Well, we had a wonderful weekend paddling at the Mendocino Sea Caves.
We had about 40 Penguin Paddlers paddle with us on 4 different days. We hit Van Damme Sea Caves, the Albion River, Big River, Noyo River and Noyo Bay. The Mendocino coast was fabulous, the weather was perfect, the company was great and the Cetus was awesome!
I have to admit the Cetus has been getting a ton of hype by paddlers around the world and I will admit that there is no such thing as a perfect kayak, but this was the absolute finest 18 foot kayak that I have ever paddled in mixed conditions. The Cetus can turn and edge sharper than most 16 footers and because of the amazing stability I was able to float through tight caves sideways without visiting every barnacle with my face.
I did get a chance to play in some big surf, some big soup bowls, gale force winds and some big swells. In big surf the Cetus was very comfortable and predictable, on small steep surf get ready to say goodbye to the nose and side surf. In confused seas the Cetus makes you feel better than you are. In the wind and ground swell… say goodbye to your buddies because you will leave them in your wake.
I still haven’t written my full Test Review on the new Cetus and now I realize why I haven’t… I have been too busy and having way too much fun to sit and share my thoughts about this kayak and more importantly I don’t want anyone else to have one!
So here are my last words on this matter… the new Cetus is sold-out until April of 2008 and as Forest Gump said, “That’s all I’m going to say about that”.
Captain Penguin
