Submitted: 08-24-2006 by Easkydude
I bought this kayak with a view to using it on scottish lochs and larger rivers, and possibly coastal stuff up to sea state 2-3 max. I knew it was fairly wide and the initial stability is excellent- good for photography, I also wasn't kidding myself it was a true sea kayak. It is possible to edge it to a degree but it does tend to "just go over" if leaned too far, but with no skeg or rudder I can get it going in a straight line easily, and it's fairly quick for its size and contact area with the water. I hired a WS Tempest 170 and with it's skeg down there was hardly any difference in speed over a choppy Loch Morlich.
The storage is excellent, and watertight completely so far. The XL bigdeck is reassuring for a novice(-exiting and re-entering)- and that extra overall width of the kayak(67cm) means that after a wet exit I can easily get back in by mounting from the rear, keeping low and pulling myself along the yak til I can drop my behind in then my legs. handy as I do tend to paddle alone frequently- the peace is part of the attraction!
Overall I'm very pleased with it, a solid bit of kit for £400 that I will keep for accessing the more remote Munros of Scotland (Lochs and Sea Lochs- such as Loch Ericht and Knoydart) that can't be accessed by any roads and normally involve a long walk in. I can get plenty of stuff for a 3 day expedition in it. I will(hopefully) learn to roll a kayak in a pool and will eventually try to roll the Easky, though experienced paddler friends of friends have said the width and initial stability may make it difficult...though not impossible!
Oh- and like the previous reviewer, I am about 100kg fully kitted up and the kayak will take a good bit more than that, be it kit, muscle or flab! |