"Michael Daly" wrote in
:

On 9-Jun-2004, "Te Canaille" wrote:

a scratched up hull is a sign of poor control

An unscratched hull is a sign of someone who doesn't take his
kayak anywhere. Or a paddler who has his priorities wrong.
At the infamous kayaking school in Anglesey, they have paddlers
do a surf launch and landing on rocky beaches, just to get folks
away from the fear of putting the kayak into real life situations.
Flat water and lovely sandy beaches represent a small fraction
of real paddling venues.

Gel coat gets scratched and is easy to repair. Most of the folks
I know that think like you paddle expensive strippers. Those
of us that paddle real kayaks (and not showboats) don't worry
about minor dings and scratches. That gets in the way of real
paddling.

I paddle a cedar strip kayak. I've used it in lessons but I actually prefer
to teach in a plastic boat like a Prijon Seayak. Most of the lessons I am
involved in teach self and assisted rescues. Even on a t-rescue (not a full
t-x rescue) there is quite a bit of boat to boat contact. That said, my
cedar strip kayak has quite a few dings and scratches, some of them long and
ugly. I didn't build a kayak to be used as a piece of furniture. I built
the kayak to be paddled and it shows it. When I built my first boat I spent
the last couple of weeks putting on several coats of varnish so that it had
a nice glossy finish. On the day that I launched it I paddled for 15
minutes then came back to the dock to get something and the stern slide
under the dock and hit a metal pipe, putting a 5" long, 1/4" wide scratch on
the rear deck. "OK", I thought, "my boat is finally finished". It's had
lots of scratches and dings since but they're easy to repair.