RE: [Paddlewise] P&H Sirius

 At 05:08 PM 9/15/98 -0400, Tom Dittrich wrote:
>I'm in the market for a fiberglass, hard-chined kayak, and am looking at
>the P&H Sirius.  I'll be able to demo one in a couple weeks, but am very
>interested in hearing from current and past owners.


I picked up my new Sirius last Friday. I took it out into some of the
wildest surf I've ever been in last Saturday, and it performed very well. I
was especially impressed with how it sliced through the breaking waves.
Most boats that I've paddled try to both slice and ride over waves, and
usually dont end up doing either very well. The Sirius sliced them
effortlessly. It does give a wet ride because of that (although the low
volume deck is lower too), but that doesnt bother me since I'm going to get
wet in surf anyway. It doesnt maneuver as well as my Romany did, but the
difference is small and made up for by its other characteristics. I didnt
get to do much real "surfing" because the waves were so wild that they
caused almost instant broaching, but it handled that very well. It seemed
to blow downwind a bit (the bow) during stronger gusts, but the seat is
adjustable and moving it might correct that.

I bought the low volume version, and if you have big feet you'd probably be
better off with a larger model. I have size 7 1/2 feet and they fit
comfortably, but  My friend (who also bought a new medium volume and now
has two) said it was too small for his feet. It has enough room for
tripping if you are a light traveller, but if you like to bring a lot of
gear you might want a larger model (the low volume is rated at 210 lbs
including gear and paddler). Since most of my paddling is day trips,
surfplay and overnight trips, the low volume will work great for me, for now.

I paddled it briefly in relatively flat water, and was very happy with its
performance again. It tracks very well, and when the side wind picked up a
small amount of skeg corrected for that easily, although I realize that
using it is a sign of my failure as A Compleat Paddler. I say "so what" and
my wimpy RSI wrists and shoulders were happy I did. I didnt even feel tippy
in it at all, as a matter of fact it feels more stable in bigger waves.
Anyway, I love it so far, let me know if you have any more questions. BTW,
my friend who bought his second one (medium volume) will probably be
selling one of them in the next few months. 

Overall, I think the construction quality is better than my Romany too.
Perfect gelcoat, no dings or bubbles, plenty of clearance for the skirt,
DRY hatches, and of course that wonderful P&H skeg. I dont care for the
pinholes in the bulkheads (to equalize pressure), but thats easily fixed.

I was hoping to get more experience paddling it on flatwater tomorrow, but
it looks like some more 5-8 footers are heading down the chute. Rats. ;-) 

Wayne
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