Is it wrong to be optimistic?

Oh, probably. But I can’t help it – I went out today and bought a kayak. “My” paddle store, Bay Creek had their end of year clearance. I went still undecided whether I wanted to buy the Valley Avocet RM that I rented a few times and found a really fun boat, or the Valley Skerray RMX, which I rented several more times and found it *almost* as nice as the Avocet, but with a few drawbacks.

The drawbacks of the Skerray were mostly due to it being one that somebody had bought and used for a while, and then sold back to them. The (after market) thigh braces were in entirely the wrong place for me, and the cockpit cut into my hand or shoulder when I tried to carry it on my own. And the foot pegs were too far back, but that’s something I’ve found on every kayak I’ve tried. Other than that, it was very similar to the Avocet, but a bit bigger, and rated for a heavier paddler, like me.

I paddled both around a bit, and decided to buy the Avocet. It listed for $1499 and was 25% off. But then I was walking past the rack and saw that another Avocet that *hadn’t* been used as a rental boat was the exact same price. Wait a second, I thought, why buy the beater when I can have the pristine one? But then I noticed that on the same rack was a new Skerray. This one had the same plastic insert in the coaming that the Avocets have, with a built in thigh brace instead of the annoying aftermarket one the rental Skerray had. And it was list $1249 with 25% off. I took it for a paddle, and it was great. It was a much tighter fit to get into and out of it than the rental Skerray, but once I got into it, it was very comfortable. And the thigh braces were placed perfectly. The foot pegs were still too far back, but I could rest my feet on the forward bulkhead. Oh, and the fact that it has the proper coaming insert means that it didn’t cut into my hand when I carried it. It’s a nice muted gray colour.

I bought it. It’s sitting on the driveway on the car’s roof rack. I can’t wait until my elbows are recovered enough that I can paddle it again. In the mean time, I have to fix my canoe rack in the back yard, because it broke last winter.