Kayaks and Airstreams

[doorgunner]

Here's this weekends steed for the Great Russian River Race!! DW and I entered rec tandem mixed division!! Write up to follow.

[markdenise]

We were at the Casini Ranch rally on the Russian River a couple of weeks ago. I really wished we had a little kayak. What would you all recommend? I just want a tiny one person little boat with a paddle. Plastic, blowup anything. Just something to go out in the water with. (no rapids) Maybe two ? One for the hubby also. They/it wold have to fit in the back of the pick up and hopefully not too expensive. Any ideas/suggestions ??

Thanks Denise

[markdenise]

Doorgunner,

Where the hell were you guys during the Casini rally ?? We missed you!! Mark wanted someone to growl with!!

Denise

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by markdenise

..fit in the back of the pick up and hopefully not too expensive. Any ideas/suggestions ??...

I paddled with a guy in the Elkhorn Slough who was in a kayak made of 1/2" maple stringers and saran wrap. Seemed to work pretty good, was small, and weighed about 5 lbs.! All I can say is that it had a flat bottom, vertical sides, and was pointed at both ends.

Z

[markdenise]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

I paddled with a guy in the Elkhorn Slough who was in a kayak made of 1/2" maple stringers and saran wrap. Seemed to work pretty good, was small, and weighed about 5 lbs.! All I can say is that it had a flat bottom, vertical sides, and was pointed at both ends.

Z

I'm sure Mark would like nothing more then to send me out in the water with nothing but a few sticks and some saran wrap!! I have no intention of making him that happy!! lol

[warbler5]

Originally Posted by doorgunner

Here's this weekends steed for the Great Russian River Race!! DW and I entered rec tandem mixed division!! Write up to follow.

Hey Tim,

That Eddyline Shasta has enough room for Bailey! How did you and Linda Lu do in the Russian River Race? We missed you at Bodega Bay and Casini....don't make a habit of that!

Cheers, Dee

[doorgunner]

Thanks to my friend Dan @ Headwaters I was able to test another kayak. This one under race conditions, I'm laughing, race in a rec boat. yup.

The Eddyline shasta , as one would expect is a first cabin kayak. The finish of Eddylines is just fantastic. Seats are adjustable on the height of the back support, not necessary in race conditions but should you want to raise it up you certainly can, get out the binocs and birdwatch all day. Quite comfortable. The front seat can also be mounted aft facing. The Boat can be paddled by moving one seat to the pre existing holes in the center mount position. Could probably purchase a 3rd seat for a child passenger. It's a very versatile wide open cockpit.
Paddling, well here's the deal. this is a fast kayak for a rec tandem. It's 28" beam is about 9" wider than I like,lol. Stability is great, you gotta be lame to flip this baby. The Navigator rudder is IMHO the best rudder out there. I think I may install one on my river race kayak.
The water was low in a few places and being as we were racing and had the owners "blessing" to go for it and not worry about dinging the boat, well we did just that.We scraped about 6 times, once pretty good, at the finish I checked the damage, minor scraped, no big deal.
Weight at 62 lbs without the seats was WAAAYY nice. I was able to throw it on top of the subaru alone.yup.
Trere are other reviews of this boat out there online, I really enjoyed paddling this kayak. It is a wonderful kayak for its intended use.
We did ok in the race. We were bib 460.co-ed doubleshttp://www.greatrussianriverrace.com...nalResults.pdf

[warbler5]

Originally Posted by doorgunner

Thanks to my friend Dan @ Headwaters I was able to test another kayak. This one under race conditions, I'm laughing, race in a rec boat. yup.

The Eddyline shasta , as one would expect is a first cabin kayak. The finish of Eddylines is just fantastic. Seats are adjustable on the height of the back support, not necessary in race conditions but should you want to raise it up you certainly can, get out the binocs and birdwatch all day. Quite comfortable. The front seat can also be mounted aft facing. The Boat can be paddled by moving one seat to the pre existing holes in the center mount position. Could probably purchase a 3rd seat for a child passenger. It's a very versatile wide open cockpit.
Paddling, well here's the deal. this is a fast kayak for a rec tandem. It's 28" beam is about 9" wider than I like,lol. Stability is great, you gotta be lame to flip this baby. The Navigator rudder is IMHO the best rudder out there. I think I may install one on my river race kayak.
The water was low in a few places and being as we were racing and had the owners "blessing" to go for it and not worry about dinging the boat, well we did just that.We scraped about 6 times, once pretty good, at the finish I checked the damage, minor scraped, no big deal.
Weight at 62 lbs without the seats was WAAAYY nice. I was able to throw it on top of the subaru alone.yup.
Trere are other reviews of this boat out there online, I really enjoyed paddling this kayak. It is a wonderful kayak for its intended use.
We did ok in the race. We were bib 460.co-ed doubleshttp://www.greatrussianriverrace.com...nalResults.pdf

Did OKAY???? Unless I missed something, you beat everybody in the race! Is that possible??? Of course, you had your good luck charm (Nancy) along!

