Tom and Jenny Buddington, from Florida, are continuing their exploration of their 2008 W Kayak’s performance envelope:
Today Jenny invented a new kayak surfing style that she called “W Kayak Tail Surfing” (temporary name, probably). To us it looks like surf dancing -Isn’t it super cool?
Photography: Tyler Buddington
Tom and Jenny on another day - enjoying surf paddling.
Tom Buddington recently wrote us from Florida:
-”Just thought I’d post a follow-up review after having several more experiences with this truly unique boat. Recently my daughter and I were caught out in what I estimate were 25 knot winds (higher gusts I would bet for certain) and the river became dark and menacing (Gosh it was so calm and peaceful moments before!). The waves were like a white water washing machine. It just happens with those out of nowhere summer storms; I try to be careful, especially with my daughter with me, but you might not ever go out if you worried about the possibility of a storm that wasn’t even predicted. THAT’s the moment of truth. 30 minutes of dark weather paddling at first into and against 20-25 knot winds and 2-3 foot storm slop and then having it on your tail (which is worse in my opinion). We just strapped on our PFD’s NICE and TIGHT and worked it with the Wyak. And she kept us out of the water and got us home. I was impressed the whole time with the stability of the W kayak in serious conditions. We used her best attributes (those twin hulls) and the geography of the Indian River Lagoon and ducked into a safe little cove and waited for things to get calm (we were in the middle and had a long way to go to get to that cove mind you). I can’t stress enough that the ability to alternate between significantly different positions (i.e., standing to riding and a few others) in the W kayak and use different muscles made this one a story with a happy ending. Would have been wiped-out exhausted in any other boat that day.
I speak from the perspective of a guy who loves the water and lives on the water and has been a waterman for, oh, say 30 years. I have 7 other boats of differing designs, 2 of which I have committed to sell to make way for my next Wyak . The W is an incredible craft and I like it.”
And here’s another picture of Tom and Jenny surf paddling at the beach:
This is a picture sent by Fred, from North Carolina.
It was shot by a group of soldiers on a big fishing boat while they were on a vacation fishing trip organized by M.A.D.
Fred is currently experiencing with W kayak sailing… and we hope to get more pictures from him.
Thanks Fred!
Craig is a fly fisherman from central Massachusetts who rigged his new 2008 W Fishing Kayak in an innovative yet simple and elegant way.
You can read about Craig and his fly fishing W kayak in this new review.
View of Craig’s 2008 W fly fishing kayak - Note the innovative fly rod holder.
Dan C, a Vermont resident, always wanted to fish standing up in a kayak. He tried all kinds of kayak designs that promised ’stand up kayak fishing’, just to find he couldn’t really stand in them and fish in full confidence - and not even at a reasonable level of comfort.
Earlier this year Dan bought himself a 2007 W fishing kayak, and this time he got exactly what he expected: He can stand up and fish comfortably and confidently even when some wind is blowing, and in the presence of eddies, and he can easily paddle standing.
Read Dan’s W Fishing Kayak Review. It shows some cool things that Dan did with his kayak in terms of rigging it for fishing.
These are pictures Dan sent from his latest fishing trip in Lake Champlain, Vermont.
Ben is a W Kayak fly fisherman from Pennsylvania who has a personal blog.
He recently added to his blog this report on his kayak fishing trip drifting and paddling down Nesahminy creek .
Highly recommended reading!
Ben’s W Kayak - Neshaminy creek
Jeff’ McGovern’s new kayak fishing article is called ‘Good As Live Bait?’. It’s a review of the Fishbites and Gulp lure brands.
Jeff writes: -”The brands I’ve been using are “Fishbites” (Carr Specialty Baits, St Augustine, Florida) and the more widely distributed “Gulp” (Berkley). 
They are very different in composition, but achieve the same purpose for me: live bait results without the hassle of storing or keeping bait alive in my W. Whenever I’m fishing saltwater flats, both products are onboard and ready to catch fish.”
It’s always fun to watch kids paddling a W kayak, regardless of their age and where they paddle it.
The sense of confidence they get from the boat sooner or later translates into visible progress, tricks and stunts.
