liffey lower and liffey descent and barrow descent

greatideas

Hi

i am a born again kayaker looking for a fast boat for participating in general class or open singles. i want to buy a new boat. years ago i did the liffey descent in a gola sprint and back then that was the boat to be in.

Does anyone know if the gola sprints are still being made?

Does anyone know the new version of them if they are still available?

Is there any other makes or models similiar to them?
:pac:

K_1

Not being made new, but they occasionally come up for sale on the marathon facebook page or on irishmarathoncanoeing.com.

Lawrence deceptor is similar, but even less of them around as they're even older!

KenHy

Is there anything been made these days along those lines? Every year people looking for Deceptors or Gola Sprints - getting difficult to get them in good nick!

Personally did the descent in a plastic wavehopper last year - don't think there is that big a difference between them and a gola/deceptor in terms of speed, bit heavier on the portage - but pretty much gaurenteed to not leek and very little risk of breaking them!

greatideas

had a big trawl of the net, i came up with zilch! Kema Ltd in Clane who made gola went bust in 2007.

greatideas

do you how or where i can contact him? The numbers registered for kema rang out.

dubes

I would have to disagree that a Wavehopper would be a suitable replacement for a Gola Sprint. Having paddled both types of boats quite extensively, I would have to say that a Gola Sprint is in a different league than a Wavehopper. Apart from the huge weight penalty the Wavehopper carries, the Sprint is a much faster boat by design and steers better on the flat than a Wavehopper will. Look at the winning boats of this class in the Descent, as far as I can remember, no Wavehopper has ever won and certainly will never win against a Sprint paddled by a competent (fast) paddler.

However the Wavehopper is far easier to get into and out of and handles far better in rough water than the Sprint does. The Sprint's relatively low volume comes against it on the weirs and big water that are part and parcel of the Liffey Descent.

I have only paddled a Deceptor once and from what I can remember, it handles slightly better than a Sprint but it is slower.

I think your best bet at finding one would be to put a wanted ad on the Irish Marathon Canoeing Website. This is where the majority of these type of boats are bought and sold.

greatideas

well lads, the question remains........... What is the next best thing to the light and versatile Gola Sprint? I reckon there is no close call to it. I have done a bit of trawling on the net, and have no luck in finding anything near it.