Hi there!

So... the short of it... I'm a total noob to kayaking. I bought myself a WaveSport EZ at the start of the summer and it's been great fun, but the dang boat's been killing me. It catches everything I don't want to hit, and the last run was rather sketchy ending in me being smashed against a boulder, injuring a rib, and nearly drowning... couldn't finish the course, had to be taken out by raft, yadda yadda... not a very fun experience. Anyways, I've been told by several people that I should try a Diesel until I get the hang of things. And the more I've looked into it, it looks like a fabulous boat and I wouldn't mind owning one. So... what's your opinion? Would you recommend it to a greenhorn? Also, how easy is it to roll? I can't right my EZ to save my life. haha. Or... any other boat you'd recommend? Thanks for any help everyone!

-Courtney

hi

I was thinking about a diesel for a long time until I used a pyranha burn I found it very manoeuvrable and it gave me confidence to run rapids that I would not normally run. it was very easy to catch eddys and even if i messed up the line i would be fine. i found it very easy to roll as well. althogh the ez is quite a small boat so it will be very different to what you i are used to

I've heard great things about both the EZ and the Diesel, so the EZ is definately not a bad boat. They are completely different boats though. The Diesel is one of the few modern big river runners/creeckers/anything-big I've had the pleasure to try, and it hasn't been disappointing. It's a great boat, it's as stable as a house and rolls like, well, something that rolls (although I've heard complaints from someone else that she found it quite hard to roll since she learned rolling in a smaller boat and the technique was a bit different). So it's definately not a bad choise if you're looking for just that edge in stability and confidence you need to take the next step.

However, nearly drowning does not sound like simply taking the next step. A diesel, or any other boat, will not prevent any nearly drowning. Of course I haven't heard the full story, and I wasn't there to see it happen, but aside from your boat you might also want to take a second look at the way you run rivers. I'm not saying you should go do something easier, since that's probably not what you should do, but perhaps you could spend a bit more time scouting rapids, looking at them, perhaps getting out of the boat a bit more often to do so, look for the lines and see how other people do it. If there are hazards in the course that could nearly drown you, you can look for a way to avoid those. Perhaps you could draw the attention of your groupmembers to that spot, just ask them what the plan would be if someone would get into trouble over there. And if you really don't thrust a rapid, just carry your boat arround. This will help you just as much on the road to not nearly drowning as getting a Diesel, even with it being a great boat.

As a beginner myself (four months paddling experience so far) I can highly recommend the Diesel. It's very stable and cossets me when I need cosseting, but it will also flip me upside down in a heart-beat when I need teaching a lesson for being stupid. It's the most comfortable big-volume kayak I've sat in... and I've sat in just about every one except for the Pyranha Burn which I believe is also very comfortable. It carves on edge with aplomb and has secondary stability aplenty so getting on edge doesn't feel as scary as it could in some other boats. I found it easy to roll but if you acquire a solid roll then there shouldn't be too much difficulty no matter which boat you buy. So far I've rolled (in this order) a Perception Corsica S, a Dagger Blackwater 10.5, a Wavesport Diesel 80 and a Pyranha Inazone 242. They were all about the same in so much as I performed the motions required to roll a kayak and they rolled up as they should, I did noticed that rounded hulls (creek boats and my old Perception Corsica S) have a tendency to roll up and continue straight over the other side when you're first learning to roll.
I paddle mostly grade 2 and a bit of 3 at the moment and have only swam when taking liberties with my limited experience, usually in water not deep enough to roll in but too fast to brace on the river-bed and hip-snap it up.
Oh yeah, nearly forgot to say, it surfaces from seal launches really well too. The quick way in to my local river is via a (approximately) 6' high 75 degree slope and it's never flipped me when launching.