by: Jakob Jelling
Sprint kayaks are harder to keep upright than regular kayaks.
Sprint kayaks are the best type of kayaks for people who are intending to race. While you will probably not need to have your own kayak when you first start out (if you are racing on a school team of some type), eventually you will probably want to get your own sprint kayak that will highlight your particular skills and make it easier for you to race.
Before learning how to paddle sprint kayaks, however, you'll need to be very experienced with other types of kayaks. The reason for this is that most sprint kayaks are designed to be very fast, which means that they are slender and designed to cut through the water and minimize drag. The result is that some of these kayaks will even tip over when they are set in the water with nobody inside. As you can imagine, keeping sprint kayaks upright requires quite a bit of skill.
If you will not be sprinting kayaks with a sports team of some sort, then you'll probably need to get your own sprint kayak right away. The first thing that you need to do is to look at several different types of sprint kayaks. Once you find a few designs that you like you should look at the statistics and how they are designed.
For your first sprint kayaks, you should definitely be looking for kayaks that are slightly more sturdy and less likely to tip over. Don't spend too much time looking for this, however, since even the sprint kayaks that are less likely to tip over will tip when you are first learning how to use them.
When you first get your sprint kayak out on the lake (or wherever you happen to be sprinting) you should start getting used to it as soon as possible. While you'll probably have great skills in a regular recreational or touring kayak, sprint kayaks operate a little differently. You should expect to tip over the first time you are in a sprint kayak, so you should work on righting yourself when that happens and keeping yourself upright afterward.
After you've learned how to use your first sprint kayak, you might want to look at a few more sprint kayaks. The reason for this is that after you've learned how to paddle a sprint kayak, you should be able to learn how to use another kayak that is better suited toward highlighting your own skills.