…that could be it
many thanks to all of you!
Hey Bayes
My nine year old daughter has paddled the Acadia Scout several times and absolutely loves this boat. She took to it right away (she'd been "paddling" in my double for the past few years and is quite comfortable around and on water) and immediately develops this big silly grin on her face every time she paddles it. I've posted a few pictures of her paddling the boat on my website here:
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=14302#14302
If you scroll down the page, there's also some pictures of both of my daughters playing in their kayaks.
I was going to get my daughter an Acadia Scout for Christmas (yes, I'm the 'staff member' that Bayes refers to) but after seeing photos of the Current Designs Raven -- a 12 foot long, 20 inch wide, sea kayak with bulkheads and hatches, and full deck rigging -- it's truly a scaled down sea kayak for kids. And it's a fiberglass/kevlar layup -- a fully capable small, lightweight (26 lbs), touring kayak. The only disappointment is that I'm too big to paddle it. ;-)
One word of caution with the Perception Acadia Scout is that the addition of floatation bags is vitally important -- my daughters and I were practicing T-rescues and the Scout filled up completely with water (there's foam floatation but it's minimal) and was impossible to pull over the deck of an assisting kayak. The boat didn't sink, but it would have been difficult to get it back to shore all full of water if we had any distance to take it. But don't get me wrong, the Acadia Scout is a great kids boat -- just add floation to it.
I should also point out that the Raven is nearly three times the price of the Acadia Scout.
Regardless of what boat you decide to get your kids in, be patient with them, allow them to play and have fun, teach them to paddle safely, and the rewards for you will be very great indeed. My nine year old can easily go on a 5-6 km (3-4 mile) day paddle and my 12 year old is now paddling her own boat 25 km (15 miles) in a single day!
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
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