When I say it's not tremendously fast I'm comparing it to brand new skis. The siege is plenty fast as it was based off the mapple (the ski Andy Mapple originally set the
1@43 off world record on) but they softened the flex to make it a little more forgiving. In all honesty the only downside to it is the narrow shape makes it a little harder to deep water start on.
Pretty much any modern ski is going to be a vast improvement over what he was on and the Siege would smoke what he is on. Is he course skiing or just free skiing?