looking for wave-playing kayak

Hi all I'm looking to play with the waves w/o major tricks. I've looked into several boats and have narrowed it down to the Wilderness Riot, at 9'6'. The main reason is that I'm a large 6'1', 220 pound guy and other boats are too small.

Anyways I read the Riot is quite good but that it doesn't 'carve the waves' too good. What's that, and what do you think of my choice?

Thank you in advance

I'd look into a used whitewater boat. These boats can be very inexpensive. Avoid boats with a lot of rocker (like the Overflow) - I'd look for an 'X,' 'RPM,' 'Whiplash,' or 'Godzilla' - something like that - 9' long, relatively flat bottom. I am the same size as you and fit nicely in any of these. They would be fun in the surf.

Thanks. Any of those a sit on top? I like that for the warm Florida waters, just casual recreation and riding the waves, so it must have an upturned bow.

No - none of those are SOTs - There have been a few good SOT White Water boats in the past but they are pretty rare and I am really not too familiar with them.

On the other hand, I think you would ultimately enjoy a sit-in kayak in the surf even more than a SOT. The ability to roll and the inherently better control you have in a sit-in kayak give you a serious advantage. Learning to roll is not really that big of a deal.

I'm getting confused (not a new thing) by this thread.

Don, are you intending to use the kayak to play on standing waves is white water rivers or to surf on moving waves in the ocean. Could make a huge difference. Some whitewater play boats are fair for surfing in the ocean but they really don't measure up to purpose-built surf kayaks.

There are some pretty good sit-on-top surf kayaks but if there are good sit-on-top whitewater play boats, I don't know about them.

Then, for big wave surfing with no tricks, you can also choose the Formula-1-fast surf ski style kayak.

Tommy T.