Wavewalk Kayaks

This weekend Jeff McGovern wrote from Florida:

-”Aside from the fishing today the W was a great relief. A four hour flight from LA to Atlanta yesterday, then a short hop to Jacksonville was uncomfortable to say the least - That sciatic nerve issue has been pain.
However a few hours in the W today was almost a cure. It must be the upright position combined with the paddling that does it.
According to everything I’ve been reading from trainers and alike exercise is the key. I Don’t know why but I feel so much better after time in the W boat - the W is really something.

Got a few hours on the water today and it was beautiful. The weather was just a bit chilly starting out but warmed to T shirt temps around 9:30AM.
The W performed like a champ. Fishing wise it was a busy time. Nothing huge but loads of blue fish and smaller trout. Ended up for every trout I would get four or five blue fish.
This was one of those days being able to quickly stand helped quite a bit.
At one point I kept hearing splashing and thrashing in the water on the other side of an oyster bar.
I was able to peek over by standing and saw a pod of three dolphin tearing into schools of bait fish.
Seeing their path I was able to avoid them and still be able to catch a few more fish before heading home.
I’ve attached a few pictures.
The strange looking little rod in the shot with a blue fish on the seat is an Emmrod.
The little thing handles very well from a W thanks to the upright casting position the boat allows. For close in casting at short ranges the rod is lots of fun, especially with fish that pull as hard as those little blues.
I’ll have to review the rod itself for use in the W since it’s a nice combination.

–Jeff”

The W is a great boat for kayaking and kayak fishing, but it’s also easy to paddle with single-blade (canoe) paddles - both in solo and tandem modes.

The 9 ft long, two-pieces, dual blade Mohawk paddle we offer can be turned into two canoe paddles using the T-grip kit: Each of the two canoe paddles is good for canoeing in the lower positions (Riding, Sitting and Kneeling) and long enough for paddling standing up, as shown in this picture:

Paddling with a canoe paddle is fun, and it can be easier than kayaking when there are two paddlers in the cockpit.

The W tracks better than canoes, and it is stabler than canoes its size, which makes it easy to use in canoeing applications - even for small children:

When it comes to fishing, a short, single blade paddle offers the advantage that you can simply drop it in the cockpit as soon as you need to grab a fishing rod that’s showing signs of action… -You don’t even have to find paddle holders.

Another advantage that a canoe paddle offers is when you need to paddle through areas with many low hanging branches that could make handling a kayak paddle more difficult.

Scott is a W Kayak fisherman from Florida.

He went fishing with his eight year old boy in their W kayak and shot this wonderful picture of his son showing the first fish he caught.

Yesterday I had a long conversation with a man who has built and designed fifteen small boats in recent years, including kayaks. He’s an avid fisherman too, and we naturally started talking about kayak fishing.
When the conversation got into details it became clear that although kayak fishing has grown tremendously in recent years the number of people who fish from kayaks is still very small in comparison to the number of people who fish from motorboats.

We easily agreed that sit-in kayaks, and recently SOT kayaks don’t provide a comfortable enough platform for fishing, and outriggers were an invitation for your fishing lines to get caught in them.

He found a funny way to summarize the situation, saying: -”Kayak fishing is a great idea with the wrong boat.”

Needless to say that we found it easy to agree that the W is the kind of boat that can take kayak fishing to the next level.

Yoav

Brandon, a W Kayak fisherman from Cape Cod landed this 37 inch, 30 lb striper off a beach in Chatham, MA, casting only 30 feet from shore.

-”I wish it was from my Wavewalk” he says

More on Brandon and his W Kayak: Brandon’s F2 -including pictures of fish he caught from it

When you hear ‘canoe’ you usually think of a big paddling and fishing boat for two or more adults, but it’s not necessarily true. Canoes come in all sizes, including very small ones for whitewater.

You may ask yourself what’s the point in canoing if double blade paddles are easier to use, but that’s a matter of perception, and for may people canoe paddles are more fun. Using canoe paddles presents an advantage in small rivers with dense vegetation, where a longer paddle could get caught in branches. It’s also easier to paddle the W in tandem using canoe paddles than it is with kayak paddles.

