RR Chapter 3 - Can You Say Kaituna?

Although making the decision to buy a boat was easy, finding the right one for me would be a little more difficult. Bruce would not be a great help because he paddles and OC-1 and knows very little about kayaks. He suggested that I spend some time posting questions on the message boards of the various paddling clubs in the area in hopes of getting some input from experienced paddlers. There were a lot of different opinions but most of the replies stated that I should demo many different boats before actually buying one. Well, I'm not a very patient person and once I made up my mind to buy a boat, I had to have it quickly. One of the replies was from a TRPC member who was selling a used Prijon Kaituna along with all the necessary equipment - PFD, Helmet, Paddle & Spray Skirt. I spent some time researching this boat and found some promising information:

PRIJON: Kaituna

SPECS: length - 8 ft 2 in; width - 25 in; volume - 58 gal; weight - 39 lbs; cockpit - 36 by 18 in; capacity - 110 to 250 lbs

MAIN USE: river-runner, creek boat, playboat

PRIJON'S TAKE: The KAITUNA River in New Zealand is a combination of funky big drops and super fun play spots all in one. If you are after a boat ideally suited for difficult and playful water encounters, and great stability for the beginning paddler, the KAITUNA is the Goods! The beveled, semi-planing hull is ready to surf it up, squirt if desired and offer a number of paddling characteristics similar to your playboat. The bow is bulbous enough to launch big drops while the length and bow keel are ideal for holding a line while driving down river. Between hard sections you can spin, splat and surf: while in creeker mode, the maneuverability and stability are unreal.

Bruce spoke to a couple of his friends and was told that Prijon makes the best plastic and great boats and they felt that not only would it be a terrific boat for me to start out in but that I would probably never want to give it up. After some other positive feedback, Bruce and I were off to check it out. As it turned out, the boat and equipment had only been used a few times and was in great shape. I ended up buying the whole package that night.

Now that I had my boat and gear making its home in my living room, all that was left was to get out and paddle. After staring longingly at the boat for almost a week, Thanksgiving weekend arrived and I got my chance. Bruce took me out on a small section of the Youghiogheny near his house in Elizabeth, PA. It was pretty tame but perfect for a complete beginner like me. There were a couple of riffles and an area of current with pools on either side. Pretty mellow but still exciting for me; after all, I was going to get to paddle my new boat! At this point, I would have been thrilled to paddle flat-water. I got changed and crammed myself into the boat. After getting myself comfortably situated, I had some trouble getting the spray skirt onto the cockpit. Bruce helped and with heart pumping, I was ready to go. He gave me a shove, I took a couple of strokes and immediately started to spin! Once stopped, I took a couple more strokes and started to spin again. Definitely not what I expected. By then Bruce was in his canoe. He paddled over and assisted me in getting my strokes under control and I managed to keep the boat going somewhat straight. I spent some time paddling up and down the pool working on keeping my strokes even and the boat going where I wanted it to go - not an easy task. I was a little disheartened by how difficult this actually was. I had watched many paddlers and keeping the boat straight always appeared to be pretty easy. After reminding myself that nothing worthwhile is ever easy, I continued on. Bruce then showed me how to ferry across the current to the other pool. While doing so, I found that it was easier to stay straight in the moving water than in the pools. After a few ferries, I spent some more time paddling around and soaking it all in and was then ready to get off the water and warm up.

I got to paddle my new boat, didn't tip and found out that it was going to be a lot of tough work to get good. All in all - a great first day of paddling! Too bad it was November. I wouldn't get to paddle again, other than in a swimming pool, until the last weekend in March. What a long winter it was!