Dear Fellow Kayakers: Since I opened this can of worms, I feel an obligation to close it... I can't thank you all enough for contributing so materially to my kayak education, both on and off the list.. I realized that this was a bit of a controversial issue, but I did not think it would generate as much heat as it did. But this is a good thing. I am sure I am not the only novice to have profitted from the airing of what for many is well-travelled ground. I would like to summarize some of the points, and then share with you how I intend to proceed. First, Jed and Dave are right about generalizations and the learning process. As you can tell from my sig I'm in academia. Generalization is indeed a learning tool. It is a form of abstraction. As long as one knows that generalizations are not always entirely accurate, it is a great way to learn. See how much I've learned already by being corrected? I was wrong to generalize about British and American boats. There has apparently been enough design cross-fertilization that this distinction now holds little water. I think, for example, that at least one CD boat was co-designed with Derek Hutchinson; there are probably others. So, while I think we can speak of a __tradition__ of design in British boats, this distinction no longer applies. Also, from the Sea Kayaker reviews, I think that Matt's boats certainly can be described as high performance. (BTW, Matt, I'm coming to Seattle and can't wait to try some of your boats...) We also need to look at one factor other than performance, already mentioned by a few contributors, like Wes Boyd. Many feel that these boats are simply cool, and have a certain mystique about them. This probably comes from the fact that the British, if I'm not mistaken, were the first to design modern kayaks. It's that je ne sais quoi... Remember the Triumph? The MG? In British Racing Green (like the Romany Explorer I've been paddling)? My solution is -- duh -- to simply try a lot of boats. I think a lot of Matt's confidence in his opinions comes from his huge amount of experience paddling boats and designing so many boats; I respect him for that. So, I really want to try some of those Mariner Kayaks (which have their own mystique, at least for me). I think I will also try some of the CD Kayaks, particularly the Caribou S and the Gulfstream. And of course, all those VCP Kayaks. Can anyone think of something more fun than that? And isn't fun what this is all about? Thanks again. Can closed (until someone else opens it again, that is...) Josh (Whose rolling lessons went pretty well, although he still does not have it down entirely. His back is also bruised from the coaming of the Romany Explorer though...) ============================================================================== Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum, Research Fellow Tel: [972] 3-640-6448 Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and Fax: [972] 3-641-5802 African Studies Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978 Israel E-mail:teitelba_at_ccsg.tau.ac.il www.dayan.org ============================================================================== *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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