We recently added a preparation for a cockpit cover, which offers the passenger/s good protection prom spray and bad weather.

The W makes a perfect small canoe: It tracks well and isn’t prone to windage problems like regular canoes can be. It is also stabler and more comfortable than most canoes are. And last but not least, it’s also easy to cartop, which can’t be said about big canoes.

Photo courtesy of Pemi Baker River Adventures, NH

Here is Jeff’s latest fishing report from Florida, in case you’re interested to know what the fishing conditions are down in the sunshine state:

“I spent the morning and early afternoon paddling around in the W and fishing. No big fish to speak of but loads of little bluefish the largest just over 12 inches. At times they foamed the water chasing minnows and would just slam my lure the moment it hit the water. Loads of fun and it would have been one of those times kids would have had a ball because the action was nonstop. I looked around for larger fish but none were to be found in the area I was at today.
The day started with me wearing a fleece top, long sleeve t-shirt, fishing shirt, and a rain parka. By mid morning it had warmed enough I was down to just the T-shirt. The water was very clear which may be why the large game fish were not in the area. Oddly enough I saw very few kayakers until about 2PM when I headed home. I guess most people were just waiting for it to warm up a bit.

Jeff”

The color question keeps coming back and probably would forever.
If you’re just paddling you probably want a bright yellow kayak that will be the most visible to fast motorboats drivers.
If you’re hunting or bird watching you’d better choose a dark green or camouflaged kayak, for obvious reasons.

The answer becomes more complicated when it comes to fishing - From an underwater perspective the color of a surface object is a minimal issue. Flash and shine are more likely to cause a reaction among fish, as well as sudden motion and noise. Having said that, you can try and improve the odds:

Regardless of what colors various fish species are capable of discerning, what we know and can test for ourselves is that when you’re in the water you usually perceive the bottom to be dark, and when looking upward you’re actually looking at a source of light - whether it is strong of feeble, depending on circumstances.
In fact, nearly all fish have their back darker than their bellies, so that they would blend in with the bottom when looked upon from above, and blend in with the sky when looked upon from below.

So far, the answer seems to be ‘choose a fishing kayak that has a light bottom’, doesn’t it? -Well, not necessarily, because color (or brightness, actually) is only part of what fish can see and react to.
The other thing (besides motion) is the basic form of your kayak: Like all animals who fear predators, fish can instantly discern a pattern that looks like a predator and react to its presence automatically by either swimming away or hiding. There is no thought whatsoever involved in such pattern recognition process - It’s just a basic physiological reflex.

Your kayak’s contour on the bright sky background can easily fit into a ‘Predator’ pattern because the form of a traditional monohull kayak is basically one of a fish. In fact, one of the two basic monohull forms is called ‘Fish’, and the other is called ‘Swede’ and it is identical to the Fish form except for the fact that the kayaker is facing the other way…
So, it would make sense to try and ‘break’ this fish-scaring pattern by camouflaging the bottom of your kayak to make it look like something else, such as floating branches or flotsam.

From this aspect, the bottom of a W kayak looks like two straight and parallel objects not alike a fish form. This is a somehow better start, and whether you choose a bright colored W Kayak to blend with the bright sky background or a dark W Kayak to make its contour resemble even less to a predator fish is up to you.

Today I watched a video showing a young, athletic looking, rather short guy demonstrating fly-fishing standing in a wide, canoe-style kayak.
Although the water was perfectly still he performed casting and other fishing maneuvers while standing rather awkwardly: His feet were too far apart to offer an optimal basis, and his movements seemed too slow, not energetic and not at all spontaneous. The way he paddled was awkward too - he looked as if he was making an effort to keep his balance and repeatedly about to lose it.
He was obviously not feeling fully confident fishing standing in that boat, and I kept thinking that he had to be extra careful because had he lost his balance he would have had to swim, and possibly even deal with an overturned boat and some fishing tackle lost.
There was no way for him to land back in his seat in case something happened that would make him lose his balance. The seat was too low and the boat too unstable to offer a solution to any “What If” scenario, and everybody knows (or should know) that stuff happens when you’re out there fishing, and you should be prepared to deal with the unexpected or else risk some unpleasant consequences.
In this sense the kayak featuring on that video was less stable, less comfortable and less safe than a wide fishing canoe that offers a higher seat as something to fall back on, literally.
However, this lackluster demo movie shows that stand up kayak fishing is no longer viewed as impossibility or as an unnecessary requirement, but it’s becoming a problem that kayak fishermen expect manufacturers to solve, which is good news for Wavewalk since we already solved it completely:

