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HDPE Avatar 15.5 we've used the Avatar for one year on rivers, reservoirs, the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays and Atlantic ocean in various conditions.

Perhaps I should leave this review to my girlfriend since she now paddles my Avatar way more than I do, but here it is: The Avatar 15.5 is a great low volume greenland style sea kayak. It does what is was designed to do supremely well. The fit is great for a smaller or shorter paddler and the seat very comfortable. Anyone with size 10 or bigger feet though better get another boat. On flat water paddling the avatar is almost effortless - it accelerates quickly, is rock solid at amazing lean angles and turns on a dime with the skeg up or down. My gf complained about the skeg up tracking the 1st several she used the boat on the reservoir, but eventually got the hang of it.

Strangely enough she never complained about the tracking out on the Chesapeake during the same period, but perhaps that's because the avatar comes into its own as conditions get rougher. The boat almost makes 4ft waves, 30knot winds, and confused surf at an inlet seem boring. The only problem is that waves splashing over the low volume bow can make the ride a little wetter than in some other boats. The payoff for being wet is a boat that slices through waves instead of pitching up and down and a boat that feels rock solid regardless of how angry or confused the waves get or where they hit from. Yaw is easily controlled by the skeg and the primary and secondary stability makes rolling seem like an unnecessary skill. The avatar is a capable but not stellar surfer that prefers to sit in place but can be enticed to run down a wave face or two. There's a slight tendency to weathercock with the skeg up and to leecock with it all the way down -- you can't ask for better balance.

The Avatar is great for playing on rivers lakes or in the ocean and for day and weekend trips. It is fast, extremely efficient, maneuverable, and even stable enough to do long lens photography in. Beginners may mistakenly find the boat a little cramped and tippy but will quickly grow into it and intermediate paddlers will love the way the boat inspires confidence while begging you to play and extend your abilities.

What the Avatar doesn't do well is carry a lot of gear for longer trips. The skeg box takes up valuable real-estate in the stern and the narrow racey upturned greenland bow limits what you can shove up there. But then the avatar is not designed to be high volume gear hauler. The HDPE seems softer than the plastic used in our Dagger and Perception whitewater boats and no where near as stiff or scratch resistant as the SLPE used in the Prijon Barracuda, Excursion, or Seayak we've owned or paddled.

We bought a older used Prijon Barracuda without rudder to take on longer touring trips. Before trying any epic trips with it we took her out on a series of day and weekend paddles to decide on the proper outfitting (all lines were old and suspect and were removed), how much weight she could reasonably carry, what the weight distribution should be, and to get accustomed to the boat's handling characteristics and practice rescue techniques in rough conditions.

I read the reviews on here about how tippy the Barracuda is and laughed and wanted to find out for myself. First impressions on a local reservoir were that the Barracuda is very fast, that is confirmed by the fact I consistently have to slow down and wait for friends while paddling it. It isn't nearly as efficient as the Perception Avatar my gf paddles as it requires more effort to get up to speed and maintain speeds but the top end on the Barracuda is significantly faster. On the reservoir, tracking was excellent and leaned turns were fairly easy to do at speed. I brought out the wing paddle the second time out and had a couple of "scares" where a missed stroke felt like the boat was going to go over but it never did. The boat is tippy, but not unstable, it can however catch you by surprise.

Several trips out on the Cheasapeake and the Barracuda ate up everything from chop to 3ft waves and 30 knot winds. It paddles easily into and out of the surf but the boat has a tendency to nose into waves and can be handful holding a course going across waves - requiring constant edging or corrective strokes. I made the mistake of not putting the neoprene cover back on the front hatch on a windy day with 3 ft waves and learned that when nose heavy, the boat is a bear. It would surge forwards with each wave and surf really well but would then suddenly broach, threaten to roll, and force a series of panicked braces. It would then turn nose into the waves again despite my best efforts. I could not make headway towards shore, it was a scary and exhausting experience and in the end I had to tow my girlfriend and have her act as a huge skeg to keep the boat straight. When I made it to shore i swore i would get a new boat until we realized there was 50lbs of water in the front hatch.

The next couple of trips to the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Coast proved the boat, when properly balanced, is actually quite capable of handling whitecaps and 4ft seas but does feel twitchy when compared to the Avatar. The boat behaved well even while waves crashed over the bow and hit me in the face but I again had some steering issues with quartering seas. Paddling in those conditions was fun but required concentration in the 'cuda. My girlfriend meanwhile was laughing and enjoying being tossed about in the Avatar. Other friends bailed deciding the conditions were too rough.

The next couple of trips proved that the Barracuda not only is fast, THIS BOAT CAN HAUL SOME GEAR. Initial stability actually increases when the boat is loaded up. The hatches are huge and the high volume ends and the fact that the waterline is about the same as the LOA means the boat sinks very little. The low chines (below waterline even when unloaded) mean the characteristics of the boat don't change when heavily loaded - just don't try to stop quickly after you get a head of steam. Prijon boats seem to be made out of a stronger, denser, plastic than other polyethylene boats - the barracuda doesn't oil can or flex as much as the perception and dagger boats I've owned and doesn't scratch as easily.

The Barracuda is a great choice for paddling lakes, rivers and inland waterways. Its fast and surprisingly maneuverable given its waterline length and minimal rocker. It is not as maneuverable as a shorter boat with rocker and not the best choice for paddling in marshes or constrained areas. The length also leads to a lot of bottom drag in shallow water. It works well in the ocean, but there are better choices for serious open water paddling. A rudder is probably a good idea for oceans and large lakes with wave action.