Pyranha Karnali Review

A couple of weekends ago a load of people from riverside headed to South Wales to do their Four Star Kayak Training and Assessment, plus a whole bunch of Dons on an Open Boating Weekend.

I was very kindly offered a place on the Four Star Training (Thanks for a great course Roger and Dennis). Now if you don't know me at all then to say I don't spend much time river paddling is an understatement- don't think I have been in a river boat proper in about 10 years! This means that my extensive boat collection does not contain a big floaty thing that is required for such courses. Catherine came to the rescue and leant me the Karnali- apparently its new and everything!

Outfitting
The boat is fitted out with the latest Connect 30 outfitting. Anyone who has paddled a boat with this in will tell you how easy it is to adjust and sort out ready to paddle. It's also very comfortable with it, allowing a fair amount of adjustment whilst seated in the boat, which is great if you need a bit of a stretch but don't want to/can't get out of the boat to do it.

The stern storage space is vast- I could have been smuggling knock off TV's all weekend and been none the wiser. Due to the back rest system this is really easy to access and load with some good solid clip points.

The deck also is covered in a multitude of solid looking steel cip points for all your possible rescue needs- seem easy to access from the boat and are deep enough to easily clip a karrabiner into with one hand.

First Impressions
If you look at the hull there are no reall edges to speak of, which makes for a really forgiving boat. Mistakes which would be punished in other boats just seem not to affect this one. This is great for the novice and expert alike, as it really instills confidence in the boat. This confidence is backed up by the boats secondary stability- now I don't know how they have manged this but it really doesnt capsize unless you really try quite hard, or you need it to. For a big boat it also rolls suprisingly easily.

For a longer boat it breaks in and out really nicely and ferries controllably front and back, holding its line really well. It also turns well on the spot if required. This entire package makes for a boat that is really manouverable with no nasty hidden suprises.

And the rest
Ok so thats the basic systems check- what about the fun stuff! This thing hole rides like a dream- the boats has the merest hint of a planing hull but it spins easily and unlike many river boats is a fairly stable platform that doesnt bounce around all over the shop.It isn't the nippiest on a wave (funny that) but it is easy enough to manouvere and to move around the river using them.

It boofs drops really nicely, providing plenty of entry speed combined with the ease of which you can pull the front up and keep the boat good and flat. The boat surfaces quickly and punches through anything unpleasant with ease.

Summary
Why have one? Well it's as good a river runner as I have seen, with the latest outfitting, its easy to paddle and it comes in lots of pretty colours- oh and it costs £650 (no. that isn't a typo, it really does!), so, quite frankly, why spend the extra money on something that will do exactly what this can? No, I can't think of any reasons either!

All the details and pictures and stuff are on the Pyranha website (http://www.pyranha.com/), or pop into the shop and speak to Catherine. They seem to have done 2 sizes so far (a M and a L) and there is talk of a S.

Matt