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

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