How to Choose Your First Sea Kayak
Buying your first sea kayak is an exciting milestone. Learn what to consider when selecting a kayak that matches your skill level, intended use, and body type.
How to Choose Your First Sea Kayak
Buying your first sea kayak is an exciting milestone in your paddling journey. Unlike recreational kayaks, sea kayaks are designed for coastal touring, open water, and multi-day expeditions. This guide will get you thinking before you talk to us.
The key factors come down to:
- what you want to do with the boat - what is your idea of fun. Not everybody likes playing in the surf or even multiday camping trips
- your size/weight - you don't want a boat that is too big for you or too small
- whether you prefer a skeg boat or a rudder
- whether you want a traditional greenland style boat or a modern style
- is the weight of the boat a factor for you? Light boats are much easier to move around and get onto your car.
My primary recommendation is to talk to people. Whilst opinions will vary wildly its a good idea to get a range of opinions. We are of course ready to talk to you and can guide you based on your specific needs, local conditions, and paddling goals. Our goal is to get you into the perfect boat for you - we have a very broad range of kayaks so we are sure that we have just the right boat for you.
We will also do our best to organise test paddles.
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Ready to Find Your Perfect Sea Kayak?
Contact our expert team for personalized advice on choosing the right kayak for your needs. The right kayak for you is going to depend very heavily on what you like to do with your kayak - what's your idea of fun. To some people that means a gentle day paddle in calm waters while for others that could mean multi-day expeditions in open waters. Once we know what you like to do then we can assess which boat is appropriate for your size, for example a Taran 18 would not be appropriate for somebody who weighs 70kg. Conversely, a Tarantella would be ideal for somebody of that size. Those boats are proving to be very popular with lighter paddlers looking for a fast boat for a fun day paddle or for expeditions. One of the fellows who bought one this year said that it rolls easier than his Greenland T.