Most kayakers dream of having a big quiver of their favourite kayaks, from which they can grab the perfect boat for the day’s paddling. However, most people have limits on how many kayaks they own for one reason or another, whether that’s budget, limited storage, or significant others saying, “No, you can’t buy another kayak!” I recently had to decide which two kayaks to take to the Ottawa Valley for the summer.
For a summer on the Rocher Fendu section of the Ottawa River, the 2 kayaks I chose needed to meet some needs and wants in terms of their characteristics and performance. The first characteristic was a strong river runner, especially for big water. The boats I chose also needed to be fun to paddle for 3-4 months without other options to switch to. The Ottawa River has many play spots ideal for freestyle, but it also has great potential for downriver freestyle.
The first kayak I was looking at was on the freestyle end of the spectrum. The choice was between 2 kayaks: the Pyranha x GuiGui Prod Helectron and the Pyranha Wizard. Both are excellent freestyle kayaks; one is a more traditional freestyle design and has been my go-to kayak for the past 2 years. The Wizard is a newer design released earlier this year, blending freestyle, slicey, and surf kayak design elements, and it absolutely rips on a wave and can surf a wider range of them than a traditional 6ft freestyle kayak.
In the end, I chose the Helectron. I chose this because, first, it felt reliable. The traditional design, combined with my experience in the boat, swayed my choice. I had also already used the Helectron on low water on the Ottawa during my trip last year. Another reason why the Helectron was a good choice was that I ended up coaching with Ottawa Kayak School, and the traditional platform was better for teaching from.
Looking back on the season, the Helectron has been great, and it is the reason why it’s my go-to for the majority of paddling, but this kayak has done so well. Examples include many beatdowns in Phil’s Hole on Big Water Beatdown Thursday with the OKS Keener program, surfing the many waves of the Ottawa River, competing in the Canada Cup, or even just running the river for fun.
For my second kayak choice, I was primarily looking for river-running ability with the option to play. The choices I had in mind were the Ripper 2 and the Storm. The idea behind the Ripper was a longer kayak for big-water kayaking in the early season, plus the benefit of a longer hull for working the river and a slicey stern for play. The thought process for the Storm was that the new design would be super fun on the Ottawa, whether that’s surfing, downriver freestyle, or river running a nimbler, short half-slice line. In the end, the Ripper won partly for considering the work and safety kayaking, where having the longer hull and more volume was great. Howerver, at the end of the season in low water I did find the nine foot of the did get a bit much at times and there could be benefit of a shorter half slice such as the Storm.
All in all, choosing a small fleet of kayaks will never be perfect in getting everything right, but it helps you understand what you value most out of a kayak and, most of all, the value of going out to paddle the kayaks you have, not fantasising about what kayaks you could have.
