Whitewater Kayak Review

DRAGOROSSI
FISH
Length: 6' 4"
Width: 24.75"
Volume: 58 gallons
Weight: 34 lbs
Paddler’s Weight:
130-210 lbs
Price: $1,400
www.dragorossi.com
*Model Tested

Knight
Comfort: Its flexible leg straps are a good idea, but they were a little painful and uncomfortable. They pinched my legs (my wife says I have chicken legs, in case you were wondering). I also noticed during the run that the adjustable leg straps were a little too adjustable, moving when I didn’t want them to—while playing in a hole, rolling, or drifting downstream.

Stability: There was plenty of primary stability, but very little secondary stability. Its edges seemed to be designed to ease the quick transition from one to the other, making blunts more attainable to paddlers who had struggled with them before. It sounds logical, but that formula produced more window shades than blunts for me. Two times in this boat was not enough for me to get used to its excessive edginess.

Speed on a Wave: Like most of Corran Addison’s boats, the Fish is a fast boat, possibly capable of allowing blunts on small waves. But I felt a lot of friction between the boat and the wave, so lifting off might be an issue. On a big, gradual wave, this would probably be my boat of choice. On the steep waves where I paddled it, however, the boat purled every time.

River Running: Once you get used to the edges, it might become your high-volume creekboat. It’s fast, fairly big, and easy to roll.

Performance on a Feature: Its edges are sharp enough to make the window shade look like a move again. I’d suspect that after learning its quirks, a paddler would be able to use its excessively sharp edges to his advantage. I never got there. It’s a fairly high-volume boat, so cartwheeling isn’t as easy in small features. It is balanced, though, so it excels in big, fluffy holes.

McKibbin
Comfort: I fit pretty snug in there. Overall it was comfortable, once I took out the adjustable thigh straps.

Stability: I thought it was stable running the river, but it was really edgy when cutting back and forth—I had to make sure I was minding my edges.

Speed on a Wave: I think this was the fastest one, maybe because of the edges.

River Running: This boat felt really big and wide—very stable. The edges sometimes compromised its ability to run the river.

Performance on a Feature: I had lots of trouble in a hole with my edges, lots of window shades. Cartwheeling was clumsy. But it looped really well, and was the only boat besides the Crazy 88 that I could flatwater loop.

Schier
Comfort: The back-band ratchets were really hard to get to. Although the adjustable thigh braces were uncomfortable, they held me in a position that made my lower back feel better. They held you back against the back band. Posture contributed to an unconventional feel in the boat; I didn’t feel like my weight was evenly distributed.

Stability: It had major primary stability, but when you got to a leaning point, maybe 20 to 30 degrees, you were definitely going to flip.

Speed on a Wave:Overall, I thought the purpose of the boat was baffling. It seemed to be something of a specialty surfing boat. I felt glued to the wave, like the depressions along the bottom gave it a lot of surface tension, which I liked.

River Running: Good.

Performance on a Feature: The edges are so sharp, they’re dangerous. They made cutting from one edge to the other too fast for me, a little nerve-racking. It seemed like it just wanted to surf and do nothing else—kind of limited.