You can go paddling in tandem in your W Kayak, and by tandem we mean two adults, providing none of you is a big person (see Wavewalk website for details). However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can go fishing in tandem, and again, by tandem we mean two adults onboard.
Although it may be possible we would hesitate to recommend it for the following reasons:

First, paddling requires less personal workspace than fishing does, especially if one paddler or both use single blade (canoe) paddles, which are shorter than double blade ones.

Second, paddling is a regular and repetitive action with little or no surprises. Even if you paddle in moving water (E.G. river, surf) you can assign strict roles to each of the paddlers, and by doing so increase your efficiency and minimize unpleasant surprises.
In comparison, kayak fishing can turn chaotic instantly if one of the crew needs to fight a big or strong fish. It’s important to remember that when two persons are onboard the W Kayak is less stable than when only one person is.

Third, fishing involves the use of hooks and other sharp objects. If both fishermen are experienced the risk is minimal, but if they are novices there is a risk that someone might be accidentally injured.

Fourth, fishing sometime requires a lot of additional gear, and with a second adult fisherman onboard the storage space in the W Kayak becomes considerably smaller.

As for fishing in a tandem composed of one adult and one child, it is a very rewarding experience that many W Kayak owners enjoy on a regular basis.

Today Jeff emailed me this short addendum to his fishing report from yesterday:

“I wanted to mention these two things. First not having really to lift much of anything is great. From the time I put my W into my pickup truck until I arrive home I only lift it to put it away. At the launching site in and out it’s only a pull out, lower, and drag the water (one trip by the way with all gear) then reverse when I’m done. No strain at all.
The other thing is the saddle positions you can get. I found that by bending all the way forward while seated you can stretch out the back issues and take off a bunch of strain. Nothing else allows a position like that except maybe riding on a horse, and I would guess loading a horse in my Ford Ranger would negate any gains from the position. Besides the W doesn’t eat much and you don’t have to clean it’s stall.
I had to mention this stuff because today is the best my back has felt in weeks. Maybe it’s the W maybe not.”

Why do I think this is important? It’s because you can’t overestimate good ergonomics since it is critical to the well being of any paddler and kayak fisherman, and because unlike stability and mobility it’s hard to demonstrate in a video or discuss in an article.

Yoav

Finally made it out this morning and had a blast. Took the W but with a bit of hesitation because of  that sciatic nerve pinch from the Christmas drive up to Chicago is still a bother. It’s uncomfortable to sit in some positions but I figured the W would offer at least one position of comfort. I was right, thank goodness and found a few positions. The riding upright was best where the discomfort was almost gone. Of course standing helps a bunch and that was a blessing since I did not have to land the boat for a stretch. According to my checking into this type of pain issue it can take four months or more to work itself out. Today ended up going very well, I guess I’ll get a prescription for the W and just have to fish more often.
The fishing itself was limited to just little blue fish, they were the only ones around but any fish on the end of a line pulling is great. All 10 of them were around 12 inches or so but they pull very hard and act like piranhas hitting a bait. The weather started out around 50 or so and by the time I headed home it was around 70. Performance wise the boat handled just fine using the W paddle. I met one other yaker on the water and he was fascinated with the W. I guess he had been trolling the website but bought what he could touch and feel. His boat was a little [edited: 9′ long fishing kayak] and he was a small fellow. When we got into weeds he could not even cast because they were over his head and blocking him. He also kept using his anchor to hold himself in place while I would just nudge the W’s tail end into the grass and let it catch between the hulls, worked fine to keep me in place in the light wind we had today.

