[Paddlewise] Sea Kayaker Reviews [was Another batch of new kayaker questions/comments]

Matt Broze wrote:
>
> >This source of information pales in comparison to the reviews in Sea
Kayaker > >Magazine done by experienced kayakers.

and Wes Boyd wrote:

> You know, I've never seen a truly bad review in Sea Kayaker, either. Oh,
> they manage to find something to be picky about on every boat so that they
> can look critical, but I've never seen a "This boat blows -- don't buy it"
> review. Can't upset the advertisers too much, I guess.

I feel compelled to come to the defense of SK here, just a little bit.  I
think you just have to read between the lines in the SK reviews.  They don't
gratuitously bash boats, it's true -- perhaps they don't bother to review
many of the really bad boats, and the lack of an SK review on file may in
itself say something.  But they do provide lots of good technical data on
the boats they review.  And the use of several paddlers helps a lot,
particularly given that these paddlers have usually paddled many, many
boats, *and* usually seem to have little to gain or lose by their comments
on any given boat.  I also think the designer's comments are very
interesting.  (For example, I seem to recall that the designer of the WS
Sealution commented that this was "an early design in my career" -- hmmmm.)

SK seems to try hard to be fair, and I see no fault in that.  Every boat is
different, and like my Momma used to say, "There's a lid for every pot."  I
do think that if you just picked up one SK and read one review of a boat you
were considering, you might not quite "get it."  I think it takes reading
many reviews, over time, to come to understand how SK is doing this.  The
reviews they publish seem to be to be about as good as any reviews can get.
Then again, they are, after all, a commercial enterprise, with (as Wes
notes) advertisers. . .  That has to have an effect.  But I haven't seen any
better alternatives out there.

Mark


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