What riverman said! I paddle White water boats mostly, but still keep a
touring boat in the quiver, if you want a crash course on tracking a
boat......borrow a WW boat for a while, they are not designed to go straight
( well with that said you can make ANY boat track when you develop your
strokes), but once you can make the WW boat go straight, touring boats will
be a breeze
"riverman" wrote in message ...

"Terry" wrote in message
...

Hi guys,
I would __greatly__ appreciate your help as you seem to really have an
excellent grasp of paddling.

My stats: 6'1, 220lbs, 36yo, novice

So this year it is my goal to do the Texas Water Safari (TWS)and a
friend lent me this boat he
Bottom View: http://tinyurl.com/c8t4u
In Water:
http://tinyurl.com/aghcs

It's made by Hydra and it's called something like Rivertours or
something. They are apparently out of business. It's about 16'4 and
seems to weigh about 60lbs and is plastic. It has a rudder system but
it has since broken off and the owner cannot find it so I'm trying to
find a replacement.

I paddled it and it doesn't seem to track very well but again, Im a
novice so it could just be me. I'm sure you know but just for some, the
TWS is 260 miles from San Marcos, TX to the Gulf.

Although the owner paddled the boat and finished in 67 hours, everyone
I speak to says I couldn't finish the race in this boat and if I did I
would be "grunting it" the whole way. They might be saying that to sell
me a better boat I just do not know for sure. (a few are paddling
friends that do the race so they are just being honest). They all tell
me to go with a Wenonah Voyager, but 1) I cannot afford anything more
than 1200 and 2) Being a novice everything seems very tippy to me to be
honest and those seem even more so from looking at them.

Race is in June and I am just not sure what to do.

Thanks guys, sorry this is so long. If you have any follow up questions
pls ask and Ill keep refreshing this page as I live on the computer
alot.

Terry

Hi Terry:
You're going to get a slew of responses, and as a novice I won't go into a
lot of water hydraulics and technical stuff for you, but sum it up. Your
friends are right: you'll hate the whole experience.

If you cannot paddle the boat straight, then you'll spend a LOT of your
energy trying to steer rather than making headway. And you'll spend a lot
of
energy trying to overcome the warps in the hull. And you'll spend a lot of
energy trying to push the boat forward. While that is acceptable for an
afternoon outing, a novice doing a 260 mile paddle will spend as much
energy
as an expert doing about 1000+ miles...which is a LOT. I don't imagine you
finishing...I expect you'd get into a stubburn headspace in about 5 hours,
push yourself for another 3-5 ('grunting it out'), then quitting in
complete
frustration when you found yourself surrounded by a bunch of others in
similar positions: poor equipment, poor conditioning, huge blisters,
knotted
muscles, aching back, a rash on your butt, chafing in your armpits,
pounding
headache from not drinking, and in over their heads. And really dejected
about the whole paddling thing.

If you really want to do a long distance paddle, not even a race, then
consider renting a boat. A good quality, intermediate range, new edition
boat. Rent it for 6-8 consecutive weekends, and paddle it like crazy. If
you
cannot rent a boat, then ask some of your friends to borrow one of theirs
for a day. Then return it with a six pack of beer, and ask if you can
borrow
it again the next weekend.

This will do several things for you:

1) it will help you develop those upper body muscles you will need.
2) you will get VERY familiar with your boat and how to paddle it.
3) you will learn to spend as little energy as possible moving the boat,
which leaves you more energy to get the job done.
4) you will start to get knowledgeable about what other stuff you need,
and
don't need. Like for drinking, or what clothes to wear, or what gear to
own.
5) you won't spend as much money as if you bought a boat outright, be it
the
right boat or the wrong boat.
and most of all
6) you will either discover you really love paddling, and you'll be much
more familiar with which boat you might want,
or
7) you will quit and not be a thousand dollars into it with a boat that
you
probably couldn't sell.

I would not consider entering any sort of endurance or long-distance event
with novice skills in any sort of substandard equipment. You just have too
much working against you.

--riverman