The term crossover is confusing. What are we crossing over, anyway? Even the heads of marketing at the leading whitewater brands seem to define this emerging category of whitewater kayaks in different ways. Some don’t put them in the whitewater category at all. If they can’t agree, imagine how confused a consumer wandering into a local shop might be. Or maybe they’re not confused at all. Maybe this category of whitewater inbetweeners makes perfect sense.
So, I’m standing there in the Rapid Media booth at Rutabaga’s Canoecopia show in Madison, Wisconsin. Behind me is a wall of magazines. Lots of magazines. We have all the latest issues of Rapid, Adventure Kayak, Canoeroots and Kayak Angler. I like to play this little game where I stand off to the side and creep passersbys as they browse the rack. I try to guess which of our titles they will pick up. When they don’t pick an obvious favorite, I get anxious and quickly move in with probing questions before they shuffle along to the booth selling beer nuts.
“What type of paddling do you do?” I like to start pretty general; I assume if they are here at the show this one should be easy.
“Well…[long pause]” is an unfortunately common non-answer.
I press on.
“Do a lot of canoeing, maybe?”
“I used to when I was a kid, but now I’m doing more kayaking. Hard on my knees, you know. I still do a few weekend trips every year.”
“Are you into whitewater?”
“Oh no! Look at me. Do I look like I’d paddle over waterfalls?”
Not sure. What does a guy who paddles over waterfalls look like, exactly? I decide to save that one for another day.
“My buddies and I do float a few easy flowing rivers with some bumpy rapids.”
Perfect.
“Do you have sea kayaks?” I ask reaching for a copy of Adventure Kayak.
“Chicago’s a long way from the ocean.”
“Right.” I put Adventure Kayak back on the shelf. “I do play in the waves in Lake Michigan.”
Really.
They must have been playing the same game in the Dagger, Jackson, Pyranha and Wave Sport booths. And those guys were keeping score.
After weeks of exploring and testing in various conditions, we found that each of the four whitewater brands [Liquidlogic Kayaks declined our invitations to participate] came at this whole crossover thing from a slightly different angle. No question, all the boats are around nine or 10 feet long and they all have some configuration of deck rigging, skeg and stern bulkhead, compartment and hatch. The similarities however end there. They truly are quite different boats.
We ran them all down the same sections of rivers, across the same windy lakes and humped them over the same rooty and rocky portage trails. This was unlike any previous kayak shootouts we’ve done here at Rapid. This time we were both evaluating the boats, and defining this relatively new category. What do we have to say about the crossover category? One word: freedom.
There is a group, perhaps even the largest group, of paddlers looking for kayaks that allow them the freedom to do whatever they hell they want. Float. Drop. Roll. Surf. Overnight. Whatever.
Don’t be fooled by the mass appeal of these crossovers, all of them are legit whitewater kayaks with all the research and development of creeking, river running and freestyle rolled into one bigger-than- average package. I predict that in a few years, all whitewater boaters will own one. If you already have a creeker and you already have a play boat, crossovers are perfect river runners with a trunk.
We expect to see even more new models for 2016. I predict there will be cross over crossovers. Dagger has already released a larger volume, less aggressive sit-on- top called the Roam, as in freedom to Roam. Last year, Jackson introduced the Karma RG for playing in ocean rock gardens, crossing up sea kayaks with whitewater playboats. Pyranha has the Fusion SOT, creating a true whitewater sit-on-top crossover category.
Where are crossovers going? I don’t know for sure. Probably everywhere.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2015 issue of Rapid Magazine.
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