Maybe some of you guys out west who’ve used this boat can give me the four-one-one on this ducky. Here in the NE, ww is dominated primarily by hardshells and you rarely see anything but the Aire Lynx in the way of IKs. At age 50, an old injury has me selling off my two remaining hard ww yaks. (Only rolling on one side, and having problems in big water with that.) Not about to become an invalid though, as I still primarily like to run moderate III & IV water. I have three older duckies in my fleet, including a Thrillseeker, but they’ve all more or less seen their day. I know the Force boats can be a wet ride with little rocker. I know their hull speed is reasonably fast for a ducky. What I need to know is how fast do they self bail? Wet is okay, but I hate sitting in water, even while suited. And if you’ve ever done it, how does the Force handle drops from 5 to 12 feet?
How is your center of gravity on pivots?
Please only respond if you used this particular boat. I don’t need appraisals that are readily available on Aire’s websites or elsewhere on the net.
A guy with the handle duckypaddler
on boatertalk.com owns an Air Force XL and has used it extensively. However, the private message system on the BT board requires that the message recipient log on and see that he has a private message. You can post a PM through the User List, but he may not see it. Sorry response here has been slow.
I Have Paddled One, And Other Duckies
In my 2-3 of seasons of whitewater in California, I exclusively used inflatable boats.
The Aire Force is the Cadillac of WW IKs, but duckies are duckies, and its going to be totally different than what you are used to.
Any IK is going to be a wet ride. Just no way around it. Your butt is the lowest spot in the boat, and that is where the water is going to go.
Not that I didn’t enjoy it for a while. I just found the logistics of WW to be a PITA. The other guy doesn’t show up and there is no trip that day.
Besides, you meet a lot more babes on the beach.
Thanks, guys.
g2d-I don’t have the patience for the format used on boatertalk. But thanks, anyway.
'Cuda- You’re right…Shuttling’s a major PITA. I was recently “stood up” by two of my regular pards, when I TOLD them I’d be 15 minutes late.(This, after driving them to dozens of runs.) I’m better off solo on my local when it’s up. --And save a couple of dem babes for me.