In a harrowing incident caught on video a canoe tour group in Botswana’s Okavango Delta was charged by an angry bull elephant after coming too close to elephant calves.
Elephant charges canoe and holds tourist underwater in Botswana’s Okavango Delta
The video shows an elephant charging through the water as guides manning dugout canoes with tourists rapidly attempted to retreat. The bull elephant then rammed into two of the canoes, knocking several people into the murky water. The tourists were not wearing life jackets or personal floatation devices (PFDs) in the video.
The elephant then continued to charge at the tourists, four of whom were now out of their canoes and in the water, and held a woman under water with its trunk. Meanwhile, other canoes retreated. Eventually, the elephant gathered with its young and left. The woman who was held underwater was helped out of the water.
Daily Mail reported the incident was triggered by the tourist canoes venturing too close to a mother elephant and her calves, resulting in the bull’s charge. Additionally, Daily Mail reported that a former South African game ranger commented that the four tourists were lucky to escape with their lives, noting that the guides apparently misjudged the safe distance they usually work to maintain from elephants. All three companies that run trips in traditional dugout Makoro canoes declined to provide a comment to Daily Mail on which of the companies ran the trip, though one receptionist shared that the tourists were British and American.
How often do elephants attack?
This isn’t the first instance of an elephant charging a canoe. In 2016, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Beverly Joubert shared with Canoeroots (now Paddling Magazine) that while filming Soul of the Elephant, Joubert and her husband Dereck faced bluff charges from an elephant while working from a canoe. Joubert shared that later they discovered elephant bodies butchered to remove the ivory which the couple believed had agitated the elephant. In the film, Dereck shared that elephants are known to grieve their dead and lead rich emotional lives.
According to BBC Discover Wildlife elephants are the eighth deadliest animals to humans, responsible for as many as 500 deaths per year. While elephants are known as gentle creatures, the article cites habitat loss as humans encroach into elephant territory leading to increased human-elephant conflict.
Elephant charges tourist canoes, sending them into the water in Botswana. Feature Image: Conservation National Parks – CNP Facebook, York Post YouTube
Dream of capturing the photo of a lifetime? Use the recipe below to photograph a tundra wolf, barren-ground grizzly, caribou or muskox. Though not complicated, this recipe is time-consuming, requires risk and contains ingredients you likely do not have at home. Do not be discouraged—the results are fulfilling.
How to photograph a tundra wolf
Step 1
Prepare to lose job—set aside
Wring hands nervously for 3 weeks
Once raw, ask boss for 2.5 months off work
Once complete, combine:
Late nights and approximately 100 pounds of food dehydration
Beat in sufficient hours of route, logistics and equipment planning (this will take longer than you think—plan accordingly)
1 ounce anxiety
1 large check to cover costs
Serves one forever. | Feature photo: Tim Irvin
Step 2
Add a river of clean, unfiltered cold water (stirring continuously with wooden paddle)
Stuff 16-foot canoe (preferably red) with all dried ingredients, camera gear and camping equipment
Mix in:
2 helpings solitude
1.3 million square kilometers wilderness
1 healthy dollop humility
1 tbsp laughter (Jovial brand is preferable to Maniacal)
Sprinkle with birdsong and keep warm
In a large pot:
Whisk 1 large serving of bug bites until thick (include scabs)
Combine with mixture above and blend thoroughly
Stir in:
15 meals bannock
6 days upstream travel
8 days portaging (or until feet tender)
2 scoops rapids
1 tsp grated nerves
A dash of fear
Juice from one blister
1 extra helping freedom
2 doses exhilaration
Instructions
Slather with sunscreen and liberal amounts of bug dope. Place in equal parts sun, wind and rain (snow is not a reasonable substitute). Garnish with one canoeist rolled in a meadow of tundra flowers. Let set in the Arctic for seven weeks and voilà!
Sam Shoemaker in his mushroom boat entering the Port of Los Angeles on August 5, 2025. | Image: Jordan Freeman / Courtesy Fulcrum Arts
On a recent summer morning, sculptor Sam Shoemaker was paddling a mushroom kayak 20 miles off the coast of Los Angeles when the hallucinations started.
“I was begging the sun to come out from behind the clouds because these spooky shadows were just coming out over these torrential, terrible waters,” Shoemaker said.
Although the menacing shapes were delusions, Shoemaker’s trip was very much real. He is not only a sculptor but a mycophile—a mushroom devotee—and the fungi kayak he was riding aboard was a work he began in a Ventura surfboard bay a year earlier. Mushrooms are the medium of the L.A. artist’s pieces. His geometric ceramic and glass sculptures are embedded with the living organisms, which inevitably burst out from their vessel like the serpents of Bernini’s Medusa, but with vivid caps and stems.
Shoemaker’s myco-integrated works have been exhibited in galleries throughout the city. He teaches workshops on cultivation, as well as interdisciplinary art and science courses at universities, including UCLA. Outside of Shoemaker’s craft, mushrooms are having a moment in the mainstream; they are appearing on tote bags, as health supplements in grocery aisles, in psychedelic research, and as alternative building materials. While Shoemaker considers himself a realist, skeptical of zealous claims regarding the current ability for fungi to solve our societal dilemmas, he also believes mushrooms have enormous potential to serve a more active role in our capabilities. He wanted to find a way to expand the dialogue through his talents; to create a working piece of art he could take on a journey. Living a short commute from the Pacific Coast, Shoemaker decided a kayak would be his muse and set out to grow a vessel capable of a 26-mile crossing from Catalina Island to the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest in the United States.
“Part of me doing this is to make a statement to the world that this thing that seems completely inconceivable is conceivable,” Shoemaker said. “And not only is it conceivable, but this guy, who didn’t go to school for science and has a pretty meager independent operation, can pull this off.”
Sam Shoemaker preparing his mycelium boat for the voyage. | Image: Jordan Freeman / courtesy Fulcrum Arts
Bringing a mushroom kayak to life
More exactly, Shoemaker’s kayak is made with the root-like mycelium of Ganoderma polychromum, a mushroom common on the streets of L.A., and which he harvested from right outside his studio. The mushroom kayak—his second attempt at the boat—is not Shoemaker’s most aesthetic work, though it is striking. It took just six weeks to grow in a fiberglass mold packed with sawdust, a hemp substrate, and cloth. This was followed by another three months to dry from a starting weight of 520 pounds down to 107 pounds, then seal. It is 12 feet long, with a rudimentary shape, and colored a dull brown and yellow as if it were a slab of foam aged in the sun. He’s shared the project online throughout the process, and it’s gained him more public discussion than many of his other works, and, along with it, plenty of critics.
“I posted a TikTok video of it, and someone said, ‘So it’s beeswax and sawdust.’ My reply is it wouldn’t really make much sense if I described a German shepherd as something made of hair and water,” Shoemaker explained in reference to the biological relationship between the mycelium of the Ganoderma and the materials it drew structure and nutrients from. “It’s a complex organism.”
