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MIRAGE 22s - Racing Sea Kayak

 

Jeff Jennings taking the Mirage 22s for a test drive Jeff Jennings - full steam ahead! - mirage 22s Mirage 22s - long and skinny Large cockpit for easy access Sea kayak with racing kayak styling On flat water the bow carves through the water Mirage 22s - for the racing sea kayak paddler

 

Length - 6.6m (if this seems long - while paddling on flat water, there is about 6m in the water as the long bow is out of the water.
Width - 45cm
Weight - 14kg minimum for racing (16-18 kg gives you a stronger build for sea kayak trips)

I first found about the Mirage 22s from the Mirage Sea Kayaks web site.  I am always on the lookout for something different and this certainly is.

The Mirage 22s is a long, skinny sea kayak.  Even though it is skinny the cockpit is long enough to get your legs into after you have sat down. 

The 22s is made of kevlar and can be made as light as 14kg (if you just want to use it for racing).  If they make it 16 - 18 kg it will be stronger to load up for sea kayak trips.  The 22s is good value for money for a long boat made of kevlar.

The foot pedals and seat position are both easily adjustable and it still turns fairly well considering how long it is.

Since I received the kayak in September 2002 I have tested it in all conditions.  The 22s felt great on flat water as it carves effortlessly through the water.  As the swells get bigger the bow pierces straight through the waves, barely slowing down.

As you turn and run down wind with small waves the 22s just keeps running over the top of the waves.  As the following waves get bigger the long 22s can run into the wave in front easily, so zig-zagging can keep you running down the wave without hitting the wave in front.  As the following swells get to a couple of metres there is plenty of room to run down the waves and it catches the swells easily due to its weight and isn't prone to nose-diving because even though it is sleek it still has a bit of volume in the front.  When you are on flat water that volume is probably above the waterline but as you catch a wave it stops you cartwheeling the boat.  I found it similar in speed to an SLSA surf ski.

The best conditions for the 22s would be flat water rivers up to swells of a few feet.  It would be very competitive in the Murray Marathon or the Hawkesbury races - or any flat water race where there is a sea kayak category.

UPDATE - November 2006

I have been using the Mirage 22s in flat water races against multisport (time bandit, time machine etc), K1 and DRR kayaks.  The 22s is only slightly slower than these kayaks.  I have done some trials over a 1.5km course and found the 22s about 20 seconds slower than when I did the same course with the same effort in a Time Bandit.