Standup Paddling and Drifting Down River in Your W Kayak
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.
Tags: fishing kayak, kayak fishing, kayak paddling, kayaking, river, stand up, standing, standup paddling, touring
June 5th, 2008 at
It’s great, and when I happen to lose balance I just drop down on the saddle in the riding position – totally stable.
I wouldn’t even dream of standing in a kayak or a canoe going down a river because if I happened to lose my balance I’d go overboard, inevitably.
June 5th, 2008 at
standing with your arms stretched like that is pretty cool
warreN
June 5th, 2008 at
Stand up paddling and wave walking should be celebrated and promoted by the A.C.A and all the paddling magazines. I wonder what’s keeping them from doing it, and why they’ve ignored it so far.
April
June 6th, 2008 at
I can’t think of another answer but $$$ …
Mike
June 6th, 2008 at
Well I can: narrow mindedness.
Graham
June 6th, 2008 at
It wouldn’t be fair to say that all paddling magazines are the same. A Canadian kayaking magazine called Wave-length published a big story on the W a couple of years ago, and ACA’s official magazine called Paddler published a review on the W last year, which is “better than nothing”.
It’s the other magazines and publications that have shown a lack of professionalism and disregard to their readers by choosing to cover much less significant subjects.
June 6th, 2008 at
I don’t see why would anyone care about those magazines. The internet has changed the rules of the game, and people nowadays don’t depend on magazines as a source of information. Even those who still read paddling magazines no longer take them seriously, and they surf the web like everybody else.
Bob
June 6th, 2008 at
I have another explanation to why some editors of paddling magazines are ignoring the W technology and the breakthroughs it delivers – it’s called ‘resistance to change’.
June 6th, 2008 at
If by “resistance to change” you mean arrogance and ignorance I agree
June 7th, 2008 at
Was this boat initially designed for stand up paddling, or did you discover this capability later?
Frank B
June 7th, 2008 at
This model was designed primarily for standup paddling, which is why it needed to be extremely stable and still narrow.
Yoav