Before embarking on the voyage itself, Shoemaker had little paddling experience, and, as his boat was taking shape, he spent hours paddling laps around the Ventura Harbor with a plastic whitewater kayak loaned to him by a paddling mentor with the instruction that, if he could learn to use the short boat intended for rivers, he’d be able to handle his own. It was also not lost on the sculptor that, at 33, he was the same age as Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader, who, in 1975, set out on a 13-foot sailboat to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a conceptual work titled In Search of the Miraculous. Ader was never seen again.
Crossing the Channel
On August 4, 2025, a day before his crossing, Shoemaker loaded Mushroom Boat 2 into a foam-padded saddle on the port side of the TipToe—a charter sailboat captained by Andrei Nemoi. When hatching his plan, Shoemaker had difficulty convincing a boat captain to assist him with the trip until he met Nemoi online.
“When he told me he created a mushroom boat it was interesting. I thought, I must know this man.” Nemoi, who moved to the U.S. from Russia and became a captain, shared.
Shoemaker, Nemoi, and a small team documenting the crossing, sailed across the San Pedro Channel to Catalina and camped out the night in the anchorage of Two Harbors. Around dawn Shoemaker lowered his kayak into the water and began for the mainland. Soon after, he faced the episode battling swell, tide and his own mind. He had been confident heading into the voyage, but now, for the first time, he questioned whether he’d be able to pull off the stunt. He would survive the rocky start, and as he inched his way away from Catalina, Shoemaker called over his marine radio to the support boat and asked for his pair of waterproof earbuds. He plugged them in and pulled up an album, Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s Keyboard Fantasies.
“I’ve had it downloaded on my phone for years now,” Shoemaker said. “It felt appropriately devotional to the ocean.”
It was around this place he reached a lull in the currents, and the swell started to carry his boat toward the mainland. Not long after, a group of fin whales showed up beside him.
“They were coming up to my boat and breaching right in front of me.” Shoemaker said. “One of the whales was behind me, swimming about two feet under the surface of the water, like a curious dog trying to sniff another dog’s butt. I don’t want to sound too schmaltzy, but there was a part of me that felt like this was some kind of visitation from a guardian angel.”
Before the entrance to the port, Shoemaker reached the four-mile-wide shipping channel. There was only one boat to yield to, an approaching 85,000-tonnage freighter. After letting it pass to avoid getting steamrolled, the channel was the maritime equivalent of walking across a nearly empty I-5.
Sam Shoemaker in his mushroom boat entering the Port of Los Angeles on August 5, 2025. | Image: Jordan Freeman / courtesy Fulcrum Arts
He entered the port at what’s commonly called Angels Gate Lighthouse, where he swayed back and forth with waves reverberating from the rocks. For the last two miles, he would be inside the harbor walls, in protected water to approach the boat ramp at Cabrillo Beach. The afternoon wind however turned against him, attempting to push him backward and into the sea wall. His landing was nearly in sight, but he was once again fighting for every inch. Shoemaker hadn’t stopped in hours, and he paused to take a drink of water and adjust his GoPro. Within moments he lost ground that would take half an hour to reclaim.
“It was just like a current of wind within the marina pulling me back towards that lighthouse,” Shoemaker said.
Nemoi and the others called over, urging him not to stop, that the wind would throw him into the rocks. Shoemaker, having paddled all day and over 20 miles to this point, replied in what he says was likely not the most polite way.
“I’m just screaming and getting splashed. I started sitting crisscross on the boat in order to get through it. It was nonstop for about two hours of going one mile per hour into this wind just to get to the dock.”
After 12 hours and 26 miles on the Pacific, Shoemaker and his mushroom kayak landed at the Cabrillo Beach boat launch to a small gathering of friends and family. Vindicated, and standing in a stenchy wetsuit, he mustered what social battery he had remaining and popped champagne.
“I hope people recognize this for what it is,” Shoemaker said. “Rather than me doing something heroic and brave or something. Really, this is a new beginning. Art can be incredibly anti-climactic. You bring something out of the studio, you put it in a gallery, and it’s miserable sometimes. Everything is in question with art. I had something here really concrete that I wanted to do, and there’s no ambiguity with the achievement.”
Shoemaker isn’t looking to enter the mushroom kayak building business, though he is entertaining the idea of making a mycelium surfboard. The kayaks he’s created will be displayed in an exhibit at Fulcrum Arts in nearby Pasadena beginning this October. He is also publishing an open resource for others to use to build boats of their own and to expand upon what he’s accomplished, which has always been his hope. Through his growing expertise in industrial mycology, Shoemaker is also finding opportunities to be involved with more ambitious research in mushroom technology.
At the boat ramp, with the help of his wife, they loaded Mushroom Boat 2 into the back of their truck and drove home. When the Shoemakers arrived in their neighborhood of Lincoln Heights that night, they laid the mushroom kayak outside to dry, and, after a long journey, the Ganoderma polychromum was touching ground once again.
Nova Craft Canoe began producing fiberglass canoes in 1970 out of a garage in London, Ontario. More than 50 years later, they’re still making canoes in London—just in a factory rather than a garage. Nova Craft has expanded their offering of canoes while remaining true to their roots—producing high-quality canoes for exploring the wild spaces of the world.
Anyone who is looking for a canoe should seriously consider Nova Craft. The canoes Nova Craft makes range from 12-foot solo canoes to 18-foot Prospector tripping boats, with whitewater, recreational and cruiser boats in between. These canoes are available in ultra-lightweight aramid composite materials or durable plastics, with many customization options.
We’ve compiled information on Nova Craft’s canoes, along with some tips that will help guide your next purchase. Read on to find out more.
Top picks: Best Nova Craft canoes
Nova Craft Canoe Solo Prospector 14
The only tripping companion you really need. | Feature photo: Geoff Whitlock
“Intended to handle trips with mixed conditions, the solo P14 lives up to the Prospector’s reputation of being a Swiss Army knife. Up until now, plenty of canoeists have solo tripped with Nova Craft’s other Prospectors, particularly the 15- and 16-foot models. The canoes’ symmetrical designs allow them to be paddled backwards from the bow seat.
So, how does the P14 differ?
While the P14 retains the moderate rocker of its tandem counterparts and just a half-inch less of depth, it’s four inches slimmer. Like its lengthier siblings, its shallow-arch hull is confidence-inspiring. Whether weaving through marsh flats, bouncing down small rapids or bobbing through mild chop on a big lake, the P14 is reliable. Reminiscent of a steadfast tripping companion, it was never fussy, did what needed doing, and was dang good company….”[ Read full review ]
“In shallow headwater rapids, collisions with unseen rocks reverberated through the rigid hull, but left only a slight scuff on the skid plates. By day seven, our Nova Craft Prospector 17 showed many light scratches and two gouges through the gel coat—injury resulting from some less-than-gentle wading—exposing the undamaged composite fibers but in no way compromising the integrity of the hull. Five weeks of tripping later, the scars remained purely superficial and easily touched up at home.
Aside from its durability, the other tremendous advantage of TuffStuff is its very manageable weight. Tipping the scales at just 63 pounds, our 17-footer is 25 percent lighter than most comparably-sized whitewater tripping canoes, which means I could carry it at least 50 percent further on portages…”[ Read full review ]
Nova Craft Canoe Bob Special
Paddlers love this classic design. | Photo: Kaydi Pyette
“Miller attributes the design’s popularity to its versatility. “Today the Bob Special is a really good all-arounder; it’s a good day tripper for a couple to putz around the lake for the afternoon, it’s a nice solo for going out fishing and a good weekender for couples who travel light.” Even the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau soloed his very own Bobs Special.
