"Cracked Pumpkinhead" wrote in
ups.com:

I was looking at a used 2002 16' Perception Avatar but it's not Red.
HA On a serious note, I have only been Kayaking 4 times (sea
kayaking), 3 of which where in a pool but I cant wait to get out in the
wilderness exploring or just splashing around in exciting waters. It's
still up in the air for me if I want to go the Sea Kayak route or White
Water but regardless I DO plan to go to courses to learn all about it
so don't worry everyone, you don't have to reply with the usual
"Beginners should really go learn the basics from professionals" yada
yada. I have already looked into it and look forward to the social
aspect of the schools as well as the learning opportunity. Anyways, do
you have any suggestions as to how I can choose which type of Kayaking
would be suitable for me? I can tell you that I do love to explore but
also LOVE to watch whitewater kayakers battle rapids and it does look
like their having a TOTAL BLAST.

It really depends on where you think you might be paddling the most. That
Avatar is actaully a pretty good choice for a first sea kayak. It's long
and narrow enough that it's going to get decent performance and not restrict
your ability to improve your skills. While paddling whitewater is indeed
fun you can get into plenty exciting waters in a sea kayak, especially
considering you're near a like the size of Ontario (I'm an hour or so to the
south of it).

What I have noticed about choosing between whitewater and touring is that
you can't really predict what kind of paddling you're going to like the most
until you get out and do it. When I bought my first boat I owned it for
about three weeks before I started thinking about replacing it with
something more conducive to the kind of paddling I found I liked.

In the long term you might find that you won't limit yourself to whitewater
or touring but will want to do both. There are a lotta folks here that have
accumulated quite a quiver of boats. I've got three touring kayaks (two I
built myself), a whitewater kayak, and a canoe.

A note about "red" kayaks. Some consider the color of a kayak based on
visibility. If you're paddling in an area with a lot of motor boat traffic
or plan on going to some isolated waters it could be important. Yellow and
Red are very visibility and Orange even better, but Red tends to look black
in low light levels.