Life’s been a bit busy lately, what with new toys to play with and people wanting help with kayak fitouts and getting in lots of fun paddles.

I was asked to fit new footrests in a Riot Boogie 50, a surf kayak that I hadn’t paddled before, so I was fully booked for another day. The Boogie 50 comes with foam wedge blocks that are to be cut to the appropriate length for the paddler. Yes the system works, well for some people anyway, but I find them quite limiting when a couple of people want to share the kayak.

Originally the Riot Boogie 50 was set up for adjustable footrests,such as “Footstops”, as the mouldings for them are still in the kayak deck. Again, I find that style less than ideal in a surf kayak so I purchased a set of “Jackson Happy Feet” that would set up the kayak nicely.

First job was to remove the centre foam block ,which is easy after removing the securing tab in the deck and whacking sideways with a large rubber mallet. Then I cut the block to the leg length of the paddler so that it allowed  more heel space. Next it was simply a matter of using some of the surplus hard foam foot wedges, cut to size, to fill most of the kayak bow and then insert the Jackson Happy Feet inflatable footrests. Reinsert the centre foam pillar into the kayak, again with a rubber mallet, re-secure the pillar and your’e ready to inflate the footrests and set them in place.

If you haven’t come across Jackson Happy Feet before, follow this link to check them out. An absolutely brilliant system for getting a solid footrest into any surf or playboat.  I got the Happy Feet from Canoes Plus in Victoria, Australia, who are also the retailer for the Riot Boogie 50 and Jackson Kayaks.

Of course to check out my handy work I needed to hit the water. The local surf was tiny however it was big enough to check out the footrest adjustment and the kayak. The gallery at the bottom shows me in the yellow Riot Boogie and Rodney in a green Jackson Fun, having lots of fun on a beautiful Autumn day.

The Boogie is an older surf kayak design, however I was impressed by it characteristics, being stable to paddle and quite comfortable with an integrated seat and backrest. I managed an hour playing around in small surf and was able to get excellent speed with the 3 fins moved to a forward position. It also rolled easily as I found out when lacking a little concentration as a wave dumped on me. The polyethylene construction, combined with its solid handling characteristics, makes it an ideal choice for beginner to intermediate surf paddlers. The low volume tail, sharp rails on the back and long roomy front end, provides lots of carving power and allows for paddlers of all sizes.  In fact I liked it so much I think I will add one to my toy box very shortly…..Happy Paddling ….Ian

 Kayak Spedifications