Adding to its charm, the Bob Special is remarkably stable thanks to its 35-inch width and shallow-arch hull. This stability has made it a favorite amongst photographers, anglers and parents with young children…” [ Read full review ]
Nova Craft Canoe Fox 14
Perfect solo tripping companion for making miles. | Photo: Timothy J. Baklinski
“With very little rocker, the Fox 14 scoots right along. Tilt it over a little and it turns beautifully. I didn’t miss the extra two feet of my tandem Prospector—two feet that for the most part wasn’t in the water anyway.
If you’re not launching from docks or floating lazy uninterrupted rivers and you want to be free to wander anywhere you’ll have to order, like I did, a yoke and hardware. If you’re looking for a solo tripping canoe with classic lines that you can lift and launch anywhere, the Nova Craft Fox 14 could be for you.”[ Read full review ]
If you are looking to get the most out of your canoe-buying budget, finding a used Nova Craft canoe is the way to go. Canoe designs change very little from year to year, so expect similar performance from a used canoe in good condition compared to new. For a first-time canoe buyer, this is a great way to maximize value.
Nova Craft canoes built before 2014 may be made of Royalex plastic or the slightly lighter Royalite. Once the standard for bombproof canoes, this ABS plastic material was discontinued by the manufacturer. Used Royalex canoes can still be found, although they are often snatched up quickly. If you see one that is in good condition, act fast.
Look for used Nova Craft canoes on traditional online classified boards. Outfitters and summer camps frequently replenish their fleets, and when they do so, they will sell off older boats. This typically happens at the end of the season, so it doesn’t hurt to begin inquiring in the late summer months.
Like buying any boat, consider the type of paddling you want to do and research the available options online. This will help you save time on your search and get the boat that suits you best.
For more tips on what to look for when selecting a used canoe, read our article How To Buy A Used Canoe.
Nova Craft canoe buying advice
If you are looking to buy a Nova Craft canoe it’s essential to consider the type of paddling you plan to do. This will influence the canoe model and material. Let’s look at Nova Craft’s breakdown of canoe types to help you explore what they have to offer.
Types of Nova Craft canoe
Nova Craft sorts their canoe models into four categories: Recreational, Cruiser, Whitewater and Prospector.
Recreational
Recreational canoes in the lineup include the Bob Special, Fox, Muskoka, Pal, Teddy and Trapper models. These boats are perfect for beginner canoeists, families or anyone who wants a stable boat to take on calm waters. Their somewhat flat hulls make them choice models for anglers as well.
Cruiser
The Cruiser canoe category suits paddlers looking to travel quickly and easily across flat water. Boats in this category are built with a low profile to minimize drag. Some, like the Haida, feature an asymmetrical design for speed and a flat bottom for added stability.
The other cruiser, the Cronje, is built from the Chestnut Canoe Company’s classic design. This is the boat you want if you want a fast canoe to take on large lakes.
Whitewater
Nova Craft’s whitewater canoe offerings are the Moisie 16’6” and the Supernova 14’10” Solo. These boats are built for wilderness whitewater canoeing. Very few wilderness trips are purely whitewater, and these routes require paddling through flatwater to get to the steep stuff.
With this in mind, Nova Craft’s whitewater canoes are maneuverable enough to control in rapids but still paddle well along the calm sections. The deep hull and high capacity ensure both a dry ride and enough space to take along everything you’ll need.
Prospector
The final category is the Prospector series. Deemed “the workhorse of the North”, the Prospector design is a do-it-all type of boat. Many companies produce a version of this boat. The particular designs may vary slightly, but the same characteristics persist: a Prospector is a symmetrical-hulled, high-capacity canoe intended for expedition travel.
Nova Craft’s version is modeled after the Chestnut Canoe Company’s Prospector made famous by the artist, canoeist and filmmaker Bill Mason. It can be used for open waters or Class I-II+ rivers.
If you are a canoeist looking to do everything but only have space (or a budget) for one boat, consider a Prospector. The symmetrical hull means it can be paddled tandem or solo by sitting backwards in the bow seat. These boats paddle best loaded with gear and are available from Nova Craft in 15-,16-,17- and 18-foot lengths.
Length
When it comes to canoe length, the longer 17- and 18-foot canoes have a higher storage capacity and are suitable for multi-week expeditions. Shorter lengths do not have the same capacity, but they are more maneuverable on tight rivers and easier to solo paddle. If you are sticking to short trips on smaller waters, a 15- or 16-foot boat is all you will need.
Materials
We’ve already touched on the discontinued Royalex material in the Used Buying Advice section, so let’s look at the options available in 2022, from heaviest to lightest.
SP3
SP3 is Nova Craft’s entry-cost canoe material for their most durable canoes. First-time canoe buyers may assume that a heavy canoe is always a bad thing and that the more expensive a canoe is, the better it will be. This is not always the case.
Although there is certainly a relationship between cost and weight, it ultimately depends on how you want to use your canoe. If you are looking for a durable canoe that can withstand all degrees of hard use, SP3 is the right choice over an ultralight canoe that will crumple if pinned in a rapid.
Creating SP3 canoes involves rotomolding, a process that slowly spins melted polyethylene plastic in a canoe-shaped mold. Nova Craft’s process results in three layers, two rigid layers with a foam one in the middle. The foam adds flotation, preventing it from sinking if it fills with water.
Fiberglass
Nova Craft got its start producing fiberglass canoes, and they continue to do so today. Woven fiberglass cloth is layered with epoxy to make a canoe that is durable and reasonably light, without breaking the bank. They weigh less than SP3 canoes, with a 16-foot fiberglass Prospector weighing 66 lbs/30 kg compared to the SP3 Prospector’s 85 lb/38.6 kg.
Fiberglass canoes also cost less than TuffStuff or other composite materials. These are good boats for recreational use or light canoe tripping.
TuffStuff
TuffStuff and TuffStuff Expedition are Nova Craft’s flagship materials, developed after the demise of Royalex. The aim was to create a material tough enough to withstand tripping and whitewater abuse but still be easy enough to carry.
TuffStuff uses a blend of melted basalt rock and Innegra fiber. Innegra is a synthetic fiber made with polypropylene. It is lightweight, impact-resistant and water-resistant, making it a perfect material for canoe hulls. The composite construction is stiffer than SP3, resulting in a more responsive feel.
The TuffStuff canoes are priced in the mid-range of Nova Craft’s offerings. The composite construction helps to keep the boat light enough to carry while still being durable enough to bump and grind down rivers.
A 16-foot Prospector in TuffStuff weighs just 56 lb/25.4 kg, or the more robust and reinforced TuffStuff Expedition comes in at 62 lb/ 28.1 kg, very manageable weights for the portage trail. Read more about what a TuffStuff canoe can handle here.
Aramid Lite
Aramid Lite is Nova Craft’s ultralight material for flatwater tripping canoes. A composite material like fiberglass, aramid has an extremely high strength-to-weight ratio. It is abrasion-resistant and extremely stiff. Kevlar is a well-known example of an aramid material. These canoes are on the expensive end, but they have a significant advantage in weight.
