Old Town Canoe Company Cayuga Kayak. This is top of the line kayak and a technical capable boat! This has a smaller "control cockpit" with thigh braces, for that control fit that allows a more serious performance. The thigh braces are the pads that one can grip their thighs on, on each side of the cockpit rim as seen in the pictures. Control in a kayak is best accomplished with 5 contact points, the two feet, the tops of your two thighs against the thigh braces, and the back of the seat as the fifth contact point. When the feet are flexed, you can lock your lower body to the boat to furthing your control and ability. With a neoprene skirt and a "learned kayak roll", this boat can be eskimo rolled as a self rescue method for open water situations. In any case whether you choose to learn a roll or not, it is a great touring style boat that anyone can paddle with stabilform stability and "Cayuga hull speed and efficiency". (Always keeping safety in mind, learn your roll well before you go out too far from shore! Contour close to the shores for safety if a roll is not desired. Use the buddy system too and paddle with a friend.)

A Recreational/Touring Model, with a bigger emphasis on little to no rocker for "Touring Kayak" speed and efficiency in open waters, the Cayuga kayak series is made in four lengths; 110, 130, 146, and 160. Length is speed. This entire Cayuga fleet has very little rocker from front to back, as well as a narrower trim profile. These features combined will create a fast kayak in comparison to anything else in their recreational class. These are now the fastest and most efficient kayaks in the Old Town lineup as their newest models in this class. These will have a wider turning radius as a result, better for open waters that a tight turning radius will not make a difference. These boats will "spear a wave" with efficency in coastal sea kayak paddling too. These can be river paddled but recommend a wide and slow current situation where tight turns are not necessary. These will paddle upstream efficiently, but with current, will need to hold your angle carefully in upstream ferrying situations crossing the current. The primary benefit of these kayaks are great hull efficiency, blasting across the water with far less effort in comparison.

As a company goal with some of the new style kayaks, Old Town is working to bring the more technical capable boats to the forefront, yet making them stable so it is generally easier to use for the novice. Every inch of the hull is modeled and important in today's kayak manufacturing methods. The wonderful results, awesome boats! This style boat was featured in a big Old Town event that put 200 paddlers, many novices, all in these identical boats, all having a great time and wonderful success. This is acomplished with this boat's hull shape. Although this boat only measures 24 to 25 inches in overall width for this family of kayaks, this boat employs the StabilForm Hull shape that Old Town has designed. If we may explain Stabilform hull shape, we are looking at the midsection or beam, there are two balance points in a paddling craft. One is the initial stability, which makes the boat feel generally stable. This is the flatter part through the bottom under the paddler. The secondary stablity is when the boat is leaned with hips for aid in turning or maneuvers. These are lean turns, using the side of the boat's resistance to aid in turning or maneuvers. That maneuver also gets the ends up a little. That is a function of the lower sides and how they are designed. The StabilForm hull has tightened the distance between these two balance features of a boat so there is not a loosness when the boat is leaned and the secondary stability point is used. This results in a better balance and stability as you lean (with your hips), with no loose feel, virtually a gain in side boyancy as it is leaned. The result, a great stable boat for the novice to learn on too, yet has the technical ability with thigh braces to allow the full control benefits to take place. These boats have the best of both worlds in performance, speed, user balance, ease in use, a truly new cutting edge design! Old Town has a fantastic engineering staff put together as well as experience and resources unparalelled, now making every angle and square inch of surface of the boat important. No "Kayak Tub" here! This is the engineering care used with all the new Old Town canoe and kayak designs. This is the newest series of kayaks in the Old Town kayak line up, employing the absolute latest available in design technology.

For ultimate paddler comfort, the seating is optimum with the comfortably padded Extrasport Seat System. Adjustments include back height and back angle, making a comfortable ride for the paddler. The Cayugas are loaded up for the top of the line feel and looks, including full front and rear deck rigging to tie down your dry bags and hook carabiners to the boat with gear attached, buckle down style hatch covers, front and back bulkheads or interior panels in the boat to seperate the compartments from the water prone cockpit areas with paddle splash, assisting in keeping gear dry. (dry bags always recommended) Skirt it up to keep you dry and warm. and go for the weekend. The entire week! Great boats for boundry water type paddling, where speed, efficency, and weight are a concern.

With the extra control feature of the cockpit and thigh braces this boat is still for touring - recreational use. What is "Recreational Use" you say? Recreational is a "general paddling for fun" style of kayaking typically found on small lakes and ponds, easy rivers, many of your canoe float trip activities. It is typically a more stable boat with plenty of room for gear for float trips in a kayak. We recommend a good weight ratio for paddlers to be 70 percent of the factory rating, as a comfortable range. That is an ORC opinion as an estimate. It also leaves weight capacity for gear, and that additional gear weight is loaded low in the boat. These weight parameters improve stability and can vary a bit. (We recommend 12 pack soft side coolers for your beverages. Think back pack style gear for overnight trips including smaller things, and line the inside areas of your boat with dry bags before loading.) See our website link through the "me" page at the top of this auction if you would like to read more about packing a kayak. We have short and long features on this subject.

 

• Extrasport Seats, some of the best in the industry, for your comfort
• Control Cockpit with 5 point control including two thigh braces for the paddler that wants to accelerate control ability
  
• Adjustable foot braces for additional control and comfort settings
• StabliForm Hull, a stable design with ample width and "early secondary stability" for easy balance.
• Carrying handles on each end for easy two person portaging.
• Buckle Down Hatches and full Deck rigging for a well dressed out, fully loaded kayak