Making the NajaRaz

How it started

Spend enough time on Greenland rolls and you notice it sooner or later: a skin-on-frame kayak lets you move (with good support) in a way that's really hard to get in a composite boat.

On the advanced rolls everything gets touchy. Cockpit width, deck height, hip contact, thigh braces and how much your body can shift inside the boat decide which rolls you can do, and how often they actually work. Sounds like the gear decides everything? In the hardest rolls, 100 g more to the right can make the difference!

The Rebel Naja and her big sister Ilaga have long been some of the most roll-friendly composite Greenland-style kayaks around. The Naja fits smaller paddlers, 40 to 60 kg, really well. Move the front bulkhead forward a bit for longer legs and it rolls great for somewhat bigger people too.

For rolling and play it works fine up to about 80 kg (175 lbs). Touring is another story. At max weight with more luggage than a credit card, the volume quickly tells you who the boat was made for. Inside its weight range you can tour in it, just pack smart. Our friend Julio has taken a Naja winter camping several times without complaining ;)

I loved the kayak, but I knew my limits. I'm about 25 kg heavier than the paddler it was optimised for. So a question grew in my head: what if you could bring some of that skin-on-frame freedom into the Naja without touching the hull?

Calling the designer

I got to know Rebel Kayaks designer Johan Wirsén through our small Swedish rolling community. We kept talking rolling technique and ergonomics around the Swedish rolling championships in Gothenburg 2024.

Eventually I worked up the courage and called him. All I really wanted was a Naja with a bit more room around the hips and lower back, and a lower rear deck so the hard rolls get easier and more forgiving.

Johan listened for a bit and then said:

"Come down to Öland and we'll have a look."

That surprised me. He was basically inviting a stranger to his home workshop to cut up a new kayak. And Johan wasn't in great shape himself. A bad neck injury had kept him away from the hands-on work he loves for several years. No kayak building. Even playing guitar was hard, which is a shame, because Johan is a really good blues guitarist with a little studio in the basement. Jamming with friends is one of his favourite things.

Curiosity won anyway.

Öland

So I drove down to Öland with my own Naja. The plan was simple: cut open my kayak and play with the cockpit.

Instead Johan walked into the workshop, pulled his own Naja out of his collection and announced that this one would be sacrificed!

Right. So this wasn't going to be very theoretical :)

First I sat in the kayak on dry land while we talked. (Johan can't even get into it.) Then we measured the cockpit and looked at where it actually got tight. Johan had the whole thing in his head, where to cut and what to change, and just drew a few lines. The hull was never the problem. The Naja already balances and handles great. The limits were the cockpit rim and the space behind the paddler's back.

I'd also brought a kayak I really like, an old skin-on-frame I bought from the Norwegian Jon David Jenssen. The foredeck height felt surprisingly close to the Naja, but the back of the cockpit gave way more freedom. That boat became our reference for how the new cockpit should feel.

The nerdy bits

What was the main goal?

Easier rolling and the feeling of a lower centre of gravity. Every kayak needs a well-chosen deck height and cockpit height. Depending on how hard the roll is and how bendy the paddler's back is, different numbers work better or worse. Cockpit width matters just as much. In the demanding rolls your pelvis has to move inside the boat, so you need room around the hips and lower back.

So what was wrong with the original Naja?

Nothing, I'm just too big for it. Still love it! The rear deck itself wasn't really the problem. The cockpit was too tight up at the masik (the front edge of the cockpit). When you try to get up onto the rear deck in the harder rolls, your leg hits the cockpit rim and your body gets pushed back against the rear coaming. Then you need a really bendy back, and that isn't easy to come by. Instead your hips ride up in the kayak and the roll gets harder.

It also means you can't shift your hips sideways when you need to. In a straitjacket roll your sit bones move maybe ten centimetres, and twisting my pelvis inside that cockpit just didn't work for me. You need that movement for the extra angles.

What did you change in the cockpit?

It's about three centimetres wider. That does two things. More room for hips and lower back, and the cockpit edge ends up closer to the waterline when you're lying on your side. So you don't have to climb over a sharp edge at hip height. You glide under it. You want to roll under the edge, not into it.

Did you move the cockpit forward?

No. The starting position is the same as in the original Naja. We opened up more space behind the paddler's back instead. In the new cockpit you sit a bit further forward than in, say, an Ilaga, where you sit more to the rear. Just rip out the seat and decide for yourself!

I like rolling with my butt pretty far forward. It gives me free space behind my back and better leverage from my legs, lower in the boat. Paddling, you might feel a bit more crosswind when you sit forward, but this version won't have a fixed seat. Pad it and trim it for however you use the boat.

The rebuild

Once we'd decided, Johan rebuilt the cockpit area. A bigger cockpit went in, surgically, with the big saw and dust everywhere. That gave more room around the hips and lower back, about three centimetres more width. He also lowered and reshaped the rear deck so you can lay back deeper.

We didn't touch what already worked. The hull is untouched, so volume, stiffness, balance and handling are exactly as before. Only the paddler's end changed.

For Johan the work meant something too. After years held back by his neck, designing and building again slowly brought back some of the energy he'd missed. Tools in his hands and a problem to chew on did him good. You could see it.

Testing

I tested it hard the season after, with long rolling sessions all summer and autumn. My paddling buddies and I ran the hard rolls over and over, in all kinds of conditions, to find the real limits.

It also came along to the Swedish Greenland rolling championships. Competition is honest. Theory goes out the window when every roll has to work under pressure.

It got clear fast: the rolls started quicker, the kayak felt more forgiving and the hard rolls forgave a lot more mistakes.

The result

That's the Rebel NajaRaz.

It's still very much a Naja. The hull, the response, the character, all top notch. The slightly bigger cockpit and the lower, reshaped rear deck just give you more freedom inside.

Small changes, surprisingly big difference. It now fits more paddlers, including some who felt a bit too big or wide for the original. Funny thing: many smaller paddlers who tried the prototype at festivals and training sessions still prefer the original cockpit. For most lighter paddlers it isn't too tight at all.

The NajaRaz doesn't replace the Naja. That one still has its place and is still a favourite for lots of paddlers. My youngest daughter happily rolls the standard one. But if you're over 60 kg and want max freedom for advanced Greenland rolling in a composite kayak, the NajaRaz takes it further. My friend Tibor has already ordered one for his club, because it suits paddlers with wider hips, and that includes many of the women in the club. No offence ;)

It borrows from skin-on-frame and leans on Johan Wirsén's long experience with composites. Johan never stops fiddling with a good design, and this time he let me fiddle along.

Questions? Drop them in the comments!

Cheers,
Stefan

Want to see where it all started? Here's the original Naja intro in Cheri & Turner's video.