At 08:57 AM 1/8/02 -0500, Marinell wrote: > > > > Have you paddled Sandy's Seda Gypsy, Marinell? If so, what did you think > > of it? > > >Yes, I tried the Seda Gypsy. In technical terms, it felt like a "tin can". >The Current Designs Pachena DT felt like a better made boat (also more >expensive). I wonder if that "tin can" assessment has to do with primarily paddling plastic boats in the past. I don't recall it as being especially poorly made. I was asking because I was trying to get a sense of what kind of boat would be good for you in terms of initial stability. The Gypsy is a very stable boat compared to many touring kayaks and I'm just wondering of the Viking will feel really unstable for you. Just a bit of advice; if you get in the Viking or something else and it feels pretty unstable, just try to relax and get used to it. It might take 20 minutes to a couple of hours in it to start feeling more comfortable. Be prepared to get wet when you demo any boats. Even if you do capsize don't consider it an automatic dismissal of that particular model. It might just take a little longer to get used to the boat, but considering how long it might last, and that you have other boats to paddle, try to put the learning curve into perspective. Something else you might consider doing is take an intermediate level class that covers edging and bracing. It's hard to evaluate the secondary stability of a kayak and fully appreciate some of the models you might try unless you're comfortable edging the boat aggressively. >I am not going to feel the subtle differences between boats like many of you >do. I think that that comes with experience with the individual boats. >Now, I see why many of you keep buying and selling kayaks. Before trying >the Viking, my only concern is that it is not a familiar brand, so I may >have trouble selling it. While Kajak Sport is a relatively new vendor (though their hatch covers have been around for awhile) they seem to be getting a good reputation fairly quickly. I don't think you'd have trouble selling a Viking in a few years (assuming you'd even want to). *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Jan 08 2002 - 06:55:29 PST
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