A Tad Chilly in Nome

A high-performance sit-on-top for warm-weather paddling
By John Luck

AMONG SERIOUS kayakers, the very words "sit-on-top kayak" elicit visions of tourists haplessly paddling rental boats in dismal circles on man-made lakes. Fair enough: Most sit-on-tops are short and squat with all the handling characteristics of 55-gallon drums. But while the Cobra Expedition kayak ($895; 310-327-9216; www.cobrakayaks.com), with its alfresco seating, is technically a sit-on-top, it performs like a decked sea kayak. The Expedition's curved hull sits low in the water and its 17-foot, 5-inch length, combined with a svelte 23.5-inch width, lets this boat easily outdistance its broader-in-the-beam, open-boat cousins. A one-way valve dumps any water you take on, and an optional foot-operated rudder lets you carve turns and, more important, adjust for quartering winds so you can concentrate on making headway. For epic voyages, the Expedition accommodates up to four hatches, complete with submarine-grade dogging clamps.

The fact is, sit-on-tops have a lot to offer: They don't induce claustrophobia, they're ideal for paddling in warm weather (you might as well install a pop-up oven thermometer on your conventional kayak when the sun's hammering down on you), they're easy to enter and exit in rolling surf, and you don't have to know how to perform a bombproof roll—simply right the boat and clamber back aboard if you get dumped.

The biggest knock against open-decks has been their instability in rough water. Flat hulls, with their inherent initial stability, tend to reassure novice boaters, but the lack of secondary stability (which would let you lean into a wave or a swell and stay upright) can capsize you mousetrap-quick. Undaunted, I took the Cobra out on the Chesapeake Bay in small-craft warnings, the wind whipping the halyards of docked sailboats into a clanging frenzy. Suddenly I found myself broadside to a wind-driven wave, instinctively gulping air for the impending plunge. It never came. Cinched in with thigh straps, I hip-snapped the Cobra upright--a feat I never could have accomplished with a conventional sit-on-top kayak.