Celliers Kruger isn’t in the barge building business. As the founder of Fluid Kayaks back in 2002, he was known for making innovative whitewater kayaks over the course of more than a decade. The South African boat builder launched his third kayak company in 2024, incorporating aspects he had learned from both whitewater and more recent endeavors, including designing surfskis and recreational kayaks. The result is Lekker Kayaks, an all-genre label.
Lekker’s new Osprey is quick and playful
Lekker Osprey Specs
Length: 14’1”
Width: 24.75”
Weight: 53 lbs
Capacity: 300 lbs
MSRP: $1,300 USD
lekkerkayaks.com
Among Lekker’s current lineup is the Osprey, its shortest of three touring models. Named for the versatile bird of prey that thrives across a wide variety of habitats, Kruger set out to create a one-boat quiver with the Osprey. He wanted a kayak ideal for easy touring and welcoming for beginners, but also suitable for playing around in ocean waves and taking multiday trips down rivers with easy rapids.
Coming in at 14 feet and just under 25 inches wide, the boat’s specifications fit nicely into the recreational touring, light touring and beginner sea kayak categories. However, typecasting sells the approachable yet playful Osprey short.
In Kruger’s mind, recreational kayaks are a boat category craving innovation, and this extends into the touring realm, where the designer acknowledges he saw opportunities for a plastic boat in this class.
“Other boats I’ve tried on the market of the same length, I find them very sluggish for a boat of that size,” Kruger says of his research and development of the 14-footer. “The Osprey has the best balance between speed and maneuverability.”
The Osprey features a shallow-V hull sandwiched by twin channels before the hull transitions to rounded, forgiving edges. Its rocker is subtle but continuous, gradually lifting away from beneath the paddler toward the bow and stern. The result helps the kayak rise over waves and dance through dynamic tidal features with ease.
One of the details that immediately catches my eye is the Osprey’s deck as it tapers with paddle cutaways before reaching the cockpit—a clear nod to Kruger’s time developing surfskis and performance sit-on-tops with brands including Epic and Swell Watercraft in his post-Fluid era. This deck shape allows for cleaner forward strokes with added space for a paddler to catch and pull their stroke without smashing knuckles. It’s not something regularly found on a casual touring boat, and one of the first signals the Osprey is hiding more under the hood than it lets on.
As Kruger says, balancing speed and maneuverability is a matter of compromise when building a sea kayak that can handle a range of abilities and sizes, while also meeting the needs of all-around use. It’s very easy to end up with a design that, for the sake of stability, is good at neither.
On flatwater, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by the Osprey, and yet that’s exactly what the boat did to my expectations. On my first outing, I couldn’t help but remark on how efficiently it glided along for a plastic kayak of its length. I also had the opportunity to pilot the Osprey on mild whitewater sections of the Willamette River near my home to see how it handles water that pushes back. This is where experienced paddlers will see the fun potential of the Osprey open up. I paddled up sections of the river where between 5,000 to 10,000 CFS constrict to form boils, small whirlpools, chutes and waves with the hope of finding features similar to what someone would encounter in tidal rapids, straits and along inlets.
With the Osprey, I surfed waves, made jet ferries, threaded between rocks, and put myself on top of boils pinched along river walls. The Osprey rides high with ends that release well from the water, giving it a feeling of agility in which I could make technical moves in the 14-foot boat, then stick on a line. Considering Kruger’s background in whitewater design, it shouldn’t be a surprise, and with the casualness with which the Osprey cruised around rapids, I wouldn’t hesitate to say this is a boat where more experienced paddlers will enjoy some rock gardens and surf.
The Osprey’s outfitting is minimalist and inspired by Kruger’s time around competitive race kayaks and surfskis, where he has come to appreciate design ergonomics go a long way in keeping a paddler engaged and comfortable. One outfitting point paddlers should be aware of is the backband, which requires a Phillips-head screwdriver to adjust forward and back. Kruger views the backband as optional because the seat is meant to put the paddler in an active position. Whether used or not, this is one aspect of the Osprey I’d love to see updated—for someone who uses the backband, needing a tool to adjust it is inconvenient.
All of Lekker’s kayaks are constructed of polyethylene. The Osprey weighs 53 pounds, which is on the lighter side of average for a plastic kayak of its length. Forgoing any skeg versus rudder debate, the Osprey is available in both options. The kayak also features a round front hatch and an oval stern hatch sealed off with 50-millimeter closed-cell foam bulkheads glued in place with 3M adhesive. In front of the cockpit is a small six-inch day hatch with a molded-in pocket, perfect for a phone, snacks and sunscreen.
In the touring lineup, the Osprey is complemented by the elongated 16’5” Skimmer as well as the fitness or fast-touring oriented 17’5” Peregrine. There is also a 14-foot surfski called the Gull. Touring is just one slice of Kruger’s new brand, which also features youth and recreational sit-on-tops, as well as upcoming whitewater designs.
Like a daily driver hiding some sports car muscle under the hood, the Osprey opens blue highways for new touring paddlers—and makes seasoned ones do a double take at just how fun it is to paddle. With Kruger’s latest venture in the kayak world, he’s announced no category is off-limits to his tinkering.
This article was published in Issue 74 of Paddling Magazine. Like its namesake bird, the Osprey from Lekker Kayaks is built for effortless travel over water. | Feature photo: Owen Roth
