"Felsenmeer" wrote in
:


A kayak that is just over 9' long and almost 30" wide with a nearly
flat hull is *not* going to be a stiff tracking kayak. Even someone
with minimal skills should have little trouble manoevering it
whitewater up to class II. The orignal author asked about paddling it
in whitewater, not class IV-V whitewater. I've taken much stiffer
tracking kayaks (a 16'6" sea kayak) through class II whitewater
several times. On one such occastion I was leading a couple of other
people on a two day trip down a river that had a lot of class I+
rapids and one class II section. My bosses boss was in a 15 1/2' sea
kayak and only had about a years experience. She had no trouble
whatsoever handling the class II rapid.


But I think you have to consider that class II is every bit as lethal
as class IV-V if you don't have experience.

So is a bathtub with 6" of water in it.

Class II, by definition, doesn't require much manoeveribility nor are the
consequences severe or is group assistance often required. From the AWA
site:

class ii: novice. straightforward rapids with wide, clear channels which are
evident without scouting. occasional maneuvering may be required, but rocks
and medium sized waves are easily missed by trained paddlers. swimmers are
seldom injured and group assistance, while helpful, is seldom needed. rapids
that are at the upper end of this difficulty range are designated "class
ii+".

In fact, it seems like a
large number of whitewater accidents I've heard of recently happened on
class II stuff. A recent drowning on the Nantahala occurred in class
II, if I recall correctly. A friend of mine was nearly drowned early
this spring on a class II section of a class IV river in the Obed-Emory
system, after he broached on an innocent looking rock which happened to
be seriously undercut.

How many of those incidents were in recreational kayaks vs. "real"
whitewater kayaks? In conditions up to class II I was suggest that an
inexperienced kayaks would less likely capsize in a 9' long, 30" rec boat
than in most of the "real" whitewater boats on the market these days. An
inexperieced kayak has no business being on anything class III or above, no
matter what kind of boat they're in.

And on a class III river closer to home in the
early summer, I saw another badly wrapped rec boat pulled off the
rocks, badly trashed.

Do you think that was a result of the boat or the operator? I'd suggest
that whoever was paddling that rec boat would just as likely have run into
trouble had they been in a real whitewater boat.

A Sparky has no place in whitewater of any sort,
IMO. It wasn't designed for it, and given the way the original poster
posed the question, he has absolutely no preparation for whitewater
paddling anyway.

Whether a Sparky is designed for whitewater or not, even someone with
marginal experience could successfully handle whitewater up to class II in
one. An inexperience paddler that attempts anything more difficult is
dangerous regardless of what they are paddling.