Test drive. Day 19, on the Rellot River.| Photo: Conor Mihell
The title of our six-week wilderness adventure in northern Quebec last summer should be A Tale of Two Prospectors. Our friends paddled one of the original river trippers, a 17-foot cedar-canvas Chestnut Prospector from veteran builder Headwaters Canoe Company. Meanwhile, Jon and I put the new Nova Craft Prospector 17 TuffStuff Expedition through perhaps the most rigorous boat review in Paddling Magazine history.
Nova Craft Prospector 17 TuffStuff Expedition Specs
Length: 17’
Width: 36”
Weight: 63 lbs
Max Capacity: 1,200 lbs
MSRP:$3,159 CAD
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See the Nova Craft Prospector 17 canoe ]
Nova Craft’s Prospector 17 is expedition‑ready
Our plans for a remote trip in the untracked wilds of Nunavik—traversing winding rivers, sprawling lakes, four watersheds, the thunderous rapids of the mighty Nastapoka River, and even a stretch of tidal Hudson Bay coast—demanded a capable and reliable craft. Fortunately, Nova Craft owner Tim Miller was eager for the opportunity to prove the TuffStuff Prospector is just that. A shiny new, cranberry-red Nova Craft Prospector 17 arrived on our doorstep a few weeks before departure.
Nova Craft debuted their TuffStuff material in late 2014. The sturdy composite—a proprietary blend of Innegra and basalt finished with gel coat—is Nova Craft’s unequivocal answer to the what-will-we-do-without-Royalex question. Boat testers immediately set about beating the new boats down bony backyard runs in an effort to discover the limits of TuffStuff’s toughness (read a review of the TuffStuff Prospector 16). But the tougher-still Expedition lay-up—which adds a reinforcing layer of fibers, optional skid plates and an extra five pounds—begged for an actual, hard-assed, rocks-rapids-and-portages wilderness trip. In other words, a proper expedition.
[ Plan your next canoe expedition with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
No need to walk on eggshells
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.
While Jon and I could casually slide our Prospector into the alders for loading and unloading, or scooch it over the odd beaver dam or rock bar, our friends’ cedar-canvas canoe had to be treated with kid gloves on every landing and lift-over. Canvas that springs a leak can be field-repaired, but it’s not something you want to make a habit of on an extended trip. We piloted the TuffStuff exactly as we would a Royalex hull; our trad trip-mates paddled theirs like a fine china teacup.
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.
On the water, our friends’ hefty wooden canoe is improbably buoyant; its gracefully re-curved ends ride several inches higher than our Nova Craft Prospector 17, and its deeply rounded belly swallows gear with nary a dent in freeboard. In contrast, when our Prospector 17 is loaded with 700 pounds of paddlers, packs and food barrels, the choppy waves that prevail on our route’s shallow, wind-tossed northern lakes slap at our gunwales, even as our trip-mates bob imperviously ahead.
As log drivers and new paddlers know, however, round equals tippy. Our Prospector’s shallow-arch hull gives it much greater initial stability, especially when empty, so it’s just as capable in the hands of novices or on micro-adventures as it is on once-in-a-lifetime wilderness expeditions.
TEST DRIVE, DAY 19, RELLOT RIVER.| PHOTO: CONOR MIHELL
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all Nova Craft canoes ]
Get Tuff with the Nova Craft Prospector 17
The original Prospector canoes, crafted from steam-bent cedar and stretched canvas, embody the elemental qualities of their resourceful namesakes. The Nova Craft Prospector 17 TuffStuff Expedition employs state-of-the-art materials and a shape revised for today’s travelers, but the name continues to conjure visions of exploration and challenge, of seeking fate and fortune in the wild unknown.
This article originally appeared in Canoeroots Spring 2016 issue.
Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.
New Zealand The Fellowship of the Paddle | PHOTO JAIME SHARP
Imagine all the ingredients for a perfect paddling destination: golden beaches, spectacular mountain coasts, idyllic campsites sheltered by lush Tolkienesque forest, abundant yet innocuous wildlife and a staggering diversity of land- and seascapes. Now pack it all onto an island the size of peninsular Florida and drop it in the South Pacific 2,000 kilometers from anywhere. Add a population of friendly locals and all the amenities a traveler could ask for, and you have New Zealand’s South Island.
In the austral summer of 2013, four adventurous paddlers, photographers and filmmakers caught a 14-hour flight from the Pacific Northwest, bought a secondhand camper van, loaded kayaks and gear, and set out to explore the island’s rich paddling culture.
They discovered that for each of New Zealand’s many stunning kayaking opportunities, there is an equally remarkable character leading the life of the paddle.
New Zealand The Fellowship of the Paddle | PHOTO JAIME SHARP
Stewart Island is Land of the Glowing Skies
Thick, low clouds sailed swiftly across a restless sky. A gust of wind snatched an empty dry bag and sent it tumbling down the sloping, sandy beach at Halfmoon Bay. As I snagged it, I caught Cynthia’s gaze. She flashed a quick smile but her eyes looked more reserved. With 45-knot winds and heavy storms forecasted, we were feeling pressured to get on the water and move quickly to find a safe place to camp for the night.
The beginning of an adventure, like the opening of a new book, has a ceremonial nature. A story is about to be released, pulled from time and its environment. Add to that existential reflection a remote, exotic location with a building storm and it’s a great recipe for excitement.
Stormy Stewart Island Weather | PHOTO: JAIME SHARP
As we traveled to the bottom of the South Island with kayaks on top of our van, people approached to ask where we were headed. When we replied, “Stewart Island,” their eyes grew large and their heads nodded in approval. One man exclaimed, “Stewart Island? Most Kiwis [local New Zealanders] don’t even make it there!” Those who had visited spoke of the moody weather, untouched beauty and lack of invasive species. Rakiura National Park, which constitutes over 80 percent of the island, is home to a number of endangered birds including the yellow-eyed penguin, the kakapo (a parrot that is slowly rebounding from the brink of extinction) and the elusive, flightless kiwi.
The total population of the 674-square-mile island is a mere 381, all concentrated in the single town of Oban, where the ferry arrives after crossing the notoriously treacherous waters of Foveaux Strait. While it takes some intention to get there and storms are common in the Roaring 40s—Stewart lies between latitudes 46 and 47 degrees south—the undisturbed nature of the bush, abundant seafood (a bag of rice would suffice for trip supplies) and lack of tourists make it an outstanding paddling destination.
