Articles - Pyranha Speeder flatwater kayak test

Pyranha Speeder

Review by Steve Butler, images Steve Butler & Jason Smith
Testing by Steve Butler, Jim Evans, Jason Smith, Matt Brown and the members of Worcester Canoe Club

The Low Down
The Speeder is an interesting new boat from Pyranha, which is aimed at a new, and potentially massive, multi-purpose recreational fitness market. Pyranha are marketing this boat as being ‘a modern derivative of ‘70’s style WW racers, blended with 21st century technology and design thinking’ In essence this boat is intended to be suitable for many aspects of the recreational paddling fraternity and should be equally at home on flat-water, multi-day cruising trips, whitewater touring and coastal exploring. The boat is equally supposed to bridge the gap between K1 marathon boats and the traditional plastic recreational club boats, which can be seen on rivers all over the country, and provide an alternative to the plastic whitewater racer.
    Seeing as this boat is supposed to serve so many markets, carrying out a comprehensive test was never going to be easy. But with a bit of logistic juggling we lined up a network of willing testers to put this boat through the ropes and provide a well-rounded feedback.

Construction
The Speeder is manufactured using Pyranha's tried and tested rotomoulding technology in their factory in Runcorn. Over the last 25 years Pyranha have perfected their manufacturing techniques to provide variable wall thicknesses along the hull profile, such that the correct combination of weight, wear resistance and stiffness is provided.
    The plastic used by Pyranha is the well-established and proven HDPE, which has been used to great effect throughout their range over the last few years. There are two, two-tone colour options for the speeder range, the ever popular red and black or the vibrant yellow and mango.

Hull Design
When looking at the Speeder it is clear to see where the designers have taken their inspiration. The hull of the boat bears more than a passing resemblance to that of marathon K1 crossed with a white water racer. The modified shallow wings have been designed to provide secondary stability, to let boat to be edged over allowing the hull shape to induce turning.
    A look at the cross-section along the length of the hull shows that the section increases progressively from front to the mid section, with the area under the seat being relatively rounded and forgiving. The relatively narrow front end has been designed to provide minimal resistance and hence speed.

Cockpit Fittings
At the time of testing the Speeder only comes equipped with the latest state-of-the-art ‘Connect 30’ cockpit fitments, consisting of adjustable seat, thigh-braces and bolt in adjustable hip pads. The quality of these fittings have been discussed at length before in the pages of this magazine, however in a nutshell they are in our opinion amongst the best functioning and nicest finished on the market.
    The seat is an ergonomic, adjustable padded design constructed of blow-moulded plastic with padded plastic padding. The hip pads are demountable and are secured in place though sliding bolt plates mounted to the seat. A very adequate fitting kit is provided to adjust the thickness fit of the seat and pads to the personal tastes of individual paddlers.
    The thigh braces are fully adjustable, padded and lined, and are equipped with the ratchet system for the adjustable backrest.  The backrest is a fully ratchet adjustable and padded and is suitably wide to provide lumbar support and security.
    The speeder is fitted with a whitewater style full plate footrest, but it also pivots to allow differing feet positions. The cockpit rim is sized so it’s very easy to enter and exit and standard sized neoprene spray-deck can be used.

Rear Compartment
The rear compartment has been installed to provide secure, water- tight, stowage for camping equipment, extra clothes, food and general provisions. The compartment extends the full length of the stern and starts immediately behind the backrest. The space afforded by the compartment is easily adequate for most foreseeable scenarios. We successfully packed a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats and stoves with enough remaining space for food and beers. Nice! The Speeder handled the extra weight well with very little noticeable drop in performance. The compartment is ultrasonically welded into the hull of the boat and is sealed through a traditional sea kayak rubberised hatch.
Other useful features on the Speeder include whitewater spec grab loops, elastic stowage mesh and a handy mounting position for a GPS

The Ride
When considering the wide and varied use, and audience, that this boat is intended for, designing a boat that satisfies so many criteria was never going to be easy. To ensure that this boat fulfils it design brief it needs to achieve the manoeuvrability and stability required for moving water, without compromising the smooth tracking required for touring.
    Another potential key audience for the Speeder is the club paddler. In the process of testing this boat we lent it to a sizeable and active canoe club (who specialise in marathon and sprint paddling), carried out extensive flat-water and whitewater river paddling alike. The feedback from all of the testers was very positive.
    On flat-water, the Speeder paddles positively and smoothly. Although the acceleration does not compare with a race bred, marathon boat, the boat picks up very well and can be brought up to full speed in fewer than ten strokes. Once at speed we found that the boat was happy to cruise with minimal effort, no sign of ‘bobbing’ or rapid deceleration and it did not require any correction strokes to hold the tracking.
    When stationary, this boat does not give the impression that it wants to capsize. Through the various speed ranges, the stability of the boat increases proportionally and at no point feels unstable. We found that the secondary stability of the Speeder increased with speed, which made for very positive turn initiation, eddying out and general water confidence. In actual fact, whilst out testing the Speeder on the rough stuff we were confidently hammering this boat into eddies and we were amazed at its manoeuvrability.
    On fast moving and whitewater we found that many of the flat-water attributes remained true, and that we accepted the concept of paddling a boat nearly twice the length of traditional river runner and nearly three times the length of a play boat. In fact the Speeder was an absolute blast. The stability of the boat at speed is one of its best features and allows the paddler to drive effortlessly through stoppers, off drops and to drive into and out of eddy-lines. Indeed we even managed to front, back, side surf, and even 360, the Speeder as well as attempting (naively) such moves as the front and back ender (swim practice shortly followed - Ed).   

The Verdict
The overall our verdict on the Speeder was as follows:
•    The boat is an excellent capable all-rounder and does fit the intended market very well.
•    We felt that the primary market for the Speeder is the recreational paddler who wants to have a boat to paddle for fitness purposes, whilst still having the flexibility to take on extended flat, moving and sea water tours.
•    The Speeder does not pretend to be sea kayak, but could be used very safely for coastal navigation. Likewise the Speeder does not pretend to be a marathon or sprint kayak, but could be ideal for fitness and training purposes alike. Also, the Speeder does not pretend to be a whitewater racer, but will easily gives the whitewater racing fraternity a run for its money whilst providing superior stability and the flexibility of the in-boat storage compartment.
•    On the negative side we consider that the cost and specification of the boat may be a little high to appeal to the mass club market, where Dancers, Creeks and Wavehoppers already fill the shelves. We also feel that, at 22kgs, the weight of the boat may prevent easy handling by children and lighter framed adults.

Conclusion
All in all we were mightily impressed with the Speeder, the boat surprised us on many levels and has opened up an almost limitless supply of weekend options for the future. The only problem that we have now is to decide where to go next!

Specs
Length: 450cm
Width: 59cm
Weight: 22kg
RRP: £849
More Info: www.pyranha.com


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