Tiderace Xplore X
By Andrew Brown
If you’re the kind of person that most other people look up to, literally, the kind of person with X’s and L’s on their clothing labels, who doesn’t get blown over in the wind easily… there is a sea kayak that may be of interest to you. The Tiderace Xplore X.
There aren’t many high performance British style sea kayaks made for large people. At 6’3’’ and 240 pounds I can get into the P&H Cetus HV, or the NDK Explorer HV, or the Valley Etain 17.7, or the Tiderace Xplore L for that matter, but they all feel, how should I say… on the tight side. A bit like flying coach – okay for a while, but having your legs wedged into the seat in front of you for hours at a time is somewhat unpleasant. On paper the specs on the Xplore X looked very appealing, and I was excited to finally get the chance to paddle one recently.
First off this kayak is indeed big, very big, worthy of the X in it name. 18 feet long and 24 inches wide (23 inches at the water line) with a deck height of 13.7’’. There is plenty of cockpit space for someone my size, and it may actually be the first kayak that I would need to pad out the hips and knee braces to get a good fit. At 24 inches wide it’s something of an outlier compared to the Xplore X’s more slender siblings, the Xplore L, M and S. The X is also a big jump up in volume and carrying capacity. The overall volume is a whopping 113 gallons, capable of carrying large loads of gear and supplies. Like other British sea kayaks, its composite layup is solid and robust. Tiderace lists their “G-Core” construction at 63 pounds (28.75 kg), so it’s on the heavy side for an 18 foot composite boat.
On the water the shallow V hull tracks pretty well and, for such a high volume kayak, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to control and how little the boat weather cocked in the moderate wind conditions I paddled it in. With its smooth chines and moderate rocker, I was really impressed with how the boat performed on edge. The extra volume and width really float the ends out of the water on edge, enabling precise control and effortless turning and maneuvering, something that doesn’t happen in lower volume kayaks for someone my size.
I was also impressed with how the Xplore X performed in rough and moving water. That wide beam gives the kayak rock solid stability, very reassuring in waves and crossing eddy lines. The Xplore X is a lot of fun to paddle, and it’s a kayak I’d feel comfortable taking just about anywhere in a wide range of conditions.
The only down side of the width is that the Xplore X is a little slower, compared to the other narrower kayaks in the Xplore line anyway. It still felt plenty fast enough though for a touring kayak, and would certainly not have any problem keeping up in a group. But if you’re regularly in a hurry to get from A to B, this may not be the boat for you.
Tiderace lists its suitable paddler weight range for the Xplore X as 188 to 242 pounds (85-110kg). I would say it would certainly be capable of accommodating and floating paddlers heavier than that as well just fine. At the bottom of that weight range you have other options choose from. But if you’re a larger paddler of about 220 pounds or more, tired of squeezing into smaller kayaks, or resigned to paddling unexciting barges, looking for a high performance sea kayak to explore faraway places and have fun along the way, definitely take a look at the Xplore X.
Given the large volume and excellent rough water handling, the Xplore X is a great expedition kayak, and will also appeal to any sized paddler who needs the extra capacity to haul gear and supplies for those extended multi-week expeditions they’ve always dreamed of doing.
Take a look HERE to see what we have in stock, and call 503-285-0464 for more details!
