Kayaking

Frank Browne

Frank Browne

Final Approach
Joined
Apr 28, 2005
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Jacksonville,Fl
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FB
I have wanted to buy a Kayak for at least a year now, but never wanted to come off of the money for one. My boss offered to let me use his over the weekend as he was going up to his hunt club in Georgia. Kayaks are very popular around here as fishing boats. They let you get up into the marshes and creeks off the river and intracoastal waterway where the fishing for redfish, trout and flounder is good. Well, I just got home a little while ago and I must say...I'm sold! I had a blast! I fished around some grass islands in the Mill Cove area of the St Johns river and had two really nice hook ups, but nothing for supper unfortunately. I found out two things though. First, I found out what a Nantucket sleigh ride is! When you catch a fish from a kayak, you don't reel the fish to the boat. You reel the boat to the fish! Second, I found out that there are sharks much larger than the 2-3 footers I've seen caught in the river before. I was paddling across a deeper section of water between two grass islands when a very large dorsal fin rose from the water about 50 feet in front of me! It was a black tip shark, which BTW are excellent table fare. This shark had to be at least 7 feet long! Scared the crap outta me! I certainly wasn't expecting that!

But I'm definitely sold on yaks now. I'm thinking now I should spring for one.:yes:
 
Frank Browne said:
But I'm definitely sold on yaks now. I'm thinking now I should spring for one.:yes:
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I suppose you're talking about what I've heard called a sea kayak, right? The ones with rudder pedals?
 
Bill Jennings said:
I suppose you're talking about what I've heard called a sea kayak, right? The ones with rudder pedals?
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It was a 13' Ocean kayak, but it had no rudder. It was quite easy to steer however just using the paddle. The thing only drew perhaps 3-4 inches of water even with me in it. To turn, I just dragged a paddle tip in the water on the side I wanted to turn. It was really very easy. I was surprised how fast the thing would go also. With just a fairly lazy stroke, I could get up quite a bit of speed even paddling into the wind. It is a "sit on top" type of kayak. I do believe I may be shopping for one pretty soon.
 
Many years ago, a friend told me that if I tried kayaks, I'd never wet my canoe again. He was right, my canoe is still sitting in my garage unused, my kayak gets used all the time...
 
I tried one that was short and so squirrely that I was lucky to get out of the lake with out dunking. It'd do a 360 flat spin on the surface in a split second without even trying. If I ever try another, it'll be something like that ocean goer you liked.
 
Whitewater, whitewater, whitewater!
Next best thing to flying!
 
Take a look at www.seaeagle.com
They sell inflatable kayaks that could not be easier to transport--including by general aviation airplane--and take only five minutes to set up. The 330 model is perfect and the price is only $269 with free shipping right now.
We just used ours up on Navajo Lake today.

Jon
 
River sharks? Mill Cove is under the base leg for Craig's runway 14. Remind me to cross it off the list of acceptable places to ditch!
 
If you want a great kayak, for not too much money, and not too much work, look into http://www.pygmyboats.com/.

I have an Osprey Standard, and my wife has an Arctic Tern 14. They're light, they're beautiful, and they paddle great.

Dan
 
RotaryWingBob said:
Many years ago, a friend told me that if I tried kayaks, I'd never wet my canoe again. He was right, my canoe is still sitting in my garage unused, my kayak gets used all the time...
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The canoe that my wife brought with her to our marriage, hasn't moved since we bought a pair of Dagger 11ft kayaks. We average two or three paddling days a month May through October.
 
JohnR said:
River sharks? Mill Cove is under the base leg for Craig's runway 14. Remind me to cross it off the list of acceptable places to ditch!
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Here's where I saw it. I had just come out of the creek that separates Randolph and New Castle islands.

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He was headed east so I turned west...and paddled with a certain degree of enthusiasm!
 
Leah is a canoe nut. i think that if i mentioned a kayak she would dump me. in fact next tuesday she is riding a whitewater course up in Madison in a solo canoe.
 
I love kayaking - I used to whitewater, but when my back went south on me, I figured that the LAST place I wanted to be when it went out was upside down in a class III or IV rapid, trying to roll! :eek:

I've got a 16.5 foot Necky Narpa sea kayak that hasn't been in the water for a year or two (uh, or more?) but I'm looking for a set of racks for the pick up and plan to get it out in Lake Jordan before the summer is over, by gummies!

DAVE - that was most likely a white water boat your were in - I could sit and spin in place all day long in my last boat (a creek boat called a Wave Sport Y) (and "creek boats" aren't boats for paddling around on creeks - they're designed with a lot of bouyancy for paddling swollen steep creeks)
 
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