Kayak for rough waters

Correction appreciated
Thanks carldelo … I’m far from knowledgeable on boat attributes, so your explanation is helpful.



I’ve always thought that, in general, longer boats were faster due, in part, to glide. However there are a lot of variables beyond just hull length, and beyond my knowledge base as well. Glide is more a factor of resistance that simply length.



Relative to the OP’s stated requirements, speed being one, and the boat list, one way to refine the list regarding speed would be that the longer boats mentioned have that attribute … or at least potential.








Test paddle as many boats as you can
Since your profile says you’re in Cape Cod take a ride up to Billington Sea kayaks in Plymouth and test paddle a Surge. You don’t mention your size or weight, the Surge has a small cockpit, kevlar, 38 pounds - 17’7", no rudder or skeg but I’ve paddled mine in some really nasty water and never felt the boat was going to let me down.



http://billingtonseakayak.com/SurgeKayak.html

hm

– Last Updated: Oct-13-10 5:18 PM EST –

The avocet RM is a very nice rough weather kayak. I love the tempest 165 in rough seas and wind. The pintail?..not a beginner boat i guess..its important that the kayak is easy to manouver in strong wind and waves. The tempest is very good in this. Id take an avocet or tempest 165..The Romany is a pretty obvious choice too. I think plastic is an advantage for rough stuff. Landings can be somewhat brutal..

Glide is about tracking straight
My 17 ft plus Explorer has less glide than my sub-16 ft Vela on the lesser swells that we mostly actually paddle in, because the latter is quite bow-tight and the first has a very loose bow. On bigger waves, the Explorer has much more glide because the length seems to help it dig in more.



There are sooo many variables in a hull design - just one of them doesn’t tell the story.

rough water boat
valley aquanaut. for all of the above reasons.

My ‘go to’ boat
I own 4 sea kayaks. Each of them a very good boat. However, if I am to be paddling a broad array of conditions and distances the Aquanaut is my choice. Before I owned my Romany or Nordlow, I used my Aquanaut for everything. It remains my ‘go to’ boat.

Consider the Epic 18X
It was good enough for Freya to circumnavigate Australia and I have had it in 45 mph wind gusts on the Chesapeake Bay. The plumb bow cuts through the waves nicely without slapping down hard, which causes loss of speed.

Contradictions and compromise
Beginner, confused waters, rough waters, fast, photogaphy. Beginner and photography might be the same type of boat, confused and rough waters would be a different type of boat, fast is yet another.



Of the boats you mention, for speed, from fastest to slowest would be the longer QCCs, Nordkapp LV, Explorer, and Romany. For a beginner, that Nordkapp could be a bad mistake. The bigger boats like the Explorer and big QCCs would be the most stable for photography.



I bet I would love owning a Nordkapp LV, but a larger friend of mine could not keep his upright. Something like an Explorer or Aquanaut does everything very well (if you are not small), but would not be as manueverable as a smaller boat like the Romany or that Nordkapp. The best confused water boat I have been in was my old Pintail, which I sold because it was way too slow and did not track well.



Try the boats, buy the one that fits, which one seems like it was built for you, and is the best buy. If you are not satisfied after a couple of years, sell it and buy a different boat. Good boats like your list are easy to resell.

Not yet mentioned …
… is the Current Designs Extreme aka Nomad. This is a large person’s boat (not not an XXL by any means). I know someone who swears by it and paddles it in all kinds of conditions. I’ve had one for a while and it handled nasty windchop (up to about 3 feet, the kind at/over your eyesight) very well.



If you look at drag figures, at a certain web site, this was the boat that was #1 at a certain fairly fast speed.



The QCC 700x will handle confused seas just fine and is probably faster by a smidgen. I’ve only paddled one briefly in something close to rough for me at the time (high wind and nasty wind chop) and the boat felt great. Liked it better than the Extreme I owned at the time.



As of late, I seem to like the Cetus line a lot. It is not nearly as fast as the QCC700 but I think it may be a more reassuring choice and give a very good turn of speed in rough conditions. The catch there is to pick the right size as there are significant differences in handling b/w the three…

the boat that was #1
Sea Kayaker found the Valley Rapier 20 the fastest sea kayak they ever tested.



Such boats are rarely first choices for other than speed.

and then…
its all the great kayaks thats coming out all the time i guess. made by specialists in roughwater…rockpool ndk valley…tidal race etc …its quite a jungle.

Second the Aquanaut
My wife has one, and it’s a great all-around boat, including in rough water. Great boat for a novice to start with, and you will never “outgrow” it as you develop skills.

