Fluid Flow

I just looked at a bunch of posts about kid’s boats, and they all had one thing in common. They were written by adults! Here’s the (semi) youngster’s view.

I started kayaking (not whitewater) about 8 years ago. At that point it was mainly flat water in an Old Town Otter. Then, when my brother, Ben, and I showed interest in the rapids, my dad got us Perception Dancers. I paddled a pink Dancer XS (who would have thought they made that size?!?) for about three years, until two years ago when I first became interested in freestyle.

Photo of me in my Dancer XS, 2005

Courtesy Of PotomacPaddlers.com

Now, the Dancer is a great beginner-intermediate boat. It is easy to roll (it’s the first boat I ever rolled, I was 10 at the time), tracks better than a playboat, and is faster. This makes it great to learn in, and I even ran some class III on the St Croix River in Maine/Canada in it. It is a reliable boat! Don’t spend six-hundred dollars on a kids boat that you’re not sure your kid will like. The Dancer series and other longer older boats are cheap, easy to outfit, and are almost always on the market. Now I’ve grown into my brothers larger, red Dancer Large. Now even though I have a playboat, I’ll use the Dancer for recreational slalom, longer trips, and flatwater trips. Basically It comes down to five points:

1. These boats are easier to paddle than playboats. (= less frustration for child and parent.)

2. Round hulled boats are easier to roll than playboats. (However, after paddling the Dancer for two years, I had some problems transferring to a playboat. Still, I believe these round hulled boats improve rolling form and technique)

3. Older boats = More cash left in your pocket (I believe my Dancer XS cost $150 or less.)

4. Faster than the shorter boats of today. (Again, less frustration.)

5.VERY easy to outfit. All you need is some hunks of foam, plastic cement, an Exacto knife and a pair of scissors. (No screws to get lost or holes to punch in the boat.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 @ 12:02 pm on the category Boat Review, Regions and . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.