Wavewalk Kayaks

It’s always fun to watch kids paddling a W kayak, regardless of their age and where they paddle it.

The sense of confidence they get from the boat sooner or later translates into visible progress, tricks and stunts.
In this case this nine year old boy had to break his own record in jumping in the kayak. We have reasons to believe he may have been hoping to capsize the boat…
He kept jumping and managed to produce a lot of spray - relatively to his weight. Then he gave a pretty impressive performance of standup paddling, which is not surprising since kids seem to find position more ‘natural’ than paddling in the lower positions.Eventually that kid and his 12 year old brother kept fooling with their boat in new and creative ways, and ended the session by declaring -”This is fun!”



Paddling and just drifting down a river standing in your W is a new and exhilarating way to travel and fish.
The river and scenery are experienced differently than when you’re sitting or riding in your kayak, and fishing is altogether different.
First of all, you can see more of what’s around you, whether it’s the water or the banks that you’re interested in. Wildlife and vegetation are more visible, and fish can often be perceived in the water when they wouldn’t be from a lower position.
Paddling down river is always easier than up river, and when you paddle standing you can paddle and steer at the same time by applying canoe-style J strokes on one side of your W kayak. If the stream is fast enough to carry you at a good speed you can just stand and occasionally dip your paddle to correct your course.
You can also paddle fast - both on one and two sides of your W kayak. Even speed is sensed differently when you paddle standing - Imagine going down a snowy mountain slope sitting on a sled and then standing on skis… The difference is comparable, although going on snow is faster in both cases.



Sometime it’s nice to go paddling with passengers on board your W Kayak. It can be fun to combine such an excursion with fishing, camping or bird watching.

Storage space is not a problem since the W kayak’s hull tips offer ample storage space, and you can attach additional gear on top of its hulls, but in case you need to take two passengers with you in the cockpit you’d better plan ahead. In such case canoing style paddling presents certain advantages over kayaking style paddling since the shorter, single blade paddles are less prone to hit each other.

Roles should be well defined and understood, in order to facilitate tracking.

The paddler at the stern should be the one responsible for the entire crew, since he/she can see the two others and can apply long J strokes that would help steering and tracking.

The paddler in the front can switch sides more easily than the two others - in case an additional blade is needed in the water on the other side of the kayak.

In case you use kayak (I.E. double blade) paddles, it’s important that the front paddler set the pace and the other two follow his/her paddle in parallel, otherwise the paddles will hit each other.

Like most things related to paddling - practice makes perfect.

Being a kayak fisherman or a regular paddler you may be interested in improving your stand up paddling skills and technique. This is a short movie that shows how paddling standing in the W kayak is done on flat water:

The video also shows some ‘warming up’ exercise: Jumping up and down in the cockpit.

This image taken from the video clearly shows the W wave created by the W Kayak bow:

We’ve just published a new story about Jane, a kayaker from San Diego, California, who’s just become a W kayaker. Jane took her new 2008 W kayak paddling for the first time in Mission Bay, in the company of her daughter, her two grandchildren, and their friend.

Looks like had a lot of fun…

Jane is also a seasoned Jet-ski and motorcycle rider, but that’s another story…

Once you get used to your W Kayak you’ll find that you’re likely to be out paddling it and fishing from it on windy days, when other kayakers and kayak fishermen prefer to stay at home or simply can’t use they kayaks because of ‘windage’ problems.

Thanks to its exceptional, ‘catamaran’ tracking capabilities the W kayak has less windage issues than traditional SIK and SOT kayaks, including sea kayaks. In addition, your ability to move fore and aft along the saddle as well as lean sideways give you effective means to counter affect the wind.

• Side Wind

You’ll be able to track well while a strong side wind is blowing once you’ve mastered the following things:
1. Position yourself in the middle of the cockpit (not in the back for this matter). In case of exceptionally strong side wind you can even position yourself a notch forward and by that let the stern ‘trail’ behind the bow. Generally speaking, you will find that your location along the saddle can help you in more than one way.
2. Lean into the wind, similarly to leaning into the turn - You can use the difference in the hulls’ height to act as a powerful ‘rudder’ that would help your W kayak track.
3. Apply the appropriate paddle stroke on each side of the kayak, that is use a weaker and regular style stroke on the side from which the wind is blowing, and a stronger, longer stroke on the lee side. By doing so you will compensate for the wind’s tendency to deviate your boat from its intended course.

