"John Fereira" wrote in message
.. .

I know that if you had posted *before* you bought the Animus it would have
been pretty clear consensus in the responses as to whether it was a good
match for you.

Indeed. I think I alluded to that at one point. Too soon old, too late
smart.

Specificially, I would have suggested that there are very
few kayaks that are designed as "beginners" kayaks (though many are
marketed
that way) and that the more important criteria is how well a model suits
the
type of water you're likely going to be paddling.

Now, this raises another point -- and one that at least in part contributed
to my misinterpretation of the characterization of the first boat as a
"beginner's" boat.

I've been in whitewater on a raft, and the prospect of being on it in a solo
kayak seemed to me to be somewhat daunting. Would you expose a "raw"
kayaking beginner to whitewater? I personally wouldn't -- I'd want the
individual to have had at least some experience paddling, turning, rolling,
bracing, getting a feel for tipping so that the counterintuitive response to
a broach on a rock would be less counterintuitive, etc.

That's yet another reason I was somewhat incredulous that the "Sit And Spin"
was a "beginner's" boat. A beginning whitewater paddlers, boat -- yeah,
probably, as you guys have pointed out. A beginner's kayak, period? Heck,
no.

But I define whitewater as a non-beginner's environment. That may be an
incorrect assessment, but it's my semi-informed impression about water and
beginners. I taught fla****er canoeing to the Boy Scouts to include all the
Merit Badge requirements and then some -- more stuff about cold water
survival and so on as befits our climate. And it was with the Scouts that I
enjoyed my first-hand experience with whitewater. I wasn't able to go along
to the Boundary Waters with them -- work and all that -- but by all accounts
they handled themselves well on the water after our sessions.

And your comments about shop owners as experts is well-taken. My guy is
knowledgeable, and has paddled extensively and taught. So no problem
there -- except for the flat spot on the front of my forehead from smacking
myself over having overlooked him as a good source of information and a
boat. In general, perhaps the most expert would be the very antithesis of
shop-owning businessmen -- the scrufty bum who can barely scrape together
enough change for rent because he lives in his boat on the water might be
the best source of information about some things aquatic.

Thanks for the thoughtful post. I'll look for your byline in the magazines
I'm grabbing right and left, because I'm busy reading everything I can get
my hands on about kayaks -- recreational and sea kayaks appeal to me. I've
got a good stack of Winter reading.