It is often under such suspenseful moments that life tends to throw a curve ball. A missing bulkhead for one of the folding kayaks we had brought with us sent Freya bounding off to the local pub while I stood behind questioning what the pub could possibly offer, other than a calming ginger beer.
Moments later I was ushered into a van with Liz, daughter of the pub owner and an avid kayaker. It turned out she and her husband were selling the kayak rental shop they ran to focus on raising their young children. Since the kayaks were sitting unused, she explained, we might as well borrow one.
Reverie on the Rakeahua River; | PHOTO: JAIME SHARP
Watching the building whitecaps, we discussed how to harvest and prepare paua (New Zealand abalone) and chatted about life on the island. “The beauty is spectacular,” Liz told me, “but the weather is a bit shifty.”
Fifty-knot winds sent us hurrying back to Liz’s boathouse soon after launching, but the following day we were able to make our way to Miller’s Beach, a beautiful yellow sand bay. From there we crossed Paterson Inlet and paddled into the southwest arm, picking our way through a maze of sandbars to the mouth of the Rakeahua River. Tea trees and spiky flax swords lined the banks of the dark, tannin-infused Rakeahua. A chorus of bellbirds sang to us as we made our way up the increasingly narrow river to a cozy Department of Conservation hut outfitted with bunks, rainwater catchment and a small woodstove.
We gorged ourselves on the lush intertidal zones of the inlet, eating the rich black meat of paua harvested by scooping with kayak paddles, briny mussels plucked from exposed rocks and fresh blue cod Jaime caught on his handline.
At night we grabbed headlamps and scanned the bush for the nocturnal kiwi. Stewart Island’s Maori name—Rakiura, or land of the glowing skies—is usually attributed to the Aurora Australis that sometimes paint the skies at night, but the dark rain clouds contrasting with bright, teasing patches of cyan made the epithet seem just as appropriate during the day.
Our fifth and final day of paddling ended back at the pub, where we caught wind of Phil Dove who, with his wife Annett, operates a paradisiacal ocean view lodge and the only remaining kayak outfitter on Stewart Island. Like most of the folks we met on the island, he was generous and full of entertaining stories. Phil is also a well-rounded whitewater paddler and sea kayaker, an unusual combination back home in the States, where the two sports are both culturally and geographically divided. His tales ranged from recounting his solo circumnavigation of Stewart to losing all his gear—and clothes!—in a swim through the North Island’s infamous Nevis Bluff rapid.
In New Zealand, where mountain rivers spill directly into the sea, many paddlers are lured by both fresh water and salty surf, blurring the lines between whitewater and sea kayaking.
Kiwi hospitality extends to bunking in the boathouse. | PHOTOS: JAIME SHARP
If You Go to Stewart Island
Stewart Island is a remote and logistically challenging place to paddle. Bring your own kayak over on the ferry from Bluff or contact Phil’s Sea Kayak (www.observationrocklodge.co.nz) to arrange a half-day, day or longer trip out of Paterson Inlet. The quiet blackwater rivers at the west end of the inlet are a highlight. Be sure to check a tide table and weather update before heading out.
Milford Sound is crown jewel of Fiordland
Dramatic glacier-carved cliffs that soar 4,000 feet straight up from the sea and thousands of breathtaking waterfalls that appear like magical faucets after the frequent rains have made this spectacular fiord one of the most popular tourist destinations on the South Island.
We pulled into Milford Sound on the evening of a gathering. I mistakenly called it a “party,” but was quickly corrected by one of our hosts: “Parties in Milford are when people dance naked on the tables.” Nevertheless, everyone in town was in attendance, including the local fishermen, skippers, guides and cruise boat staff.
Jaime had lined up an interview with the founder of New Zealand’s longest established owner-operated sea kayak company: the famous Rosco of Rosco’s Milford Kayaks, who also happened to be hosting the gathering.
Rosco Gaudin first saw Milford Sound’s potential as a world-class paddling destination in 1988, when he paddled into the fiord on a trip with friends and found himself escorted by a pod of 30 bottlenose dolphins. The experience planted the seed for the area’s first commercial sea kayaking operation, which Rosco has kept small and is still happily helming over two decades later. “I feel extremely privileged to be living my life in an area I love,” he says, “It’s not just the paddling, it is the lifestyle, the people, the vibe and the buzz of showing everyone our playground in paradise.”
Rosco is also the self-proclaimed Mayor of Milford (no one contests the title) and something of a local celebrity. For the past 12 years, he has organized The Great Annual Nude Tunnel Run, which it turns out, is exactly as it sounds.
When water falls in the fiord | PHOTO: FREYA FENNWOOD
Every April 1st, around 100 participants run naked—save for headlamps and tennis shoes—through the Homer Tunnel, a nearly mile-long passage that was hand-dug through the mountainside between 1935 and 1953 to provide road access to Milford. The prizes are meager—the fastest woman and man have their names engraved into a nude Barbie and Ken doll, respectively—but entry fees are donated to charity and, as Rosco points out, there are other rewards: “Being naked is invigorating, natural and beautiful; it’s a great way to make new friends.”
The next day we joined one of Rosco’s guides, Mark Buckland, on a tour of the fiord. We were shuttled by motorboat to just shy of the Tasman Sea, where we hopped in kayaks and paddled the 10 miles back through the steep-sided fiord to the village of Milford. Along the way, we admired 500-foot Sterling Falls and paddled with a pod of playful bottlenose dolphins that leapt into the air all around us.
Every paddler we met in Milford expressed gratitude for being able to spend time in such an amazing place. Of all the stories we heard, one in particular stuck with me: a Maori legend about the origin of Fiordland’s pesky, omnipresent sandflies. In Maori culture, the biting insects were born at Sandfly Point, near today’s kayak launch, to protect Milford Sound from the careless destruction that people often bring to beautiful places.
If You Go…
The knowledgeable staff at Rosco’s Milford Kayaks (www.roscosmilfordkayaks.com) offer daily trips for all levels of paddlers. Options include taking a water taxi to the mouth of Milford Sound and paddling back, sunset and sunrise tours, or combining kayaking with hiking part of the renowned Milford Track—hailed as “the finest walk in the world.” Whichever you choose, don’t forget your bug repellant.
Even the roads are wild on the West Coast | PHOTO: JAIME SHARP
The West Coast is home of paddling legends
Sparsely populated and generally inhospitable, the West Coast challenges surf kayakers and advanced paddlers. Here, the Southern Alps, the 10,000–12,000-foot spine of the South Island, meet the pounding swell of the Tasman Sea and winds blow with unobstructed fury all the way from Australia. It is a coast of contrasts, glaciers reach into lush rainforest and turquoise rivers tumble quickly to the sea.
