Over the many last years we've seen nearly everything that can go wrong in a sea kayak. We tried around 80 different designs/boats. Those have been used in our guided trips & expeditions (via our sister company enjoy-crete.com) plus some rentals and trips that we did abroad.
The most common problems but not limited to are:
- Numerous gel coat problems usually because of too thin or too thick gelcoat.
- Very poor quality control. That includes but not limited to faulty placed seats (glued not in the middle!), leaking skegs & leaking bulkheads.
- Broken seats.
- Wrong designed backrests (buckle hitting your back, very low or very high).
- Seats placed/designed wrong resulting in big stress to the boat from heavy paddlers and eventually cracks to the kayak.
- Hard to operate skeg slider.
- Leaks from poor placement of rims.
- Bad design cockpits (large opening but very low in leg area resulting in dead legs for large paddlers in just a few minutes of paddling and that on a HV boat).
- Poor designed deck fittings with bolts all over the place.
- Cockpit rim too sharp (I had to place lots of foam to avoid bruises).
- Very hard to remove seat for inspection & maintenance.
- Very deep front hatch (the small one in the front of the cockpit) resulting in hitting your legs during exits.
We tried hard to address all the above in our boats.
The three versions (HV, MV & LV) have been carefully designed in terms of length and how wide they are to accommodate the average paddlers of each category.
We are lucky enough to have hundreds of clients every year in our guided trips via enjoy-crete (sub-company). That lead us to have a real life experience/feedback from them regarding the behavior, performance and outfitting of the kayaks.
All that feedback came down to Nireas design. We always listen the feedback no matter the level of experience.
The Nireas kayak is aim for all kind of paddlers. New or experienced, they will love the easy way of handling and the super comfortable cockpit for those long trips. Not to mention the outstanding primary and secondary stability. You can edge the boat without bracing so much that water enters the cockpit and still been in balance.
All parts are from Kajaksport, a world recognized company for its high quality kayak components.
Taking pictures in two meter swell is not a problem. Loading the boat for a week is not a problem. Surfing with it? Not the best due to its length & hull shape but you can still have a lot of fun.
Nireas is available for demo in many places around Greece. Read the related article which list the locations.
Last but not least you can combine a world class expedition in the island of Crete with enjoy-crete and Nireas sea kayak. Have a look at the upcoming expeditions in this link.
Happy paddling!