A 16-foot Prospector canoe in Aramid Lite weighs just 45 lb/ 20.4 kg! This is light enough to easily load or unload the boat solo onto a vehicle or for long portages.
Blue Steel
The space-age Blue Steel canoe material blends the best qualities of the above materials into a super canoe. This hybrid of aramid and carbon fibers infuses Innegra into the hull for extra reinforcement. It’s stiff and light but ready to tackle tough rivers and handle abrasions.
The additional process adds a higher cost, making this the most expensive layup in Nova Craft’s fleet, but with a 16-foot Prospector weighing just 48 lbs/21.8 kg, it’s a canoe that can be carried just about anywhere.
What is Nova Craft?
Nova Craft is a canoe manufacturer based out of London, Ontario. They’ve been making canoes for flatwater and wilderness trips since 1970.
Are Nova Craft canoes good?
Nova Craft canoes are good for paddlers looking for reliable, high-performance canoes for flatwater, fishing and wilderness tripping. Different models are crafted for specific uses, and Nova Craft’s offering presents many options and possible customizations.
Where are Nova Craft canoes made?
All Nova Craft canoes are made in their factory in London, Ontario.
Who owns Nova Craft Canoe?
Nova Craft canoe was purchased by Chris Rath in 2019. Before that, it was run by Tim Miller and Pat Malloy.
Nova Craft Canoe price list
How much are Nova Craft canoes? Pricing depends on the canoe model and materials, but they range from $1,200 CAD for a 15-foot Prospector SP3 to $4,109 CAD for the Cruiser series boats in the lightweight Blue Steel material.
In the canoe world, Nova Craft Canoes compare to most companies. With their wide selection, they align with other manufacturers’ prices.
Nova Craft Canoe dealers
If you are wondering where to buy canoes from Nova Craft, there is an extensive dealer network across North America and Europe. It is possible to buy direct, but the company recommends getting to know and supporting your local paddle shop to save on shipping costs. Nova Craft canoes are also available at national outdoor chains like Mountain Equipment Company.
Nova Craft Canoe weights
Nova Craft Canoe’s weights are influenced by the boat lengths and materials. Building off our detailed breakdown of the materials above, we will continue to use the 16-foot Prospector as a baseline. Here’s how the material determines the weight of a 16-foot Prospector:
Material
Weight
SP3
85 lb / 38.6 kg
Fiberglass
66 lb / 29.9 kg
TuffStuff
56 lb / 25.4 kg
TuffStuff Expedition
62 lb / 28.1 kg
Aramid Lite
45lb / 20.4 kg
Blue Steel
48lb / 21.8 kg
Compare Nova Craft canoes
Nova Craft vs Swift canoes
Swift Canoe and Kayak is another Canadian boat maker with deep roots in the backcountry. These boats are tested in Algonquin Provincial Park and feature a Prospector model as well. They are known for producing high-quality canoes, and whether you choose Nova Craft or Swift, you will be getting a canoe that performs well.
Much of the differences come down to individual preferences and intended use. The only way to truly know which one is right for you is to try them both.
Nova Craft canoe reviews
Begin to search for Nova Craft canoes by reading expert reviews from our staff at Paddling Magazine. This is a great way to understand the capabilities of each boat and what they can be used for. With such a wide range of boats, you’ll be sure to find one that matches your paddling needs.
Can you imagine what it would cost to build a river? This question was floated by environmentalist Mark Hume when I interviewed him for Rapid magazine over 15 years ago. A river conservationist and writer, Hume used this question to argue that rivers are precious, valuable and perhaps completely impossible to replicate. I agree, but that hasn’t kept people from trying.
The rapids are real, the river isn’t
Man has been messing with rivers since the beginning of time—damming, channelizing and diverting. Whitewater paddling plays its part here, too.
Early slalom courses modified natural streams. The Augsburg Olympic course in 1972 was the first to be entirely manufactured from concrete. Many more slalom courses and play spots have been built or modified over the years, but all of this pales in comparison to Walt Disney World.
I’m a soul man. | Feature photo: Yan Kaczynski
Walt Disney doesn’t do anything halfway. In the mid ’90s, Disney approached Intamin, a major Swiss amusement ride manufacturer making water rides since 1979, with a challenge: Make us a river. This was not to be another bumper-boat-type ride. Disney wanted to simulate a rainforest whitewater river and provide the closest experience to whitewater rafting short of going rafting.
The resulting feature is impressive. Aboard a 12-person, round and guideless raft, you descend 30 feet in five minutes, bouncing through continuous class II and III, ending with one major drop.
As I’m waiting in the long line (which is also typically Disney) for my turn on the ride, I think of all of the manufactured rivers I’ve paddled. Except for small, modified play features, any concrete river has felt pretty foreign—the water does not behave as it does in natural rivers. As we board the solid raft and secure our seatbelts—no PFDs in sight—we are assured by the grinning loading attendant that we are going to get wet.
We gain elevation up a long rollercoaster-style escalator ramp and, at the top, are dumped into the water. It looks like a real river. It sounds like a real river. If it wasn’t for the little boy across from me with mouse ears, it’d feel like a real river.
We pick up speed with the current and round a bend into manufactured mist, the roar of rapids ahead. It reminds me of October mornings on the Jacques Cartier River in Quebec.
The river twists and turns with complex rapids—holes and offset waves—this would be really fun to paddle. Our boat occasionally bumps the side of the 25-foot-wide channel, but mostly stays in the middle. We sweep around a bend to see an unmistakable horizon line. I’m genuinely surprised to feel the familiar butterflies of anticipation as we approach the lip. This could be any number of drops on the Upper Yough in West Virginia.
Wow, I think to myself, this is really good! Over the lip and down the steep slide with a whoosh of soaking water at the bottom. A narrow canyon continues with more rapids until the current lets up. Just like that, the ride is over—I miss the calm float of appreciation before the take-out.
As we unload, my kids have big smiles. Somewhat unexpectedly, they cheer, “When we get home, let’s go rafting!” And that sums it up.
Try as artificial river makers might; it’s not the real thing. While there is the familiar pull of the current, the rapids are completely and noticeably without something. It is subtle but immediate. It is enough for my kids, who spend their summers around rivers, to notice. The other modified rivers I’ve paddled, while certainly more real, also lacked what only natural rivers have—soul.
This article was published in Issue 73 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Current Designs kayaks emerged from the wilderness of Vancouver Island in the late 1970s with stable, high-storage sea kayaks suited for multi-day coastal travel. Evolutions of these early Current Designs kayaks include the Solstice and Equinox, two classic designs that are still available today.
Over the last four decades, the company has expanded from their coastal touring roots to produce kayaks for everyone, including durable recreational boats and lightweight transitional kayaks for cottage cruising, sleek Danish-style kayaks for ocean play, traditional Greenland-style kayaks for rolling, and more. In 2023, Sanborn Canoe Co. bought the composite division of Current Designs. The brand continues to offer lightweight composite kayaks and custom builds.
If you’re looking for an impeccably finished, thoughtfully designed touring, recreational or transitional kayak, there’s likely a Current Designs that’s a great match for you.
