Baidarka Explorer Sea Kayak

The Baidarka Explorer was designed by Derek Hutchinson, it has a very pronounced V – shaped hull and as it has a cutter bow and stern the keel extends the whole length of the waterline. This coupled with its Swedish form makes it quite a fast boat. The turned up bits on the bow and stern are Hutchinson’s interpretation of the bifurcated bow’s on the skin boats of the Aleutian Islands hence the Russian name; Baidarka. It’s very good at going from A to B in as straight a line as possible its not very manoeuvrable but then it's not designed to be. When loaded that deep V keel is pushed down into the water and the soft chines give it very good secondary stability.

When cranked over there’s a positive feel to edging. But when empty or paddled by a lighter paddler it rides higher in the water so you’re sitting on that V shape this makes it very twitchy and the positive feel of the chines disappears. The high peak on the fore deck makes it a very easy boat to roll. Despite this being an old design its popularity has meant that it's now being built in Italy by cscanoes.