I find that IK's are brilliant fun, although for the ultimate control and connection/feel with the water you can't beat a hard shell.
It depends what you are after in your boating though and how you want to develop. There's nothing wrong with IK's or Packrafts etc, but it is a different experience to a hard shell.
If you want to be able to carve your boat into eddies and shred up waves and have more directional control and to feel more connected to the water then I would say definitely start looking at hard shells.
If the idea of being inside a boat with a spraydeck doesn't appeal then both Fluid and Pyranha are now making whitewater SOTs. The Fluid one is based on the Bazooka creek boat, while the Pyranha version is based on the Fusion.
It depends what you are after in your boating though and how you want to develop. There's nothing wrong with IK's or Packrafts etc, but it is a different experience to a hard shell.
If you want to be able to carve your boat into eddies and shred up waves and have more directional control and to feel more connected to the water then I would say definitely start looking at hard shells.
If the idea of being inside a boat with a spraydeck doesn't appeal then both Fluid and Pyranha are now making whitewater SOTs. The Fluid one is based on the Bazooka creek boat, while the Pyranha version is based on the Fusion.