In this guide, you will find links to the best Current Designs kayaks on the market, as well as an overview of the types of kayaks this company produces. We’ve also included some buying advice for used Current Designs kayaks and answers to common questions.
“The Karla is one of our top picks for the best touring kayak. It amps up the Danish series, with an even more aggressive rocker profile than the Sisu, as well as a slightly shorter and narrower hull. Kromann-Andersen also added volume in the bow, so his newest creation surfs like a dream and displays nimble prowess in the heaviest waters.
Topside, the Karla sports the same four-hatch configuration and sweeping deck contours as her siblings. This bow-to-stern shaping is not only stylish, it increases stiffness throughout, provides clearance for paddle strokes, and creates space for a positive fit in the knee area—all while keeping overall deck height low…”[ Read full review ]
For big and tall paddlers. “The Titan is essentially just a double high-volume cut of a Solstice GT hull—same length and width with an extra inch and a half of depth to give it 30 percent more volume. The Titan retains the performance characteristics that have made the Solstice GT one of the best-selling boats of all time—stability, speed, reasonable manoeuvrability. The noticeable effect is high windage, but this is a small concern for the very large paddlers and loads this boat is meant for.”[ Read full review ]
Current Designs Equinox GT
Current Designs Equinox GT | Photo: Virginia Marshall
“At nearly two feet shorter than the Solstice, the 16-foot Equinox GT has the same roomy 24-inch beam (a lower volume, 22-inch-wide GTS version offers a sportier fit), shallow-V hull and soft chines for rock-solid initial stability and smooth edging.
In a family hailed for superb acceleration and glide, the Equinox’s shorter waterline actually makes for even greater efficiency at a comfortably sustained touring pace of three to four knots. Tracking with or without the rudder is excellent, adding to the effortless feel of open-water cruising….”[ Read full review ]
Current Designs Sisu
User-friendly, even when the conditions aren’t. | Photo: Vince Paquot
“At 16 feet, the Sisu is a foot shorter and slightly wider than the Prana. It also has even more rocker and the hull’s flat mid-section extends further in front of the cockpit, transitioning into a buoyant, flared bow. On a wave, this means the nose doesn’t dive and the boat stays loose and maneuverable while surfing. The Sisu’s hard chines are most pronounced at mid-ship, where the boxy profile makes for superb secondary stability when edging and carving waves.
Seeking a suitably dynamic environment to test our flawless, frost-white-and-royal-blue Sisu, I wait for a late fall gale to sweep across my local waters. Thirty-five-knot gusts out of the northwest plunge the wind chill well below freezing and send noisy breakers charging onto the rocky shore. Taking shelter behind the breakwall of a neighboring estate might feel a little like trespassing, but it offers a welcome rest between wild rides…”[ Read full review ]
Shopping for a used Current Designs kayak?
Current Designs’ timeless designs and robust construction make shopping for a used Current Designs kayak a great option. But with outdoor recreation booming, and delays in supply chains impacting kayak availability, where can you find a used Current Designs kayak? Or any kayak, for that matter?
It may take a bit of patience and perseverance to find the right one, but through online classifieds like Kijiji or Craigslist, Current Designs kayaks can be found. Sea kayaks are a niche item, and looking on special-interest pages or Facebook groups, such as a regional paddling club, may quicken the search. These dedicated groups are frequented by avid paddlers, so the kayaks will likely be in better condition.
When looking for a Current Designs kayak, Kijiji searches will be most effective if you try various terms. Beyond the model you are looking for, try more generic ones like “sea kayak” or “Current Designs touring kayak”. Search in all categories, rather than specifically recreation, as sometimes kayaks are listed under “boats”.
Searching for retired demos or rentals is another way to get your hands on a used Current Designs kayak. If an outfitter near you rents Current Designs kayaks, chances are they will be replenishing their fleet as the kayaks get older—ask if they are planning to do so at the end of the season. Renting a boat is also a great way to test how it fits and performs.
With such a long history in the sea kayak world, many Current Designs models are no longer in production. If it is an older kayak or the decals have been removed, the owner may not know the model name. It may take a bit of Internet sleuthing to identify and get more information about the boat.
Happily, the company’s website contains archived pages with descriptions of every Current Designs kayak ever made. Contacting Current Designs with the registration number on the inside of the hull will also provide a definitive I.D. and age of the kayak.
Another benefit of buying an established brand like Current Designs is the ability to source replacement parts. If you find a used Current Designs kayak that needs replacement parts, contact the company. They may have the part in stock or recommend compatible parts to use in the damaged ones’ place.
There’s no real downside to buying an older kayak that has been well cared for. I’ve seen 20-year-old Current Designs kayaks that look brand new because they’ve been stored carefully and never dragged up a beach. Fiberglass boats seem to better stand the test of time, but plastic kayaks that are stored indoors can be an equally good buy.
Proper storage is crucial; UV rays cause devastating damage to kayaks. Garage or indoor storage is best, ideally climate-controlled to negate seasonal temperature fluctuations and prevent moisture. When looking at a used kayak, check inside the hatches and cockpit where moisture may have collected. A well-stored kayak will not have any mildew or dampness inside the hatches. This may not be a dealbreaker if you are considering buying a used kayak, but be prepared to use some elbow grease cleaning it.
When looking at a used plastic kayak, also check the bottom (hull) of the kayak for “oil-canning”—wavy dents that indicate a sun-damaged kayak; these deformities reduce the kayak’s paddling efficiency and performance.
Establishing a fair price for a used kayak is tricky. If stored correctly and well-cared for, a kayak will hold much of its value (this is especially true of hard-to-find, discontinued models). With the pandemic paddlesports boom putting used kayaks in such short supply, quality used kayaks are a rare find.
If you find a perfect fit, don’t hesitate or haggle hard to save a few bucks. This is a long-term investment, and the savings of buying used are likely already significant.
For more tips on what to look for when selecting a used kayak, read our article How To Buy A Used Kayak.
Current Designs kayaks buying advice
Current Designs kayaks meet a range of needs for paddlers of all sizes. Kayaks are a very specialized craft, with deliberate design tweaks for different intended uses. A kayak designed for multi-day camping trips on open water will have different features and performance attributes than a recreational kayak intended for beginner paddlers and short tours on sheltered waters.
Understanding what kind of kayaking you want to do, and where you want to do it, will help you choose the best kayak for your paddling aspirations.
The Current Designs lineup is divided into five categories: Transitional, North American-style touring and Danish-style touring.
Kayak styles
Transitional
Transitional kayaks in Current Designs’ lineup bridge the gap between recreational and touring kayaks. These boats fit in the popular “day touring” category, borrowing elements from dedicated touring kayaks, packaged in the size of recreational kayaks. The flagship Vision series is available in five different sizes and a tandem model to suit paddlers of every size.
Current Designs transitional kayaks have the premium outfitting you would expect on a sea kayak—like decklines, bungees for storage, optional skeg or rudder, and watertight hatches and bulkheads—but they are much shorter. Sized from 12 to 15 feet, they favor stability on calm waters and easy turning over speed. The cockpits are smaller than the Recreational series, adding thigh braces for more efficient paddling and control. Transitional kayaks are best suited for day touring and have storage capacity for shorter overnight trips.