Fittingly, the region is also home to two of the country’s best known paddling legends: Paul Caffyn and Mick Hopkinson, the godfathers of New Zealand sea kayaking and whitewater paddling, respectively.
It’s hard to summarize Paul Caffyn’s many astonishing achievements, but most paddlers will recognize him as the first person to paddle around New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Japan and coastal Alaska, to name a few. He’s traveled over 23,000 miles by kayak. He is, in short, sea kayaking’s Sir Edmund Hillary.
He is also a casual, unassuming man who welcomes us into his modest home, appropriately perched 20 precarious feet above the sea. One rogue wave could easily flood his living room. When someone points this out, Caffyn casually sips his tea, staring out the sliding glass door into the choppy seas, and tells us that slowly the waves have indeed nibbled away at the cliff just beyond his back door. He seems to need the rhythm of the sea nearby, like a moth drawn to light. Books, opera posters, old photographs and paddling keepsakes crowd the walls of his home. I scan them, looking for clues as to the man behind the legend.
When we ask about his adventures, Caffyn smiles and corrects us, “I subscribe to the belief that adventure is what happens when things go wrong.”
His goal has always been to mitigate adventure and one of his favorite aspects of such massive undertakings as circumnavigating a continent is the planning and challenge of the logistics. I begin to see a calculated, reflective man who is comfortable by himself and at home on the sea.
From Caffyn’s house we head north to Murchison, home of the New Zealand Kayak School, founded and owned by whitewater legend Mick Hopkinson. Mick’s first descents include Africa’s Blue Nile, Everest’s Dudh Khosi and many other rivers in Pakistan, Switzerland, Austria and New Zealand. He’s been inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame and his school has earned international acclaim.
Enjoying one of the island’s free-flowing rivers. | PHOTO: JAIME SHARP
Piquant and just a little sardonic, Mick likes people who stay on their toes, not surprising for a man who loves linking moves in rough water. Now 65, he tells us he is considering taking up sea kayaking in his eighties. Teasing aside, Mick is a gracious host who cares deeply about the waters he paddles.
Mick started his career as a slalom paddler in Britain, where it was illegal to kayak local rivers. Fishermen and farmers threw rocks at paddlers for trespassing, and slalom races provided his only opportunity to access the water.
Mick later fell in love with the free-flowing rivers of New Zealand and stayed. As he talks passionately about the future of his adopted country’s rivers and the “idiots” who want to dam them, I get the sense that he and Edward Abbey would have enjoyed sharing a beer. When I bring up the notoriously intractable author and polemic conservationist’s name, Mick smiles broadly and picks up a page tacked above his desk.
“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am—a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here…” he reads the quote in its entirety and smiles again. “I’m really just a hedonist, turned conservationist so others can be hedonists.”
If You Go To The West Coast
Take a class or rent whitewater equipment at Mick’s New Zealand Kayak School (www.nzkayakschool.com). Even if you’ve never paddled a river before, the school’s world-class staff teaches all skill levels from October through April. They can also organize helicopter shuttles to many of the West Coast’s remote access rivers.
PHOTO: JAIME SHARP
Abel Tasman: Sun and Sand at the Top of the South
The perfect antithesis to the wet and rugged coasts found further south, Abel Tasman’s golden sand beaches, sun-filled fruit orchards and warm, Caribbean-blue water make it a paddling paradise. Although it’s consequentially more commercialized, the region is also rich in history and Maori culture.
We link up with Kyle Mulinder, a charismatic guide for the Sea Kayak Company who takes great pride in his Maori heritage and carries on tour his grandmother’s conch, or putatara. The shell is a traditional Taonga puoro, Maori musical instruments used in the recounting of creation stores. Mulinder shares some of these stories, enacting each tale as he tells it, dancing and drawing in the sand in front of his international audience: a couple from Germany, two girls from France, two Americans and two Kiwis.
He relates his own speculations on history and what first contact must have been like for the Maori—indigenous Polynesians whom it is believed traveled over 2,500 miles to New Zealand by dug-out canoes, or waka, and settled some 400 years before the first Europeans—when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sailed into nearby Golden Bay in 1642. Although Tasman is credited with “discovering” New Zealand, he and his crew actually never set foot on the island. When the Dutch sailors attempted to land in the bay, a major agricultural area for the Maori, they were met by a fleet of war canoes. Four of Tasman’s men were killed in a bloody skirmish and the explorer hastily sailed away, never to return.
Jaime makes music with a Maori conch. | PHOTO: FREYA FENNWOOD
Soft sands | PHOTO: FREYA FENNWOOD
After our tour with Mulinder, we paddle to the far end of Abel Tasman National Park and pick our way back over 30 miles along the shore for the next three days. It’s a leisurely trip compared to our initial adventure on Stewart Island. The skies are clear and the sun so powerful that unshielded skin burns in minutes. We seize the opportunity to paddle in the cool mornings and linger at offshore island fur seal nurseries, watching the curious pups play in the clear water. Water taxis buzz up and down the coast throughout the day, but in the quiet evenings we share well-equipped campsites and swap stories with other kayakers and hikers from around the world.
If You Go to Abel Tasman
Water taxis make it possible to shuttle into Abel Tasman National Park from the villages of Marahau or Kaiteriteri, then paddle back. Allow one day from Anchorage Bay, or three days from Separation Point at the park’s north end. Another popular option combines paddling out and hiking back on the Abel Tasman Coast Track. Arrange rentals or a guided tour with the Sea Kayak Company (www.seakayaknz.co.nz).
This article first appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.
You may scoff that any light touring kayak isn’t worth the salt in the ocean if its purchase price doesn’t require a hefty line of credit. We invite you to test-drive the Elie Strait 140 XE and see if you change your mind.
The largest size in a new line of thermoform polyethylene day touring kayaks from Quebec-based Elie Kayaks, the Strait 140’s construction, proportions and price point place it on the recreational end of the paddling spectrum. But it’s the most salient features of any kayak—on-water performance and paddleability—that make the Strait 140 a solid contender in the growing light touring segment.
New paddlers will appreciate the excellent primary stability generated by the Strait’s wide beam and shallow-V hull, while reassuring secondary stability invites advancing beginners and intermediates to explore the surprisingly lively and responsive performance on edge.
The moderately rockered, Swede form hull offers a good compromise of speed and maneuverability—respectable cruising speed for its length with adequate, if not race-winning, acceleration and turn-on-a-dime responsiveness. The hull is constructed of lightweight, hardwearing three-layer Poly-XR that Elie claims is 30 percent more rigid than standard polyethylene.
