EJ tells you more about the Fun

October 1, 2004

This article is designed to help you understand the Fun series, by once again, getting the scoop directly from the developer of the kayak. Although my design partner, David Knight, isn’t here today to help write this article, he is comfortable with me describing the designs capabilities, strengths and weakness and speaking for him as well.

There is no reality, only your perception of reality. This is a quote that is very popular and unfortunately is applied in the wrong way all too often. When it comes to the performance of a kayak, there is certainly hard physical realities, such as size, weight, and speed, ease of rolling, user friendliness in displacement mode, etc. that can be measured, while there are also common perceptions that can also arise from any one or all of these physical attributes. Inspiring confidence, and increasing the fun factor are two examples of things that a great boat design should accomplish as a perception of reality by designing the real attributes of the kayak properly.

Well, the Fun needs to be broken down for you in its real physical attributes. This way I can also help you understand just what those attributes could, or should, do for you in the non-measurable areas of a designs goals.

I think it may be best to start with the broad, non-tangible characteristics, and then describe the exact features of the kayak that were designed into it to accomplish those goals.

Fun Factor-

where a paddler might say, “I haven’t had this much fun in a kayak, ever!” after paddling it. This is as broad as it gets. All of the features of the kayak fall under this category, so I will start with the lesser skilled boaters.

• Rolls easier than any boat in history- Most kayakers are not 100% confident in their roll. A boat that takes everybodies confidence up a notch in rolling immediately takes the paddlers thoughts off of the negative (what if I can’t roll) and replaces it with a more relaxed ready to have fun attitude.
  • The Low backband, low deck on the corners of the cockpit rim and behind (for hip snapping), the huge flair in the sidewalls, the narrower stern, and the great contact the paddler has with their thighs, knees, and hips makes it a snap to roll with or without a paddle.
• River Runs like a champ- Peal outs, eddy outs, ferries, running through waves, boofing, punching holes, etc. are all the first priority for the boats design.
  • Enough rocker to stay out of the water, but low enough to maintain a very fast boat for its length.
  • Just the right length to allow the paddler to boss it around, no matter what size you are (there are six sizes of the Fun)
  • The edges are up super high to keep them out of play unless the paddler puts the boat on edge.
  • The bow volume resurfaces the bow quickly, and in control, making it much easier to on top of the water.
• Plays like a rodeo boat
  • Surfs fast, carves hard, and really easy to control- helping anybody become a better wave surfer.
    • The rocker, length, thruster chines, and width of the hull make it fast, carvy, and user friendly.
  • Squirts easily- the narrow low volume stern allows you to squirt and stall easily. The wing tip on the stern makes for easy balance when vertical.
  • Loops like crazy- big bow, big loops.

For the experts:

Run big difficult rapids with out stressing!

Learn all of your rolls- offside, hands, etc. easily.

Get big air on waves with the side rocker, speed, and carving abilities of the hull (see photos)

Yes there is more- I paddle the Fun a lot, and it is the “one boat does it all boat” expert or beginner.

EJ