No affiliation, for starts, but I wanted to mention that Luther Cifers from YakAttack, sort of a design guru in the kayak industry, has gone into the business of creating some new kayaks. His first two will be shown at ICast 2017 and some early photos have been pre-released.

There will be a 10+ footer and a 12+ footer with pretty low pricing points.

One innovation is really cool. His team has designed some "standing pads" I suppose you'd call them on top of the gunwales sort of just left and right behind where the seat is. So, a nimble guy or gal can hop up and sight fish from an elevated surface. That, and though I haven't seen it, I read that one or the other of these vessels will have sort of a bass boat seat option so I suppose that might mean some sort of pedestal seat.

These paddlers are supposed to be super stable and pretty fast. It looks to me like their sort of bullet shape gives the kayak a nice sharp point to cut through the water, then a wider stern area for stability.

See below for some pics and details. Brad

Bonafide Kayaks

I'm looking forward to paddling one myself.

They sure are pretty

Looks badass! I would love to have one

Id like to find out what their version of fast is. It does look stable.

Christian, one article mentioned that it paddles at 2.5 to 3 mph at a, I think it said, moderate pace.

I think it debuts at ICAST today so we should know more soon.

Brad

IMO they look a little like the Hobies or am I just blind?

Very similar to the Hobie Pro Angler yaks in dorsal view and layout. Convergent evolution. Different bow shape in lateral view.

Looks pretty good from the video.

Similar to the Raptor's version of speed. (sorry, I couldn't resist)
I'll also add it doesn't appear to track too well in what few "paddling" clips there have been.



I was thinking WS ATAK.

The more I see videos of it, the more I think this is a niche kayak where Cifers really went out of his way to accommodate the stand-up angler, especially those who might want to sight fish/use push poles/fish skinny water. Almost all video talking points about the Bonafide come back to or relate to stability.

He gave up a lot and perhaps did so to secure a place in a crowded field of available kayaks.

Brad

What makes you think the kayak would only be good in skinny water? I agree, I think stability of this kayak is going to be a great characteristic of this boat. As I get older I'm finding myself looking a stable kayak that will not turtle as easy.

I think the trend is stability more than overall speed, and also the popularity of pedal power and trolling motors seem to be another major trend.
This kayak looks like it would be able to feature all those upgrades if he wanted to go that way.

Well, not only skinny water . . . but sort of best suited for it is what I am thinking. I could see this kayak in the flats fishing Florida.

It'd work in deep water, of course, but without a stock rudder, I wonder if it would track well, hold well, move well in wind and waves? It is pretty "low" so that would be in its favor for not catching broadside winds. Heavy waves might lap over its low profile. It sort of reminds me of some of the Wilderness yaks in that way.

Yep! Other than I guess tourny kayak fishing where one might want to race to a favorite spot to get there first, I think speed is greatly over-rated compared to other factors like stability. The Bonafide has super secondary stability but Cifers defined its initial or primary stability as "loose" I believe and I think he did this to improve paddling where a slight roll is preferred for a kayak to move with the strokes.

So far, I STILL haven't cruised along beside any other pedal model kayak in what I'd call sort of a cruising speed and noticed much difference in pace. I've pedaled right next to a PA 14 and we move at almost the same speed side by side. This means to me that for shapes common to fishing kayaks, hull speed is a great equalizer. Top ends do vary, but not so much just under normal power.

I think the Bonafide will catch some "shelf space" and sell just fine.

Brad

I spoke to people at I-Cast that have got paddle around in and are impressed with the tracking. I use to look down on motors and peddle drives. As I get old they are looking attractive!