Should a beginner start with a rec?

I’ve been down the Chattahoochee
on raft and canoe. You don’t think that a 14’ touring boat will work?



I’ve put in at Morgan Falls before, but it has been so long, I know access has probably changed and I don’t remember what the river is like much anymore.

I think I’ll try…
a touring yak next. The shop I go to credits a rental to the cost of a boat so theres no reason not to try first. Thanks for all the great ideas.

hmm
All yacks are rec yaks to a beginner.

sort of newbie here, but…
I thought I might weigh in.



I’ve been whitewater paddling for about 20 years now, and having recently moved from the mountains to the foothills I decided to take advantage of the lakes and lazy rivers around my home - well, that and the fact that our whitewater season is either feast or famine in any given spring. As with the whitewater kayak I bought early this year, I researched flatwater boats for about two months before deciding.



I considered going to a recreational kayak because the transition would be more forgiving, but quickly decided that I wanted to have fun AND learn a new sport. As Dr_D pointed out, recreational kayaks do a lot of things, but the bummer is they do nothing well. That pretty much sealed the deal for me, so moved on into the 14-16ft. touring kayak realm, and ultimately settled on a Prijon Calabria w/rudder (which many of you diehards will still consider a recreation craft, I suppose). After a few days on the water as MY boat, unhindered by the anxiety of demoing, I’ve fallen in love with its capabilities and performance.



So, my advice would be to get something that you can hone your craft with while still delivering on the ultimate goal - having fun. There are lots of kayaks in this category, and lots of great comments and reviews within this website.



Good luck!

starting out
If there’s a place nearby that does tours and classes, consider signing up for some that would take you into different conditions. That way you can get a sense for how much rough water you want to deal with, and you can try out different boats in different conditions. I did my training with California Canoe & Kayak, mostly in high chop and wind but sometimes in more gentle conditions. They started recommending boats for me to try out when they would see I’d signed up for a class. It gave me a chance to try lots of different boats in more than just demo-day conditions.