"Michael Daly" wrote in
le.rogers.com:

On 5-Aug-2003, John Fereira wrote:

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.

It doesn't sound like an easy to control kayak either. There's no
mention on the Perception web site of such features as thigh hooks etc.
That's a pretty basic requirement for controlling edging in any kind
of WW. That's fine if his intent is to swim through the WW.

In a boat that wide and stable I'd maintain that controlling edging wouldn't
be required in some kinds of whitewater. I would imagine that one could
just sit in the middle of it and float through class I, I+ rapids forwards,
backwards, and sideways without incident.

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.

Is that class II because of relatively low water levels running through
lots of windy paths through rocks or because of scary but straight
running wave trains?

Both, although instead of rocks one of the rivers was fairly narrow and
turny with a few strainers. Some amount of manoevering was necessary but as
long as your line was reasonable going into the trickier sections it was
pretty easy. On that particular trip, there were about 35 other people in
kayaks ranging from a Dagger RPM to a Current Designs Solstice GTS and just
about everything in between.

Here are a couple of pictures of another spot:

http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/gr.../skinners1.gif
http://mayfly.mannlib.cornell.edu/gr.../skinners2.gif


Running a sea kayak through a bunch of haystacks
in a straight line is nowhere near as difficult as turning on a dime
amid the rocks. No one has defined the conditions other than just WW -
pretty vague.

Exactly. That's why I didn't presume that WW meant class III or above where
quick manoevering might be required.

" Not looking to buy another kayak, gonna take her there no
matter what, looking for some, fearless advice!!!!!


This attitude says it all - he's going to do it regardless of what
anyone says, so why bother with advice? What he really wants, I
suspect, is to hear someone tell him he's doing something cool. He's
cranky because people are pointing out that he's doing something that
sounds stupid.

IMNSHO, the best advice he's received is to notify his next of kin.

It wasn't, however, particular useful advice. While the original author
wasn't exactly real mature in his responses I bet that there may be many
others reading the group that have recreational kayaks, are wondering about
paddling some easy whitewater, and are legitimately concerned about how they
might do it safely.