North American-style touring
North American-style touring kayaks are direct descendants of the first boats that Current Designs made. Two of those early designs, the Solstice and the Equinox remain popular today. Other models include the Squall (a plastic version of the Equinox) and two tandems: the Unity and the Libra XT. These kayaks are designed for extended trips in coastal waters; they are high-capacity and comfortable for long days in the seat. North American-style kayaks are more forgiving than both the British and Danish styles.
New paddlers will find these kayaks easier to become accustomed to. They are more efficient, faster and have better tracking (making them easier to paddle straight) than Recreational or Transitional models. North American-style kayaks have foot controlled rudders for added maneuverability and tracking.
Danish-style touring
The newest category to emerge from Current Designs, Danish-style touring kayaks are the brainchild of esteemed Danish kayak designer, Jesper Kromann-Andersen. These boats have far more rocker (the amount of upsweep from the center of the kayak to its ends) than all of the other kayaks in the Current Designs fleet, making them supremely maneuverable and rough-water capable in the hands of more experienced paddlers.
Under other brands, these may be categorized as “Ocean Play” kayaks, great for surfing, rolling and rough water. The 15- to 17-foot length and efficient hull shapes mean Danish-style kayaks are also well-suited to day or multi-day touring. Snug-fitting cockpits and lively handling make these kayaks best suited to intermediate and advanced paddlers.
Fiberglass or Aramid construction keeps these kayaks lightweight, and priced at the high end of Current Designs’ lineup. The Karla, Prana and Sisu fall within the Danish-style touring category, along with each kayak’s low-volume (LV) editions.
Material
After settling on a style and model of kayak, what material should you go for? Sometimes the choice is made for you, and the kayak is only available in a select build. Other times, you’ll have to weigh the options. As with any kayak, the lighter the layup, the higher the price.
Fiberglass
Fiberglass kayaks are much stiffer than plastic boats. This rigidity makes the kayak faster and more responsive. Fiberglass kayaks cannot handle as much abuse as a rotomolded plastic kayak, but they are far from fragile, especially Current Designs’ “heavy water” reinforced layup.
Repairs are also straightforward; if you’re not confident tackling a repair yourself, it’s relatively easy to find a professional who can make the fix. Finally, fiberglass is more expensive, but the boats are lighter than plastic ones.
Aramid composites
Aramid composites are the “ultralights” of the kayak world. These boats land at a higher price point than fiberglass, but you are paying for significantly less weight. These boats are ideal for someone who wants a lightweight kayak that is easier to load on and off a vehicle or carry to the launch.
If you are hard on your equipment, more delicate Aramid construction may not be the best choice.
Finally, remember that online research will only get you so far. If you can, always test paddle before buying any boat. Still wondering if Current Designs kayaks are right for you? Here are answers to some of the most common online questions about Current Designs kayaks.
Where are Current Designs kayaks made?
Current Designs kayaks are made in the USA by Sanborn Canoe.
Current Designs kayak prices
Find manufacturer’s suggested retail prices (MSRP) of Current Designs kayaks on their website. Shipping, optional outfitting and construction layup will affect the costs of the kayaks, and it is best to visit your local paddle shop to get the most up-to-date prices.
For recreational kayaks, expect to spend around $1,000 for a plastic kayak or $2,000 for an ultralight rec kayak; transitional kayaks range from $1,350 to more than $3,000; and touring kayaks cost upwards of and $4,000 (all prices USD).
Compare Current Designs kayaks
Current Designs vs Wilderness Systems
Wilderness Systems is another widely-known North American kayak company. They now exclusively make polyethylene boats, although some discontinued fiberglass touring kayaks can be found used. Wilderness Systems makes recreational, day touring, touring and fishing kayaks, including sit-on-top models equipped with pedal drives. Wilderness Systems’ flagship touring kayak, the Tempest, is a British-style kayak, comparable to the Current Designs Sirocco.
Current Designs focuses on sit-inside touring kayaks. Even their recreational models have many elements of a touring boat, like two bulkheads and a skeg or rudder. Current Designs also offers more high-end material options, including fiberglass and Aramid composites. Choose Current Designs for the greatest selection of touring designs and materials; if you are looking for a beginner-friendly sit-on-top or fishing-focused design, Wilderness Systems is the obvious choice.
Current Designs vs Eddyline
Based in Washington state, Eddyline specializes in recreational, fishing and day touring kayaks made from thermoformed plastic—a material that has the durability of traditional rotomolded plastic without the heavy weight. Thermoform kayaks are not as light as Current Designs’ Aramid blends, but are still easy to handle. Current Designs offers more touring designs in the 15- to 17-foot range, aimed at paddlers of all sizes and experience levels.
Current Designs’ selection of rotomolded plastic and composite kayaks make for a more comprehensive price range, with some boats more expensive than Eddyline kayaks and some cheaper. If you’re seeking a good variety of lightweight sit-on-top and sit-inside recreational kayaks, or a dedicated fishing kayak, look to Eddyline. If you want a wider selection of full-size touring kayaks, choose Current Designs.
Impex vs Current Designs
Now produced by Canadian kayak and canoe manufacturer Abitibi & Co., Impex sea kayaks are high-end, high-performance composite boats. The Impex Force series is known for speedy, rough-water capable hulls. All Impex kayaks are constructed using Kevlar fusion materials, compared to Current Designs’ range of materials.
Current Designs offers more options for beginner and casual paddlers with their recreational and transitional (day touring) models, as well as options for rudder or skeg steering systems. Impex sea kayaks are more suitable for intermediate and advanced paddlers, and exclusively use skegs.
Current Designs kayak reviews
Paddling Magazine is your best online resource for Current Designs kayak reviews. Reading reviews of Current Designs kayaks helps to understand where these boats excel. See what someone else loved about the kayak, and let it guide your decision. When you find one that matches your needs perfectly, remember, it’s always best to “try before you buy.”
Working up a renewed appreciation for dry layers. | Feature photo: Dan Sutherland
I wake up and go straight out for a cold-water swim—the best way to start the day on a trip. It’s a crisp morning with late-August chill and mist rising. Still toasty from the sleeping bag, I plunge before my body clues into the temperature. Jump, breathe, let the body adjust.
Then, blood pumping, adrenaline coursing, I’m temporarily immune to cold. I can climb out and air-dry in the morning breeze, perfectly comfortable, while my family looks on in their puffy jackets, shaking their wool-swaddled heads.
I take in the view of the sky, the morning sun on the white pines, the early rays slicing through the mist, feeling nothing but alive. Later, bundled in warm layers, sitting in my folding chair, cup of coffee in hand, freshly split cedar in a pile, fire crackling cheerily, I couldn’t be happier.
The joy of being uncomfortable
Early on a trip, all the bending, squatting, kneeling, heavy lifting and torquing of the body, hunkering against the rain and wind are a shock to the system. Some people never get past it. But what sets wilderness tripping apart from all-inclusive vacations is the willingness to embrace discomfort as part of the deal.
