Paddlesports (Kayaking, Canoe, Stand-Up Paddle boards)

Zatoichi.uK · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:15

Finally booked a "Discover" course in June so looking forward to that. Been out a few times with these guys so just want to become a bit more proficient and then hopefully get my own.

https://www.canoetrail.co.uk

Kayak wise I'd realistically be looking at mostly rivers with the occasional trip to the coast since my folks live by the sea. The below stands out for me, not too short or long, seems to get good reviews etc. I was looking at a Riot Edge 11 but get the impression the quality isn't great. What do you guys think?

https://www.perceptionkayaks.com/eu/en/kayaks/expression-11

Martynt74 · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:20

Personally i wouldn't want to go any wider than 32" at most. I went on a 34" red and it felt incredibly sluggish. A 32" board should be more than stable enough for you.

In your shoes i'd go with the Fanatic 11'6 if you can stretch to it.

Zatoichi.uK · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:32

Martynt74 said:
Personally i wouldn't want to go any wider than 32" at most. I went on a 34" red and it felt incredibly sluggish. A 32" board should be more than stable enough for you.

In your shoes i'd go with the Fanatic 11'6 if you can stretch to it.

Ta but that's a SUP right? I'm only really interested in kayaks at the moment, though never say never eh!

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:33

Martynt74 said:
Personally i wouldn't want to go any wider than 32" at most. I went on a 34" red and it felt incredibly sluggish. A 32" board should be more than stable enough for you.

In your shoes i'd go with the Fanatic 11'6 if you can stretch to it.

Ok no problem. I'll take this into consideration. I guess I don't have much experience with different boards and not even sure on the size of board that I learnt on.

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:33

Zatoichi.uK said:
Ta but that's a SUP right? I'm only really interested in kayaks at the moment, though never say never eh!

I think he was replying to me.

Martynt74 · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:35

Yeah, just SUP's, i've no idea of sizes of Kayaks!

@michty_me Ideally i'd say the best bet is to try and try different sized boards, but i know that's easier said than done!

I guess as i said, it's really down to you on size, i found that i always wanted to go for long duration paddles covering 10 miles or so, and therefore glide was important. If you're happy to just potter around (as many people are, nothing wrong with it), then yeah something around a 10'8x32" board would likely be fine.

Zatoichi.uK · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:37

michty_me said:
I think he was replying to me.

Ah was confuzzled for a moment there!

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 15:44

Martynt74 said:
Yeah, just SUP's, i've no idea of sizes of Kayaks!

@michty_me Ideally i'd say the best bet is to try and try different sized boards, but i know that's easier said than done!

I guess as i said, it's really down to you on size, i found that i always wanted to go for long duration paddles covering 10 miles or so, and therefore glide was important. If you're happy to just potter around (as many people are, nothing wrong with it), then yeah something around a 10'8x32" board would likely be fine.

I would love to but not sure if that is possible.
I'll maybe contact the paddle board school and find out what board size I used there as I found that one quite good.

Skidder · 27 Apr 2021 at 16:43

I have a 10 4 fly air premium and I weigh just 90kg. It copes with me fine. 10 4 and 6 essentially the same. That shape is very versatile, you can paddle it on slow rivers, bit on the sea, you can even surf small waves (and witht the premium you have mast foot so can windsurf with it).

It was a great board starting out but personally for what I mostly do a more touring orientated shape would have been even better (pointy nose, longer). The stability is massive, arguably too much.

What type of riding do envisage doing in a little while? Long distances, if so get more of a touring shape.

A mate of mine wanted a first board and was not on a tight budget and ultimately was going to be on slow moving rivers and the sea. I got him a starboard 14 foot touring. Stability is still huge and 14 foot is so much faster.

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 17:03

Skidder said:
I have a 10 4 fly air premium and I weigh just 90kg. It copes with me fine. 10 4 and 6 essentially the same. That shape is very versatile, you can paddle it on slow rivers, bit on the sea, you can even surf small waves (and witht the premium you have mast foot so can windsurf with it).

It was a great board starting out but personally for what I mostly do a more touring orientated shape would have been even better (pointy nose, longer). The stability is massive, arguably too much.

What type of riding do envisage doing in a little while? Long distances, if so get more of a touring shape.

A mate of mine wanted a first board and was not on a tight budget and ultimately was going to be on slow moving rivers and the sea. I got him a starboard 14 foot touring. Stability is still huge and 14 foot is so much faster.