• Head Wind

Interestingly, much of the headwind passes between the W hulls, and eddies have a lesser effect on it than they have on monohull kayaks that have broader hulls.

You can paddle against a strong head wind in the Riding position (recommended) or one of the Kneeling positions.
The more you lean forward the more power you’ll be able to apply in your paddling.
The paddle itself might become a mini ’sail’ when a strong wind is blowing, therefore it is advised to keep the paddle at a low angle above the boat, regardless of the direction from which the wind is blowing.

Although it’s still winter, which means that here in New England we can’t do much paddling or fishing, it’s nice to remember that in a few months we’ll be able to hop back into our W kayaks and ride them into the waves…

What would a kayaking magazine have to say about this picture?

This picture represents a new paddle sport that’s beyond the experience and possibly even the expectation of the kayaking community, including the editors of kayaking magazines. Can any of the editors of those magazines seriously test a W Kayak if all they know is traditional kayaking?

In order to be able to form and express a valid opinion about the W Kayak these people would have to invest time in learning, and that’s something that some experts don’t necessarily like to do because they’d rather believe they already know everything worth knowing in their domain of expertise…

I think a (good) picture is worth a thousand words, even if those words are printed in a kayaking magazine.

Yoav

Again, according to Isaac Newton’s Third Law whenever a body exerts a force on another body, the latter exerts a force equal magnitude and opposite direction on the former.

This also means that when your torso’s entire weight is combined with the weight of your thighs, and together this weight pushes down against your seat, your seat pushes back up with an equal force on your posterior and lower back.
One more, instead of having your powerful legs support your body weight, you find yourself in a position where you have to support most of your legs’ weight with a part of your body that already supports your torso’s weight.
This vertical pressure is exerted during the whole time you’re seated in the traditional kayaking position. Furthermore, it is combined with the horizontal pressure that your legs exert on your lower back (see part 1), thus enhancing the ergonomic problem in your lower back.
No wonder cushioned seats and various ‘lumbar support’ solutions don’t change much.

First, some basic mechanics:
According to Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Action and Reaction, whenever a body exerts a force on another body, the latter exerts a force of equal magnitude and opposite direction on the former.

In other words, when your legs push your feet against your kayak’s foot braces (or footrests) they also push your lower back against your seat - and as a result the seat pushes back against your lower back with an equal force.
Your legs have the most powerful muscles in your body, and they constantly generate this force from the moment you sit in your kayak until you get out of it.
The L kayaking position deprives your legs from their natural role, and together with the seat and footrests turn them into a source of ergonomic problems for your back.
All that unnatural pressure is bad for your legs as well, and this is why you suffer from leg numbness, poor circulation and sometime pain and even chronic injuries.

Today Jeff emailed me this short addendum to his fishing report from yesterday:

“I wanted to mention these two things. First not having really to lift much of anything is great. From the time I put my W into my pickup truck until I arrive home I only lift it to put it away. At the launching site in and out it’s only a pull out, lower, and drag the water (one trip by the way with all gear) then reverse when I’m done. No strain at all.
The other thing is the saddle positions you can get. I found that by bending all the way forward while seated you can stretch out the back issues and take off a bunch of strain. Nothing else allows a position like that except maybe riding on a horse, and I would guess loading a horse in my Ford Ranger would negate any gains from the position. Besides the W doesn’t eat much and you don’t have to clean it’s stall.
I had to mention this stuff because today is the best my back has felt in weeks. Maybe it’s the W maybe not.”

Why do I think this is important? It’s because you can’t overestimate good ergonomics since it is critical to the well being of any paddler and kayak fisherman, and because unlike stability and mobility it’s hard to demonstrate in a video or discuss in an article.

Yoav

Whether you’re on a paddling or fishing trip in shallow water, you don’t want to have to turn back, or worse - get stuck somewhere because of underwater obstacles. Such obstacles may be rocks, tree roots, fallen branches and fallen trees that prevent you from reaching your destination, be it an interesting place to tour or a promising spot to fish in.

If you have to turn back the W solution is either to paddle backwards, or turn the boat, or turn yourself inside the cockpit and face the direction from which you came from: The W kayak is fully symmetrical front and back and it feels the same paddling forward and backward.

