If you want a real low volume boat in the NDK line that is easy paddling for a smaller person, you should be looking at the Pilgrim. The Romany LV is exactly the same volume as the one for the bigger guy - same hull exactly - all they did was drop the deck to the minimum possible height and put in an extra small cockpit. The fit works well for a small person, but what they are pushing is the same boat as a bigger guy hence they are working too hard.
It was a great boat for a smaller person against the competition when it came out more than 10 years ago. But there are better boats now including the Pilgrim. That is NDK's better answer for smaller paddlers.
But overall, I still think that you should get some butt time to learn rescues and how to handle a capsize, now while the water is still warm and it is easy, before buying boats. Especially for your wife. You keep going back to stability of the boat. But that's not where it is at - there are lots of sea kayaks that are stable enough. It is the ability to recover from a capsize, paddler and boat features, that will make someone more comfortable in waves. If you skip that part you'll never get to an equally comfortable place for both of you on the water.
Also, hard chined boats can either feel comforting or spook the heck out of people. It depends on the individual - the only way to tell is time in the boat. They have a different feel on the water than the less dramatic feeling roll of a softer chined boat. I have one of each and the harder chined one was a bit of a learning curve for me, though it is my primary boat now.
I have a lot of respect for the risks of paddling in that area. The one time that we came closest to being at lest a really embarrassing newspaper story was in the lower portion of the Narragansett River. What kept us out of the front page was having four paddlers in decent boats, with good rescue skills even if our judgement about where to paddle that day was godawful, and a wind blowing us towards shore. It can get trickier down there than new paddlers realize.
Professional help! I’d recommend getting a good instructors help. Choosing the right boat, especially a higher end boat, involves a lot of finer points, so it’s best to get advice from an experienced pro, and then try boats out for a while (longer than just sitting in one on the showroom floor).
You also mentioned your wife’s strength, and it sounds like perhaps she’s a little unsure about her abilities. I think instruction would be a great help for her (and you perhaps) both to help her find an efficient stroke, and to give her confidence. Carl Ladd at Osprey Sea and Surf Adventures, in Westport, MA is outstanding. And there are a couple others in your area as well.
thanks! Thank you, Celia. I was wondering that about the romany lv. I will research the pilgrim and see if our local seller has one.
We’re down the coast from the narragansett river at the mouth of the pawcatuck river (which happens for some reason to be called “little narragansett bay”). A bit nicer water than the big river, but it has a current and two to three footers at times, so best be careful.
Training is a good idea. I just wrote to our local coach to ask his prices. Other suggestions for local trainers welcome.
Avocets, size The composite Avocet has a big cockpit – feels much larger than the RM version. At 5’9", 160 it felt big for me.
My wife and I both had Avocet RMs, but hers was too big for her 5’ frame. She ended up with a WS Tchiaka(now discontinued), which was smaller in every dimension and 20 pounds lighter. She’s much happier and faster in it.
All I could figure out from OP's post, is that their ages are 60 and 62, they have lookshas and a tandem.
OP also believes that strong arms are required for paddling.
Edit - Choosing a kayak, age is not a factor of importance. Weight, height, inseam, foot size, any physical shortcomings, skill set, provide more information for a person trying to recommend a boat.
true One more fact we know - it needs to be light.
Doesn’t that negate british boats?
My suggestion is comfort. Your wife wants to be comfortable and needs to sit in them to see if she feels comfortable. Some paddlers will buy a hull and exchange seats and bracing but I’m sure you don’t want to go through that.
Reality Therapy Cruel indeed to bring us back to reality. Or at least it seems to me. I hope they try many, many boats for a suitable amount of time in conditions they expect to paddle in after adequate training about paddling to enable them to appreciate what boats might be suitable. Tall order, but otherwise it is a succession of boats…not a bad idea actually. Most importantly, she picks the boat she likes as opposed to the boat she should like.
unless and until someone starts really pushing their management of a kayak - carving turns with a decently deep edge, bracing from being beyond the capsize point etc - it is difficult for them to understand how boat fit should work for "skills". Maybe impossible.
The young man who took us out for an hour of basics when we got our first transitional boats was happy to show me a few rolls. It didn't give me complete understanding but I was further ahead than if I hadn't asked. However, it was not a request he normally got.
The other thing that we got our of the way right off was the capsize part. My husband did as told and dropped an edge, and kept dropping... so we learned falling out of the boat about 5 minutes in. But again, this was unusual. Most new folks didn't push it that far.
By the time we went back to seriously get "skills" we had taken our transition boats to the coast of Maine, gotten into some smaller waves as well as an "instructive" squall with them and could tell whether we or the water was in control. But if we hadn't had the kind of earlier experiences we did, especially that little squall, I am not sure if we could have understood what fit meant in a sea kayak.
And this is not just an issue for newbies in long boats on bigger water. I have run into a stream of people from a primarily whitewater background around here who seem to think that a long boat has to be cavernously large and should be cranky to roll. It is extreme enough that I have seen WW folks refuse to start people in a terribly forgiving boat like the Romany for bracing and rolling, and instead put them into a high-sided creeker that has tremendous volume around the paddler. I've also seen WW folks pick up a sea kayak that is a barge on them and decide it is a feature of long boats that it is a bear to manage, not that they got a poorly fitting boat.
