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GEAR_ FOLDI NG KAYAKS If you are a traveler and a kayaker. consider combining the two passi ons. Foldup kayaks can be packed into your bags and the good ones perform as well as good non-foldups. Check these out: K2 EXPEDITION DOUBLE HYPALON Greenland Solo is the foldup kayak being all that it can be. It's one of the very few that looks like a predatory kayak. It replicates the long. lean lines of the West Greenland seal hunt ing kayak. In fact. it may be only sl ightly more civilized than the original seal boats. adding a LL-------- touch of advanced engineering to their anthro pological heritage. This is a fast boat among Aerius II Expedition may be the definitive foldup kayak. a descendant of the prototype made in 1907 by Johann Klepper. a Bavarian tail or. Its legends include crossing the Atlantic and assaulting hostile beaches with commandos and frogmen. In combat gear it becomes the Quatro. which is built and reinforced to NATO specs for Navy Seals training (that boat costs $900 more). Aerius is sol id. competent. and durable. It's readily assembled. easy to paddle. stable in rough seas and faster than it looks. It has air chambers that inflate to keep the skin taut. As a result. it ages wel l. which is the ultimate test for foldups. It looks like a duck boat, and does well at duck hunting. It also can serve as a dinghy for cruising yachts. It can even haul firewood-and it's technically still a kayak. a remarkably versatile one. Length: 17' Width: 34" Weight: 57 lb. Klepper. 403-287-21 20, $4,990 new sea kayaks. a bit rough riding like old hunting kayaks. It has the organic feel of skin on-frame: it moans and flexes in waves but is eerily silent in flat water. Everything about it is hand crafted. custom fit, drawn tight. and so cleverly engineered that even old-age sag is barely percepti ble. The boat comes without assembly instructions: its components are labeled "A" through "G" on the conviction that one only needs to know the alphabet to put the pieces together. That's the only major advance beyond 5,000 years of evolution in the Arctic. Length 17'1 0" Width: 24" Weight: 52 lb. Seavivor, 847-297-5953. $3.200