Another strategy you can try is poling with your paddle (preferably the Wavewalk PSP), or going over the submerged obstacle - whether it’s top part is underwater or even a few inches above water:
You position yourself at the back of the cockpit, thus raising your W kayak’s bow. Then you paddle forward full speed and try to get the boat to go as forward as possible over the barrier. If you succeeded in getting the middle of the boat pas the obstacle you’re almost there, and you’ll have to move swiftly to the front part of the cockpit and thus make your W kayak tilt forward and go over the obstacle.
It may not be as easy as it sounds, but practice makes perfect, and in this case it’s fun too.
It’s also great to know that you’ve gone where no other canoe or kayak could go…
This video shows how it’s done:

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 6
Mobility: The New Dimension

1. KAYAK MOBILITY DEFINED

Anybody can understand that a 4×4 off-road SUV is more mobile than a common, two-wheel drive car. Most people realize that a skin-on-frame Inuit kayak is less durable than a modern plastic kayak, and you couldn’t paddle it in some of the places that you’re used to paddle in. But what does mobility mean when it comes to modern kayaks?
It basically has to do with whatever limits kayakers and kayak fishermen from going where they want to:
Such limits include spots that are too difficult to launch your kayak from, or too difficult to beach it in. Other limits can be water that’s too difficult to paddle in because of currents, waves, ice, vegetation or submerged obstacles such as wooden logs or rocks.

Weather conditions can limit you as well: Canoes are difficult to paddle on windy days and so are most kayaks, including touring kayaks.
So, if for whatever reason you’re prevented from using some beach or going somewhere with your kayak it means your kayak’s performance is limited in terms of Mobility.

2. WHY IS MOBILITY IMPORTANT?

Your kayak’s mobility goes two things that matter to you:
Safety: You won’t drive a two-wheel drive car in a snowstorm or on ice because it’s unsafe to do so. Similarly, you wouldn’t paddle a kayak with limited mobility in water or weather conditions that are not suitable for it, and you won’t launch or beach it where you might capsize.
Freedom: You don’t think of a two-wheel drive as a great outdoors vehicle since its limited mobility would restrict your freedom of movement. This argument may be circular, but apparently too few kayakers pay attention to this issue, especially touring and sea kayakers.
What’s a fast kayak good for if it requires special places for launching and beaching? Why can’t you paddle a fast, expensive touring kayak in a fast stream or have fun with it in the surf?
And if you’re a fishermen the advantage of replacing your big, trailed motorboat by a cartop fishing kayak is considerably reduced if you can’t launch it, fish with it and beach it anywhere you want.

3. KAYAK MOBILITY REDEFINED

The W kayak offers a level of mobility that’s unprecedented, and may even be inconceivable for some.
Mobility is a feature that’s easy to demonstrate, and a picture tells more than words, especially if it’s moving. Therefore, it seems like the most appropriate thing to do at this point would be to have the reader watch the some online videos:

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 5
Versatility: From Specialized Kayaks to Broad-Range, High Performance Kayaks

3. VERSATILITY - THE NEW PARADIGM

‘Multi-purpose’ kayaks aren’t new: Long and slender kayaks known as surf-skis can be used for touring (sea kayaking) as well as for surfing, and wide recreational kayaks can be used for fishing.
The problem with multi-purpose monohull kayaks is that they don’t offer high performance in either one or all the applications people use them for.
For example, recreational monohull kayaks and even those of them labeled ‘fishing kayaks’ are neither stable nor comfortable enough to offer the full range or performance that kayak fishermen can get from the W kayak. Similarly, being very long surf skis aren’t well adapted for surf playing, and they certainly don’t enable their users to paddle and surf standing.

Since the W kayak is not constrained by the monohull’s narrow performance envelope it is the first truly and fully versatile kayak:
It is faster than any monohull kayak of similar size, yet it’s stabler than any kayak. It’s small and highly maneuverable yet offers more storage space than any kayak. The W is more comfortable than any kayak as well as more mobile than any kayak since you can launch, paddle and beach where other touring kayaks can’t go. The W performs well both as a solo and tandem boat, and both double-blade and single-blade paddlers find it to be perfect for them. The W fits big and heavy users, yet it’s friendly enough for small children to handle by themselves - even in the surf. And last but not least, the W offers four basic paddling positions including two new ones, plus many intermediary positions.

Interestingly, some people found it hard to believe that any kayak could be that versatile, and they doubted the W’s capabilities. Other people who were used to highly specialized kayaks found it difficult to imagine a situation where they would be using the same boat for two different activities (E.G. fishing and touring).
These days more people are willing to question old conventions and accept the fact that paddling and fishing are subject to continuous and sometime substantial progress, like most other technical fields are. Many people now accept the W for what it is, which also means that they evaluate what the W offers relatively to their own, real needs, and even conceive new types of usage.