As many others have said, not the Nordkapp LV if you are a novice. It’s also a fantastic boat, but not until you have a lot of experience. I watched as my paddling partner went through a learning curve with his Nordkapp LV, which involved a number of unintended capsizes in the first few trips with it. I would recommend it only to someone who has a solid roll and doesn’t mind practicing it as they get used to the boat. Once you get used to it and have good bracing skills, it’s a fantastic boat - fast, maneuverable, and just as good as any other boat in rough conditions.

absolutely…
ive only paddled the NordKapplv once and a few rolls.

i paddled the rotomolded nordkapp in very rough water and strong wind. I liked it but i guess the extra rocker of the LV would have been useful in waveplay…

Why is the nordkapps the favourite with so many great kayakers? of course its great.

remove "speed"
Rough water tends to equalize hulls that have differing speed performance in flatwater.

But, what do you intend to do? Are you asking about a kayak in which to travel point-to-point confidently through rough water, or a kayak that you can play in the rough water with?

Thanks for the imput.

– Last Updated: Oct-16-10 10:40 PM EST –

I'm an intermidate paddler and use my yak for fishing and transportation to fishing locations. I've been in some very rough seas with my Kaskazi sit on top but would like a Sit in yak for the rougher seas and distance.
It looks like the Qcc 700 or Aquanaut are at the top of the list. FishHawk

Avocateare?

– Last Updated: Oct-14-10 12:27 AM EST –

Lots of good boats mentioned in this thread. It seems the one noted by the most paddlers as the preferred boat for the specified conditions is the Aquanaut. Which sort of surprises me, as it is not a new trendy boat like the Cetus, nor sexy boat like a Nordkapp LV, nor is it the focus of a cult such as the QCC boats.

As is always the case, the 2 or so paddlers who have QCC boats are very fond of them. That more haven't noted the Q600 or Q700 as their preferred boat for the conditions specified may owe as much to few paddlers having had a chance to paddle one in conditions as anything.

In my decade of sometimes paddling big water I have yet to intersect with someone paddling a QCC boat. Even inland, where I have encountered QCCs, the only one I have had a chance to paddle is a 400 which, I have been told, is a whole different boat than the 600 and 700 boats. Thusfar no one whom I have encountered with a 600 or 700 has offered me the opportunity to paddle it - even after I compliment them on their boat...

Just my 2 cents.
My fastest boats on flat water were also fastest in rough water. That is why when I decided I wanted to go from point a to point b in rough water I always took my Looksha 2 or my Qcc 700. My senses told me they felt fast and my gps confirmed it. So instead of grabbing my Sirocco or Avatar which are good rough water kayaks my senses told me they were slower and my gps agreed.

I think I have owned all of the boats
mentioned so far. Without knowing who is buying the boat for what purpose, it is pretty difficult to give good advice. Based on my experience I would choose the Nordkapp to cover a long distance in rough water. No other boat (for me),once mastered, can give the feeling of oneness with the water like the Nordkapp can. It is a great “feeling” boat. I would choose a QCC 700 to race someone a long distance in rough water and the Epix 18x a close second. If I was going out in rough conditions for a longer paddle with the possibilty of increasingly deteriorating conditions and rescues, I would take the Aquanaut hands down. As WilsoJ2 stated “it is my go to boat”. I must say that my Romany Surf is getting very close to filling that role as well, but it is not as well suited to a longer paddle, and strangely enough it does not seem to surf as well as my Aquanuat. I can catch a wave more often in the Naut than the Surf. My Cetus was by far the worst performing boat in off wind and wave conditions. It could be that it was a very early production hull number, or who knows what, but I really struggled with the Cetus. One guy out of ? The kayaks that I am really starting to take note of are the Tiderace line. I have never seen this kind of build quality in a kayak. I have also never seen this kind of excessive weight in a kayak, although I expect the new Thailand made epoxy boats should weigh less. The Tiderace Expore-X was very interesting to me. It turns like no other big boat I have paddled, this also means that you must be less anal about holding your line as the boat is constantly going a little this way and a little that way. I am sure that given more time I could have adjusted to it. I will not buy another boat without checking out the Tiderace model that could fit my need, very , very impressive boats. After having said all of this, my conclusion is that if you needed to ask this question, go with the appropriate sized Aquanaut. It will do everything but paddle for you. Bill

A differing opinion
Allow me to profess my ignorance (and perhaps my agnosticism when it comes to kayak performance), but there are two things I can’t help but mention:


  1. Most every boat I’ve been in handled rough conditions just fine. The difference is in playfulness and (as noted above) ‘feel’. But if you don’t care about playfulness, but rather are intending simply to transit rough water safely, then a wider PNW style boat like the CD Solstice GT will do just as well, perhaps better, than the playful boats mentioned about.


  2. The OP wants to fish. To me, he needs a stable platform to reel in his catch, and he should probably consider a wide boat with a rudder. Again, a big ol’ PNW style boat is probably the best bet.

what model of Kaskazi?
those look like good boats