind,I just couldn't imagine racing a v7.pretty slow incompatibility to any of the elite skis,I'm not being a dick,just trying to figure out where the v7 fits in..why don't you use a k1.i have a few,and I keep and older k1 for stuff where these rocks or debrey in the water,didn't matter if I scratch it up.tell me,why the v7?and I love epics,don't get me wrong