Looking for my first ww kayak. I live on the coast now, where I do a lot of sea kayaking, but I’m moving to a land of rivers in a few weeks. I want to do some ocean surfing on it, but when I move I want to be able to handle some beginner-intermediate WW, and play some in the WW park near where I’ll be moving. I’m a 6 foot 1 in 165 lb man. Buying used, so my options are: Dagger g ride 6.5, dagger Juice 7.1, wavesport ezg50, Pyranha s8
Thanks y’all
Nice thing about buying used is that you can recoup your investment if you don’t like it. Not a lot of WW paddlers here. Maybe tdaniel will way in. They all look like playboats to me.
I’m partial to wavesport and pyranha designs for WW boats and I am not an expert whitewater paddler. I do have lots of experience with whitewater boats in the surf. The three shortest boats are going to be pigs to paddle out and you will be able to maneuver in the foam, but they are not going to be great in the surf. If you are truly a beginner you might look for a longer boats to get some down river experience before you move to full on playboats. Hardcore playboaters may not have the same opinon, but going from a seakayak to a slicey 6 ft boat is going to have a bit of a learning curve in moving water on a river. The s 8 might be the most forgiving choice.
The Pyranha S8 came in two different lengths, neither of which were 8 feet long. They were 225cm (approx 7’ 5") and 235cm (approx 7’ 9") and the Juice would be 7’ 1". But the Juice is the larger volume boat at 65 gallons as opposed to 48 gallons for the S8 225 and 58 gallons for the S* 235.
I have not paddled either of these boats, but looking at photos the hull of the S8 boats looks quite “slicey” with low volume front and rear decks. I suspect the Dagger would be a bit easier to adapt to for river running.
my guess is that they are all pretty aggressive choices for a beginner, Add that to fact that folks say some artificial courses are tougher than rivers (maryland, north carolina because the eddies are constantly in motion due to the walled in sides of the course) and the beat downs can be abrasive. What you can get is some quality instruction/lessons at a course venue and reliable water to practice on. . I would keep looking for a less aggressive boat and also consider easy rivers, using local paddling clubs, and taking private lessons in a river environment… NOC, Endless Rivers, H2O Dreams could all provide excellent private instruction in the carolinas.
If you tell us where you relocating to then we can give you more specific advice. For instance the wvwa is doing a beginner clinic on the weekend of june 9th and 10th about 3-4 hours from charlotte for a cost of $50.00. You can borrow boat for free- like a mamba or other similar river runner or creeker…
I believe that your boat choices and venue choice are better for someone who has already acquired the basic ww skills. If you want to learn rapidly, are athletic, and want a more aggressive learning curve then your plan will work well for you. It also helps if you’re in your 20s.
You do get points for already sea kayaking (of which I’m a compete novice) but found it to be a very different experience than ww. I like the fact you are embracing a new challenge, expanding your environment, and have a desire to paddle close to your new home. .