Good to hear. I agree that it's best to buy with the brain instead of the eyes.
Interesting that you thought the Impex Mystic was "pokey." It was my primary boat and it's a good roller. But I always thought it was slow, until it occurred to me not to blame the boat. There's no doubt my motor is slow. But then I had that one experience where I got in someone's Fathom LV and thought, wow, this is fast! I built a skin on frame F1 in 2009 -- same length as the Mystic but noticeably faster for me. (Harder to roll, though.) But I've decided that for paddling alone on our coastal sounds I'm going to use a hardshell with bulkheads, so I'm in the market for something longer than my Mystic. I follow the Paddling Planet compilation of kayaking blogs and am fascinated by the Swedes, who seem to be paddling a lot of Tiderace boats. No ugly boats in those Scandinavian blogs and no cheap stuff! The closest I've gotten to imitating them is toting my gear around in an Ikea bag. My paddling friends have no idea how cool I am. :-)
demo availibility at RKC they may have a Cetus LV to try, I’d give them a shout first, with a little advance notice they can work w. the local MI rep to make sure there is one at the shop… I know for sure that there is the plastic version, the Scorpio LV.
They also just announced that they will be carrying Tiderace - but, for now, only the Explore series which are (per the Tiderace lit) aimed at tripping and so sized differently than the Excite and Excite S.
At Grand Marais there were both Excite and Explore models (both sizes of each) courtesy of NYC Kayaks. Everytime I stopped at the demo beach there were people waiting to try them. The Cetii (the big original one, the LV and the sweet new MV that David Johnson of paddlinginstructor.com (Canadian, great guy, great resource) was paddling.
Didn’t measure but I did paddle the Tiderace ExciteS and the Fathom LV back to back, and the foredeck on the Excite was definitely lower.
Eddyline back from their very inception made a design commitment to roomier North American style boats, so their cockpits, decks, and other dimensions reflect that.
Even in their current catalogue of all models offered, there are only “High Volume” and “Medium Volume” designations.
You’ll have a good time trying them all…
As far as demoing/renting P&H boats in Ohio, there is a very fine outfitter in the Cleveland area - Kayak 41 North.Mark Pecot of Team P&H is there and will be more than to set that up for you.
And continuing… I actually got to speak with Lisa Derrer of Eddyline. I called asking if they intended to offer a boat with a lower back deck as I am having trouble with a static/balance brace, in spite of having a slender build and pretty good flexibility.
She mentioned a couple of things. First is that Eddyline recently lowered the back deck on the full-sized fathom to where it is now an inch lower than the LV.
And finally she checked with Tom Derrer. Tom said that he has no trouble balance bracing with either fathom and I should practice more:)
It’s interesting that the kayak community is small enough that you can actually get ear time with some of the ‘big fish’.
Thanks for the info that RSK will be handling the Xplore.
BTW, before I bought my boat I took a rolling class with 41 North. At the time they were a P&H dealer but I’m not sure that that is the case now.
Three summers ago I went with them to Pictured Rocks on a seven day six night trip that pushed my big water limits. I’ve met Marius and Josh of 41 North. Josh is a total freak. He does kayaking calculus and is kinda like a David Blaine of the water. His level of maturity and skill set is remarkable. When we went to Pictured Rocks Josh was 17. He did a single-handed save of two kayak newbs (not our group), one of which was in the cold water next to a cliff and getting hammered by his kayak.
The Derrer’s The Derrer’s seem to be great people who will listen to their customers. I had a phone conversation with Tom and he seemed to be a very honest and down to earth guy. The kind of thing many companies lack these days. Anyway, I had the Nighthawk a short while back and sold it only because I was getting into the Greenland thing. Otherwise I really loved the kayak. It did many things well. The standard Fathom is also nice but I felt lost inside it’s cavernous cockpit. I’m glad to hear they lowered the back deck.
and… “The standard Fathom is also nice but I felt lost inside it’s cavernous cockpit. I’m glad to hear they lowered the back deck…”
One nice thing about the large front deck is that I can stuff my sleeping bag and pad into a dry bag and squeeze it into the space in front of the foot pegs. This leaves bunches of room for other stuff in the rest of the boat.
stuffing in front of the footpegs yahh I do that too, only I stuff my tent in a mesh bag secured well ahead of the footpegs - which I did/do in my North Shore Shoreline Fuego, a low volume Brit boat (lower than anything being discussed here in production models). Her deck is 10" high floor to underside of deck… so ya don’t need a high volume deck to pull that off
Eddyline boats are known for high volume fore and aft - a legacy, again, of the design pref for North American style. Great tripping boats from everythng I hear. they just don’t fit me but I praise them.
back to you gingernc first off I feel badly the way I worded my comments on your Mystic. I meant that compared w. the other boats I demo’d that it was noticely slower – not that it is pokey by design. It moves along very sprightly for a 14 footer - in fact, for me, more easily than the Fathom LV I tried in the same demo session.
My motor is improving thanks to pretty regular paddling and some informal classes w. Kelly Blades and Danny Mongno - I’m no powerplant and don’t own a GPS so I can’t quantify the differences - only that I feel them and it’s taking less time to get to shore for lunch '-) The Suka is faster than my Fuego, I know that much.
part II - also wanted to say with your interest in greenlandic boats and your obviously fine balance and mobility - try to demo the Tahe Greenland (not the Tahe T, the Greenland)
You might take to it like, er, a duck takes to water!
Tahe Greenland A few of my friends now have these and they are incredibly sweet. Probably the closest thing to a true Greenland kayak in production. Before That the best production roller was the Impex Outer Island which I own and won’t give it up for anything. Okay, maybe a strip built version
FF and Sternman FF, I didn’t take offense. I think the Impex Montauk and Mystic are slow – for me. And that’s in comparison with others I have paddled.
And FF and Sternman, I have a paddling acquaintance, who built a Disko Bay replica with Brian Shultz the week after I built my F1, and she just bought a Tahe Greenland. It’s hard to imagine that such a long boat would be a good boat for short women, but she thinks so. It’s a gorgeous boat, that’s for sure. And is reasonably priced. I might have to make a road trip to Charleston to try out her boat.
tx gingernc I too have a friend (petite, 5’2" and a little more than 100 lbs.) who is a rising Greenland paddler who loved the Tahe Greenland. She is going to buy one once she sells her current boat, and in the meantime built a SOF for daytripping.
Pls. post your impressions of the Tahe Greenland when you try it. I have mine based on a 15 minute rather rushed open cockpit demo but would love to hear yours.
Tahe Greenland I should be so lucky as to find one to demo. I think it’ll be next April in Charleston before I get a chance. I have not wanted to go there before, thinking it was a mob scene. But a local paddling guy, Rufdawg, told it was great, just jumping from one boat to another on the demo beach. Hmmmm. . . Tahe, to Tiderace, to Maelstrom . . . . I think I HAVE to go next year.
Nighthawk 16 is starting to feel like home to me, now. The seat in this one is about 1" forward of stock, due to repair of a tear in one of the hangers. I was planning to move it to the stock position, but kind of like the handling where is is now and the thigh braces seem to contact me well enough, so I’ll probably leave it where it is, even though it makes it a little more challenging to get into the cockpit than it would be if the seat was 1" farther back.
It’s heavier than I’d prefer, but since the cockpit is aft of center, the narrow part of the keyhole cockpit serves as a portage yoke when facing the stern of the boat, it’s actually an easy carry, once you get it to your shoulders.
Other than being a little tricky to enter and exit, I like the fit and handling of the Nighthawk 16.
