Funny you should ask ... I have several friends I'd classify as casual
kayakers who paddle boats from Wilderness Systems and Old Town.
They've been paddling them on the Mayo and Dan rivers for years and
years ... even up on the little 120cfs class III Kibler Valley section of
the Dan. Yesterday we held our annual "Moronathon", a 25 mile run
down the Dan River in northern Stokes County (NC) - this is typically
a long open boat outting on a cold boney river. This year we had our
first kayakers, two of whom were in rec kayaks ... we also had a foot
more water in the river than ever before which allowed them to run a
high water sneak on the hardest drop in the run. By the end of the
day, tough, one had developed a stern keel leak classic on wildwater
boats.
The Liquid Logic Tryon is about the fastest rec-kayak I've ever seen
(which isn't saying much) - but my friends in their stubby little
Wilderness Systems boat yesterday didn't have much trouble
keeping up with the pack throughout our run.
I gotta say that I don't think the rec-kayak industry has much to offer
other than as a potential entry point for folks who might be interested
in downriver racing. Most of the playboaters and creekers I know
started out in rec-kayaks.

my 2cents

On 1/7/07, jpinyerd@... < jpinyerd@...> wrote:

There are a growing number of paddlers in ATL that are paddling kayaks that we would classify as general recreation kayaks (or short sea kayaks) in downriver type situations. They are running all sorts of things (including rivers like the Nanty and Section 3).

- What are you seeing?
- What designs are the most like our wildwater K-1s?

Of course this does take us back to the roots of our sport and back to when the kayaks looked more like general rec kayaks (vs the 6' play boats of today. Our sport grew out of guys saying "race you to the bottom"???

John Pinyerd
USA Canoe/Kayak Team - Wildwater Team Committee Chairman
web: www.usawildwater.com
email: jpinyerd@...
O) 770-575-1433
C) 678-357-7843

--
Dale
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Ira respicet bonum justiciae