"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
...
I will say that my personal inclination is probably to bigger water in
bigger streams, rather than difficult technical small streams. I am
more oriented to tripping than class IV, in terms of my paddling goals.
I may think that I need to paddle some class IV to improve my skills,
so that class III wilderness rivers will not seem so tough. The short
playboats, that look like kayak playboats, seem bizarre to me, but maybe
that is an aesthetic consideration.
...

I've stayed out of this thread until now, 'cuz I don't know nothin' about
modern playboats (except that I swim a lot when I paddle them). The last
paragraph, though, makes me think you might look at boats more oriented to
tripping - Prospectors or boats in the MRExplorer class. There are a lot of
good ones. They'll be capable of Class 3 loaded and Class 4 if properly
outfitted and if you're accompanied by kayakers skilled in the art of
swif****er rescue. (You can usually assure your safety by volunteering to
carry the beer cooler. Be certain to lash it down securely so it doesn't
come free and distract them.)

I am probably learning bad habits paddling my big boat.

No such thing.

The boat has so
much volume...

which you need in a tripping boat if it's in the right places

it tends to cruise through larger waves,...

getting through big water dry is THE key tripping capability for the boat
and THE key skill for the pilot.

and so stable...

The tripping class boats do trade off some (primary) stability for
maneuverability and composure in disorganized water.

that
I don't depend as much on bracing for stability.

AFAIC, you shouldn't trip in Class 3 water without a couple of solid
braces - not just techniques - instinct. It's something I've been working
on a long time. I make progress only by time-in-the-boat in uncomfortably
large water. (See above about kayaks.) There's some argument that you'll
learn technique and instinct faster in a playboat (in which you really need
it - in a playboat, I get to work on my brace on fla****er) rather than in
your tripper. Maybe. I dunno.

A lot of what I hear
about whitewater paddling doesn't even seem to apply to me in my big
boat.

I know what you mean. When I get Paddler magazine, I read it as though it's
about some totally foreign activity like off-road racing. You're never
going to make its cover by backpaddling gracefully down some dry sneak route
five feet away from some horrible drang und zwang.

The ideas are connected. The hyperconsumerist a-boat-for-every-hole,
a-new-boat-every-six-months model makes it so both last spring's playboats
and less specialized canoes are undervalued in the market place.
Prospectors (or Prospecteurs) will never be obsolete.

I am expecting to have to climb a learning cliff with almost any
whitewater boat.

Finally, the playboats are lousy for poling.

Hth,
Fred Klingener