I won't be doing long distance trips, Mainly on a river next to my parents house, On local lochs or in the harbour is the usage I will be using it for.
I've only been on one for an hour or two so far but looking to get into it a lot more.

Would the longer 10'8 negate the extra inch width you gain from the 10'4 size?

This is all quite new to me so trying to get my head around it really.

Skidder · 27 Apr 2021 at 18:00

michty_me said:
I will mainly be using it on lochs or in the local harbour mainly.
I done a paddleboard school in the harbour where they also do cave exploration trips etc so would like to do that too.
I think maybe the 10'8 would be ideal with a width of 34".

Will be very stable which is nice to learn. May feel very slow in year. Board will be great but the other route is to go longer more touring orientated shape with say 29-31 width. For lochs you may want to cover big distances so length if helpful as equals speed (but only if you can balance on it)

10 4 and 8 is marginal

For distance get a longer board. I would always advovate 14ft for distance but you could look to 11+ (but get 14!)

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 18:14

Skidder said:
Will be very stable which is nice to learn. May feel very slow in year. Board will be great but the other route is to go longer more touring orientated shape with say 29-31 width. For lochs you may want to cover big distances so length if helpful as equals speed (but only if you can balance on it)

10 4 and 8 is marginal

For distance get a longer board. I would always advovate 14ft for distance but you could look to 11+ (but get 14!)

Thanks for the input. Very similar advice to Martyn.
I've just spoken to the place where I done the lesson and they said there board is the 10'8 and 35" wide.

I wish I could try slimmer boards but don't know anyone local with them.
My concern is going too slim for speed when I most probably need to work on balance mainly just now.

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 20:19

Ok looking at the boards again, I may look at upping my budget again and look at the 11' x 33" JP Allround Air as linked in the page before. I quite like the look of that actually.

Martynt74 · 27 Apr 2021 at 21:33

My first board was a 32” and I didn’t have any issues with stability and if you ask anyone I have very poor balance/stability.

I then moved to a 27” board and it’s trickier but still pretty stable.

I think it’s easy to be scared of narrower boards but once you actually use one you realise there’s nothing to be fearful of. not that I’m advocating a 27” wide board for a beginner!

It’s difficult as it’s always very easy for scope creep and going more and more expensive.

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 21:58

Ok well that gives me a bit more confidence in choosing something a bit narrower then.
Everything in my price range appears to be all roughly the same size.
I'll have another good look in the morning but the JP 11' one does sound good. Pity it's out of stock everywhere.

Martynt74 · 27 Apr 2021 at 21:59

Stock is certainly an issue these days.

If you’re looking at that board. I’d consider the Gladiator Elite. It’s a superb package overall and gives a better paddle/pump than most packages.

I didn’t mention it earlier as it was well above budget!

michty_me · 27 Apr 2021 at 22:58

Martynt74 said:
Stock is certainly an issue these days.

If you’re looking at that board. I’d consider the Gladiator Elite. It’s a superb package overall and gives a better paddle/pump than most packages.

I didn’t mention it earlier as it was well above budget!

It certainly does look the business but it's a good chunk dearer than the JP 11' all-round air.
I'll need to make a short list of the items mentioned and see what I can get.
I didn't think it would be so hard to filter through potentially rubbish items.

Martynt74 · 27 Apr 2021 at 23:00

Ah. I googled the JP and thought I saw it for £699 so that’s the only reason I mentioned it.

It is a minefield and I agree it makes deciding incredibly difficult. I bought my Fanatic last year and even buying a second board where I knew exactly what I wanted I struggled!

michty_me · 28 Apr 2021 at 05:57

Martynt74 said:
Ah. I googled the JP and thought I saw it for £699 so that’s the only reason I mentioned it.

It is a minefield and I agree it makes deciding incredibly difficult. I bought my Fanatic last year and even buying a second board where I knew exactly what I wanted I struggled!

I shall go through the reviews of all the items mentioned in the past page or two and make a decision. If it comes to it I can always get a second board that is longer and thinner.

Martynt74 · 28 Apr 2021 at 08:35

michty_me said:
I shall go through the reviews of all the items mentioned in the past page or two and make a decision. If it comes to it I can always get a second board that is longer and thinner.

That's the spirit.

As someone once told me. Paddleboarding is a cheap sport when you have all the equipment. You just never reach a point where you have all the equipment.