In this case this nine year old boy had to break his own record in jumping in the kayak. We have reasons to believe he may have been hoping to capsize the boat…
He kept jumping and managed to produce a lot of spray - relatively to his weight. Then he gave a pretty impressive performance of standup paddling, which is not surprising since kids seem to find position more ‘natural’ than paddling in the lower positions.
Eventually that kid and his 12 year old brother kept fooling with their boat in new and creative ways, and ended the session by declaring -”This is fun!”
Anyway on to the largest fish today. I had gotten out to cool off with a little wading when the big jack hit a minnow style plug. It was like trying to hold back a train. That fish hit with a quick flash and peeled off line against the drag. Thank heavens I was using a stiff bait cast rig with 16lb line. I was barely able to keep the fish from running right around the oyster beds.
Size wise it pulled lots harder than it looked but it’s still a nice sized jack for the inshore waters. The last shot is how a strong fish can actually bend a very strong saltwater treble hook almost open. A few more minutes on the line and this fish would have straighted the hooks and pulled loose.
The W kayak can carry two adult passengers onboard, providing none of them is very big.
In these pictures the guy is 6 ft 200 lbs, and the girl is 5′5″ and weighs 135 lb. That’s about the maximum passenger load this boat would take and still perform reasonably well.
To begin with, it’s important to stress the fact that tandem is an ‘advanced’ application, which means both paddlers are required to be experienced in solo W kayaking before they go paddling it in tandem.
The secret to successful tandem paddling is having each paddler perform his / her role: The front paddler should paddle as regularly as possible (e.g. left-right), and the back paddler, who’s in fact the ’skipper’ should follow the movement of the front paddle with his own paddle while trying to keep the paddles parallel to each other in order to prevent them from colliding.
The paddler in the back is also the one who’s more responsible for tracking and steering, and should try to do it without losing power and momentum, that is while applying different strokes of varying power. Sharp turns should be done together.
Paddling and just drifting down a river standing in your W is a new and exhilarating way to travel and fish.
The river and scenery are experienced differently than when you’re sitting or riding in your kayak, and fishing is altogether different.
First of all, you can see more of what’s around you, whether it’s the water or the banks that you’re interested in. Wildlife and vegetation are more visible, and fish can often be perceived in the water when they wouldn’t be from a lower position.
Paddling down river is always easier than up river, and when you paddle standing you can paddle and steer at the same time by applying canoe-style J strokes on one side of your W kayak. If the stream is fast enough to carry you at a good speed you can just stand and occasionally dip your paddle to correct your course.
You can also paddle fast - both on one and two sides of your W kayak. Even speed is sensed differently when you paddle standing - Imagine going down a snowy mountain slope sitting on a sled and then standing on skis… The difference is comparable, although going on snow is faster in both cases.
The older W kayak models enable sitting in the Riding-Over position outside the cockpit - on their hull tips. The New, 2008 design offers to ride over the cockpit as well, due to its lower spray deflector.
Riding-over is basically a static position offering you to dip your feet in the water in case you want to cool down, and try yet another position in case you feel like changing. 
It’s practical for fishing, and since you can ride over the hull tips it enables establishing a bigger distance between two fishermen working from the same W kayak.
You can paddle in this position, as well as correct the kayak’s location.
The 2008 W Kayak offers two new positions: Side-Saddle, and the Riding-Over.
The side-saddle position is a stable and comfortable but static position for fishing or resting while your feet are cooling in the water.
It’s possible to paddle in this position, although not in fast moving water or for long distances. You can paddle on both sides of the boat: The one you’re facing and the one behind you. It’s not particularly difficult, and takes little time to learn. Paddling in this position can be useful when you’re fishing and you need to reposition the boat.
The new side-saddle position adds another option to choose from when you feel like changing positions and relieve your fatigue, and it’s fun! 
Ben is a fly fisherman from Pennsylvania who opted for the W kayak.
In a new review he tells about the things he’s doing with his new 2008 W kayak, and about the way he rigged it to be a perfect fly fishing boat.
Among a lot of interesting things Ben has to say about his W kayak fly fishing experience, this is what struck me the most -“I’m loving the W– after 12 hours in it in a short period my back still feels good, although I suffer from chronic back issues. After 8 hours Friday I knew when to quit, when it started getting tired.”
Anyone who’s suffered from chronic back pain could appreciate this.