The Strait 140 tracks well in sheltered waters. Weathercocking and drifting are noticeable in a strong crosswind because of the higher windage of the Strait’s profile, although dropping the rudder helps keep it on track in these conditions. A removable plastic keel extension enhances tracking and adds durability to a high-wear part of the hull.
A refined ride for larger paddlers
The spacious cockpit accommodates larger paddlers, while the padded thigh braces, ergonomic seat and adjustable backrest ensure a comfortable, positive fit for solid control in rough water. The sliding track-style foot pegs adjust easily but offer less support when the rudder is deployed than gas pedal-style pegs.
The most distinctive element of the Strait’s outfitting are the clever Quick Lock bow and stern hatches, a blessing for cold or tired fingers. A simple turn of the latches opens the durable ABS hatch on its hinge, so you’ll never have to fiddle with bungees or struggle with stubborn rubber or neoprene hatches again. The downside is the lack of watertight gaskets, resulting in water infiltration when paddling in rough conditions or rolling. With 50 liters in the bow and 90 liters in the stern, storage capacity is exceptional for a 14-footer.
Feature Photo: Michael Mechan
The Strait XE also comes equipped with a day hatch, in the form of a dry bag hung from the rim of the hatch, not a separate compartment. The day hatch’s screw-style cover is difficult to unscrew and must be positioned exactly on the rim thread to close, making on-water access a tricky operation. It would have been nice to see a Quick Lock hatch used for the day access as well, where it would be most handy.
Go on tour with the Elie Strait 140 XE
With surprising agility and storage capacity, the Strait 140 delivers touring performance at a recreational price. It best suits mid- to large-sized paddlers looking for an affordable, full-featured kayak for performance day paddling or weekend tours in sheltered waters.
This article was first published in the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Ninety-nine percent of the time you spend in your sea kayak is devoted to paddling forward. With a cadence of 50 full stroke cycles each minute, a paddler makes 3,000 strokes every hour. This means that small improvements in your kayak forward stroke technique add up to large improvements in overall progress.
Peer Review
“Think of torso rotation in three parts: an active phase, a passive phase and a pause. Thinking in these terms will help you avoid carrying the blade in the water beyond your hip, and help you plant the blade far enough forward.”
– Nigel Foster, BCU level 5 coach, St. Petersburg, FL
“Rotation starts at the sit bones. Most paddlers lock their pelvis into a forward-only position during the forward stroke, rotating from just the belly button up. This doesn’t engage all of the core muscles. Use a slippery seat pan that allows your hips to slide when rotating.”
– Shawna Franklin, BCU level 4 coach, Orcas Island, WA
“During the catch phase, emphasize forward stroke expert and sprint coach Dan Henderson’s advice: Save the rotation. Make sure the blade is fully submerged before any body rotation begins. Too many paddlers rotate as they stab the paddle into the water, creating an air pocket that reduces power and efficiency.”
– Leon Sommé, BCU level 4 coach, Orcas Island, WA
“Check your rotation by watching your top hand during the power phase. This hand should maintain a consistent height across your kayak, as opposed to dropping down toward your deck.”
– Meaghan Hennessy, BCU level 3 coach and Paddle Canada level 2 instructor trainer, Vancouver, BC
Moving forward with a high-angle stroke
Stroke technique isn’t just about going faster. A more efficient stroke might propel you at the same speed, but it will get you to the beach with less fatigue, muscle strain and joint pain, saving energy for those times when you need to paddle faster or longer.
The high angle forward stroke described here is one of the most recognised forms of forward paddling technique used on the sea. I do, however, encourage every paddler to develop a variety of forward paddling styles; this enables adaptations to be made for environmental conditions.
High angle is the most efficient forward paddling style. It gives you maximum speed in your sea kayak and, when done well, maximizes the use of your larger body muscle groups. However, it requires good posture, balance, body rotation and appropriately conditioned muscle groups for comfortable paddling day in, day out.
How to complete a kayak forward stroke
1) Catch Phase
Body posture upright with no forward bobbing.
Arm extended for maximum reach.
Relaxed top hand prevents wrist strain, improves circulation and reach.
Maximum reach gained through good torso rotation.
Paddle entering water cleanly and near vertical, like spearing a fish.
Power put on paddle immediately.
2) Power Phase
Unwind rotation of body for power.
Push foot peg on the same side as paddle blade for power transfer through core muscles.
Knees/thighs relaxed in kayak to allow power transfer.
Paddle stays at a high angle so the blade tracks near vertically alongside the kayak.
Paddle is held away from body throughout to maximize rotation.
Top hand guides and pushes paddle to prepare for next catch phase and stays about level with eyes.
3) Blade Exit
Blade exits at or just before hip.
As blade exits it is sliced out with no scooping of water.
Top hand is high and body is in position for final rotation for the next catch.
Photo: Doug Cooper
Final tip for the kayak forward stroke
Many kayakers hold their paddles too close to their bodies when performing forward strokes, preventing full rotation and control. Pretend you have a beach ball between you and your paddle to avoid your paddle coming too close.
Happy paddling!
Feature Video: Paddle farther with less effort. James Roberts and Dympna Hayes of Parry Sound’s Ontario Sea Kayak Centre share their top tips for going the distance without getting tired.
The scenic Alley Mill is located in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and now operates
as a museum. | Photo: Courtesy VisitMO.com
In a little-known corner of Missouri, in the almost unheard-of Ozarks, there’s a hilly region of oak and pine woodland hiding some of America’s best-kept secret kayaking rivers. Taking a paddle through the Ozark Mountains is full of mystery and delight.
Kayaking is a dream in Missouri’s Ozarks
Picture plunging sinkholes, limestone caves, underground streams, and many freshwater springs bursting year-round from cliffs. In fact, there are so many springs, they seem to have run out of names. There are multiple Boiling Springs, Round Springs, Cave Springs, Ebb and Flow Springs.
The scenic Alley Mill is located in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and now operates as a museum. | Feature Photo: Courtesy VisitMO.com
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: see all kayaks ]
While there are several regions across the Ozarks with fantastic year-round kayaking opportunities, the eastern region in Missouri is particularly suited for a first-time kayaking visit.
The class I to II waters run cool and clear throughout the year, including the sweltering summers. And with two rivers protected by a national park, plus another designated as a Wild and Scenic River, you’ll find plenty to paddle, whether for a day or a week.