Paddlers know the sacrifices are worth it. We understand the rewards. We get stronger. We adapt. And we have discovered the secret that against this backdrop of slight inconvenience and discomfort, the mind and body are recalibrated so that the simplest pleasures—being warm, sitting down—are more intense than anything you can experience at a poolside retreat with an all-you-can-drink bar. Touring isn’t masochism—seeking discomfort or suffering for its own sake—so much as a kind of refined hedonism, the path to true comfort and pleasure.
Working up a renewed appreciation for dry layers. | Feature photo: Dan Sutherland
Modern psychology has explained our problem with taking comfort for granted in our everyday lives. In his book The Comfort Crisis, journalist Michael Easter cites a researcher who proved the human brain is wired to find something wrong with every situation. When our big problems are solved, we experience “problem creep” whereby our minds search for something new to fix.
Easter expands this notion to “comfort creep,” whereby “when a new comfort is introduced, we adapt to it and our old comforts become unacceptable. Today’s comfort is tomorrow’s discomfort.” It’s a cycle of dissatisfaction.
I saw a great example of comfort creep recently in a fancy house where the owner showed me a dazzling array of water pipes leading in and out of the furnace room. The purpose was to infinitely circulate heated water in a closed loop so you could get hot water instantly at every tap. I was stunned. How did waiting a few seconds for hot water become so unbearable that someone would re-plumb their entire house instead of appreciating the miracle of hot running water at all?
We’ve engineered comfort into every corner of our lives—heated seats, instant meals, climate control—but we’re still unsatisfied. Instead of embracing simple pleasures, we upgrade, optimize, and consume more, never realizing that the real fix isn’t more—it’s less.
Paddling trips keep comfort creep in check by resetting the goalposts. I think of the Tolstoy character Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace. Imprisoned in a shed, then forced to march in bare feet, Pierre realizes that his sore, raw feet bother him no more than they did wearing tight dancing shoes in his old life as an aristocrat.
“He had learned that there is a limit to suffering and limit to freedom, and that these limits are not far away; that the person in a bed of roses with one crumpled petal suffered as keenly as he suffered now.”
Not unlike one living in an overly large house with a long hot water delay.
“The roots of pleasure are not to be found in comfort, but in discomfort, because pleasure was a relief from discomfort.”
My kayaking trips are no prison camp, but they do strip life down to essentials in a way that heightens simple pleasures. At home we have the comfort of room temperature, the very concept of which is a recent social construct that, it turns out, may be bad for our health. In a chapter on heating and air conditioning in The Day the World Stops Shopping, writer J.B. MacKinnon argues that living in a constantly “thermoneutral” condition may not only cause us extreme “thermal boredom” but be partly to blame for our society’s epidemic of metabolic syndrome. For our health, he concludes, “We should put up with more heat and cold in our lives, at least enough to make our bodies have to work to keep us warm or cool.”
Enduring some discomfort, thermal or otherwise, may be good for our bodies and souls. But the main benefit is it’s the best way to heighten pleasure. MacKinnon summarizes the research of a French-Canadian scientist named Michel Cabanac:
“Cabanac concluded the roots of pleasure are not to be found in comfort, but in discomfort, because pleasure was a relief from discomfort. He called the effect alliesthesia, which translates roughly from Latin as ‘change sensation.’ Build up the fire in a chilly house in the morning, and the relief from the cold feels especially good. Beer never tastes better than when it’s a respite from a hot and humid day.”
I can’t think of a better explanation for why I find the mild suffering of paddling trips so intensely pleasurable. Pleasure is a signal that rises more clearly above the background noise when the ambient conditions are slightly miserable. Slipping into the wilderness, you dial down comfort like the squelch knob on a radio until the signal comes in clearly—now this feels good! Small comforts salvaged in the face of harsh conditions become a source of wonder and gratitude—a dry tent and a warm sleeping bag on a cold, rainy night. This is not really discomfort—its ultimate comfort.
Call it hedonism, but in a world of rampant consumption, living pleasurably within self-imposed limits offers an antidote to the destructive cult of limitless growth—one that’s kinder to both our pocketbooks and the planet. It also hints at the possibility of a friendlier world with plenty to go around.
I recall the simple joy of air drying on a bare rock after a chilly morning swim, and I feel hope.
Tim Shuff lives in a comfortable house near the shores of Georgian Bay, where he owns a hot tub, but never takes it for granted. He would turn down the thermostat if his wife would let him.
This article was published in Issue 73 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Working up a renewed appreciation for dry layers. | Feature photo: Dan Sutherland
On September 19, 2025 Jackson Kayak announced the shipping of the Antix 3.0, their latest whitewater kayak. The Antix 3.0 features upgrades designed by a collection of the brand’s paddlers including Dane Jackson, Stephen Wright, Clay Wright, Nick Troutman and Alec Voorhees with Tad Dennis leading CAD work.
The new Antix 3.0 is designed with play in mind
The Antix 3.0 includes increased bow surface area with additional volume and rocker with the goal of providing a higher and drier downriver ride. With a wider hull design, the Antix 3.0 is meant to retain speed over river features, while the smaller stern is designed for squirting and splatting. For improved carving and surf performance, the Antix 3.0 inherits the double rail of Jackson Kayaks’ Rockstar V.
“We brought a modern feel with a more confidence-inspiring bow, increased speed, and a higher floating design while maintaining the nimbleness and playfulness I loved with the Antix 2,” shared Dane Jackson. “But my favorite addition is our Rockstar double rail — turning it into a loose, epic surfing machine no matter what size wave you’re on!”
Jackson Kayak is based in Sparta, Tennessee and was founded in 2003 by Tony Lunt, Eric Jackson and David Knight. Today, Jackson Kayak is still in the Jackson family, owned by Eric’s daughter Emily, son Dane and Tony Lunt. As of May 2024, Jackson Kayak acquired Werner Paddles and, more recently Eddyline Kayaks in February 2025.
“With the Antix 3.0 we set out to make a kayak that feels even more playful and intuitive,” shared Tad Dennis. “It’s looser on a wave, easier to stern-squirt, and handles better downriver, all while keeping the confidence and safety paddlers expect.”
Dale “Greybeard” Sanders is something of a legend, wracking up age records for long-distance paddles and hikes throughout North America. At age 80, Sanders became the oldest person to canoe the Mississippi River from source to sea. In 2022 at age 87, Sanders did it again. Now, Sanders has set out to reclaim his Appalachian Trail age record in 2025 at age 90.
Age record-smasher Greybeard goes for Appalachian Trail record at age 90
Sanders got his start as a lifeguard and swim instructor in his younger years and became a canoe instructor in 1954.
In 2015 at age 80, Sanders set off along with a film crew and paddled the Mississippi River from its headwaters at Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. Averaging 30 miles a day, Sanders completed the journey in 80 days. At age 81, Sanders completed the MR340, a 340 mile human-powered endurance boat race across the state of Missouri.
In 2017 at age 82, Sanders became the oldest person to hike all 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail in one calendar year. At age 83 he hiked the 1,300 mile Florida Trail and at age 84 he tackled the Pinhole Trail, a 350-mile long trail through Alabama and Georgia. Heading from the southeast to southwest, in 2020 Sanders became the oldest person at age 85 to hike Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon.
