John Fereira wrote:

Dan Koretz wrote

Shrink--

Re class II: that adds another wrinkle. One thing I would not do with
my sea kayak is to run even class 2. The boat turns too slowly, and
for that matter, in rapids, you often have far less than 18' between
rocks.

I'm going to have to disagree here. Class 2, by definition, doesn't require
a great deal of manoevering to avoid obstacles, which typically means that
there is plenty of space between rocks.

You've never paddled WW in the Southeast, have you, John. Within an hour
of where I'm sitting there are literally dozens of rapids that are far
too easy to be considered Class III and are certainly more than "fast
moving water with riffles and small waves," the definition of Class I.
That would make them...you do the math. Our rivers and creeks tend to be
narrow and rocky and require a good deal of maneuvering, which is easy
to do in a WW boat but well beyond the skills of most touring kayak
paddlers.

C'mon down and I'll show you.

Steve

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Steve Cramer
Athens, GA