…continued from yesterday’s post: what makes this kayak different than the old longer whitewater kayaks and most newer crossover kayaks is that the paddler sits significantly back from center and the volume of the kayak below the water line is pushed back as well to keep things balanced on the water. This is shaping acts like fletches on an arrow, providing a bit more natural directional stability than a symmetrical design. Even with this effect, the kayak needs to be actively paddled to hold a straight course but it’s not quite so fussy as an old style white water kayak.
Above the water line, the bow section is as fat as I can possibly make it for maximum buoyancy. This combined with the aft paddler position, the mass of a camping load, and the speed you can achieve in a 14 foot kayak makes the bow more likely to climb over beefy hydraulics rather than plugging in for a little quality time in the spin cycle.
I haven’t had the chance to surf it loaded but I’m extremely impressed by how stable it is front surfing while empty. Because of the spinal injury, I can’t do much testing but the little bit that I did do last summer it felt like I was using half as many control strokes as I would surfing a much shorter playboat. I would LOVE to try this on the giant tongue waves of the Grand Canyon where the water is so fast that there’s just no way to catch them in a normal white water boat, even a long one.
As far as gear storage goes this kayak is designed to be packed. I literally built the boat around the gear bags that I prefer so you can pack it easily. Just fill the bags, lift up the backband and pull back the foot braces and shove the bags in and then inflate the remaining space to lock them in. I’m pretty proud of this system, because without it camping out of skin on frame is not much fun.
As with any design, there are definitely compromises and downsides, I don’t have enough characters left to go into the specifics, but I did make a super detailed video about this on our YouTube channel a couple years ago so you can check that out if you’re interested. There’s also some more great whitewater footage there as well.
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