Hey, I'm 5'11 and 130 pounds. My feet are size 12 1/2. I am looking for a boat that's good for river running but is a good learner as I progress into playboating because being my age, you can't buy two boats. I am not picky about a brand.
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Christopher Columbus once said that the world was flat, and if you sailed far enough you would fall off the edge... Sweet
Wow, youve got big feet for a lite guy, no offense intended. Id paddle a liquid logic 'sessions' if i were you. Or a riot slice, something in that category (longer slicier with more even volume dist.)
What you need is a boat with very high knees and a large foot box. Sugestions: Necky vibe (lots of foot room), Bliss stick Rad (smaller one would be the right size for you if you can fit, Talk to Mike Paris), Dagger traditionally makes boats like this as well so check out the crazy 88, Also try a Jackson star (there is a chance).
I just posted again cause I have a lot of thinking to express on the topic.
SO many people learned to roll, are super aggressive, kinesthetically inclined and wan't to enjoy the river, not everyone has money for a boat for every situation. Kayaks are expensive, and kayaking is dangerous. Ill admit it, if i could afford it, id buy a boat for a wave, a boat for a hole, a boat for playing raftable class V (class IV ;) a squirt boat, a boat for tight creeks, and a big water V+ boat. Even uper eschelon, financially endowed paddlers only seem to own three boats max with one being basically out of service. Ive opted for the raftableV playboat, in my opinion none of the new designs in the last two years really fall into that category, simple based on width and height of the chines, width makes the boat more stable, stability makes the boat harder to roll, and slower. Chine height makes the boat more stable on its sides, its GREAT for throwing air blunts or mcnastys, but its also making the boat harder to roll, sometimes even hanging the paddler up on a brace the flat edge doesnt want to release from, + it regulates access to a great number of features boaters -used- to enjoy alot, mainly stiff eddylines and pour/pillow-overs. Also, almost all these new boats have a big volume bubble in the feet, its nice for footroom, mainly, and also for doing air loops, but it makes the boat harder (sometimes really hard) to squirt! OUCH! Being able to lean carefully upstream, get thrown over the top, and keep your head together is absolutely fundamental to freestyle paddling in any form.
While these boats, especially longer ones, are acceptable river runners, this is usually colorado (depending on who you are) and we dont have many huge waves, except at the playparks, big foamy holes w/ eddy access are pretty hard to find. ++ when your running a river in a slow boat with a lot of volume, your going to find that you bounce off a few micro eddies a slicier boat could have dug into.
i mean, why has the number of kayakers on this river actually decreased since we built a playpark? Because of the playpark, people bought playpark boats, which are alot less fun to run rivers in. I say dont sell yourself short, and buy a more versatile boat. Good boating has become underrated in the face of "gooder" boats. downriver revival damnit!
and if you cant windowshade in it, its a wave and it should be paddled on as if it were a wave, just cause you can blunt on the shoulders of some holes, and cartwheel in the foam on some waves doesnt mean that the technique required to accomplish such things is significantly similiar
I just posted again cause I have a lot of thinking to express on the topic...
Ive opted for the raftableV playboat,
Hey andy, you seem to know your stuff and i like the way you think, what with the downriver playboat and all and the raftableV... stuff that I'm working towards as I move away from beginner status... Any specific boats you'd like to mention? 5'11" 170 lbs
For example, I'll probably be running Cataract canyon every year in the forseeable, and at all but the highest of levels.
I wish I could empathize, Im 5'8" and 140lbs so its alot easier for me to have a downriver playboat and harder for me to have a rodeo boat or a creeker that doesnt feel like an oil tanker.
You should try a Riot Slice, Liquid Logic Sessions (may be too swampy), Liquic Logic Vision (may be too slow and not swampy at all) .. Maybe a Wave Sport EZ, though I have always thought them too slow and too high out of the water (for me, but I weigh 140).
Intuition tells me to tell you to paddle a Slice, plus you can get one used pretty cheap and easily. In fact I know where one is. Where you at?
You guys might also want to check out a dagger kingpin 6.2,6.3 or an ezg 50 on the ezg watch out for bum plastic but its the best downriver playboat out there. The kingpin 6.3 might be a little harder to throw down if you are on the light side (130lbs) but since you are still growing you will fit into it nicely.
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