Venture Islay- anyone paddled?

I don’t think its fully arrived in the US yet so I’m not expecting a big response, but has anyone paddled the Venture Islay?

I’m a bit biased towards P&H/british designs vs. the Confluence brands and am wondering if the Islay would be a good alternative to the Alchemy in terms of a short playful boat… Venture seems to be marketing it towards day touring vs. play, but with design elements taken from the Delphin, I’d think it would compete well with the Alchemy.

Thoughts?

Got decent reviews

– Last Updated: Mar-11-13 12:16 AM EST –

Looks like a good decent 14 foot kayak for day paddling.
Almost a plumb bow for some reasonable speed.
Probably would work well for many new paddlers.

http://www.canoekayak.co.uk/Reviews/Venture-Kayaks-Islay-14-Touring-Kayak-Review/_rw3154_cat43

http://www.venturekayaks.com/kayaks.php?kayak=Islay%2014%20LV

It’s been out
For about a year now.



http://hudsonriverpaddler.org/2012/11/02/venture-kayaks-islay/



The Islay LV is arriving today. Plans are to put it on the water today.



I’ll do a write up and post, unless Murphy gets in the way.



See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hude Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

I’ve demoed one…
…great boat indeed. The price point also makes it worth checking out. A well-thought-out boat all around.

LV
Thanks I look forward to your write up!

At my size I guess I’m really looking to compare the Islay LV to the Alchemy 14s, but figured if anyone had paddled both the standard Islay and either Alchemy, it would still be a valuable comparison… non-SOT demo opportunities in south FL are extremely hard to come by and usually require at least a day’s worth of travel, so I try to gather as much intel as possible beforehand.

FL test paddle
You cover travel expenses and I’ll put one on the roof of the car.



Hmm, by that suggestion it must be a Monday and I’ve got way too much paperwork to do.





See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

Truck arrived
I won’t get a chance to paddle today but here are some pictures of the Islay LV by itself and next to the Standard Islay.



I’ll get more data and performance info up later this week on the Islay LV.



Shortlink

http://wp.me/pFgdM-gb



See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

thanks for the pics
Thanks for posting those pictures- looks like it has a decent amount of rocker to be comparable to the Alchemy, though certainly less than the Delphin correct? What does the underside of the hull look like? Does it flatten out under the seat like the Delphin, almost like a WW “spin disk”?

Also glad they went with a backband instead of the “flip top” seat.

Look forward to your report!

Cockpit Hull Profile

– Last Updated: Mar-12-13 2:48 PM EST –

The area under the cockpit looks a lot like the Delphin so yes, the Islay is extremely forgiving. As the pics show the stern section of the kayak takes after the Delphin/Aries design.

I've got some of the specs listed on the blog post. Performance review will need to wait a day or so.

http://wp.me/pFgdM-gb

See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
hudsonriverpaddler.org

Now the 12 & 12LV

– Last Updated: May-02-14 4:27 PM EST –

Just Arrived!

Don't have time to do a full write up now but I'll fill in data as I can on the blog.

Islay 12
http://wp.me/pFgdM-Er

Islay 12LV
http://wp.me/pFgdM-Ew

See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
hudsonriverpaddler.org