[FCloud9]

Hi Denise,
We love our lightweight Santee 140T, a tandem kayak with a solo soul. It cuts through the water with the stable, efficient performance of a one-seater. It is constructed with unique trylon construction, our tandem weighs in at only 52 lbs. which makes it incredibly easy to hoist up on roof rack of TV or into your truck bed. We are anxious to take ours along after we take delivery of our new Flying Cloud next month.
Happy streaming,
FCloud9

[nilesrob]

Just sayin'...

[doorgunner]

Nice pics!!

Guess i won't be seen on the Pinellas County beach anytime soon, lol

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by doorgunner

...Guess i won't be seen on the Pinellas County beach anytime soon, lol

Or if you are, not all of you will be seen. Z

[nilesrob]

I was paddling in a secluded part of Tampa Bay right off Fort Desoto and a huge Manatee surfaced right next to me; I could have patted it with my paddle, that close. This thing was the size of a Buick; the tail was easily 6, probably 8 feet across. I was hoping he (or she) would exhibit good boating etiquette and not try to tip me in! Beautiful, really neat, but I will admit a bit disconcerting due to its size. Sorry, no pics.

[nilesrob]

No manatees today, but I think I saw Flipper.

[Sky]

Nice shots Brad!
I'll bet you didn't let that sign stop you.
50 cent oysters at the Island Grill from 4 to 6.

[Taylormade]

We just moved from a lake in Tampa to a place on Tampa Bay and have been blown away by the frequency of manatee and dolphin sightings behind our house. On Sunday, there were at least 30 of them in separate herds. We quickly launched the kayak and hung out in the middle of them for an hour or so.

For the record, I've come in contact with manatee dozens of times while standing in my fishing kayak and each time I've had the same thought: "Don't you do it, big fella" hoping that my subliminal commands where reaching him and he wouldn't pop up and tip me over. Either they're not mischievous at all or I have super powers. I hope it's the former although it'd be my luck that the super power I was given was the ability to talk to manatees.

Dolphin, on the other hand, I do not trust. Any time I see a dorsal fin, I'm sitting down and ensuring the phone is in the sea case.

[DaveFL]

Originally Posted by Taylormade

........

For the record, I've come in contact with manatee dozens of times while standing in my fishing kayak and each time I've had the same thought: "Don't you do it, big fella" hoping that my subliminal commands where reaching him and he wouldn't pop up and tip me over. Either they're not mischievous at all or I have super powers. I hope it's the former although it'd be my luck that the super power I was given was the ability to talk to manatees.

Dolphin, on the other hand, I do not trust. Any time I see a dorsal fin, I'm sitting down and ensuring the phone is in the sea case.

A number of years ago some foreign olympic kayakers were in the Homasassa River practicing for future events when a manatee decided to surface, lifted boat out water and everybody was amazed at how fast that kayaker could swim from danger, he didn't know that manatees are gentle creatures

[triterra]

We have joined the ranks of airstreamers with kayaks! Dan from Headwaters of Lodi set us up! Now to rig the back window screen of the '69 overlander to open up so we can slide the kayaks in (too many bikes in the back of the TV). .

[mbnroberts]

We have two Necky kayaks. A 16' for the misses and a 17' for me. I can't use them at the moment due to an ankle surgery that won't allow me to get in the boats, see ankle pic below, that's about 25 pounds of metal under all that.

[Sky]

Paddled in the "South Bass Island Kayak Rendezvous" this weekend in Lake Erie. What a blast. We did 18 miles Saturday, but a storm wiped out my plans to paddle Sunday morning. There were about 50 very nice boats there.

The campground is on top of that rock cliff on right, and there was a lot of beer drinking going on up there, yikes. This shot is from South Bass Island looking towards Green Island. Can't wait until next year.