Today's Kayak Adventure

[Grant Lamontagne]

Today was the first chance I had to go kayaking for real.  It's actually about the fourth time I have been out this year, but the first couple of times I made the mistake of bringing my wife's cousin along and we didn't get far, and the third time doesn't really count because it was Paddlefest and I really didn't paddle much or far.  Today though I went by myself and despite scorching heat (high 30's, some estimates put the humidex in the 40's, or high 80's and into triple digits for people who don't understand Celsius!) and I managed to do a section of the canal and a lake I have done many times before.



That's my 13ft rotomoulded Point 65 XO13 getting itself all packed up on the dock.  The black and white paddles are the ones I got last year at Paddlefest and had to repair.  They are also the ones I had to repair again after I took them out and paddled with a bit too much gusto and snapped the blade off them!  Since the second repair was extremely heavy duty those have been my go to paddles for pretty well all of my paddling needs- until now.



These are the paddles I got this year at Paddlefest- they are a bent shaft paddle with a carbon fiber shaft and polymer blades.  They are adjustable (although I never offset my paddles), lightweight and very ergonomic, and I doubt I would go back to a straight shaft willingly.



The lake was beautiful.  Not much wind, water was warm, it was a perfect day of kayaking.  I made it almost to the end of Lake Charles- I would have done all of it except I had to pick my wife up at work and was running out of time.  Still, it was a gorgeous day.



Of course I am badly sunburned now, with the outline of my life jacket etched into my skin by Mr. Sun, but it was worth it.  It was well worth it though!

Def

[RamoN]

Awesome! that seems like a great kayak. Ive been wanting a kayak so bad for a long time now, im after a surf worthy kayak so almost the oposite than yours only thing that stoped me is i live 5 hours from the ocean but i will get one some day.

[Nhoj]

What a beautiful trip! I also love to kayak. I'm hoping someday I'll do the full erie canal and stay in little inns in towns on the way. That would be cool!

[Grant Lamontagne]

I want to pick up a nice boat for surfing some time. The ocean is about two hundred yards from my house, but the surfing beach is a little further away.  Even so, its a lot closer than a fee hundred miles!

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

[Aloha]

absolutely beautiful lake there, look like a wonderful time. 

[sotto]

Beautiful spot and kayak. Many years ago, I bought a display model of an Old Town Loon kayak that had been hanging on the wall of an REI Coop here. At 10 feet, it fit well inside the bed of my Ford Ranger 4WD truck. More recently, it got to be kind of a nuisance to climb in and out of, and I found a used Old Town Pack 12 canoe. It's made of Royalex and is extremely light but tough. It's a bit less wind resistant than the kayak, but way easier to climb in and out of. And, even though it's 2 feet longer than the Loon kayak, it's significantly lighter and still fits in the back of my truck.

[J-sews]

Never seen one of those fancy bent paddles before. What advantage do they offer over a regular straight paddle?

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've been thinking of getting a canoe so I can take my dogs along, although I'm not sure how well that will go over with them.  I know they like to be out, but I wonder how happy they will be to sit in a wobbly boat nowhere near land.  Neither of them are very happy swimmers, and between Daisy's 113lbs (weighed them both this morning at the vet) and Eddie's 70lbs either of them could throw a canoe off balance pretty quick.  Still, I feel bad being out in the woods enjoying myself while my dogs are stuck at home. 

There's a place at one of the spots I kayak from that rents canoes so I'll probably rent one there and give my pups a shot in it before spending actual money on a canoe.

Bob, the bent paddles are just for ergonomics similar to the way really heavy weightlifters use a bent bar.





Because they reduce the stress on your wrists (and to a lesser extent your elbows and shoulders) they allow you to paddle longer or harder with less effort.  Additionally since the blade is actually forward of your hands it bites into the water a bit further forward and allows for a slightly longer stroke so it's a bit more efficient.  You may only gain a couple of inches per stroke, but when you travel 10 miles in an average outing that couple of inches per stroke adds up.

According to the Kayak Academy:

“Bent shaft” kayak paddles have several bends on either side of each hand grip area making the shaft look something like the crank shaft in an engine (in fact, such paddles are also known as “crank shaft” paddles). Depending on how you look at it, the purpose for this complicated shape is to extend your reach when planting your paddle at the beginning of a forward stroke, or you could say it is to keep your wrist better aligned with your forearm at the beginning of your forward stroke. There are some trade-off to this. One is that to maintain the same strength as a straight shaft, the bent shaft paddle ends up being heavier, and although it can improve the wrist position at the start of the forward stroke, it makes the wrist position worse for backing up, ruddering with the paddle, and low bracing for stability. Of course there are ways to get the extended reach and proper wrist alignment even with straight shaft paddles, otherwise everyone would have switched to bent shaft paddles, but it takes most people a long time to learn such technique. If your wrists had a history repetitive use injuries before you started kayaking, then a bent shaft paddle may help you minimize the risks of further injuring your wrists while learning to kayak. If you haven’t had problems with repetitive use injuries, either style shaft can work fine provided you keep a loose grip on your paddle and learn to use ergonomic stroke techniques, but there are advantages to keeping things simple. So for most people we recommend starting with a straight shaft paddle.

As mine are carbon fiber they are heavier than a straight shaft carbon fiber paddle, but still lighter than aluminum or fiberglass shaft paddles, both of which I also have and use.

Def

[Nhoj]

What a beautiful lake Grant! Have you ever done any kayak fishing?

[nuphoria]

I know nothing about kayaking, but that paddle is really sexy!

