Wavewalk Kayaks

Wavewalk is offering a line of gear and accessories for rigging your fishing kayak.

The line includes paddles, paddle holders, anchors, stake out pole, deck rigging, flotation modules, deck mount rod holders, flush mount rod holders, kayak carry handles, and our Wavewalk hat.

We offer these products as a service to customers who bought a W-kayak from us, and are looking to either extend their basic order, or get spare parts after the initial purchase.

-”I made it out yesterday for a few hours in the W.  Finally warmer weather without those really cold winds.  We had a couple of days here this past week with subzero temps that wreaked havoc with the citrus growers and slowed the fishing way down. A much time as I now have with a stake out pole the W is tailor made for one. I did manage to catch fish and had the makings of a really nice sea trout feast but of course let the fish go back to get bigger. By the way the attached shot is one of the sea trout from yesterday.

For detail purposes, 1/8oz CAL jig in chartruse with a white three inch Fishbites paddletail.  Total catch was 4 little redfish well below legal size to keep but the 5 trout were in the legal slot.  Beyond that a handful of little bluefish who exist just to tear up tackle but are a riot to catch.

–Jeff”

Wavewalk now offers a new stake-out pole system for fishing kayaks:

Material: Anodized aluminum.

Dimensions: 60″ long, 3/4″ diameter.

Features:

1. Sealed, pointed end.
2. Comfortable, large size, Y-shaped handle.
3. Sliding aluminum collar with fixed stop, line clip and foam float (bright orange).
4. 8′ long, 1/4″ thick, braided, buoyant polypropylene line (yellow).

Price: $65.

This is a photo that Scott Johnson, from Minnesota sent us. It shows Lucy, Scott’s dog, with his two W-kayaks: the 2007 (back) and 2008 (front) models.

Scott is planning to take Lucy with him on his kayak fishing and hunting trips, as soon as the weather permits-

Scott shot this picture in summer, apparently…

Five years ago, some kayak distributors were urging kayak manufacturers to produce kayaks that are more fit for fishing. Some manufacturers replied that their existing models were good enough for fishing, and people just had to get used to fishing from narrow and unstable kayaks.

Other manufacturers came up with extra wide kayak models, kayaks outfitted with outriggers, and all sorts of inventions intended to improve the customers’ fishing experience, including pedal drives promising ‘hands free fishing’, and strange hull designs that were supposed to allow stand up fishing in confidence.

All kayak manufacturers kept offering ‘improved’ kayak seats they said would tackle to problems of back pains and leg discomfort.

In reality, customers in 2009 still face a range of inadequate kayaks that don’t solve any of their fundamental problems:

When compared to bigger boats, SOT and sit-in kayaks are still too unstable to provide the same level of confidence required for fishing. Although all manufacturers and vendors claim they have kayak models allowing for fishing standing, their claims are unsubstantiated when closely examined.

As for comfort and ergonomics, the situation is exactly the same as it was five, ten and thirty years ago: namely very bad, with most kayak paddlers and fishermen suffering from discomfort, pain and even injuries, and many who quit kayaking and kayak fishing.

‘Hand free fishing’ is not hands-free as long as the kayak operator has to steer (and track) using hand-activated rudders. More importantly, pedaling in the recumbent position is draining, and therefore less effective than paddling in the long run.

In terms of mobility, there has been a regression, as SOT and sit-in kayaks don’t offer better means to launch, paddle and beach with more ease in more places, but on the contrary - the new outriggers and pedal drives in fact restrain the boat’s mobility.

At Wavewalk we feel encouraged by our customers’ reactions, which confirm that our W-kayak offers true solutions to all these problems, and more.

Overall, 2008 was a banner year for Wavewalk kayaks:

Although the kayak market dropped 8% this year, our sales grew at a strong double-digit rate. Even this holiday season was remarkably good - much better than last year’s.

Traffic to our website increased at a double-digit rate too, with over 100,000 individuals visiting it this year. In average, each visitor spent more time on it than last year’s visitors had.  On its busiest day this year our website received 630 visits. We conclude from these data that people’s interest in our website keeps growing.

The blog we launched in January ‘08 is already a success, being one of our website’s most visited sections.

Customer satisfaction kept growing, and not a single client asked for any refund. Our customers kept sending us good reviews and interesting stories, pictures and movies. Many of them say that our W-kayak is the world’s best one-man fishing boat, even when compared to ‘real boats’, and not just to kayaks and canoes.

Interestingly, this year we had no claims to file against the trucking company that we ship our W-kayaks with.

Things haven’t always been so, which makes us appreciate this success, and care even more about our customers.



Yoav