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 5
Versatility: From Specialized Kayaks to Broad-Range, High Performance Kayaks

1. THE ENVELOPE OF KAYAK DESIGN IN THE MICRONAUTICAL CONTEXT
Ordinary multihull kayak designs offer increased stability but at a price of reducing speed and mobility, and without improving ergonomics. In this sense those designs didn’t really expand the envelope of kayak performance, since the basic tradeoffs that characterized it remained the same.

This multi-dimensional performance envelope was limited by two basic factors: The L kayaking position and the monohull design, and liberating the kayak from the monohull constraint wasn’t enough. This is because unlike bigger boats that greatly benefited by the introduction of multi hull designs, kayaks are personal micro-boats, which makes their design primarily a matter of ergonomics and biomechanics before hydrodynamic issues can be considered.
That is to say that kayak design falls under the definition of micronautics - the art and science of designing watercrafts that weigh less than their passengers, and are affected by their physical attributes, athletic skills, performance and behavior more than by anything else.

In this sense even traditional kayaks and canoes have more in common with surfboards, paddleboards and dinghies than they have with big monohull boats of similar hull shape.

2. TYPICAL TRADOFFS IN TRADITIONAL KAYAK DESIGN

By ‘envelope’ we understand a boundary that limits what is possible to achieve. The kayak design envelope is multi dimensional, and each dimension (axis) is a continuum between two contradicting requirements.
The classic contradicting requirements in kayak design are Speed vs. Stability, and Tracking vs. Maneuverability. This double contradiction can be approached as a set of two broader requirements, which are Versatility vs. Performance.
There are other, less important pairs of contradicting requirements such as Durability vs. Weight, and Solo Performance vs. Load Capacity that define the kayak design envelope, but the first two ones are viewed to be the most important ones.
This classic envelope was imposed by the physical attributes of the monohull kayak. This is reflected in the kayak market by the fact that monohull kayak models are typically designed for narrow ranges of applications and users.
Versatility has hardly played a role as a feature because it was technically limited, and interpreted as lackluster performance in specific applications.
For example, a good fishing kayak had to be made as stable as possible, but because of this requirement it couldn’t be fast or perform well in the surf.

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 4
Increased Diversity: The Proliferation of New Kayak Designs

1. MULTIHULL KAYAKS

The kayak concept didn’t stop broadening with the monohull sit-in and SOT designs: As soon as kayaks started gaining popularity people began experimenting and inventing new configurations and designs that included more than one hull (monohull).

The first multihull kayaks were ordinary monohull models equipped with a single outrigger (Proa style) or with two outriggers (trimaran style). Such outriggers were needed to compensate for the monohull’s basic stability deficiency. Lately, outrigger kayaks are regaining popularity among kayak fishermen.

Later, catamaran style kayaks appeared in both sit-in and SOT versions. Inflatable sit-in catamaran kayaks are used for whitewater and fishing, and rigid polyethylene SOT catamaran kayaks were introduced as recreational and fishing kayaks.
The inflatable sit-in designs are not true catamarans but rather wide versions of tunnel-hull kayaks (monohull), and therefore slower than comparable monohulls.
The SOT catamaran kayaks are very wide and therefore harder to paddle than similar size monohull kayaks. They also place the paddlers in the L position much higher than the regular SOT kayak does, which results in increased instability without compensating for it by improving ergonomics or biomechanics.

One can no longer claim today that kayaks are monohull boats - The kayak has evolved into a class of small, personal watercrafts that seem to have two things in common: Paddlers propel them using double blade paddles a.k.a. ‘kayak paddles’, and more importantly: most people perceive them as kayaks and call them by this name.
And just to be realistic, these days a kayak doesn’t necessarily have to be paddled since some kayaks are equipped with electric motors (mainly for trolling), and in some cases even with gas engines.

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 3
Ergonomics: From a single, uncomfortable position to the freedom to choose from a variety of ergonomic positions

4. VARIATIONS ON THE L POSITION - TRYING TO DEAL WITH A PROBLEM BY CREATING DIFFERENT ONES

Manufactures of monohull kayaks who tried to depart from the L position by offering higher seats found that they needed to increase their kayaks’ width considerably in order to compensate for raising the paddlers’ center of gravity (CG). This was done only to rediscover the fact that excessively wide kayaks track very poorly and are harder to paddle.

