Further on from this thread i am looking to get myself a kayak for a bit of gentle paddling around my local area. I know nothing about kayaks so once again its time to turn to the hive mind of STW.

In short, would this be any good for a beginner messing about on the river?

http://bit.ly/9zqxex

…and what sort of amount should i be paying?

looks ok if your not going over niagra falls/the channel, worth a few hundred or so ish' go for it

Depends a lot what you want to do (and what your local rivers are like). I've been out of paddling for ages now, but looking at that it is quite long. Makes it more stable, but less good at paddling where you want to turn corners, or playing in white water. It looks like it will go in a straight line pretty well though – so probably great for paddling canals, and easy rivers etc.

Personally, if you're a complete beginner, I'd try joining a club or something, then you can see what kind of paddling you enjoy, and get a much better idea of what kind of boat you'd like (and learn how to roll it, which is always a useful skill). You might find you like playing on white water, and want a ludicrously short fat boat to do rad dude tricks in, or you like racing kayaks, and want a silly narrow unstable pointy boat.

Having said that, if you picked that up for £150 or so, you'd probably get £150 worth of fun out of it

Joe

I'd try joining a club or something,

I am currently trying. My local club is called Packers, emailed them several times from the contact details i got from canoe-england.org.uk, but so far no reply. The kayak on eBay just caught my eye and is relatively local. I probably will take your advice and wait until i actually have a go….just need someone to get back to me!

+1 what joe said.

Especially the bit about joining your local club. Depending on your local rivers and what happens kayaking can be pretty dangerous, so definitely worth learning the basics properly.

The Ebay description is pretty accurate, its a day touring kayak intended for flat water only e.g. canals. The price is fair if thats the sort of thing you want to do.

If you like your adventure sports (do you do XC or DH?) then you might find yourself prefering white-water. In which case, you'll want a different boat.

Another +1 to the suggestion of joining a club and trying some boats out. Within a couple of outings you'll get a good idea of the options and develop some personal preferences.

Perception Acadia is very stable & easy to paddle & okay for flat water, but feels like a barge compared to a Dagger Blackwater 10.5 – I went through 4 kayaks before finding one I like (the Dagger) so +1 for joining a club & trying a few before you buy.