>> You may want to give some thought to purchasing and older white water >> boat in lieu of the less capable recreational kayak. The WW boat will do >> nearly everything better for less or similar cost and it will be >> significantly more fun when you start to learn about boat handling. OK, I'm a relative newbie to all this so all appropriate disclaimers up front. Having said that, I'd like to question the "less capable" statement. Given that a skilled paddler could probably roll a bathtub, what exactly does "less capable" refer to? In my observation demo'ing boats, I saw that I could edge an arcadia [insert generic rec boat name here] to the coaming without much more difficulty than my eclipse or the Looksha I tried. I have no doubts that an arcadia could be rolled. It could also be turned in place or just about any other kayak maneuver I've ever heard of. The store I bought my kayak in told of a guy that used a Khatsalano for class 4+ rapids. I'm not trying to be difficult here. I understand that this is all a question of degree and that skill can overcome a lot of obstacles. But in the end, if a rec boat makes a new paddler feel more comfortable, does it really matter? I've also been studying the issue of "kayak speed" recently. My end conclusion is that in the hands of 2 olympic paddlers, one might observe hull speed differences between most common kayaks. But for the vast majority of the rest of us, I have my suspicions that this is also mythical. I keep studying the drag coefficients that Sea Kayaker mag publishes hoping to understand this better, but it seems like the differences to anyone less than a world class paddler are nominal at best. I'm especially dubious when I hear someone say, "I just started paddling and chose my xxxx boat because it was so much faster than yyyy". Seems more like brochure text than actual fact. I know that we're all obsessed with our love and like to endlessly split hairs regarding the characteristics of various boats -- especially the worthiness of our own boat (and I'm no exception -- my eclipse is the best boat ever constructed and don't you forget it!). When I was shopping and agonizing endlessly about such details, someone on usenet gave me the best advice I'd heard from anyone -- "Buy the boat you like." Any boat that tugs your heart will also [subjectively at least] paddle faster, turn sharper, and perform better than any boat which does not. Kind of like your car going faster when you wash the windshield -- reduces drag don't you know. Jeff (possibly totally ignorant newbie). *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Dec 22 2000 - 09:43:16 PST
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