There’s more than just kayaking at ONSR. Two highlights include a ranger-led lantern tour of Round Spring Cave and descending the stairs into the gaping Devil’s Well, a karst window where a sinkhole swallows a creek.
Diversions
While much of the Ozark Trail is still under construction in other parts of Missouri, a completed section passes through ONSR. Specifically, shorter hikes can be found near Round Spring or in the nearby Echo Bluff State Park and Current River State Park.
Learn More
For a guide to more than 40 of the Ozarks’ greatest paddling adventures, in Missouri and Arkansas, check out Paddling the Ozarks by Mike Bezemek.
[ Plan your next paddling adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
The upper run, starting at Bay Creek access off County Road 106-425, is more remote and begins in a narrow bluff-lined valley. Typically, this run has smaller crowds and lower flows once the trees leaf out, which may require some dragging past riffles. Below Alley Spring, which boosts the flow, is the more typical summer run, with a take-out at Buttin Rock Access near the bridge in the town of Eminence, Missouri.
If you have a full day:
Head over to the Current River, also in ONSR, and focus on one of the roughly 10-mile class I to II runs above or below the river access at Pulltite Campground, reached via Highway EE off MO-19. For the upper run, start at Akers Ferry, reached via Highway KK from MO-19.
This run includes kayaking past Cave Spring, unique in the Ozarks, where groundwater discharges from a river-level cave—due to White Nose Syndrome, which is fatal to bats, the cave is currently closed to entry. To extend this run, start three miles farther upstream at Welch Spring, where you can visit the ruins of a historic hospital. For the lower 10-mile run, start at Pulltite, visit the landmark logging cabin up the spring branch, and take out at Round Spring access (just off MO-19).
If you have a weekend:
Head to the Eleven Point National Scenic River, one of the original eight protected in the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The 19 miles from Greer Crossing to Riverton are perfect for a two- or three-day trip. Near the put-in, Greer Springs is the second-largest spring in the Ozarks, discharging an average of 360 cfs.
Along the way, enjoy the mysterious vibes of the Eleven Point, like the recurring river-level fogs, the forested bluffs of the Irish Wilderness where a whole community vanished during the Civil War, and the abandoned mill sites at Turner and Boze Springs.
If you have a full week:
You’re what Ozarkers call lucky. Combine everything above but know most kayaking runs can be extended upstream or downstream—sometimes for dozens of miles. In 1926, acclaimed naturalist Aldo Leopold floated for two weeks on the lower Current River, from Van Buren to Doniphan. On the trip he became so enamored with Missouri, he returned three years later and bought a riverside cabin.
If you want more rivers to explore, all you need to do is pick a direction and drive over rolling ridges and valleys for about an hour. Here’s a hint: North Fork White.
This article was first published in Issue 58 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
On November 28th 2012, kayak manufacturer Sterling Donalson of Bellingham, Washington’s Sterling Kayaks was hard at work on his newest design. With over 300 hours invested in this latest project, the fruits of his labors were tantalizingly close. Then the unthinkable happened: a fire gutted Sterling’s workshop, leading to huge losses for the brand. Now, with help from the paddling community, Sterling Kayaks is on the way back.
Sterling Kayaks rises from the ashes
Donalson, 63, is a firm believer in extensive prototype testing, and his new boat had benefited from over a year of scrutiny by many well-known paddlers, chief among them kayak pioneer and longtime Sterling Kayaks collaborator, Reg Lake. The pair wanted to produce a sea kayak as playful as their successful Reflection model, but with a touch more hull speed and scaled down to fit a smaller paddler.
Many tweaks and modifications later, the design was finalized and ready to go to mould. Within days, the very first Progression kayak would be completed.
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all sea kayaks ]
Disaster strikes the shop
Donalson recalls: “I’ve got a very sensitive nose, and I noticed an unusual smell in the shop. I was looking around for the source when I saw smoke coming out of an electrical outlet. Then the outlet burst into flames.”
Shouting “Fire!” in case his two employees were inside the building, Donalson fought his way through the smoke. Exiting the shop he dialed 911, but by the time he hung up the entire building was in flames.
Thinking quickly, Donalson and one of his employees were able to wheel a trailer of demo boats sitting behind the shop to safety. The effects of the intense heat from the fire are still visible on several of these kayaks. Other boats and mould sets that were stored outside the building were rescued, with firefighters pitching in to help ferry items away from the blaze.
More tanker trucks arrived, but with the fire feeding off of volatile, highly flammable resins and solvents, firefighters decided the safest course of action was to confine the inferno and let it burn itself out.
“I saw smoke coming out of an electrical outlet.
Then the outlet burst into flames.”
Donalson watched helplessly as the blaze consumed his moulds, boats, materials, tools and the one and only master copy of his newest design. No one was injured, but the 100-by-60-foot, rented building that housed his shop was completely gutted. Virtually everything that he’d invested years making was gone.
A fresh start for Sterling Kayaks
Nearly two months later, it’s 4:30 a.m. and I’m up in the pitch dark of a January morning to catch the first ferry off of Vancouver Island. Today’s agenda is twofold: most importantly, Current Designs Kayaks founder Brian Henry is delivering a couple of vacuum pumps, a radiant heating setup and various other bits and pieces to Bellingham. I’m riding shotgun to interview Donalson.
The equipment in the back of the truck is a generous donation from Henry and his former business partner Campbell Black. Henry owns Ocean River Sports—a paddlesports store in Victoria and a Sterling Kayaks dealer—and Black owns Blackline Marine, a yacht repair company.
We meet up with Donalson and Reg Lake on the Canadian side of the border and transfer the equipment to their truck—it will go more smoothly if they import it into the U.S.
Upon first meeting, Donalson is instantly memorable: he is a big bear of a man, and he has only one leg. Diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 15, his leg was removed at the hip. He deftly uses crutches to help get around and seems barely slowed by the lack of a limb. This is the first clue that this is a man not easily deterred from doing what he sets his mind to. And that he is no stranger to overcoming adversity.
As we transfer the equipment, Donalson takes an informal inventory. He spies an older vacuum pump and instantly knows what brand it is and what it will be good for. He’s pleased with the equipment—it’s some of what he needs to rebuild his business.
“When I was watching the shop burn, I called my wife Marsha and told her ‘everything is burning—it’s all gone!’” he remembers. “She asked me if everyone was okay and when I said that nobody was hurt, there was a pause, and then she said, ‘Fresh start.’ Just like that—‘Fresh start.’ So that’s what we’re doing.”