By 2022, Sanders set out to reclaim his Mississippi River source to sea age record in a journey documented in film GREYBEARD: The Man, The Myth, The Missississippi. At 89, Sanders became the oldest person to compete in a national-level spearfishing competition and one a third place team award. Now at age 90, after his Appalachian Trail age record was “borrowed” by Nimblewill Nomad in 2021, Sanders has set out to reclaim that record as well.
“Greybeard” leaves symbolic final mile unhiked in Harpers Ferry
Sanders began his mission to reclaim the Appalachian Trail age trail record on September 6, 2025 headed southbound from Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia toward Springer Mountain, Georgia. As of the morning of September 24, Sanders had reached mile marker 834.8 | 1362.7, having hiked 15.5 miles the previous day. Sanders aims to complete the southern half of the trail before December 10, then take a break for the winter before flipping northbound in the spring and hiking from Harpers Ferry to Mount Katahdin.
Sanders has left a single mile southbound through Harpers Ferry unhiked, and will return for that final mile after summiting Mount Katahdin. He will conclude the hike and that symbolic final mile in Harpers Ferry.
There are certain things that are great about an inflatable kayak. They pack down relatively small, don’t weigh much, and are super stable. But there is also the not-so-great; notably, that they are sluggish and slap at the water rather than cut through it. These attributes, good and bad, are exactly the reason I asked Sea Eagle if I could test their new 385ft FastTrack, a 13-foot kayak that can be set up as a solo or two-person inflatable and has a unique V-shaped hull.
Pronounced “V” can be seen at the bow of the Sea Eagle FastTrack 385ft. | Image: Dan Arbuckle
Review of the Sea Eagle 385ft FastTrack inflatable kayak
To see how the FastTrack stacks up against other inflatables, I decided on a local mission, a summer day trip with my dog Lego down the Sacramento River. This stretch of the Sacramento is a perfect testing ground with both flatwater and a few rapids. It’s a section I’ve paddled many times in my old inflatable, the Aquaglide Chelan, so I have a solid baseline for comparison.
Benefits of the V-hull design
There are a number of things Sea Eagle has included in this kayak that are worth talking about, but we need to start with what makes it truly unique, which is underneath it. The FastTrack 385ft has something I’ve never seen on an inflatable kayak, and that is a V-hull design. It is the reason I asked SeaEagle to send me this boat. A V-shaped floor gives a kayak good tracking and glide like you would find on a traditional hard-shell kayak.
Sea Eagle is able to do this on an inflatable kayak by building the 385 with an attached high-pressure floor similar to an inflatable paddelboard. The floor is a rugged 1000-denier PVC fabric, wrapped in additional fabric for more durability.
I noticed the boat is a little bit bigger and wider in the back, and narrower in the front. So not only does it have the V-hull, but it has more of a piercing bow on it. So, while it feels narrower up front, behind me, it is kind of fat—which is a good thing for capacity and stability.
We started the test paddle with a bit of flatwater and a nice breeze, so we could get a feel for how the FastTrack tracks.
I could tell right off the bat that the kayak splits the water. There’s no noise. It feels like it cuts the water as opposed to just pushing over the top of it as inflatables tend to do. That’s something I don’t generally love about inflatables, whether it be SUPs or kayaks. Anytime there’s choppy water, the boards or the boats are just slapping. Instead, the FastTrack feels like it moves through the water.
With the V-bottom, I can also lean the FastTrack from edge-to-edge. I don’t usually sense that in inflatables. Usually, they are very two-dimensional, sitting flat on the surface of the water, but this kayak actually has a little bit more of a three-dimensional feel. I especially noticed this in the moving water and small rapids as I entered and exited eddies and could tilt the boat. In flatwater, when it’s on its edge, I could sweep and spin it around really nicely. There is also a removable fin, or skeg, at the stern, and when I had the kayak flat the fin combined with the V-hull to help lock the boat on course as it cut straight through the water.
Speedy setup time and compact storage
The V-hull isn’t the only great aspect to the FastTrack however.
For one, I really like the setup time of seven minutes. I unrolled it, blew it up and it was ready to go in no time flat and that was pumping it by hand. It’s a little work pumping it by hand, especially to get the floor to reach the maximum pressure of 10 psi. I prefer the electric pumps, where you just set the psi, hook it up to the car battery, and away it goes.
The FastTrack also packs down really small. The thing is really tiny compared to a hard-shell kayak and even other inflatables, and I really like how the storage bag works with it because it folds open. This makes it easy to roll it up and cinch down, as opposed to trying to fit it into a backpack. There’s nothing worse than having, say, a tent that you can’t put back in the bag. When you have to wrestle with it to fit into a tiny kit. For the FastTrack bag, you just, open a couple of flaps, fold the boat up into it, and cinch it down.
Dan and Lego floating the Sacramento River. | Image: Dan Arbuckle
Outfitting
On the boat there is a deck bungee and a little bit of under-deck storage at the bow. Alongside the seating area, there is webbing you could clip a carabiner to. And, there is another under-deck storage area at the stern. These all provide places you could place a dry bag or other personal and safety items.
The FastTrack comes with two extremely nice, high-back seats, with padding on the butt, and a contoured backrest that rises high. Behind the seat, there is more storage with a removable zipper compartment, which is good for things like sunblock, a towel, or other items you want access to throughout the day.
Something the FastTrack does not have are footrests. I was able to work around this with a pretty easy fix, by taking a webbing strap and running it through those webbing loops to create a sort of footplate.
Drain holes
The FastTrack also has are a couple of drain ports for emptying water out of the boat. You can open up these drains like a purge valve, and the idea is that the water should empty.
During the test, Lego and I ran a small rapid with some fun waves that splashed into the kayak, and I opened the valve to see if it would empty the water out. I think if anything it let water in. I have the same problem with my Aquaglide Chelan. They say it’s like a scupper or a self-draining valve, but I believe a boat has to ride at a certain height for the water to exit otherwise a certain amount is going to sit inside. After opening the drain valve I had to pull over to empty the FastTrack.
The stability on the FastTrack is massive. It’s all the stability you’re going to need. It is three feet wide with the inflated outer tubes that provide much of this stability. I also mentioned the edge-to-edge feel the boat has, and the shape of the hull with these side tubes also provides secondary stability when the kayak is tilted. The secondary stability is super confidence-inspiring in these inflatables because you can just lean way over, and you’ve got essentially these pontoons that give you a lot of feedback.
When I first saw the boat I spotted a sticker stating that it has 635 pounds of capacity, which means this thing is meant to be loaded down. You could add the second seat and paddle it tandem; you could paddle it with your kid; you could load up all your camping gear and do an overnight. You get this big, stable sit-on-top type kayak, and it weighs just 31 pounds.
Who is the Sea Eagle FastTrack right for?
I think the FastTrack is right for someone who has space and transportation issues they need a solution for. For example, if you’ve got a small car without roof racks, or you’re not going to lift a kayak up on your car. Another situation may be if you’re looking for a lightweight inflatable tandem but would still like to have good performance. Or, if you know you want an inflatable and have been wishing for one more capable on flatwater, but which can still handle some whitewater, then the FastTrack may be right for you.
You can find the 385ft FastTrack available from Sea Eagle and retailers including Amazon.
This article was published in Issue 73 of Paddling Magazine. 
