[Paddlewise] Paddlefests

Hi all -

Wow!  This has been the best weekend/week.  Sunday I went to the Seattle
Paddlefest and tried out some boats and tonight I got to try out some more
through our local Parks & Rec's Intro to Kayaking class.

Mmm, mmm, mmm tonight I tried an Eddyline Merlin XT.  My, oh, my what a nice
boat - and pretty.  As I was driving home I was thinking about how important
you all say it is to actually sit in the boats.  Then I found myself
thinking, "gee, if I start narrowing down what I like I'll want to continue
to try them which means I won't be owning one..."   Well, you can see where
this thinking is going.  I want it now!

So, I find myself reading the posts about racks -which one do people like
best.  And thinking, "I better get on the stick about getting a rack because
the closer I get to owning a boat I'm going to have to get it home."

Now I'm going to sit down with all the posts I've printed out about which
boats short people like and start really looking at them since I've had a
chance to paddle some of them.  Oh, the Shadow was nice too.

I paddled a:

Romany (I'm not sure if it's a model or a brand name - that's the only name
I saw on the boat) - another nice boat
Shadow - liked this one, too
Looksha IVS - very tippy
Dagger - Seeker (couldn't keep it straight)
a biadarka (double)  (The president of the local club made a single and a
double)
a sit-on-top just for the heck of it
another Eddyline (don't remember the model)
Seems there were a couple others.

Tippy makes me think of  what one of the kayak people in class said.  He
thought it would be better to get a boat that scared (my word) you a little
because it wouldn't be any time at all before you become better at paddling
and would want an upgrade.  I'd never heard that said before.  I'm
cogitating on this.  If you have an opinion let me have it.  :)

What a great day!

Janet







***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************