Anybody out there able to give any advice on a good surf kayak suitable for beginners, or a WW kayak that would fit the bill. I am a sea kayaker, but want to learn surfing. I live in Hong Kong, so you can’t just nip off to buy the ideal model, and drive it home. But we have an agent here for Prijon kayaks, so I was thinking of buying a WW boat through them, perhaps a Chopper. I would be grateful for suggestions.
HK paddling?
Sure can use a ww boat for surfing. I started in a Necky Rip and now have a Mega Jester Cyclone.
BUT I do travel to Hong KOng in January each year and have always wanted to paddle while there. Any suggestions/ideas?
Suz
HK paddling
Yes, the paddling is great on Lantau Island, south side. Also Sai Kung, in the New Territories, where the waters are less sheltered and there can be big ocean swells.
Any Boat But…
HK waters… I would invest heavily in ear and nose plugs! LOL!
Seriously, what’s your height and weight. What kind of surfing have you done, or ww? What kind of break is it, rocky or sand? Do you have a roll?
sing
Given up on surf kayaks and am now into custom waveskis. Lots of advantages to waveskis besides customized performance.
good surfing boat for beginners
i started with a dagger GT…loved it…
for speed on a wave you will want to get a planing hull…like a surf board…fast…that means that you will increase speed as you slide down the wave face…then you can get into flat spins and tricks…
BUt i have a friend who was been surfing a Dagger Rpm for years now…
it surfs very well…carves great…
is not as fast as a planing hull boat…BUT…it is longer…so he can catch waves further out past me…
pretty much any ww boat will get you going on a wave…i was surfing last weekend with a guy in an OLd perception Supersport…he was easily about 100 yards past me…and screwed on by me carving like mad…
i just got an old squirt baot that is reported to surf VERY VERY well…
most important thing is to get a boat that fits you…you want ot be comfortable…that is the best thing!
r
I occassionaly go out in the
surf and use my ww boat a Wavesport Big EZ to go down a wave. It is very slow as are many of the newer boats out there. A few buddies of mine use a Wavesport Foreplay and are happy with the performance. I just bought a used cheap Necky Rip for its length and i expect improved speed for the surf. Other options i would look at is Necky Jive and Gliss/Bliss depending on your weight etc. These are older discontinued models, i would consider too a Dagger RPM.
The Chopper is a 9.5 foot creek boat,
about as sexy as Alice from the Brady bunch in the surf. Try www.surfkayaks.com. You can get one shipped to you via air freight.
Dogmaticus
Prijon
I also am a sea-kayaker - but spend a fair amount of time in the surf - just for practice.
Years ago, just starting paddling, I bought and used for a couple of years a used Prijon T-Slalom. Though this was many years before the NDK Romany (or the like) came out with a ‘good’ keyhole designed sea-kayak, I wanted the keyhole that the T-Slalom had in a sea-kayak (had to wait a while).
Years later, to learn surf, I bought a new Prijon Hurricane (around '94 - I think).
I don’t know what Prijon has now, but if your use is for ‘dancing’ on the waves - playing in the surf - you will probably want to get a surf boat designed for that, if you just want to learn the ‘feel’, the dynamics of waves, what it will do to you, get any white-water boat that you fit in. The skills won’t all directly transfer to your sea-kayak, but you will break fewer sea-kayaks in the heavy surf by learning & practicing first in a WW boat.
Andy
Well…
– Last Updated: Nov-16-07 9:38 AM EST –
Not my area so I've been reluctant to weigh in - but no one has mentioned the idea of picking up a used Pyrahna Inazone yet. They were heavily used as schooling boats until the more play-heavy boats started dominating, and are true planing hull without the extra volume of a creeker or the same kind of catchy stern behavior as the RPM's. They were made in a good variety of sizes and volumes, so a version exists to fit a pretty wide range of people.
We have been told they make great surf boats by at least one person who used them on the coast. Any other comments from those who know?