I am kind of depressed. This summer started out paddling oriented. I had not paddled much in years (once paddled multiple days a week and competed some), But dw suggested a vacation on a lake, so days of paddling and a couple SUP’s latter all was good with the world. Then read an article on the Texas Water Safari (always wanted to do it but did not have time, have time now), next thing taking a boot camp with stepson and now have a tandem (for the race) and a solo (to train when stepson is not arround-vast majority of the time) canoe. Then after a few weeks of great paddling, it all ended-boats at outfitters. Plus thanks to Harvey, all my work out spots are no longer canoe friendly, SUP - lol.
So I am back were I started. Addicted to boats that have nice speed (not dedicated race boats yet-alumicraft and wenonah voyagers) but I am way to heavy for my old sea kayak. It was playful and quick (but not super fast). Had a surf ski-fast but a drag (way more effort than the sea kayak at touring speeds, plus did not feel connected to it like I did with my sea kayak.
So back to the depression, with one possible exception (QCC), closest demo boats are 1000 miles away. I might give the QCC a chance (as it is probably similar to my wenonah Voyager) but fear I will not like it’s deck heights (high back deck) and find it too similar to the surf ski I did not fall in love with. The Prana looks nice on paper (playful fast boat maybe). Tried to order a Zepher Pro 2 years ago to find it discontinued, I think I was interested in it because it sounded Romany’esq. (local shop prefers ordering CD or QCC as both use Wenonah’s trucks for shipping-did not mention my old WS sea kayak was crushed in shipping)
Anyway, suffering from paddling withdrawal. Let me know opinions on Prana, or any other fun quick sea kayak.
New boat probably not many out yet. I love my CD kayaks all high quality. Not sure if there are any reviews here yet by owners. There are some if you Google them up my publications. Someone here must have paddled one hopefully.
Keep in mind, most playful boats get their playful nature at expense of speed. The picture of the Prana at https://www.cdkayak.com/Kayaks.aspx?id=53 does make it look like it has a bit of rocker - that should give it playfulness, but would reduce top speed some.
In the description they talk about “tracking-friendly rocker profile” - that seems weird to me. I don’t think more rocker improves tracking - should be the opposite.
Played with google a couple of hours yesterday. Expect I read most of the reviews out there. But with another season the water, was hoping more people had test paddles to give more comparisons.
Understand the basics of the physics, kind of why I got the surf ski 25ish years ago. But a basic understanding does not allow me to understand design enough to imagine how individual design attributes interact to make nimble, responsive, and quick-just fast or slow. I do not know how much the simple lack of thigh braces influenced how I felt about the surf ski, but do expect that the cockpit shape has probably caused me to discount many boats before I even started to paddle them. (That and lack of rigidity just absorbing power)
The Prana is designed by Jesper Kromann-Andersen, and it was the first kayak he designed for CD. So the handling of older CD models cannot be used as an indicator of how this kayak handles.
I haven’t paddled the Prana, but I would expect it to be faster than it looks. I have a kayak which is one of Jesper’s earlier designs, the Zegul Arrow Play. Like the Prana, the Play is designed for playing in waves and doing tight maneuvering, but I have discovered that my top speed in the Play is 0.5 knots faster than in my Tiderace Xplore - though the Xplore is supposed to be a somewhat fast expedition kayak.
I have paddled the Prana and it is quick, fast for it’s length and very easy to maneuver. I rate it as one of the best all around sea kayaks available in it’s size range and it is very good looking. It is somewhat subjective to make a direct comparison with other similar sea kayaks, but I would put it in a class with the CD Gulf Stream, the Tide Race Excite, maybe the Valley Etain.
You might also want to check out one of the newer Caribous.
Just an insignificant update. Called LPS, their online retail inventory is generally spot on, but not this time. I fear their demo QCC was part of their rental fleet, not their floor inventory. That would not be an issue, but they sold off their rental business. Funny part, they spun it off to the next outfitters I need to talk to . In addition to renting rec and race boats, they sew custom spray decks.
When you start with a -0- rocker 17’6" canoe (21" between gunnels), then a outfit it with a rudder and a deck-you kind of start blurring lines. Not sure how much faster the Q700 would actually be, but some as the hull does flare below the gunnels.
Good news, my dw said I can do a road trip if I want to go kayak shopping. She probably expects I want a new kayak less than I do not want 6 days of driving.
In the meanwhile, called and my Wenonah will be ready in a week (it has been ready in a week for closing on 2 months now). Took the spare time to put in floatations foam and seat foam in the Tandom (it can not go back to an outfitter until we figure out approximate seat positions.
Last week I added Stellar’s S18 to my potential wish list. The dealer was going to check on US availability of the layup I was interested in. Meanwhile I was browsing the classifieds and saw an interesting marathon “kayak/canoe”. Thinking it would fill my need for speed, started to get interested in the Stellar SI18 - But as the Stellar dealer’s house was flooded by Harvey, did not want to pester him yet. Testing the marathon boat was a quick reality check. Yep, still do not like paddling knees up.
Needed to do something paddling related - started building a new boat rack.
Got into a long online discussion with another marathon paddler yesterday, and have a gently used canoe on my rack tonight - an Advantage. Now I can get some water under me again. It will definitely help the days past till I can get a decked boat.
I doubt I will regret having both a Voyager and an Advantage to play with - plus the new boat rack holds 8.
Wow! Texas Water Safari? I applaud your goal. As I recall, their symbol is a gator and a bear in a canoe snarling at each other. Stories of hallucinating while paddling in the dark.
What is a DW? Darling Wife?
SI is Intrepid. Really would enjoy the chance to try it and the S. Honestly I suspect they are almost different enough that a person could enjoy having both.
“Dear Wife”. Looked it up-think it is the Devil and an Aligator. I read some pretty funny articles about the Tree People. The race is from the headwaters of the San Marcos River to Seadrift. While the racers have 100hrs to do the 265ish miles, many forgo sleep. Seems that the human body does not like that much. That said, Tree People are relatively harmless.
When researching the race, found a great thread on Texas Bow Hunter forum. Tons of people were offering experiance and suggestions. I read the first few pages and bookmarked it as study material. The original poster posted about a lot of his training runs and by the end I think he had a lot of forum brethren either cheering him on from the banks of the course, or watching his progress on their computers. Before finishng the thread I had read quite a few other web pages on the safari, including news articles. I don’t want to spoil the read-but few stories have hit so hard. I live near Gonzales-so it is my normal exercise spot.
Google Texas Bow Hunter “Water safari” it is the 2012 thread.