Issue link: http://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25120
PADDLE G EAR - TEXT: TOM HALL AND TREE Kayaks evolved through 5,000 years of selective survival in which Inuit seal hunters stretched skins over frames and paddled out to sea. Those who came back refined their designs by second-guessing those who didn't. The best of the Inuit hunting kayaks, beneath a veneer of primitive ugl iness, were exquisite. Old-world Inuits abandoned hunting kayaks for motorboats. New world play boaters, repelled by motors, put decks on canoes to create prototype sport kayaks. People invented new kayaks in potent syntheses of woods, resins, plastics, metals, fabrics and fibers. They paddled off to market in both solo and tandem kayaks. Those who sold boa�s refined their designs by second-guessing those who didn't. Today kayaks fall into two main categories, sea kayaks (also known touring kayaks) and whitewater kayaks, but these boundaries are known to overlap. Avid surf kayak ers take whitewater kayaks into the surf and paddlers take sea kayaks down certain rivers. Sea kayaks earned their name when they began to look predatory-to show vestigial lines of hunting kayaks and stir fantasies of stalking Arctic seals. Paddlers who knew the trick could capsize these boats and roll them right side up quickly. Solos were quick and maneuverable. Tandems were fast and able to carry large loads. Sea kayaks are great for exploring coastal water and expedition paddling for days at a time. How do you best enjoy a planet mostly covered by water? One magnificent answer: learn to paddle. In the last decade, kayaking has entered the realm of the hip, exploding into a boom that now lures more participants than backpacking, snowboarding or climbing. Kayakers quickly find themselves immersed in one of the most powerful forces of nature-the water. Adventure seekers everywhere are riding this powerful, and sometimes treacherous, medium in ways that provide a mixture of adrenaline, beauty, camaraderie and pure physical exercise. Foldups are sea kayaks that can be reconfigured and packed up to take travell ing. They are skin-on-frame boats, like Inuit kayaks, except their skins come off, their frames come apart and their parts pack down. The best foldups are designed to be mechanically simple. They are expensive, but the best of them perform as well as good kayaks that aren't foldups. On the world's rivers, another movement is occurring: riding whitewater. Paddlers are pushing the envelope of what was previously thought possible on a river. Banging off rocks, powering through huge hydraulics and tumbling over 70-foot water falls are part of the extreme kayaking movement that has infected paddlers around the world. The increasing popularity of whitewater kayaking has catalyzed an evolution in the sport as well as equipment design. Extreme whitewater kayakers and innovative new designs have literally changed the face of the sport. Manufacturers are utilizing technology from the surf industry to create boats that are short, agile and capable of performing tricks you'd more likely expect to see at a local skateboard park. Today's kayak manufacturers turn out several hundred models of kayaks of vary ing dynamics. So many of these are good boats in so many ways that no one could pre sume to single out a definitive best. Then there is the material question: plastic vs. com posite? Plastic kayaks are mass produced, popped out of molds like milk cartons. Composite kayaks are crafted in fibers and resins: composites of glass, kevlar, carbon, epoxy and polyester. Plastic kayaks are cheap, heavy and virtually invulnerable to anything short of chain saws; though if they should ever break, they are difficult to fix. Composite kayaks are lovely, light and costly. They do break, but they can be fixed to as good as new. Peruse the following pages for a glance at what's going on in the world of kayak gear. We've compiled a sampling of some of the newest and the best. Paddle on ...