OXYMORON SOT NOT! (II)
– Last Updated: Oct-18-05 7:49 PM EST –
The original post first didn't take, and then got truncated, so here's part II:
Here are some pics and reviews of some of these lesser-known fast(er) SOTs…
http://www.ftlauderdaleyakfishingclub.org/superyaks/superyaks.html
The Kaskazis (and a MacSki Kingfisher)
http://www.ftlauderdaleyakfishingclub.org/superyaks2/ultimatesuperyaks.html
The Knysna Isthmus, 17' X 21", ~50#, gas-pedal rudder, ~$1600
No URLS for pics of the I could be added here...
So cut & paste and add a w to the front end of this one to see a half-fast ride on the I:
ww.topkayaker.net/CGI-BIN/yakalbum/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Member's%20Kayaks/Frank_in_the_Isthmus_4.jpg;photo_width=-1;photo_height=-1
And do the same to see a much more cempetent one...!
ww.topkayaker.net/CGI-BIN/yakalbum/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=Member's%20Kayaks/DigiPix2004_0214_160010AA2_S.JPG;photo_width=-1;photo_height=-1
These are all faster SOTs –the Skua and Isthmus are the fastest, and I believe the Isthmus will take a Skua. All will keep up in mixed company MUCH better than 99 44/100ths % of the commonly available plastic roto SOTs out there.
I’m not sure, and Wollyworld notes it’s scarcity, but the Shearwater was a sleek, handsome, fast SOT. In composite. And MAYBE was also produced in glass, but alas. ‘Tis indeed produced no more.
There are a few others out there as well, but I’m not familiar with them I have seen a Pelican, and paddled both the Skua and the Isthmus (we own an “I”). The Isthmus is a tricky, twitchy boat that goes REAL fast –it’ll keep up with and pass longer SINKs because it’s plumb-bow/plumb-stern design gives a LWL of almost 17’ as well a LOA. But it ALSO goes VERY fast, AROUND… …around its longitudinal axis. Greyak & I both swam paddling the I, while Sally did just fine (see the pics, above). The Skua is a fast SOT, and it’s quite stable, MUCH moreso than the Isthmus.
OK., so these boats are fiberglass, and not plastic rotos. And they cost close to every bit as much as their SINK equivalents with hoods and trunk lids.
Of the others –the plastic rotos –here are the ones generally rated fastest:
OK Scupper Pro/TW –14’9” X 26”, ~55-58#, rudder available ~~$650?
OK Prowler 15 – 15’’4-1/2” X 28-1/2”, ~56-60#, rudder available ~~$750?
WS Tarpon 160i –16’ X 28”, 65#, rudder available ~~$850?
Hop-On-Top/Heritage Expedition –Out of production – 17’-4” X 26”, 68# (some available used) $$$???
Heritage Nomad – Out of production – 16’ X 28”, ???# (some available used) $$$???
Heritage Seadart 17 – 17’4” X 26”, 73#, rudder N/A (?) -$850?
Cobra Eliminator – 16’6” X 23”, 42#, semi-gas-pedal rudder available $850?
Cobra Expedition – 18’ X 23-1/2”, 48# (bare), semi-gas-pedal rudder available $1500?
Perception Illusion – 14’3” X 27”, 61# (bare), ~~$850 ?
And finally, the Hobies –which are foot-pushed, not upper body propelled… and if your wife’s got the quads, she sure can keep up in one of these…!
And a few new contenders –the CD Kestrel SOT in hardshell plastic, and the Hurricane Phoenix 14, same material I believe, have recently joined the fray. And the Kestrel is still “:joining”, as it’s now in a public demo limited release stage.
CD Kestrel - 14’ X 26”, 36# -rudder availability & cost unknown
Hurricane Aquasports Phoenix 14 - 14’ X 28“, 52#, rudder available, cost unknown
I run an OK S-Pro TW, and I can keep up with SINKs for a 5-10 mile paddle if they’re moderately cruising, and ONLY moderately. When they speed up, I fall behind. This is the oldest design of the group, and it’s fishform, HV prow and hull design make it exceptionally seaworthy. Overall, it’s probably the slowest of THIS group of SOTs.
