Kayak/canoe recommendations?

[Cataboo]

I'va hardly ever paddled a canoe, and I'm a relative beginner to kayaking, but I gotta say I love love love my kayak. Not my actual kayak as such, but the whole concept of this sleek, efficient thing you "put on" and steer by leaning and shifting, and that can pick up speed fast and pop happily through waves too. I don't think I'd be very happy in a canoe. The kayak I have now is already fairly narrow and fairly low-volume, but I'm still jonesing for a greenland kayak, very narrow and low-volume. I hate feeling like I'm sitting in the bottom of a bucket.

YOU NEED TO COME VISIT ME & KAYAK WITH ME

You'll fit my boats

[lph]

YOU NEED TO COME VISIT ME & KAYAK WITH ME

You'll fit my boats

Yeh.

[tulip]

Cataboo, remember to let me know if you ever want to sell that Tempest 165. I love that boat for all the reasons you cite. Great post, BTW.

[Cataboo]

Cataboo, remember to let me know if you ever want to sell that Tempest 165. I love that boat for all the reasons you cite. Great post, BTW.

Oh, other small person plastic boat - p&h delfin, p&h capella, valley avocet lv

And for all the reason I posted, I still keep it around - so it may not be something I'm selling anytime soon, I will tell you if I ever see someone sellling one used though. Its funny at any of the local kayak club's rescue training, about 80% of the boats that people arrive with are tempest 165 or 170s... It's just that useful of a boat, and noone wants to scratch up their composite boats.

But you're welcome to come up & borrow it - we never actually have gotten together.

We tested out how strong a tempest 170 was on Saturday, by doing this to it twice. Long story as to why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIy3_-ZQ1QM

[tulip]

But you're welcome to come up & borrow it - we never actually have gotten together.
]

Thanks for the list of other small person plastic boats. I don't consider myself particularly small at 5'-6" and 127 lbs, but the Tempest 165 is perfect for me.

AND, you're welcome to come down and bring your boats. I live one mile from the river--downriver from the rapids on the nice, flat water. Shoot, we can paddle all the way to Jamestown.

[Cataboo]

Tulip, you definitely count as one - you're a lightweight paddler & you're going to have the same problems as a shorter paddler. when most kayaks are designed for 180-220 lb guys to be able to carry another 40 lbs of gear... And then when most kayak manufacturers don't bother to actually redesign them as a low volume boat, but just cut down the deck height & then claim they're a lv boat....

how much sewage went into the james in the last few storms? At least 500 million gallons went into the chesapeake...

I've been avoiding urban waterways lately.

*shudder*

[tulip]

I don't know, I didn't go down to look at the river...I did paddle on a tributary of the Rappahannock after the hurricane, and I would not have wanted to do a wet exit. Thank goodness for floating docks, is all I can say. But it was still a nice paddle.

Years ago, I organized a trip for my office out of Bladensburg Marina on the Anacostia. My boss got dumped in that water. Ewwwwww. Perhaps that's why my career there came to an end shortly thereafter...hmmm.