The community rallies around
Many others within the paddling community (and without) have also rallied to help. After the fire, several Sterling dealers submitted new orders for kayaks as a show of support, and in a bid to ensure that there would be cash flow.
[ Plan your next paddling adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
We head to Donalson’s home and sit down in the kitchen for coffee and snacks with Sterling and Marsha.
Their small kayak business is very much a family affair—Marsha does the company’s books—and their welcome is informal and warm. Lake shows me a sculpture created by combining the fire-scorched remains of Sterling’s hand-tools. A pair of pliers, saw blades, drill bits, clamps, a hammer head, shears and a caulking gun—all charred by extreme heat—have been carefully welded together into the form of a kayak.
“Friends wanted to do something for Sterling, but they didn’t have money to contribute—so they made this beautiful sculpture,” Lake beams.
Marsha relates how a local businessman called her out of the blue soon after the fire. He offered to drop off a shipping container for them at no charge—he was in the container business and said that he himself had been through a fire. He reasoned that they’d need somewhere to store things while they rebuilt.
“I told him I didn’t think that we had anything left to put in a container,” Marsha tells me. Still, she thanked him and took his number. The container now sits behind their house and is filling up with some of the supplies needed for the new shop.
Feature Photo: James Manke
A lifetime of building kayaks
Donalson grew up making things—notably building experimental aircraft with his father, whose military career lead to frequent moves all over the world, including stints in Japan, Germany, France and across the United States. Donalson was a 13-year-old Boy Scout when he built his first kayak with his dad—a Folbot Sporty ordered from South Carolina. Over the years, kayak building became a hobby, and he made many more using plywood or space frame construction.
Boat building took a backseat to skiing in the ‘70s, with Donalson becoming the national amputee skiing champion in 1972. Now in the Belligham area, he was with the U.S. Ski Team, working with Allsop ski equipment and traveling to alpine resorts around the world.
But by the early ‘80s, Donalson was once again interested in kayaks. Frustrated with trying to find a kayak that fit him properly, he constructed his own. Researching materials and construction methods, this time he chose composites, building his first fiberglass kayak. He also built himself a one-foot-controlled rudder system.
Sterling debuts the Ice Kap
The first commercially available Sterling sea kayak debuted in 2006. Called the Ice Kap, it was a modified version of Nimbus Kayaks founder Steve Schleicher’s Kap Farvel.
The Ice Kap was a small, low-volume craft, so it made sense that the next model in the Sterling line would be a somewhat larger kayak. Donalson developed this boat in-house, working with Greenland-style expert Warren Williamson and well-known West Coast instructor and Kayak Academy founder George Gronseth. After much prototyping and extensive testing, the Illusion was launched in 2007. The Grand Illusion followed, providing similar performance but with a still larger fit.
While each of these models catered to paddlers of a different size, Sterling also offered custom cut-down versions that allowed even greater fine-tuning. In addition to these three trim choices, three different coaming options further tailored the kayak to a specific paddler.
Mixing and matching these options provided a level of customization that the big kayak manufacturers simply couldn’t match. Rather than attempting mass production, Donalson chose to remain small, focusing on performance-driven designs and producing just 80 or so boats a year.
The design focus for Sterling Kayaks was also becoming well established—above all, Donalson wanted his boats to provide the highest degree of control. They must be highly responsive to input, whether traveling in a straight line, carving tight turns or surfing waves. Furthermore, they should perform in all conditions from calm water to dynamic high wind mayhem.
Designing and testing the Sterling Reflection
The next model—the Reflection—would prove to be a watershed design for Sterling, but the story of its inception is as unlikely as the events that followed in its wake.
Since the debut of the Ice Kap, Lake had become a committed Sterling supporter, attracted by the company’s focus and Donalson’s extensive knowledge of composites.
“I’m prone to playing on the front edge of things, so I like
being around the building process,” says Lake, a self-described “gizmologist” and machinist by trade. “With Sterling, we can spend a lot more time staying with the question, rather than having to rush to one possible solution.”
Donalson, in turn, quickly recognized how important Lake’s four decades of kayaking experience were to the testing process and to developing innovative new sea kayaks.
With his whitewater background, Lake was naturally drawn to highly maneuverable boats that performed on waves and in currents. He started to get interested in how to “free the stern,” as he puts it—meaning how to dramatically loosen up the tracking of the back of the boat in order to make maneuvering, turning and surfing more responsive and dynamic. He was also starting to pay close attention to how sea kayaks paddled backwards.
“With Sterling, we can spend a lot more time staying with the question, rather than having to rush to one possible solution.”
This culminated in Lake asking if Donalson had a Grand Illusion in the shop that hadn’t yet been fitted with bulkheads. He did, and Lake promptly put a seat in the boat facing the stern and paddled the kayak backwards, testing its response to all the usual strokes and maneuvers. He returned to the shop excited that the kayak handled beautifully with its pilot facing “the wrong way.” His next move was to stick two Grand Illusion sterns together to create a new boat with a perfectly symmetrical hull.
Donalson, overworked as it was, had no time for additional designs but agreed to the project, specifying that Lake had to do the brunt of the work to get the boat started, while he would then fair the result and take the kayak to the prototype phase.
“Once the Reflection prototype earned Reg’s okay giggle—he has this special laugh when he really likes something—we took the boat to Skook,” Donalson recalls. “That’s where Rowan [Gloag, producer of The Hurricane Riders rough water film shorts] and the other Hurricane Riders got to try it for the first time.”
As they say, the rest is history. The design evolved into the most successful kayak yet from Sterling. The Reflection proved to be an excellent play boat for tackling surf or big current features like the famed Skookumchuck Rapids, and earned Outside magazine’s 2012 Outside Gear of the Year award.
Gloag is an enthusiastic supporter of the design.“As soon as I saw it I wanted to paddle it,” he remembers, “I could do things in that boat that I couldn’t do before. The Reflection helped me get to that next level with my paddling.”
A kayak builder who stays true to himself
Watching Donalson at work on a kayak illustrates his flair for simple and effective problem solving. Having only one leg means that he cannot stand for long periods comfortably, so he sits on a swivel office chair bolted atop a dolly fitted with industrial caster wheels. His workstations are built at the perfect height for his seated position, and he scoots his chair around the shop floor with such efficiency that I find myself wondering why I don’t have a similar setup at home.
Donalson is a designer who firmly believes in listening to what his customers have to say. He does not subscribe to the notion of building solely what he thinks is best, but instead has been successful in seeking input from talented paddlers and translating their feedback into boats that kayakers are excited to paddle.
