Racing Kayaks
Racing kayaks are designed for speed, and usually require substantial skill to achieve stability, due to extremely narrow hulls, though downriver racing kayaks are a hybrid style with whitewater boats. Racing kayaks are highly technical boats designed to compete in specialized categories. They are very long and narrow, made of fibreglass or kevlar and are built for speed and manoeuvreing on river rapids, while recreational kayaks are built for comfort and longer distance paddling on oceans and lakes.
The three types of flat water racing kayaks (sometimes termed 'sprint boats') are K1 (single paddler), K2 (two paddlers) and K4 (four paddlers). Flat water racing kayaks are closely related to flat water racing canoes, with both styles of boat usually training at the same club or with the same team, although it is rare for paddlers to compete in both canoes and kayaks. A highly specialized variant of flat water racing kayak called a Surf Ski has an open cockpit and can be up to twenty-one feet long but only eighteen inches wide, requiring expert balance and paddling skill.
Whitewater racing kayaks are very manoeuvrable and can be used to do tricks. They are usually called river runners, however, so you should also look at river runner kayaks if you want to find one that will work well for racing downriver. Some highly specialized racing kayaks weigh less than 25 pounds (11 kg). The number of seating areas for racing would typically be not more than two, while up to four seats might be provided for recreational purposes. Downriver racing kayaks do exist in the form of Wave-hoppers or as a hybrid style of whitewater boats. Whitewater Racing is an exciting and challenging discipline, combining the speed of flat water racing with the technical aspects of slalom racing. Paddling a kayak at 7-8 mph is the equivalent of pedalling an 18-pound racing bike or using carbon fibre cross-country ski poles. The racing kayaks are still the centre of the trade.
 While racing kayaks for flat water are long and much narrower, most whitewater racing kayaks are designed quite a bit differently. As a result, these whitewater racing kayaks are also designed so that they can be used for play or freestyle boating as well (though there are other kayaks for that as well if you are not planning on doing any racing). Most, if not all whitewater racing kayaks are designed to have planing hulls.
Occupants of sculls, shells and racing kayaks are required to carry or wear Coast Guard approved personal flotation devices. Recent discussions with paddlers and the race committee have lead to the decision that surf skis, hybrids, and racing kayaks are suited to form a combined class.
Kayaks
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