The Prowler is marginally faster, but a WHOLE lot more stable. I know folks who fly-fish standing up in these things…
The T-160 is a fast mainline SOT. Greyak did the Bogey, a 13-mile race, in a T-160 and finished mid-pack; talk about keeping up! It, too, is a stable, stand-up fly fisher.
The Heritage Exped, like the Shearwater, is one of those almost legendary sleek fast SOTs that came before their time, and didn’t make enough of a commercial go of it to endure. The Shearwater is not as stable as any of the previous boats.
The Nomad, OTOH, is still around in its Seadart guise, and it’s a pretty quick boat that sort of mimics a SINK in design with its rising sides and swoopy shear.
The Cobra Eliminator is a near-flat yak, fairly extreme in its Swedeform aft-of-cockpit max beam point, akin to a downriver racer; it looks like itr ought to be fast.
The Cobra Exped is the biggest of the bunch, and on nice, smooth, flat, flatwater, is fast. But as Greyak noted above, it NEEDS its rudder, and even with it, still turns like a battleship. And I can also attest to it’s somewhat unstable feeling as well. And it loses something when the water gets choppy –it just isn’t nearly as good a boat. And I wonder about the weight -while listed at 48#, I’m sure it’s a bare hull –with the 4 toggle hatched and the rudder system, I believe there’s another 10 pounds there.
The Illusion is a surprisingly fast boat, and pretty stable at 27”, but heavy at over 60#.
The prototype CD Kestrel SOT in that hardshell plastic is a pretty fast SOT, very light & nimble, easy acceleration. But it’s seat pan is very wide, and an aftermarket SOT-style seat is definitely called for by any but the “broadest of beam” of paddlers, because the rest of us will float in the seat area, LOL!. I don’t think anyone much over 6-2 or 6-3 will fit (your wife is 5-8 so she’ll be OK) because of the foot brace ridges limited range. But it might be worthwhile to check out.
The Hurricane Phoenix 14, the big brother of the 12, same material I believe as the Kestrel but under a different proprietary name, is also a relatively recent model. And the Kestrel. The Phoenix paddles quite easily and quickly, comes with a bow hatch and a shallow, long & wide cross-bungeed stern TW, adjustable foot pegs, and a very nice glass-like look.
The Hobies are the red-headed stepchildren of the SOT world –they’re big, heavy boats, with a tad of tippiness, but they can be pedaled fast! And they also tend to be more expensive than their equivalent paddling machines… about $13-1500?
Once again, the bottom line is that ephemeral cross between “stability” and speed –how fast is fast, and how stable is stable, -at least for your wife?
And will glass be OK if “composites” aren’t? A friend of ours, DonBel, ran an Impex Serenity Sport glass boat for years, doesn’t baby it, and used it for camping and fishing South Florida, where unusually sharp and abrasive coral rock abounds. It was fine (until it got stolen off the roof of his truck!), as is his QCC700. He doesn’t deliberately crash his glass boats into obstacles, but he just takes moderate care, nothing ‘special’, so maybe glass will fit the bill after all….
Sally went through the same thing on a club moonlight paddle last year. After paddling some 4 magical moonlit miles on amazingly smooth and mirror-finished mangrove-lined waterways in Key Largo, we traversed an open fetch on Largo Sound, and crossed the island on the Adams Waterway (just a fancy name for a man-made cut). We then turned for home, and slogged the final mile into an in-your face wind of 15-20, and a 1-1/2 to 2’ chop. We were racking the boats when two women walked by –an older woman (we’re in our mid-50s) and a much younger one, both of whom appeared to not be in as good a shape, or anywhere near as strong as Sally. And the younger one said –‘you know, that wasn’t bad at all…”, and the older replied “Yeah, it was EASY!”
Sally then finally, viscerally, proprioceptively, and not just “intellectually”, KNEW that hulls and boat shapes, and not ONLY paddlers, made a BIIIIG difference.
She runs away from me when she’s on the Isthmus and I’m on the S-Pro, and she’s not even trying. But because she’s not fully comfortable on it, and on it while SHE’S on the waters we have around here, with critters in it, she didn’t want it for her primary ride.
So she now paddles a Hurricane Tracer SINK I surprised her with this past Christmas.
We still use the SOTs from time-to-time, for slower, more leisurely paddles, and for fishing & skin diving.
But in MIXED company? Under THOSE circumstances, we now use our SINKs instead of our SOTs to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami