: I´m wondering whether there´s a suitable design for my father. He´s
: stuck to his wheelchair and cannot move his legs at all. Despite that,
: he´s very active.

What sort of kayak he needs depends on whether he has hip flexors - a lot
of what we do in narrow responsive kayaks depends on "seat of the pants"
control. If he has hip flexure, but feels very unhappy initially in a narrow
kayak, he could maybe use sponsons to get used to the movements, reducing
their buoyancy as he gets more accustomed to driving the boat.

On the other hand, if he has no hips flexors, a wider and more stable boat
may be more suitable. A pair of paraplegic paddlers did Vancouver to Juneau
up the inside passage this summer - see http://www.interventure.org.uk -
but I think they did most (if not all) of this trip in doubles.

On the other hand, read http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2003/dj03wheels.php
for an article about a paraplegic paddler who built a kayak big enough to
take his wheelchair with him on multiday trips (thanks to Hugo Varotto for posting me this link a few weeks ago).

I have a mate who is paraplegic and is thinking of going on a sea kayaking
course with interventure in the spring. So far, everyone we have talked to
about it has been very positive about this and I have come across various
people whose written accounts suggest that it is a good activity, although
a gel seat seems to be recommended to avoid getting sores which don't heal
if sea water is involved for any length of time...

The Accessible Kayaking chapter in the BCU handbook has an intro by someone
who has no use of his legs, and apparently goes solo surf kayaking, waving
his paddle to attract attention on landing, to get someone to fetch his wheelchair to him. Obviously, this disability is not an insuperable
obstacle :-)

Andy