Demo Day in Farmville
Why go to a demo day billed as the "largest thing to happen to
Farmville since Lee and Grant passed through town 130 years ago" a
month after getting a new kayak? Affirmation! I wanted to try out
all the other kayaks to prove to myself that my Explorer is the
perfect kayak.
I drove up to SML last night and Jean and I headed over to Farmville
for Appomattox River Company's
demo days. I went looking for a PFD, a decent sprayskirt, a new
paddle, and many kayaks that didn't measure up to my new kayak.
Unlike me, Jean went looking for a boat she actually liked.
She was mainly interested in a Riot Enduro.
She saw it in Charleston, but had not had a chance to paddle it. She
took it out today and found it to have horrible tracking and severe
weathercocking -- even with the skeg deployed. She also tried the Riot Endeavor
and it was worse than the Enduro. I suggested she try a Wilderness Systems
Pungo 120. She liked it a lot better than the Riot kayaks. And
she still thinks WS's seats are perfect. I also suggested she try the
Liquid
Logic Saluda. She liked it, but not as much as the Pungo.
I was very much looking forward to trying a Wilderness
Systems Tempest 170, but the cockpit is too small. It's wide
enough, but it's about an inch too short. I did try an Impex Force Cat5.
Overall, I didn't like it. The finish was very well done and I liked
the Immersion Research backband and seat, but the handling seemed
lacking. The tracking was not as tight as I would have expected with
the skeg up. My Explorer doesn't need the skeg until most sane people
are off the water, but the Force Cat 5 seemed to need it on perfectly
flat water with only a minor breeze. Initial stability seemed higher
than my Explorer. That was likely due to my being near the top of the
paddler weight range. As I had my keys, wallet and cell phone in the
pocket of my shorts, I didn't test the secondary stability.
Proving yet again that I don't look like a kayaker, the Impex rep
warned me that since the Force 5 was a long boat, I shouldn't expect
it to turn like the boats I'm used to. He suggested that I try
leaning a little, but not too much or I'd fall in. What is it about
me that makes people think I have no idea what I'm doing in a kayak.
Oh yeah, I don't. (The kayak turns quite easily with a simple sweep
stroke and a little edging.)
The only purchase of the day was a 220 Aquabound Manta
Ray.