I recently visited a popular online kayak fishing forum serving kayak fishermen in a Southern state. One of the discussions in it was about the negative side of kayak fishing as the participants see them.
Most of the participants fish from SOTs and some from sit-in kayaks, but none of them fishes from a W Kayak.

These are the problematic points that the participants seemed to agree upon:

1. You really can’t do it [kayak fishing] right without getting wet and muddy. Either water will slosh into your cockpit or your scuppers will fill up. You’ll need to get about knee deep to launch comfortably, so you’ll probably encounter mud, grass, sand, or all of them (ergonomic problem)

2. You’ll have to get used to loading and unloading your boat and equipment. You’ll take 15 minutes to unload and you’ll take 15 minutes to load everything back into/onto your vehicle/trailer (storage problem).

3. You can’t take your kid fishing with you.

4. Paddling into the wind is difficult (’windage’ problems).

5. It’s very hard to relief oneself (ergonomic problem).

6. No place to keep your catch when you paddle back in. You need to tie your stringer to the side and drag it, which can be difficult and attract predators, or use the fish-in-the-lap approach (storage problems).

7. Fishing in high winds makes it difficult to cast.

8. You can’t really fish standing. If you’re accustomed to casting in a standing position (power boat, shore or pier) you feel awkward casting from a low, seated position (ergonomic and biomechanical problems).

9. Since there’s little room on deck everything is close to you and you may unintentionally “snag” nearby items with your hook (ergonomic problem).

10. Not being able to stand up and stretch after being seated for a long time - discomfort in your legs (ergonomic problem)

11. Lower back and posterior pains (ergonomic problem).

12. It can get very cold onboard (ergonomic problem)

Compare this to the W Fishing Kayak, that:

1. Offers dry launching and beaching even in difficult spots, and its cockpit protects you against spray.

2. Is a ‘Toss and Go’ boat - you can leave your gear and tackle inside when transporting it.

3. Offers enough room onboard for a second passenger

4. Enables you to paddle in strong wind

5. Offers to stand up anytime and for any purpose…

6. Offers sufficient dry and protected storage space onboard for every possible need.

7. Offers powerful casting positions such as riding and standing

8. Enables fishing standing in confidence even in the presence of wind and eddies.

9. Features a full size, spacious and deep cockpit.

10. Offers to switch between various positions and stand up for fishing anytime.

11. Enables your legs to support your torso and back in a natural posture.

12. Puts you higher on the water and protects you from wind and spray.



Doug is a surf fisherman from Long Island, NY, who drove all the way here (Newton, Massachusetts) to pick up his new W Kayak. He told me he chose to get a W after had tried an ordinary fishing kayak and didn’t like the way he had to sit in it. He also wanted to paddle and fish standing. Before that he had paddled a canoe - as a boy…

Doug is middle aged, medium built, around 6′ and 200 lb. He emailed me the following report::

“I got it [the W kayak] out onto Jamaica Bay on Saturday on water not over my head. Went well. I like being able to go in a straight line without paying too much attention to what I’m doing. Paddled standing up w/o too much instability…; Practiced turning around inside the ‘cockpit’ without incident.”

I was satisfied to read that everything went well for Doug, especially in view of the fact that he didn’t get a chance to try the kayak here because of the cold weather we had.

What struck me in Doug’s report was that he able to turn around in his W kayak’s cockpit so quickly: When he was here he asked me about it and I explained to him how it should be done, but I also warned him that it was an ‘advanced’ trick, and that he shouldn’t even think of trying it before he got very well acquainted with his new boat.

In any case, Doug’s success story doesn’t change our basic advice to new W kayakers and kayak fishermen, which still is: “Lower your expectations and progress slowly and carefully in your study of the use of your new W kayak, because stuff happens…”

Yoav

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 6
Mobility: The New Dimension

1. KAYAK MOBILITY DEFINED

Anybody can understand that a 4×4 off-road SUV is more mobile than a common, two-wheel drive car. Most people realize that a skin-on-frame Inuit kayak is less durable than a modern plastic kayak, and you couldn’t paddle it in some of the places that you’re used to paddle in. But what does mobility mean when it comes to modern kayaks?
It basically has to do with whatever limits kayakers and kayak fishermen from going where they want to:
Such limits include spots that are too difficult to launch your kayak from, or too difficult to beach it in. Other limits can be water that’s too difficult to paddle in because of currents, waves, ice, vegetation or submerged obstacles such as wooden logs or rocks.