5. THE NATURAL SOLUTION: THE W KAYAK POSITIONS

The W departed completely from both the monohull design and the L kayaking position.
By offering much better lateral stability and a high saddle the W Kayak has enabled a new set of comfortable positions and a wide range of intermediary positions, as well as the possibility to alter your posture anytime you feel like it.
This is achieved without widening the kayak - In fact, the current W Kayak models are only 25″ wide, which is as wide as some sea kayaks are.
The key to improving comfort and performance in paddling and fishing is the new, full role played by your legs: Instead of pushing horizontally against your lower back as they do in the L kayaking position, your legs support your torso vertically - from below, in the W Kayak riding (mounted) position. This is our legs’ natural position for locomotion and other major physical efforts. For this reason the W Riding (mounted) position is not only ergonomically better (I.E. more comfortable) but it’s also better biomechanically, that is more efficient in effort terms and more effective in performance terms of power output and control level.

The four basic W positions are: Standing, Riding (Mounted) with your legs on both sides of your body, Sitting with your legs forward (similar to sitting in a canoe), and Kneeling - a position preferred by some canoeists.

For more information visit Wavewalk’s website Ergonomics section.

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 3
Ergonomics: From a single, uncomfortable position to the freedom to choose from a variety of ergonomic positions

1. HOW THE TRADITIONAL, L KAYAKING POSITION CAME TO BE

The native kayak was a ‘man’s boat’ - that is a hunters’ boat. What it practically meant was that the native hunter in his kayak had to approach prey such as swimming caribou, beached seals or certain bird species from the shortest possible range in order to effectively shoot a harpoon or an arrow at them. To remain unnoticed from the shortest range the Inuit kayaker needed to stay low above water. In fact, for whaling and long sea trips the Inuit preferred to use their bigger and stabler canoe-like Umiaks.
Since stealth was important for native kayak hunters they paddled in the low, traditional L kayaking position with their legs stretched forward. People around the world used to sit on the floor in similar postures before nearly everybody adopted special sitting furniture such as stools, benches, chairs, sofas, armchairs and other seats.

The kayak is rather unique boat in this sense since native canoes around the world usually offered additional, more comfortable and powerful positions such as sitting higher, kneeling and standing.
Interestingly, the L is not the only position that monohull kayaks offer: Some whitewater canoeists take kayaks and ‘convert’ them into ‘canoes’ just by adding a very low saddle inside their cockpit. This arrangement enables them to kneel inside on both knees in one of the traditional canoe kneeling positions, and paddle with a single-blade paddle (I.E. canoe paddle). The reason why only few paddlers ‘convert’ kayaks into ‘canoes’ is because that particular kneeling position is even less comfortable than the traditional L kayaking position, and this may be the reason why some of these canoeists call themselves ‘pain boaters’…
This leaves modern monohull kayakers with just one position to choose from, and it’s not an ergonomic one. That’s not much in terms of freedom of choice, especially when one considers the fact that in their everyday life modern kayakers are used to a variety of seats and sitting positions that do not include the L position.

2. THE MODERN L KAYAKING POSITION - TRYING TO SOLVE A PROBLEM BY CREATING ANOTHER

Seats and foot rests (a.k.a. ‘foot braces’) have altered the L position without improving much: The backrest prevents the kayaker’s torso from ‘falling’ backwards but it makes it slide down and forward. In order to counter affect this problem modern kayaks offer support for the kayaker’s feet: By anchoring their feet in those small depressions or ‘braces’ kayakers can stop their bodies from sliding down and forward.
However, the combined backrest and footrest system created a new problem, which is constant pressure on the kayaker’s lower back. This pressure is generated by the kayaker’s own legs pushing against both footrests and backrest like a powerful spring. The negative physiological impact of this pressure is felt as fatigue, discomfort in the legs and back pain. The problem is amplified by the kayaker’s inability to switch to other positions. Some kayak seats offer a rigid support for the kayaker’s back and other kayak seats offer heavily cushioned support, but four decades of experimentation proved the L position to be an ergonomic dead end.

3. BIOMECHANICAL ISSUES WITH THE L POSITION

Our legs have the most powerful muscles in our body and they are naturally best fit to do the hard work involved in locomotion and balance. The L kayaking position prevents paddlers from using their legs effectively for balancing, controlling and propelling their kayaks. Therefore, the kayaker’s back, abdomen, shoulders and arms must do considerable extra work. This effort distribution is insensible from a biomechanical standpoint, which means you’re spending energy for nothing and get tired more quickly while your kayak delivers less performance than you need.