Sterling Kayaks also represents the kind of grassroots, hands-on, owner-operated business that you just long to see prosper. In part because Donalson is so passionate about building kayaks, but also because there’s nothing quite like sitting down for a coffee with the president of the company, sharing an informal chat about what you want in a kayak, and knowing that he’s the guy who is then going to build it just for you.
Progression continues at Sterling Kayaks
Donalson was listening when his friends, supporters and customers told him Sterling Kayaks must go on. He’s settling into his new shop, in a modern building just two country blocks north of his old site. The new boat moulds—reverse-engineered from the salvaged boats—are nearly finished. True to form, Donalson told me he took the opportunity “to change any of the little things that bugged us” when they rebuilt the moulds.
Work on the lost Progression kayak continues.
This article was first published in the Summer/Fall 2013 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
It was way back in 1905 when the Chestnut Canoe Company first introduced what would become one of the most popular and enduring canoe designs of all time—the 50-Pound-Special. A dozen canoe companies now produce their own versions of the 110-year-old timeless classic, yet I had never had the honor of paddling one. That was until this spring, when a Nova Craft Bob Special was delivered to the Paddling Magazine office.
Nova Craft Bob Special Specs
Length: 15’ max
Width: 35”
Capacity: 800 lbs
Weight: 40 lbs
MSRP:$2,599 (as tested)
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See the Nova Craft Bob Special canoe ]
Origin of the iconic Bobs Special canoe
First made by New Brunswick’s Chestnut Canoe Company, the Bobs Special was first marketed as the 50-Pound Special. Its selling feature, aside from remarkable stability due to its wide beam, was its 50-pound weight—10 pounds lighter than boats of a similar size at the time.
When transmitting orders, the Chestnut Canoe Company’s telegraph code for the boat was BOBS. It here the mystery unfolds.
“The code BOBS was a salute to a beloved, senior British commander in the Boer Wars, Lord Frederick Roberts,” says Roger MacGregor, author of When the Chestnut was in Flower, a history of the Chestnut Canoe Company.
Roberts’ nickname? Bobs.
Bobs your uncle
Five-foot-three and sporting a truly excellent mustache throughout much of his life, Lord Roberts was one of the most successful commanders of the 19th century. He served in the British Army from 1851 until he retired in 1904, at the age of 72.
The Chestnut Canoe Company got many of their canoe model names from high-spirited characters on both sides of the South African Boer Wars. “These people became iconic and legendary in their own way,” says Jeremy Ward, curator at the Canadian Canoe Museum. Paul Kruger and Piet Cronje are two other wartime leaders whose tactics inspired model names.
More than a hundred years after it was first manufactured, the Bobs Special maintains its popularity. “They’re tubby little things and people adore them, whether 50 or 55 pounds,” says Ward. “It’s a boat for idyllic times.”
Feature Photo: Kaydi Pyette
Bringing the Bobs Special back
In 1979, the Chestnut Canoe Company closed up shop. Nine years later, Tim Miller, owner of Nova Craft Canoe, took a stab at creating his version of the popular design.
According to Miller, the only major change to the original design was to create a fuller bow to allow for a drier ride in rough water. Miller also tweaked the name from Bobs to Bob. And of course, Nova Craft isn’t building their Bob Special out of cedar and canvas. Our test model is an Aramid Lite material. Not as authentic perhaps, but 10 pounds lighter than the original is okay with me.
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all Nova Craft canoes ]
Once the ice on the river finally broke up, I unwrapped and launched my Nova Craft Bob Special.
A stable and stalwart canoe
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, active children.
At only 15 feet long, for me the Bob is a solo or very light weekend tripper. Nova Craft claims a capacity of 800 pounds, so it will easily float my Dutch ovens—the problem is finding the room to put them. Serious tandem trippers unwilling to strip down should consider a lengthier Nova Craft model, such as the Prospector or something from their Cruiser series.
The Bob comes standard with Nova Craft’s black aluminum gunwales, comfortable ash seats with nylon lacing, as well as ash carry handles and yoke. Nova Craft will custom build you one in a variety of other materials, including fiberglass, Royalex, Aramid, Spectra and Nova Craft’s own Blue Steel, ranging in weight from 60 pounds down to only 40 pounds.
Choose your own Nova Craft Bob Special
The Nova Craft Bob Special is a classic design in modern materials. As a tip of the hat to the old war commander and Mr. Trudeau in his buckskins, I’d recommend trimming your Bob Special in the more authentic ash gunwales.
This article was first published in the Early Summer 2014 issue of Canoeroots Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Based on the Calypso’s unique performance-oriented design, the Azul Sultan kayak brings these same attributes to larger paddlers or paddlers looking for added storage capacity and sea worthiness for extended expeditions.
Azul Sultan Specs
(fiberglass)
Length: 17’10”
Width: 21.25”
Cockpit: 16.5” × 30”
Weight: 58 lbs
MSRP:$3,350
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all sea kayaks for larger adults ]
The Azul Sultan kayak has substance
The Azul Sultan measures just under eighteen feet long and is quite narrow at 21.5 inches. The Sultan is available in fiberglass, Kevlar or carbon layups and while Azul’s specs show the fiberglass weighing 58 lbs, word from the factory is that they have it down closer to 50 lbs.
Storage space to spare
In addition to increased volume the Azul Sultan kayak has large eighteen inch bow and stern hatches and an eight inch round day hatch all with watertight Valley urethane covers. Azul has further increased the useable space in the Sultan’s hatches by contouring the bulkheads into the cockpit area.
[ Plan your next sea kayaking & touring adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
The larger sized hatch in the bow is a pleasure for stuffing and storing gear that could otherwise only go in the larger stern compartment. We appreciated the convenience of a day hatch for keeping things organized and quick at hand on extended trips or day outings. To complete the outfitting Azul includes full bungee deck rigging and perimeter grab lines.
A proper fit is key
Inside the Sultan, we enjoyed the long cockpit allowing even our tallest paddlers the ability to take out his 36-inch legs while still seated. The seat and thigh brace configuration didn’t seem to fit any of our test paddlers without some additional foam modification. It was simply a matter of either raising the seating position, which not all paddlers were necessarily into, or padding down the thigh braces for a more egonomic fit. Ensuring a proper fit is a must in any boat, especially one like the Sultan where much of your control and enjoyment is from being part of the boat rather than just sitting in it.
A retractable skeg is controlled on the left side by a simple rope and cleat system. The skeg springs down (and up if you happen to scrub it on something) and you control the running depth by cleating it off.
