You are correct about the feel and comfort of the Fathom. It’s got a high enough front deck that I made a masik to give me the connectivity I want for rough conditions, but I also have very short legs. 28" inseams. I have let friends paddle my Fathom and to a man, every one said the same thing. This kayak seems to impress everyone that uses it.
My friend Thor is 6’ 5" tall and weighs 268 pounds but he can use the Fathom too. He does fill it well but it’s not too tight for him and he told me it’s fantastic how well he could edge turn it.
I am disappointed Eddyline dropped it. It was said to be their “flagship” Now they quite making it.
@DaveTheKayaker - you might be right…but I’d take it a level deeper: most younger folks today just don’t want to actually have to WORK at anything to become skilled. Everything now is “instant gratification or bust!” So those young people can fall half-drunk into an 8-foot Lifetime bathtub with pointy ends and still manage to paddle it around a lake…but they aren’t going to take the time to actually become proficient paddlers in higher-performance boats!
@szihn - I couldn’t agree more. Eddyline was just stupid to discontinue the Fathom. I mean c’mon! I’m sure the thermoforming molds for it still exist…so why not make a few each year? It’s just stupid. Every boat doesn’t have to be a “top profit driver.”
Oh no, my mistake. I like the 145 because it’s easier to control. The 175 is at least .2 to .3 mpg faster and handles stronger winds and waves better. It’s also more manageable to carry and transport. I don’t use a spray skirt and the 175 can maintain higher speed in rougher conditions. I like the idea of greater seaworthiness in case the conditions deteriorate.
The best whitewater paddlers that I know have all done some slalom racing, and to me the folks at the Olympic level are super-human. But 99.999% of paddlers will never even see a slalom course, never mind have the opportunity to run one. Suggesting that whitewater boaters paddle slalom boats is like suggesting flatwater boaters paddle sprint canoes because they are faster with better glide.
My kayaking friends all have multiple boats for different conditions - a playboat, a river runner, a sea kayak, etc. Different boats for different conditions.
Recreational paddlers just want to get out for an enjoyable day on the water, so manufacturers build what people will buy - mostly short rec boats. For those that do step it up, they still have options to buy better boats - used or from high-end manufacturers.
If you want to look at a class of boats that has seen a significant decline then look at canoes. I am an open boater, and on every trip (except when I am out with my open boater friends) I am outnumbered 10 to 1 by kayaks. Just the way it is.
I would suspect that instead of “Paddling is in decline” it is more accurate to write “Sea kayaking is in decline”. But I have no statistics to back that up. Everything else you say is spot on.
Oh man, don’t get me started on this! LOL I agree with you, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I should start a new topic about this, but briefly: I was a fanatical slalom C-1er for years…and you know what the best thing I got out of it was? It was the mindset that allowed me to have a BLAST paddling class 2 rapids, and never needing to paddle anything harder (even though with slalom skills I could effortlessly paddle up to class 4).
The slalom mindset means treating even a class 2 rapid like a slalom course: imagining a path through the rapid other than straight down through it. Look at it, study the rocks, eddies, drops, and waves…then catch every eddy, surf across every wave, and even paddle back up it to do it again. Sure, this take some skill…but my point is that it “democratizes” whitewater in the sense that with the slalom mindset, people can have a ball on easy rapids—and don’t need to constantly push their envelopes until they get severely thrashed or killed (which is the “whitewater progression” a lot of people follow).
ALSO: This is worth an entire thread of its own as well…but I started slalom racing in the mid-80s, before the sport was included (again) in the Olympics. At that time, it was a fantastic sport because it was still “in the woods.” Anyone could get into slalom—and as proof, when I started as a total newbie, I was literally able to train and paddle with the greatest whitewater slalom racers in the world! (Jon Lugbill, Davey Hearn, etc.) There was also a thriving community slalom race scene in the Eastern U.S. —where beginners could run a slalom course, and U.S. team members actually helped hang the course and judge the gates. (It was SO much fun.)
The Olmpics killed all of that. Suddenly those community races were no longer “up to Olympic competition standards” so the team members stopped going. And they started dying off. The top racers suddenly became obsessed with gold medals and corporate sponsorship. The whole sport went down the drain, and that’s not just me being a grumpy old man (I’m only 63, LOL). Many people agree.
Anyway, I guess my point is, there is no better way to learn to paddle than learning some slalom technique, and every paddler could benefit from it (even sea kayakers). And I dream of having the time (and money) to start trying to promote it more at the grassroots level.
Surprisingly, I was grilling ChatGPT yesterday about paddlesport participation numbers, and having it scour the web looking for any data it could find. It couldn’t find a lot (because most of the data is locked up by the Outdoor Industry of America and only available to their members, which is stupid). But based on executive summaries and some other things it found, ChatGPT suggested that sea kayaking/kayak touring numbers are actually higher than for whitewater kayaking!
I find this hard to believe…but then again, out here in Oregon where I live…I would definitely say whitewater paddling is a very niche thing. I live in a big university town, and I rarely see whitewater boats on top of vehicles.
But I also suspect that these numbers aren’t actually counting “real” sea kayakers, e.g. people who would do extended trips on Lake Superior or the British Columbia coast. They’re probably counting anyone who gets in a kayak on a flatwater river and floats downstream, stops somewhere to camp overnight, then floats to the takeout. (Which is fine, but I don’t really call that “kayak touring.”)
I agree the numbers of “multi-day paddles in the ocean” kayakers are very small.
