Personally it is my impression that European paddlers, with no 'heritage' to portaging (canoes), are just not concerned with weight as much as American paddlers, especially if it means their kayak (or canoe) will stand up to any abuse they can imagine. (In fact a lot of seakayakers that I now seem to feel that a heavy weight kayak is also an advantage for paddling!) Building lightweight is just not the issue here as it is in America with a history from canoeing, where canoes were always(?) more build with an attention to the weight versus strength detail? And knowing & willing to deal with a _relatively_ fragile boat (e.g. Wood&Canvas Canoes)! It is no wonder of course why Royalex is now the more favorite material for canoes then FRP, because it is very strong with reasonable weight, reasonable price, and (with the right design) rigid enough for good performance. If kayaks could/will be made in Royalex, see what happens then! Dirk Barends the Netherlands *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jan 07 2000 - 00:53:40 PST
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