By Corran Addison
In the last month or so, there has been an inordinate amount of discussion about the change in kayak design that has pleasantly been referred to as, “Back to the future.”
Corran Addison is a regular contributor to the Paddler magazine and owns Soul Waterman
The lost art of outfitting
The media has jumped on this idea, of the re-emergence of ‘old school’ type longer, slicier designs, with discussions and articles on the topic abound. I’m a protagonist in this movement, with all my new models being longer and in the case of playful designs, slicier, than has been the trend in the last decade or so.
In a recent interview with an American paddling magazine, I was discussing this with the editor, and he mentioned that one of differences between the ‘real’ old designs and the ‘new’ old inspired designs, was ergonomics and outfitting. In talking with the various manufacturers, the common thread was that these new boats were not the same as the old ones, because the overall fit was better.
I had to heartily disagree.
The outfitting in modern designs is more complex and more universally adjustable, of this there can be no question, but is it really better, I asked? There was a brief pause, followed by the editor in question saying, “No, I don’t think it is. I always strip all that stuff out of the boat and use glue and foam.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is it in a nutshell.
There was a time, when boat outfitting was such a black art, that the ‘good kayak shops’ differentiated themselves, not in a price war but in outfitting service. You’d buy your kayak and then the dealer would take a few hours to work with you to get the fit perfect. Those days are gone, as the universally and almost infinitely adjustable outfitting has ‘eliminated’ this process and the need of knowledgeable dealer/craftsmen.
But is it better?
I too, rip all the bells and whistles, straps and buckles, inflatable bits and bobs right out of my boat. The outfitting is the direct connection, the link, between my body and the boat. It’s through the outfitting that I get to transmit my commands to the boat and if there is any movement, any kind of play in the fitting, these instructions arrive incomplete, late or flat-out incorrect.
Skiing tried this in the 1980s. Comfortable, rear-entry boots, with dials and knobs that you turn and twist to ‘close’ the internal padding around the foot and then the ski boot back would latch up and more dials and twists to get it snug.
On paper, they were great. Easy to get into, comfortable to wear and tightened down to ski. However, as anyone who tried these in the 1980s can tell you, they simply didn’t work. Your connection to the boot was sloppy, no matter how much you cranked it all down and in turn your feel of the ski, and input back to the ski was vague and lacking in precise feel.
It took a decade but boots went back to hard, tight, front entry. Sure, they’re more comfortable now than in the 1980s but they are still essentially hard to put on and when it comes to comfort, as any dedicated skier will tell you, the two happiest moments of the day are when you put your boots on to make your first turns and when you finally get to take them off.
Today’s designs
Today’s universally designed outfitting consists of variations (depending on manufacturer) of hip pads consisting of foam pieces stuffed into loose bags, strapped to seat sides. The ability to add or remove foam to these depending on your size, and what you’re wearing due to seasonal changes, might make them practical, but how can you possibly expect to control a kayak when these bags have anywhere from a half inch to over an inch of movement?
Seats have plush foam pads, or little beads, sandwiched inside a ‘bag’ of some sort, which in turn is riveted, or velcroed to the seat in some form or another. These in turn all also have a little movement here or there.
Adjustable back bands, while very convenient for easy entry and exit into your kayak, are the literal kayaking equivalent of rear entry ski boots: Slide in from the back, and crank that thing up using some sort of rope, webbing, ratchet or combinations thereof. All of them have play and movement.
When you add all of this together, you have a system that can have anywhere from one to two inches of total body movement in all directions. The only way to combat this, is the lower body equivalent of the ‘toe curl’ that was required in rear-entry boots – a bunching of the toes and foot inside to make your foot ‘bigger’ and reduce play.
In modern kayak outfitting, that’s accomplished by having to over tighten the backbands, consciously tense and grip with your legs and thighs and effectively make your lower body as ‘big’ as possible inside the sloppy outfitting (that no matter how tight you make it, serves only to cut off circulation, without actually solving the issue of movement).
Of course, the solution used by the ‘pros’ is a seatbelt: hardly a solution with broad appeal.
Sand paper, glue and foam
In my opinion, while it’s far less practical if you’re that guy that stops to buy a new kayak on the way to the river and expect the internal outfitting to be ‘turnkey’, there is no (current) better solution that sand paper, glue and foam (and of course, time and drinks). Those dealers that used to do this for you are like the Jedi; almost extinct, and given that anyone who’s learned to paddle in the last decade or more has never had to glue and foam a boat, it’s a lost art amongst paddlers themselves.
I regularly give paddling clinics and one of the key points I get into in teaching skills, is the understanding that the outfitting in your boat is the critical link between you and what you want your kayak to do. My general advice to people is, “Rip that crap out”. You’ll reduce outfitting weight and you can then pad your boat properly.
Ski boot giant Nordica, lists a ski boot fitter as the single most important thing you can do when buying new boots. On their website they say, “Buying ski boots is easy. Pick a make and model. Hand over your money. Bear the consequences. Or, you can invest in a good boot fitter. Choosing the latter buys you a wealth of expert advice, a lifetime of personalized service, a trusted, spare parts and maintenance resource and boots that fit, feel and ski as they should.”
Maintenance
Like the ski boot fitter, you have to learn how to outfit your boat, especially in this era where professionals barely exist and you have to maintain the fittings. If you just plonk your ass directly onto the foam and force your way into the boat the way you have with ‘the pad in a bag’, you’re going to rip it all off the boat every time you use it. You have to learn to manoeuvre your way into your kayak, like putting on tight fitting ski boots. You might have to adjust the fitting for summer vs winter gear,and even if you do everything correctly, it’s still going to require maintenance as invariably something here or there peels off.
Now you can certainly go to extremes when it comes to fitting your boat. 2012 Olympic silver medalist Jessica Fox, daughter of nine-time world champion Richard Fox, had her lower body scanned using Creaform REVscan and they then CNC cut a perfect inverted replica of her to put into her kayak and C1. I have likewise done the same for myself and used this scan to create my latest version of the ‘Power Seat’. If you’re shaped even remotely like me, it’s the most form fitting ‘direct control’ seat you’ll ever get to use.
But for most paddlers, this isn’t an option, even if it does illustrate the importance of a perfect, customized fit.
Tougher challenge today
Part of your challenge nowadays is going to be that the base that all these bags of foam are attached to are rarely nice flat surfaces that are foam and glue friendly. After all, most designers no longer think about this as something critical (I actually do, and the surfaces in my boats are all designed to allow the ‘universally adjustable’ outfitting to be taken out, and foam and glue to replace it), and as a result, the challenge to you, the paddler, is a tougher one today than it was a decade or so ago.
This is not to say that the universal outfitting doesn’t have its place. Just like Aunt Suzie, with her ultra comfortable, soft and padded, slightly oversized ski boots will tell you, comfort and warm feet are more desirable than ski control. Many paddlers would argue that they’re not ‘performance paddlers’, and the convenience and comfort of these modern outfitting systems are more desirable than a ‘direct to boat input’ system that requires constant tinkering and is arguably less comfortable.
But Aunt Suzie also wonders why after two decades of skiing, her skills have not advanced one iota, as is often the case for Joe Paddler. Maybe it’s not you… maybe it’s the way you’re (not able to) control your boat.
So next time you go out, ands you’re trying to do a move, whether that’s an Airscrew, or a simple ferry glide and you’re wondering why you’re not getting it, ask yourself whether you’re really able to control your boat the way you should be. Are you slopping around inside, despite being uncomfortably tight, or having to ‘over grip’ to drive your input into your boat.
