SA K1's

I know there are SA K1 paddlers on this forum:

I'm in the USA and looking to order a K1 for flatwater training / marathon. A group is putting together an order of boats from Kayak Centre and Knysna, so my choice is limited to those two manufacturers. I will not have a chance to see or paddle the boat before I order it.

I'm looking for a K1 that's between an old Struer Cleaver X and an old Lancer / Sabre design in terms of speed / stability. I'm 50 yo; my boat balance won't improve. . I'm 90 kg, 178 cm, wide hips.

From reviewing the boats on the two websites, I suspect the Velox Assassin might fit what I'm looking for. I suspect the Velox assault and Knysna Vantage Pro Plus are less stable than the Cleaver X and not what I'm looking for. What about the Knysna Jacana? Any opinions on the best one for speed and ample width at the hips?

The Jacana is sort of a fast intermediate type boat, and more stable than the Velox. Probably very similar to the Lancer. But I'm talking from a whitewater downriver perspective. On flat water you'll probably be fine in just about anything.

I own a Jacana and I'm solid in it, and feel unstable in the Velox. No way I'm getting down any rapids in the Assasin. Some of the top river racers use a Velox Assasin. and by top I mean guys like Hank Mcgregor. But that will be in grade 3 or higher rapids.

In terms of hip space. It's hard to say. All I can say is there is plenty of space inside the Jacana. Unless your bodyweight consists of 90% hip, there is no way it will be a too tight at 178cm and 90kg.

I have a Velox Assassin and my feelings about it are similar to Jagter's: I am fine on it in flatwater but moving water would be challenging. I had a Vajda Infusion K1 prior to this and find the Assassin slightly more stable and slightly slower. I'd put it somewhere between the Vajda Msonic and Infusion in regards to stability. It has plenty of volume for a larger paddler, so I'm guessing it would fit you just fine, but I'm not sure about hip space (better than any of the other K1s I've tried though). I like it more than the Infusion, but I think that's b/c I'm a surfski paddler, so the extra volume, rocker, and pedals have a familiar feel to them. Still, it's significantly less stable overall than my Uno Max, and if I were going to do much actual downriver racing with any rapids or fast moving water in a K1 I'd probably end up trying a Jacana.

I've always had a T-bar in my K1's because SA K1's with pedals that I saw about 15 yrs ago didn't seem to have much to brace off of. Do most non-river K1 paddlers use T bar or pedals these days? Also, for deep water and no rivers, kick-up rudder or under stern? A Nelo Mosquito 90 that I had 15 yrs ago had a kick-up and it wandered quite a bit. I assumed that it was because of the rudder, but I really don't know. Does an under stern rudder track better?

I have no experience with under-stern rudders and tbars in K1s, since the only time I ever get into a K boat is for river racing. (like most people in SA)

But I'm pretty sure there is a reason most (or all) of the Olympic sprinters use an understern rudder and bar. So for flat water without obstacles I would go for under-stern without hesitation.

When you see top paddlers racing marathons - though not on whitewater or where there are rapids - and using overstern kick-up rudders, like paddlers at marathon world cups and such, do they use T-bar or pedals?

Hasn't Hank MacGregor won the last few Marathon Worlds with pedals - while all the others were on T-Bars?