C-Forum

I am new to this site, bigspencer from paddling.net said you guys might be able to offer some advice.

I am going to get a whitewater canoe this spring. I am 6' and 280 and have never paddled one before. I spent last summer in a 12' rec. kayak on class II/III rivers so I am not totally new to whitewater. I will eventually want to step it up to class IV but will wait until skills develop. I will be paddling almost exclusively day trips in the SE. I am looking in the 14' range for a solo boat. My current selection group is : Probe 14, Bell Nexus, Esquif Vertage X, possibly Mad River Caption if I can figure out if that even exists. Any boats I should add to this list? Anyone out there paddle any of these? I saw that the NOC has a couple of these to demo (Bell, Esquif) anyone know where I can Demo the others around North GA, western NC, SE Tennessee?

I posted this information at paddling.net and quite a few people have responded saying that I would be OK in a 13' boat such as the Outrage X. Thanks for any help.

you're welcome to try my Blast too- A friend og mine is 6'3" and 250+ and paddles a Zephylr so a 13 foot boat is not out of the picture-he had a outrage x before the zephyr

when the NOC opens back up, set aside some paddling days and demo their boats on the nanty, which will also be a river you need to paddle at least once or twice before taking your skills up another notch to the Pigeon, for instance or another river that's a little more advanced than the nantahala.

My first boat was an ovation. very stable. not sure if bell makes it now or what, but I think you've got to try a bunch of boats before you make a choice.

my .02 worth.....

another .02 worth:

if you think you might do some creek boating or technical rivers in the future where space and length can sometime be an issue, look into something shorter than 14'. The 12' range will offer a wider variety of boats, while not compromising stability, Especially for day trips, in my opinion.