kayak models for my daughter

[Norm]

it was suggested to toss this question out here in addition to gear talk:

my daughter is 5ft2in and will be 15 next season. weight....110 approx. she wants to learn and so we figure to get a decent river runner type kayak for her. (so she can go w/her dad, me, a rookie)

id value any input you ladies have on this. thanks

[danceronhooves]

as far as a beginner boat... I'm a little taller and bigger than your daughter, but I LOVED my EZ by wavesport. I had one of the older ones with no drainplug, but it is a solid boat: easy to maneuver, easy to roll, good ballance, always felt stable, etc. It's really forgiving: it has good edges to navigate with, but isn't so slicy that you are constantly getting flipped.

If you want to go with something newer, the EZG is a good one, too....

[Geezer]

The EVO is a smaller EZ and might work a bit better at her size. Then bump her up to an EZ when she grows out of the EVO.

[EP]

If you want your daughter in more of a river runner, the small Mamba is a great baot. It has a little more volume than some of the "playboat/river runners" but is really forgiving and fun to paddle.

As your daughter is smaller and might eventually want to start to play around, there are alsio some great boats out there that aren't classified as river runners, but are great to paddle. The small Kingpin is an awesome boat, it is still stable and comfortable even though it is also a playboat. There are lots of good boat choices out there, ultimatly I would make sure your daughter is in something comfortable and something she feels confident in.

Good luck finding something! Eleanor Perry

[holley]

How about the small Perception Method? You can probably find one pretty cheap, and it's a great beginner boat. Small enough to learn to maneuver well, but still stable through the rapids. It's not so slicey that she will be upside down all the time, but she can still surf it and put it on edge to practice play moves.

The Dagger Juice is also a fun boat that comes in a smaller size, and I think it might be considered more of a crossover boat...like a river-running-playboat. Could also be a good option.

[Anna Levesque]

If your daughter is a beginner then I suggest a river runner like the Mamba 7.5 as Eleanor mentioned. The Mamba is a great boat that is really stable and easy to roll. And the 7.5 is sized for small paddlers. If your daughter is pretty aggressive and athletic then you could put her in a 'crossover' boat such as the small Dagger Juice or RX and she'd probably do great. You want her to have good introductory experiences so make sure she's comfortable and stable.

If you're looking for teaching tools you can check out my instructional DVDS for women at www.watergirlsatplay.com

I'm glad that she wants to learn and I hope that she develops into a great paddler!

[brokenpaddlejon]

Check out the Fun series by Jackson. It sounds lke she might be a good fit for theFun 2. The Jackson Kayaks are taylored to family type stuff. The fun is a Hybrid boat River Runner/Play Boat. It would be good to learn in and allow her to have fun and grow into later in terms of the type of boating she might want to do.

[hanala]

I am 5'3", 110 pounds. My first river runner was the Inazone 220. While it is an older model of boat, I loved it. It was stable in the rapids. I also was able to surf and spin it (once I learned how.) I suggest this boat to people who want to learn in a river runner. I should mention that I started off in a creek boat. I know there is alot of talk about learning in a creek boat vs. river runner. My two cents, I was glad to learn in the creek boat. It was easy to learn how to roll and gave me more stability to learn my paddle strokes and edge control. I still have the creek boat (Micro 220). I am now in the Jackson 2Fun. I love it, but I don't know if I would have wanted it as my first boat. I think I might have been upside down more than I would have liked Of course, this makes for a great roll! Just my thoughts. Hope she has fun.

AG

[COUNT]

I'm 5'1", 135. I paddled the Inazone 212 and 220 for several years and loved them both. They weren't the boats I first paddled but they were the boats I finally started to progress in. I really like the edge cut (like a trapezoid with the shorter base on the bottom) because it had enough that you could learn to edge but it was not catchy at all. It was a great river-runner that I eventually took down some big volume rivers, you can still learn to throw ends in it, and it's fairly easy to roll. The Jacksons are super easy to roll but I felt like they had no primary stability whatsoever which would make a beginner paddler spend a lot of time upside down (I paddled the 2Fun and Star). I would also recommend the EZ, Rx, and 7-0. Best of luck.

COUNT

[Trout_Bobber]

Bliss-Stick RAD