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 2
Design and Manufacturing

3. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

There is a major difference between native kayaks and modern kayaks in their basic built: Native kayaks had a rigid, internal wooden frame covered with a ’skin’. Such design is no longer in use except for folding kayaks, and nearly all other modern kayaks have an external, rigid skeleton (’shell’) that serves a dual purpose and acts as the kayak’s ’skin’ as well. The introduction of this non-ribbed, simpler design was key in the proliferation of new, mass-produced, low cost and durable kayaks.

Customers’ preferred kayaking activity is of critical importance for the designer since modern monohull kayak models are designed for one activity, or a narrow range of activities. The main activity categories are: Whitewater, Touring, ‘Recreational’ and lately Fishing too.
The whitewater kayak is very short and designed to offer maximum maneuverability. Similar designs are used for kayak surfing.
The Touring kayak design is usually narrow and long, and within this family of designs the sea kayak is longer and narrower. Touring kayaks are faster than other kayak categories.
Recreational kayaks constitute the bulk of the market today, and they are characterized by their higher stability due to their wider beam. These kayaks are seldom outfitted with a spray skirt because it is assumed that most paddlers can’t roll their kayaks.
Fishing kayaks are basically stabler recreational kayak designs accessorized for fishing that are sold within a higher price bracket. The reason this article mentions the fishing kayak as a separate category is that in recent years kayak fishing is growing in popularity, which reflects people’s tendency to prefer stabler models.

All monohull kayak designs except whitewater kayaks can be outfitted with a rudder system, and they often are since regardless of their type they all have tracking problems.

Another factor that kayak designers bring into consideration is the customers’ personal liking in terms of fashion. This goes to colors, materials, forms and accessories.

And last but not least, designers and manufactures need to produce products that fit their customers’ spending intentions and capabilities. There is no point in offering a cheap and durable Polyethylene kayak to a customer who has already decided to spend more on an expensive yet less durable kayak made from another plastic material reinforced with carbon-fiber or fiberglass (FRP, also called composite plastics)

4. SIT-ON-TOP (SOT) KAYAKS
Technically speaking, sit-on-top (SOT) kayaks further depart from native designs, as they can no longer be considered as vessels because they don’t feature a hollow compartment for the passenger/s. These modern kayaks evolved from paddleboards in the past four decades, and their general form is that of a flat board equipped with a seat and small depressions for the passengers’ heels. SOTs have become widely accepted as kayaks since they feature the essential characteristics of modern monohull kayaks (I.E. seat, feet support and double-blade paddle), and they are used for similar recreational activities. There are only few eccentrics left who still think of SOTs as being anything other than kayaks.

5. ‘RECREATIONAL VS. ‘TOURING’ KAYAKS
The dictionary defines Recreation as “Refreshment of one’s mind or body through activity that amuses or stimulates; play”. The dictionary also defines Touring as “Travel, as on a bicycle or on skis, for pleasure rather than competition.”
In this sense, all Touring kayak models are recreational in a broad sense since kayak touring itself is a recreational activity.
That is to say that the distinction between ‘Recreational’ and ‘Touring’ kayaks may be related to certain design characteristics such as width and length, but it is also related to marketing considerations - a process known as ’segmentation’.


Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:

New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 2
Design and Manufacturing

1. DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF NATIVE KAYAKS

In the old days, a native of the far North who wanted a kayak for himself would design it according to his personal liking and requirements while relying on his people’s oral tradition and advice. He would use materials available locally such as driftwood to make a rigid frame on which he stretched a sealskin cover.
It was the job of the women in this kayaker’s family to prepare the skins and sew the cover.
The native kayak featured neither hatches nor seat, and it didn’t offer support for the kayaker’s ankles or feet. No native kayaker ever used a rudder or floatation, and bungee cords as well as Nylon pad eyes were unknown as well.
That is to say that many basic features in traditional-style modern kayaks are the product of the late twentieth century design, and have little to do with the way native kayaks were originally designed, built and used.

2. DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING IN THE 20th CENTURY AND BEYOND
Nowadays, kayak design has become a profession, and kayak designers use Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, often in combination with special kayak design software. There are practically no kayaks today that are designed without a computer being part of the process.

A modern kayak is conceived as a commercial product, that is an object that should be reproduced many times and sold to various customers. As such it is not meant to fit a particular individual but rather a group of customers within a range of physical attributes, skills, requirements and purchasing power. Some manufacturers offer customization of certain features such as accessories and colors, but this service comes with a price.