Glad you got yourself oot there

[Grant Lamontagne]

What a beautiful lake Grant! Have you ever done any kayak fishing?

Yes and no- I have fishing gear and I usually drag a line behind me when I paddle, but it's more of an added dimension to my kayaking rather than going out in my kayak to fish if you get my meaning. 

I haven't yet got my fishy license this year as the weather has only gotten nice recently, so I didn't take my fishing stuff with me either.  I can fish in the ocean without a license, but I was paddling in freshwater.

I really wished I'd brought my snorkel and fins though.  The day was so hot a nice dip would have been heavenly!

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Oh, and if you think that lake is pretty, check this one out:



I swear this is not Photoshopped in any way.  It's Shubendacadie Grand Lake, which is several lakes further up the canal from Lake Charles (pictured above) and is the biggest lake on the canal which runs for about 65 miles.  I took this picture well out in the middle of the lake and the water was as smooth as I've ever seen lake water.  It truly didn't look real.

Of course, a few hours later the wind picked up and waves were crashing over the bow as we frantically paddled back to the beach where we'd left the car.  This lake can turn nasty in a hurry!

Awesome! that seems like a great kayak. Ive been wanting a kayak so bad for a long time now, im after a surf worthy kayak so almost the oposite than yours only thing that stoped me is i live 5 hours from the ocean but i will get one some day.

Who needs a whitewater boat?  This was done in my 13ft Point 65 kayak!



Def

[Nhoj]

My problem is I need a flat water kayak for lakes and the Erie canal, a whitewater kayak for creeks and rivers, and an ocean kayak for lake Ontario

[Grant Lamontagne]

A 12-14 foot boat will do just about everything well enough. It won't be as nice as a river boat in the rapids, track as well as a longer boat on a lake or take the waves as smoothly as a sea kayak will in the ocean, but it will do all of them better than any others.  For example, I've shot rapids in a 17 foot fiberglass sea kayak, and let me tell you, that is a very bad idea.  My 13 foot plastic boat has been in the ocean, been in lakes and in rapids and it managed all of them reasonably well.

To be honest, I can't say enough good things about my Point 65 XO13.  It tracks well because it has a drop down skeg, it maneuvers well with or without the rudder in the water and the seat is extremely comfortable.  Oh yeah, and the price is about 2/3's of what many other 12-14' boats go for.

Def

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[Aloha]

the video was killer thanks.  ive seen people bring their dogs with life vests on tho I wonder how much the dogs really like being in the boat.  im sure they much rather be running around even water dogs.  that picture of the lake was unreal its so beautiful and it looked like you had it to yourself. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

To be honest, I doubt very much my dogs would like boating, but I figure it's better to at least try them out and see.  Dogs can really surprise you with what they like, or are at least willing to put up with to spend time with their people.

I figure a Zodiac or something would be more suitable for them though.

Def

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[Syncop8r]

Oh, and if you think that lake is pretty, check this one out:

How about his one?
A sea kayak is definitely on the list...

[Grant Lamontagne]

That is beautiful!

Def

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[RamoN]

Awesome! that seems like a great kayak. Ive been wanting a kayak so bad for a long time now, im after a surf worthy kayak so almost the oposite than yours only thing that stoped me is i live 5 hours from the ocean but i will get one some day.

Who needs a whitewater boat?  This was done in my 13ft Point 65 kayak!



Def

Damn i lost track of this thread and its turning really interesting!

Great video the only problem with that is that it requires skill!  i wouldnt want to find myself with that baby wanting to go sideways like it happened at the end and asking myself how the hell would i put it back on track, i assure you my ending would have been worst than that, 

Now to keep things interesting

[Grant Lamontagne]

I have a video of my other boat going sideways too.  You don't see much other than scenery going one way slowly as I turn then suddenly going back the other way, then turning sideways as the wave hits me, then just as suddenly flipping to the other side as I crested the eave and came down the other side.   I'll post it when I get home.

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

[Grant Lamontagne]

As promised...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/762283/Lawrencetown0001.mpg

It starts out a bit slow- I cut it there to show how the waves started building up, but you can safely fast forward through the first two minutes or so...

Def

[Nhoj]

Hey Grant when you flip your kayak can you roll it back up? Or do you have to get out. It took me a while to get the habit to roll back up at a sudden moment when I flip. That's more for when I do whitewater though.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I usually don't roll it- in fact, I'd only ever ended up in the drink twice, and once was on purpose.



The second time wasn't on purpose, but the water was pretty shallow and I only flipped because I was doing something kinda dumb...

I actually have never done an Eskimo Roll- I have never actually had to, although it's a skill I always think I should work on.  I have swum from my kayak, so I'm very much comfortable with climbing back into it from the water, so chances are I'd bail out in that situation. And, since I often don't wear a spray skirt, if I did an Eskimo Roll I'd probably have a cockpit full of water anyway.

Def

[Nhoj]

I do a lot of whitewater kayaking so eskimo rolls are essential and used frequently. You are right that the kayak would probably get too much water if you did it with no spray skirt. Although there isn't much reason to use a spray skirt in flat water. If I'm ever up near you in Canada I'll come kayak with you!

[Grant Lamontagne]

There may not be as much reason for a spray skirt, but there were a lot of times I had it and was glad, or wished I'd had it if I didn't.  Wind can pick up in a hurry and send waves crashing over the bow, or while exploring you can find rapids the hard way, as I did in the video above.  Most of the time when I encounter whitewater it's an exciting portion of a longer trip.

You are more than welcome to come up here and kayak any time you like!

Def