Pedal Boat Olympics Results

Late last fall seven anglers brought seven of the most popular pedal-powered kayaks to a public launch ramp in Virginia Beach. As the athletes prepared their boats, Kayak Angler editors stood by ready to put them through their paces and test their kayaks for speed, power, handling and a half dozen other categories, which may or may not be at all relevant to catching fish. The competition was fierce but friendly. We put the boats in head-to-head events such as sprints, rigging speed and an epic tug-of-war. At the pedal drive Olympics closing ceremonies held of course on truck tailgates, the athletes agreed it was fun, but thought Kayak Angler readers needed more conclusive evidence.

Three months later the anglers met again at the same beach with the same boats, this time with stopwatches, tape measures, GPSs and more clipboards. We raced the boats against the clock, in controlled environments, with three different anglers performing each test. We averaged the times. The results were surprising. After the salt spray cleared and the numbers crunched, this fun two-day event went down in the kayak fishing history books as the first ever Kayak Angler Pedal Boat Olympics and Shootout.

We've included the final results of the second day of testing. We had three anglers perform each test in each boat. The average score is recorded on the right hand side.

For turning radius we tested with the boat tilted and horozontal. We marked a starting point on the beach. Then had the tester pedal the boat while turning the rudder hard right. We marked where the boat returned to the beach.

Same test without leaning the boat.

All out, haul butt down the beach. We gave each tester a GPS and told them to pedal as hard as possible for fifty yards. We took the top speed from the GPS. Average speed is posted on the right.

Same test in reverse. Some of the boats had trouble steering in reverse. The Hobie PA14 suffered a mechanical breakdown due to improper usage and was not able to complete three tests. 

Timed 100 yard sprint.

Paddle performance is an important part of any kayak's features. Who knows when you might need to churn and burn.