I mentioned this once before but only in passing. Chris Cunningham of Sea Kayaker Magazine talks about shorter sea kayaks in a recent newsletter posting (http://www.seakayakermag.com/2009/09e-newsletters/july/sizingup.htm). It's a trend that was arguably started by the Mariner Coaster which, at only 13'6" long, has still gained a reputation as a boat that can be used for camping as well as performing well as a playboat. Coasters figure prominently as a favored ride of some Tsunami Rangers; a fact that does nothing to diminish their status. White water kayaks have undergone a huge change in size over the past decade; moving from 12-foot long river-runners down to playboats under 7-feet long. It's quite likely that sea kayaks will do something similar as more people begin to play in the surf and rock gardens or just want something more nimble than their 17-foot cruising boat. And as manufacturers look around for a way to sell boats to paddlers who already have a kayak. Until recently kayaks less than about 15' in length were marketed to "petite paddlers" and had cramped cockpits. I'm not arguing against that, mind you, but I believe that there's no reason why a kayak with a volume of 90-gallons can't hold a fully grown man (that is the volume of the Dagger RPM Max - rated to a paddler of 230lbs, by the way). Back in the days when I was looking for a Mariner Express I found several being sold by owners who also had Mariner Coasters and who said that they only really needed one kayak and the Coaster was the one they used the most. I know that my Coaster was the most popular kayak for 7-year-old Hailey who, if asked which of my kayaks was *her* kayak, would point to the Coaster without hesitation. My wife liked it too. They liked the rock solid stability, the tracking, but also the way the little boat could be pivoted around quickly. Hailey, in fact, learned to edge in the Coaster and I watched her lean it at an alarming (to me) angle. I was sure she'd capsize it but she just was adjusting her heading on a windy day. But the only way you're going to get a Coaster now is to either buy someone's ride or go build one in SOF (like Brian Schulz did). Cunningham points out that smaller performance sea kayaks might be forming a trend now. I would have expected former w/w paddlers to gravitate towards these smaller boats but that's not always the case. Several w/w paddlers take Brit Boats with them for their salt water play. So I'm curious too. We have a lot of ol' guys here on Paddlewise but I'm especially interested in the views of younger paddlers who may straddle both sides of the sport (w/w and s/k). Are you looking at adding a shorter s/k to your collection? Do you take a plastic w/w boat for rock garden play when you'd really like some manufacturer to come up with something a bit more appropriate? Is anyone looking at moving from a Brit boat to something like a Coaster or something like Eddyline's new Journey? Did anyone notice the recent ad by Necky which featured a track out of La Push and around James Island? Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Jul 22 2009 - 09:33:04 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:37 PDT