Warren Light Craft Might want to try a carbon Warren Little Wing 14 (26 Lbs) if light weight and stability are primary requirements. They are not British style boats and they are expensive, but they are fun and efficient to paddle.
I only ever saw one of these boats in person and it looked a lot better in real life than in photos (almost looked "normal", not fat in the front and rear and pinched in the middle). That was a longer model though.
I would also suggest the OP try at the RI Kayak Centre the Epics - 16x and V6 and V8 - they are all relatively stable and probably the fastest for their length. Light too and cheaper than most composite kayaks too. The shorter Epic GPX sounds like the perfect boat for the OP's wife's use though - might not be as fast as the 16-18footers but will be at least as fast as most 14-15 foot "Brit" style boats and about 1/3 the weight, big cockpit, easy to manage on the water and off with its short length.
Epic GPX Is a good suggestion for the OPs wife. I paddle a 15.5-ft Little Wing and my wife normally paddles our 12.5-ft Little Wing. I am 5’3" and 130 Lbs, and my wife is smaller; these boats have been perfect for us. The OP and his wife, like my wife and I, do not seem to be advanced kayakers, so unless they just want the Brit-boat style they might be better served with the light weight boats in the Warren and Epic lines. If light weight is paramount, the only real choice is a Warren Little Wing. The reason that I suggested the LW 14 is that I paddled one at the Warren’s shop and found that it did look much better in real life than in photos and that it was considerably faster than my LW 12.5, but still very light and agile on the water. By contrast, while I always take my LW 15.5 on longer tours because I can paddle it faster over a long distance, it sometimes feels like a BMW or Mercedes compared to the Mazda Miata-like handling of my LW 12.5.
One of my favorite British style boats is the NDK Pilgrim, but, to me, it feels a bit barge-like in terms of stability and weight on the water compared to my Little Wings. Admittedly, the Pilgrim feels like a very sweet-handling barge with tons of primary stability, but is just not as light and lively as a Little Wing.
Romany LV Celia - sorry - but I beg to differ on the Romany LV size.
It is WAY LOWER volume than the regular sized Romany!!!
I am 6’2" x 185lbs and I fit into the Romany quite easily with lots of spare room. I also paddle VERY low volume Greenland kayaks - yet it would be a huge challenge for me to squeeze into the Romany LV. (probably impossible)
Greg at Waveology has a Romany LV that Paula paddles and it is for small folks only…check it out.
It is true the total volume of the Romany LV is less than the regular Romany, but the reduction is the result of lowering the deck as opposed to any other change in the hull. As a result the hull shape in the water will essentially be no different for Romany LV and Romany when paddled by a lighter paddler. That is why I assume Celia says the Romany LV is not boat designed for a small person. Just because the cockpit and deck height fits a small paddler does not mean the boat overall is designed to work properly for a small paddler.
Two examples. The Avocet LV, a wonderful boat for small paddlers I have been told by small paddlers, is designed overall for a small paddler even though the cockpit is not all that small. The Impex OI has a low deck and low volume, but is not a small person’s boat by design. The hull that is doing the work needs to be designed for a small paddler for the boat to be a good small paddler’s boat in addition to the cockpit design. Which is why NDK now has the Pilgrim series. I assume the Romany and Explorer LVs were just stopgap kludges. The Explorer LV being even less a small person’s boat than the Romany LV, IMHO.
And my husband has a regular Romany. I am quite familiar with the hull capacity of each for a smaller paddler - I paddle the Romany once in a while. I have also been towed by Paula thru surf after a capsize in her Romany LV - some years ago.
Frankly, if I did what she was doing at the time (coaching in surf) I would have taken a Romany LV over many other boats for its combination of friendliness for that usage and its capacity as a rescue platform. There are places where extra volume is useful, and using a boat as a rescue platform is one of them. The Romany is very maneuverable even for someone who is under design weight because of its loose bow and the fact that the cockpit is proportionally further back than in the Explorer. And it is decidedly a small person's cockpit - but all that means is that they cut a smaller hole in the deck. It doesn't have anything to do with the hull.
But neither the Pilgrim and many of the newer little sea kayaks like the Alchemy existed at that point, or the Xcite S and a long list of boats better tuned for smaller paddlers.
As said, neither the Romany or Explorer LV are low volume hulls. I have a boat with a lower volume hull, and it is night and day over both the Romany and my beloved but big Explorer LV in terms of ease of paddling and responsiveness.
Yes, the Romany and Explorer LV's have less capacity for carrying stuff because of the lowered deck. I found that out when I had to get tons of small dry bags for camping after my prior boat with a higher deck. But the hull is completely the same, and the same is true for the Explorer HV. We have a friend who has one but is actually oversized for that hull. He's a big guy.
NDK did not create a new line for the heck of it. The Pilgrims got them back into a market for smaller paddlers that they were losing to newer boats.