Sisson Kayaks is a maker of handcrafted sea and multisport kayaks. The business is in one ownership since 1974. First kayak made 1975. Peak production was not much short of 50 per week. This is now a one-man-band retirement hobby business. Annual production halts at 50 kayaks - about one per week. Get your order in early.
Checkout Cart Cart: 0 item(s)

Luke Vaughan tests Eliminator for speed on the RDR

Towards the end of Luke’s second RDR testing visit, I asked him to do the unthinkable – paddle my demo Eliminator over the same 700 metre course. It is not often that a ‘beginners-boat’ gets paddled by a conditioned body and sound paddling technique!

All of the testing on that day had been done at the totally aerobic level of 130HBPM. Luke had been taking his own times using his heartrate monitor gizmo – and I had been backing up the timing using my IPhone stopwatch – and some brisk MTB peddling along the stopbank.

When Luke yelled “go” I assumed a cruisey bike ride with lots of time for a photo finish taken with my camera. This stupid belief shows you how – my own ingrained sub-concious had been corrupted to believe that “The Eliminator is only just fast enough not to be laughed at” (quoted from M Jacques) may just be true.

Sadly for me, the peddling on the bike was still bringing on leg  pain I had endured with the Omega testing.- My attempt to fire up my camera had to be abandoned just to deal with (in panic mode) the IPhone timing cutoff.

In the end the only way to photo Luke with the Eliminator was after he had changed.

Luke happy to be photographed with the 'beginners-boat'

Evolution Omega at 130HBPM over 700 metres of RDR in moderate flow (average) 2 minutes 48 seconds

Eliminator at 130HBPM over 700 metres of RDR in moderate flow (one run)    3 minutes 5 seconds

Only 17 seconds slower – no wonder the camera photo-finish resulted in the camera being dropped.

Weather conditions were clear and calm.

This testing confirmed  a 1992 test that I conducted using Steve Gurney as the motor. We had a HR monitor – but had to make our own speed ‘pressure-guage’. The actual speeds were 11 graduations (Evo) and 9 graduations (Eliminator). It seemed too close. But was correct.

And when Nathan Fa’aave lived at Anakiwa he found little difference in his paddling time to Picton – in his Evo Classic or his Arctic Raider. The Eliminator hull was ‘stolen’ off the Arctic Raider.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 17th, 2010 at 10:40 pm and is filed under News, Product Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply


Start here to begin the customized design process of your next Sisson Kayak.

Contact us via email to discuss any questions about our products or to find more information about this site.

Ever wonder how to make sure your water photography comes out clear and beautiful? Check out this video of camera stabilizing techniques in a Sisson Nucleus 100 Kayak.

Log in