Hello,

Could anyone please recommend to me a good all around boat for my
girlfrend (115lbs, 5"0)? She's currently paddling a Pyranha Prozone
225, but finds that it's too slow and too advanced for learning how to
roll. She wants to be able to do some beginner whitewater, but doesn't
want a super long boat that's too hard to turn. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kevin

On 23-May-2004, (Kevin) wrote:

too advanced for learning how to roll

??? I've never heard of something like this! Could you explain,
Please?

Mike

"Michael Daly" wrote in message ...
On 23-May-2004, (Kevin) wrote:

too advanced for learning how to roll

??? I've never heard of something like this! Could you explain,
Please?

Mike

i.e. Too advanced for learning how to roll since it has a wide, flat
bottom, which has great initial stability but is hard to bring back
around if upside down watching the fish. I'm looking for something
small, maybe like a siren, but easy to learn how to roll in, like a
dagger blast, but a more recent design. So, basically, what's in
between a siren and a blast? insert raunchy sailor joke here...

Thanks,
Kevin

On 24-May-2004, (Kevin) wrote:

i.e. Too advanced for learning how to roll since it has a wide, flat
bottom, which has great initial stability but is hard to bring back
around if upside down watching the fish.

This shouldn't be an issue really. I know it feels different compared to
some of the older, easier to roll kayaks, but it shouldn't be that much of
a hurdle.

I'm looking for something
small, maybe like a siren, but easy to learn how to roll in,

For her size, why not go to an older boat like a Pirouette S?
If you find one, it'll be cheap and it's a decent kayak for learning
the basics. Not a playboat by today's standards, but for rolling and
basic WW stuff it's as good as any.

Mike

i.e. Too advanced for learning how to roll since it has a wide, flat
bottom, which has great initial stability but is hard to bring back
around if upside down watching the fish.

This shouldn't be an issue really. I know it feels different compared to
some of the older, easier to roll kayaks, but it shouldn't be that much of
a hurdle.


I know quite a few people who have a tough time rolling boats with planing
hulls; if your roll is at all sloppy, you're in for a rough time. I have
one friend who traded in an old Godzilla for a nice new Pyranha S:7 and
promptly lost what roll she had, and with it, her confidence. My suggestion
would be to pick up a used Dagger RPM and let 'er rip. But don't sell the
Prozone (unless you have to)- if she gets a good, sound roll and the
whitewater bug bites her, she'll be wanting that Prozone back in a year or
so :-)

Kevin wrote:


Could anyone please recommend to me a good all around boat for my
girlfrend (115lbs, 5"0)? She's currently paddling a Pyranha Prozone
225, but finds that it's too slow and too advanced for learning how to
roll. She wants to be able to do some beginner whitewater, but doesn't
want a super long boat that's too hard to turn. Any suggestions?

Kevin,

I know from experience that there is a bit of difference in how to roll
a planing hulled playboat in comparison to a displacement hull. The
displacement hull might make it feel easier at first, but IMO, if she
perseveres, she will be able to roll the Prozone as well.

If she's a decent paddler and it's the way she dislikes how the boat
behaves, maybe you can think about renting or borrowing a creekboat or
something slightly longer for a while. Different boats feel different to
different people, and maybe she's not the right person for the Prozone.

Then again, newbies tend to grom over the initial barrier quite quickly.
How much experience does she have paddling? If she's really just
beginning, I wouldn't get rid of the Prozone but try some other boats
for a while untill she gets better.

My (small) girlfriend had a (heavy) Necky Gliss that she used to love
for running rivers, untill I got her to play more. Then she missed
control and fine tuning, in essence being played with by the river. It
became sclear that she needed something that was more responsive (and
lighter :-) ). Now she paddles her Zelezny Igo everywhere (but I am
looking for a creekboat for her to take down steep stuff above class IV
:-) ).

Wilko

--
Wilko van den Bergh Wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.
http://wilko.webzone.ru/

A Dagger Infrared might be a good choice, and can usually be found pretty
cheaply at a place like boatertalk.com. It's basically a smaller RPM with a
planing hull. For something a bit newer, a Booster 50 or Dagger GT 7.5would
make a great boat.

"Kevin" wrote in message
om...
Hello,

Could anyone please recommend to me a good all around boat for my
girlfrend (115lbs, 5"0)? She's currently paddling a Pyranha Prozone
225, but finds that it's too slow and too advanced for learning how to
roll. She wants to be able to do some beginner whitewater, but doesn't
want a super long boat that's too hard to turn. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kevin

Hi Kevin,
I'm 5'3", 125 lbs, and most boats just seem enormous to me. I'm
currently paddling a Dagger GT, which is still kinda big, but by moving
the seat all the way forward and the thigh braces all the way back it's
not too bad. The new WaveSport boats have nice outfitting for a small
person (except for those damnable foot bumps) but your GF might not like
the hull design (slow, wide....)
Good luck!
DJ

Kevin wrote:
Hello,

Could anyone please recommend to me a good all around boat for my
girlfrend (115lbs, 5"0)? She's currently paddling a Pyranha Prozone
225, but finds that it's too slow and too advanced for learning how to
roll. She wants to be able to do some beginner whitewater, but doesn't
want a super long boat that's too hard to turn. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kevin

Hello,

Thank you all for your responses and leads; I had tried looking for a
pirouette S, but those seem to be rather hard to come by these days.
We just came back from a trip up to the middle of Nowhere, New
Hampshire, but found a great paddle shop (Suncook River
http://www.suncookriver.com/) with super friendly owners who gave us
the guided tour of the place, and then even ran us up to the top of
the put-in (as the take-out was by their store). After a day of
paddling, I got around to asking one of the owners for their
suggestions as to a good boat for my GF, and we finally settled on the
one that their daughter learned on. I'd never heard of it, but I had
been out of the sport for the last few years. Anyway, it's a
Supersonic by Robson, (I believe),
http://www.rainforestpaddlers.com/Robson/supersonic.htm and paddles
really well for her - based on playing around in the eddys by their
store. It seems to be a lot more forgiving, and a fair bit narrower
than her prozone, and a LOT lighter, so light in fact that now she can
carry her OWN boat! ;-)

Also the price tag of $450 (new) with a trade-in of $275 for her
prozone made this a no-brainer!

Thanks again for the help, and we hope to SYOTR!
Kevin