Total beginner looking to get into kayaking.

I was pretty sure on getting something like the perception triumph 13ft or mayby the ocean kayak tetra 12 which is a bit more expensive, but then started thinking about a sit in one that has a large ish cockpit, something like a carolina 12ft.

What would you go for? Mostly will be used on lakes and sea and needs to fit on a car roofrack.

How about an Ocean Kayak Prowler 13? I have one for sale 😆

You need to try before you buy.
What can look similar can behave very differently on the water.
There are a loads of shops doing test boats, maybe go and try a few?

Find a club. As well as trying lots of different boats and places to paddle you’d learn lots and meet other people to paddle with.

BCU find a club page

Ok thanks.

Anybody have the perception triumph?

Agree with comments above, ie, try before you buy if possible.

For your stated usage I would take a look at tootega SOTs, One of their pulse or kinetic 100 models, would fit the bill nicely.

If you check their website you might find they are running a demo day near you during summer ’15.

Thanks.

Have a Carolina 14 which is great.

The 14 will be faster and a bit more efficient than the 12′ if you have room to store it.

How do you find getting in and out of the carolina.

Im torn between this an a sit on top perception triumph.

No where local to me to try these though.

The Carolina opening is huge, bigger than most other kayaks which is one of the reasons I went for it. I didn’t like the idea if getting stuck if I capsized. It is very easy to get in and out of.

I reckon a sit on top for a newbie.

The kayak is the penny farthing of the small boat world IMO.

A sit on with the same body shape and you can be back on board in seconds with no bail out, no faffing emptying the boat. The ease to abandoning ship in big surf when it’s going wrong isn’t a bad thing either. 🙂

We used them extensively in Oz, they’re called surfskis there. (Try googling surfski)

However most of what I have seen here are more like plastic bathtubs.

This is what I’m talking about – left it in Oz 🙁

(Haydn Kenny race ski)

we were advised to join a club, try before you buy. We ignored that when a colleague of hers offered up two new S-O-Ts that fitted the theoretical bill at a good price.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=feel+free+nomad

our friend who is “in to” kayaks came out with us last week, and had a play. He said he was surprised how nippy it was, expecting it to be a heavy old barge. Very stable compared to a sit in kayak, so stable you cant eskimo roll it (we tried), you just have to slip the leg straps and clamber back on board.
Leg straps make it much more like a proper kayak, as you can use your weight to shift it about.

Past week we have done a short trip around studland, a potter up an estuary, and spent a day (playing at) kayak surfing. Good fun.