Weather conditions can limit you as well: Canoes are difficult to paddle on windy days and so are most kayaks, including touring kayaks.
So, if for whatever reason you’re prevented from using some beach or going somewhere with your kayak it means your kayak’s performance is limited in terms of Mobility.

2. WHY IS MOBILITY IMPORTANT?

Your kayak’s mobility goes two things that matter to you:
Safety: You won’t drive a two-wheel drive car in a snowstorm or on ice because it’s unsafe to do so. Similarly, you wouldn’t paddle a kayak with limited mobility in water or weather conditions that are not suitable for it, and you won’t launch or beach it where you might capsize.
Freedom: You don’t think of a two-wheel drive as a great outdoors vehicle since its limited mobility would restrict your freedom of movement. This argument may be circular, but apparently too few kayakers pay attention to this issue, especially touring and sea kayakers.
What’s a fast kayak good for if it requires special places for launching and beaching? Why can’t you paddle a fast, expensive touring kayak in a fast stream or have fun with it in the surf?
And if you’re a fishermen the advantage of replacing your big, trailed motorboat by a cartop fishing kayak is considerably reduced if you can’t launch it, fish with it and beach it anywhere you want.

3. KAYAK MOBILITY REDEFINED

The W kayak offers a level of mobility that’s unprecedented, and may even be inconceivable for some.
Mobility is a feature that’s easy to demonstrate, and a picture tells more than words, especially if it’s moving. Therefore, it seems like the most appropriate thing to do at this point would be to have the reader watch the some online videos:

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 5
Versatility: From Specialized Kayaks to Broad-Range, High Performance Kayaks

3. VERSATILITY - THE NEW PARADIGM

‘Multi-purpose’ kayaks aren’t new: Long and slender kayaks known as surf-skis can be used for touring (sea kayaking) as well as for surfing, and wide recreational kayaks can be used for fishing.
The problem with multi-purpose monohull kayaks is that they don’t offer high performance in either one or all the applications people use them for.
For example, recreational monohull kayaks and even those of them labeled ‘fishing kayaks’ are neither stable nor comfortable enough to offer the full range or performance that kayak fishermen can get from the W kayak. Similarly, being very long surf skis aren’t well adapted for surf playing, and they certainly don’t enable their users to paddle and surf standing.

Since the W kayak is not constrained by the monohull’s narrow performance envelope it is the first truly and fully versatile kayak:
It is faster than any monohull kayak of similar size, yet it’s stabler than any kayak. It’s small and highly maneuverable yet offers more storage space than any kayak. The W is more comfortable than any kayak as well as more mobile than any kayak since you can launch, paddle and beach where other touring kayaks can’t go. The W performs well both as a solo and tandem boat, and both double-blade and single-blade paddlers find it to be perfect for them. The W fits big and heavy users, yet it’s friendly enough for small children to handle by themselves - even in the surf. And last but not least, the W offers four basic paddling positions including two new ones, plus many intermediary positions.

Interestingly, some people found it hard to believe that any kayak could be that versatile, and they doubted the W’s capabilities. Other people who were used to highly specialized kayaks found it difficult to imagine a situation where they would be using the same boat for two different activities (E.G. fishing and touring).
These days more people are willing to question old conventions and accept the fact that paddling and fishing are subject to continuous and sometime substantial progress, like most other technical fields are. Many people now accept the W for what it is, which also means that they evaluate what the W offers relatively to their own, real needs, and even conceive new types of usage.

Raising the Bar in Kayak Design and Performance:
New Standards For The Third Millennium

This article discusses the changes in kayak design, usage and performance over the past century and in recent years.