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all sea kayaks with skegs ]
The Azul Sultan rides high
The Azul Sultan is one of those kayaks that seems to be about the same speed as the one you’re in, until it suddenly leaves you in its dust. The Sultan’s large volume rides high and rolls with the water. This is both unnerving for some and a dream boat for more experienced paddlers. The long waterline and narrow beam produces a boat that accelerates quickly and maintains its speed with ease.
The single hard chine makes small adjustments in direction a quick snap of your hips at the end of a forward stroke. The long waterline of the Sultan that produces great forward speed means you have to aggressively tilt and sweep this boat around for a complete change in direction.
Without the retractable skeg, lighter paddlers in an empty Sultan will notice that it weathercocks quite easily, there’s simply lots of boat for the wind to catch and not enough boat deep in the water to keep it going straight. Dropping the skeg halfway, more gear and/or a heavier paddler fixes this problem immediately.
Experienced heavier paddlers looking for a larger volume sea kayak with a hard chine British feel will love the Sultan. The Azul Sultan kayak is an ideal guide’s boat capable of big water and getting to where you need to be quickly. In the words of an old friend and professional sea kayak guide who happens to have a Sultan of his own, “Ah mon ami, c’est moi dancing bebe!”
This article was first published in the Fall 2001 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Remember when splats and squirts were paddling moves, not something that happens after a night of too many tacos and beer? If you miss those days of controlled verticality—or have no idea what we’re talking about—then try paddling the Pyranha Loki playboat.
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See the Pyranha Loki kayak ]
Pyranha’s Loki is a smooth operator
The profile of this slicey, rounded-hull playboat is what you’ll notice first—it’s two and a half inches narrower and a foot longer than its cousin JED, with less volume.
“Our goal was to create a boat where its connection to the river was more important than its ability to take off from it,” says Pyranha designer Graham Mackereth. Paddlers had been requesting a slicey, old-school design similar to Pyranha’s I series, he adds. “With the Loki we’ve taken advantage of a more modern hull shape and added length to slow down some moves. The satisfaction comes from how smoothly you can make the move, not how many you can pack into a minute.”
Loki has plenty of tricks in store
Where flat-bottomed aerial boats tend to bounce around on waves, the hull shape of the Loki makes for a smooth glide of a ride. It isn’t as picky as a full-on playboat when it comes to wave selection, happily nestling into green waves that its spuddier cousins can’t. Long and easy-to-engage edges allow predictable carving across the face of a wave and, with good technique, you can throw the long stern through the air for huge water-spraying blunts.
Hole riding in the Loki is a smooth and controlled experience. The hull stays settled on the water during side surfs and spins. The boat’s length allows for slow rotation cartwheels, giving you time to keep your torso in the lead. Keep the depth of the hole in mind as the Loki’s extra few inches of length and low-volume ends slice deeper than short, high-volume aerial designs.
Feature Photo: Jo-Anne Caldwell
Lock in tight and roll with ease
The Loki is also a capable downriver boat. Its rocker profile keeps its ends high out of the water allowing for effortless, mid-rapid direction changes. In bigger water, stay aggressively forward as large waves can lift the bow up, sink the low-volume stern and leave you in an unintentional stall or ender. Luckily, the narrow width and flat stern create a profile that makes rolling upright a breeze.
The Loki is equipped with Pyranha’s awesome Connect 30 outfitting system. Aggressive thigh braces and a wide, high-riding back band are linked with a silky-smooth, durable ratcheting system that keeps you locked in place. With size 10 feet tucked into the skinny bow there’s some wiggle room, but a low-profile booty is needed for comfort.
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all Pyranha kayaks ]
Get vertical with the Pyranha Loki
Paddling the Pyranha Loki is like adding play spots and mischief to your local river, opening up the possibility of controlled verticality with every eddyline, rock or small wave you find. Its design features make classic moves—like squirts, pirouettes, splats and cartwheels—easier as well as more stable and fun than in a creek boat or freestyle kayak. The Loki will spice up your local class II–IV run, just like adding hot sauce to your tacos, but without having to worry about fallout the morning after.
This article was first published in the Spring 2013 issue of Rapid Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
When Liquidlogic launched a campaign during the winter of 2011 called “Automatic for the People” asking paddlers what they wanted to see added to the company’s 2012 line-up, the response was overwhelming: a flat hull creek boat. Several months later (after leaving the Jefe and Remix alone for a few nights together) the Liquidlogic Stomper was born.
Designer Shane Benedict says, “All these people had different passions and different concepts but the number one thing they wanted was a flat hull creek boat.” Will the Stomper be the true love paddlers have been looking for?
If you want a comfortable boat, you want the Stomper. Liquidlogic’s super plush Bad Ass Outfitting hugs your curves in all the right places. The upgraded backband system sits low on your back and flips up to allow unparalleled access to the stern for extra cargo.
While other boats we’ve tested relied on speed and edging to get you around the river, the Liquidlogic Stomper is all about spinning and riding over anything. This boat is by far the most rockered in the group, making it a boofing machine. It slides over rocks, skips over holes and flies off ledges without needing to be moving at Mach 1.
[ Plan your next whitewater kayak adventure with the Paddling Trip Guide ]
Softer edges require a sure touch
Add to the rocker profile a semi-planing hull and very soft, wide, chamfered edges and the Stomper is easy to maneuver mid-rapid. You can flirt all you want with boily crosscurrents and waves without much thought and still be forgiven—those edges just won’t catch.
The tradeoff to softer edges is that you can’t carve out of holes as easily as in a boat with harder rails. You also need to be very aggressive to avoid spinning out on eddylines. Keeping your weight forward and charging hard is the key to snapping the Stomper into those tiny eddies.
Feature Photo: Michael Mechan
A hard-driving creek boat
The Liquidlogic Stomper isn’t really built for play and leans hard toward the creeking side of things. Surfing waves, it tends to noodle around rather than carve. We found the Stomper had less primary stability than any of the other boats in the shootout—a result of the semi-planing hull’s narrower footprint. Lean the boat over to the side, however, and you’ll find bomber secondary stability.
[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: See all Liquidlogic kayaks ]
Don’t tread lightly with the Liquidlogic Stomper
Our testers agreed, while some of the features of the Liquidlogic Stomper are a plus for beginners—like not having any edges to catch and the ease with which it maneuvers around—it is better suited for advanced paddlers looking to charge tight, technical rivers, slide down rocks and boof everything in sight. If you’re tired of playing around, take a Stomper for a romp.
This article was first published in the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of Rapid Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
This article originally appeared in Canoeroots Spring 2016 issue.
