I was also very impressed by the Necky boat. I wish I had had the time to go to the demo and paddle the boat. The lines are very nice.

: Hey Gang,

: Well, a day long cruising session at the gigantic OR show has yielded some
: very interesting previews of new boats from Necky and Wilderness
: Experience. Both companies have new sea kayak offerings in the British
: Style.

: I spent a good hour in the company of Necky designer, Spike Gladwin, along
: with new company president, Nando Zucchi, discussing the features and
: design thinking for their new, Chatham series of boats.

: The Chatham is being offered in 16 and 18 foot lengths with the 16 being
: available in composite glass or carbon along with a new polyethelene
: version. The 18 is only available at this point in glass or carbon. Plans
: for a plastic version of the 18 are on hold for the time being.

: Necky is now fitting out their cockpits with a molded aluminum seat cradle
: that is adjustable fore and aft for trim. They are also including the
: fully adjustable back band system derived from their successful whitewater
: boats. A totally adjustable system for thigh bracing is also part of the
: package. The thigh brace system can slide fore and aft as well as having
: an angle adjustment to really fine tune the overall fit of the boat to the
: owner.

: The shape of the hull, while obviously an evolution of traditional British
: kayak designs, shows some distinct departures, especially in how the ends
: of the boat have been shaped.

: Spike has chosen to carry the fullness of the center of the hull farther out
: towards the bow and stern to raise the prismatic coefficient along with
: imparting some new handling characteristics. One of those characteristics
: is an increased initial stability over trad designs in this class of hull.

: Overall outfitting is excellent as is quality of finish.

: Over at the WIlderness Systems compound, I was introduced to the Tempest line
: of Brit styled boats as a logical progression of its involvement with the
: form. They have models in 16.5, 17 and 18 foot lengths. I saw composite
: hulls in the 16.5 and 18 sizes with the 17 being displayed in poly
: plastic.

: The design of the Wildy boats was a cooperative venture between Steve Sherrer
: from Alder Creek Kayaks in Portland and Bob McDonough at Wilderness
: Systems. This boat also exhibits the fuller ends that are seen in the
: Necky boat but the Wildy team has taken the liberty to clip some of the
: traditional, high bow and stern points as unnecessary windage.

: The Tempest displays some elements of the new, Phase 3 seating system that
: has been incorporated in the Wilderness line-up. See the link below to the
: site for detailed descriptions of the boats in the Tempest line. The new,
: 18' boat is not currently shown as it's still going through another round
: of sea trials before being sent to the production side of the company.

: For all the paddlers in the Northwest, two models of the Tempest will be
: available for test paddling at the Symposium next month. My guess is that
: Necky will also be showing the Chatham so that side by side comparisons
: will be not too difficult to arrange.

: Both companies have outfitted the new offerings with fore and aft deck
: hatches as well as day use hatches immediately aft of the cockpit.

: They both show a shallow vee hull line with transitions that I would call a
: very soft, chine shape to the shear line. Both solutions will tend to give
: the boats more apparent stability inspite of their narrow beams. The word
: is that Necky company president, Nando Zucchi, put Johnson Outdoors CEO,
: Helen Johnson, in a Chatham at the on-the-water demo at one of the local
: lakes and she had a blast, feeling right at home in the craft as a novice
: paddler. A fairly strong statement on product confidence.

: Both boats also have rather slick skeg systems. The Tempest system is a
: fairly traditional approach done with exceptional materials for utility
: and durability.

: The skeg on the Chatham takes the concept to another level, though, with the
: use of a "memory loaded wire" to acctuate the deployment. This
: heavy duty wire can bend if a pebble or chunk of debris gets into the skeg
: slot and jams the fin. By bending and not breaking or forming a permanent
: kink, the wire can return to its original shape when the debris has been
: cleared. Really slick.

: I operated the deployment slide for the skeg while one of the Necky crew held
: the skeg in its trunk against my control. The wire gave as it would due to
: a jam, and then returned to its original position automatically. With the
: skeg unrestricted, the deployment slide worked perfectly. Again, slick.

: My overall impression of both boats is that each company has done a lot of
: homework before developing their new products. The attention to detail is
: impressive. I can't tell you how they paddle or how they handle conditons.
: I can only relate that two very experienced design teams with dozens of
: fine boats behind them have produced craft that will create entirely new
: options for boat owners if they choose to purchase a boat in this style.

: The Tempest can be seen at the link below as well as on the home page of
: Alder Creek Kayaks at: www.aldercreek.com I have photos of the Necky
: boat showing the deck layout as well as hull profile. I will post them
: next week when the dust settles.

: Next week I will post a more comprehensive report of the show and the other
: goodies that will be coming down the road for our kayaking pleasure.

: Chris Ostlind