On Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:48:25 -0700 John Lull <wavestalker_at_coastside.net> writes: > >Yes, the Sportee is a nice boat in the short sea kayak catagory (in >fiberglass-forget the plastic one); too bad the cockpit is so large, >though. The other short sea kayak of reasonable quality is the Necky >Looksha Sport, but the stern is relatively high volume and there is a >relatively high rocker for a sea kayak. So the boat tends to >weathervane. Now we've talked about all the short sea kayaks I know >of. If I listed all the 17 to 18 foot long sea kayaks, you'd spend 3 >hours reading this e-mail. I've got nothing against the longer boats >(I even own one); but I doubt that most kayakers realize the potential >of the shorter boats. Then again, I guess there aren't too many ocean >rock garden paddlers out there. > >John Lull I paddle a short sea kayak. I have a Baldwin Downriver K-1 outfitted with deck lines and a rudder. The boat is 13 feet, 2 inches long with a 24 inch beam. It is kevlar without gelcoat and weighs under 25 pounds with floatation bags. The boat has little rocker, tracks well and is very resistant to weather cocking. These days, I only use the rudder when paddling through a concrete culvert from my favorite launch site for access to a tidal creek, as I did this morning. It is a low volume boat and sometimes a very wet ride. I bought this boat while living in Rhode Island and used it exclusively in Narragansett Bay. Under those conditions it was very well behaved except in following seas where it was a constant struggle to surf down the wave front and not broach. Since moving to Virginia two years ago, I paddle tidal creeks and rivers and the length is ideal for some of the twisted creeks that I paddle. I've been lurking on this list for several months and enjoy it. I'm 60 years old and paddle a couple times a week, for exercise and mental relaxation. Richard Wilson ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Oct 12 1998 - 16:31:37 PDT
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