Designed to run rapids and handle well on the flats, these beginner friendly boats are outselling any other category of whitewater kayak, and drawing more people towards the sport. It’s no surprise to see crossover lineups expanding for 2015. “They’ve made the sport a lot more accessible,” says Brian Day of Pyranha Kayaks. Day says some paddlers use Pyranha’s Fusion for multi-day trips with ambitious whitewater, while others use it for easy river days or to try moving water for the first time.
At Dagger, project manager Scott Stewart refers to their crossovers as feeder boats. “People may want to explore whitewater but aren’t hucking off waterfalls,” Stewart says. That doesn’t mean these boats don’t perform—a day after our interview, Dagger’s Facebook page featured team athlete Gareth Tate running Gorilla on the Green River in the crossover Katana. Stewart says these boats get new people into the sport and grow with them.
Both companies have added sit-on-top crossovers to their lineups for 2015, the Fusion SOT and ROAM series, respectively.
This article originally appeared in the 2015 Paddling Buyer’s Guide.