Part 3
Ergonomics: From a single, uncomfortable position to the freedom to choose from a variety of ergonomic positions

4. VARIATIONS ON THE L POSITION - TRYING TO DEAL WITH A PROBLEM BY CREATING DIFFERENT ONES

Manufactures of monohull kayaks who tried to depart from the L position by offering higher seats found that they needed to increase their kayaks’ width considerably in order to compensate for raising the paddlers’ center of gravity (CG). This was done only to rediscover the fact that excessively wide kayaks track very poorly and are harder to paddle.

5. THE NATURAL SOLUTION: THE W KAYAK POSITIONS

The W departed completely from both the monohull design and the L kayaking position.
By offering much better lateral stability and a high saddle the W Kayak has enabled a new set of comfortable positions and a wide range of intermediary positions, as well as the possibility to alter your posture anytime you feel like it.
This is achieved without widening the kayak - In fact, the current W Kayak models are only 25″ wide, which is as wide as some sea kayaks are.
The key to improving comfort and performance in paddling and fishing is the new, full role played by your legs: Instead of pushing horizontally against your lower back as they do in the L kayaking position, your legs support your torso vertically - from below, in the W Kayak riding (mounted) position. This is our legs’ natural position for locomotion and other major physical efforts. For this reason the W Riding (mounted) position is not only ergonomically better (I.E. more comfortable) but it’s also better biomechanically, that is more efficient in effort terms and more effective in performance terms of power output and control level.

The four basic W positions are: Standing, Riding (Mounted) with your legs on both sides of your body, Sitting with your legs forward (similar to sitting in a canoe), and Kneeling - a position preferred by some canoeists.

For more information visit Wavewalk’s website Ergonomics section.

It sounds really exciting - the closest you can get to a hunting experience such as the Inuit must have felt when they hunted animals and birds with their skin-on-frame kayaks. This type of fishing is popular worldwide - not necessarily from kayaks but usually from other small boats that native people have traditionally used in different places.

It also sounds quite simple: You stand or ride in your W Kayak, scout the water, spot a fish, aim and try hitting it with your spear, trident or arrow.

There are however some issues to consider:
First of all, in some places it’s not legal to fish this way.
Second, the water conditions might not be suitable for this type of fishing: Murky water, vegetation and waves can prevent you from seeing anything even if you’re standing and looking down right near your kayak, where visibility is usually better.
Third, spear and arrow wounds are bigger and more serious than injuries caused by fishing hooks, which means that catching a fish this way and releasing it will most likely result in its death, and this defies the purpose of the ‘Catch and Release’ idea.
Fourth, some fish won’t just wait for you to come near them with your kayak, and some are too cautious and won’t get near you when you’re anchored somewhere and waiting for them.

Conclusion? It looks like it’s worth trying…

This is Scott Johnson’s W kayak (MN). Scott hunts from it.

Children normally find it harder to paddle and navigate than most adults do since they have less power and less developed motoric and spatial skills than adults have.
Kayak Touring is usually associated with the use of long and narrow traditional sit-in kayaks called Touring Kayaks or Sea Kayaks.
Paddling those kayaks requires either exceptional paddling skills or the use of a rudder (or both) for tracking, and it also requires the ability to roll the kayak in case it needs to be outfitted with a spray skirt.
These factors largely prevent children from using traditional touring kayaks and limits them to using wide, open cockpit sit-in or SOT kayaks known as ‘recreational’ kayaks that track poorly unless paddled with a rudder, which in its turn both impedes them as well as complicates things for them.
Therefore, it is quite rare to see children taking part in kayak trips in their own kayaks. The more common solution is using tandem kayaks, or canoes, but most kids love their independence and since they ride their bikes alone from an early age in most cases they expect to paddle their own kayak too, or at least prefer to do so.

The W Kayak tracks better than monohull kayaks, and therefore you never need a rudder to help it track. It’s also more ergonomic for kids than monohull kayaks are since the higher W paddling position adds power to both their paddling and control efforts.

Similarly, children can be taught to participate in kayak fishing trips in their own W kayaks from an early age. The problem in such cases is to make sure that they can operate their fishing tackle safely and independently.

While the advantages of fishing standing are pretty obvious to most fishermen many who haven’t tried the W Riding (mounted) position may wonder what’s so special about it, and why it is considered so advantageous when compared to the traditional L kayaking position or to fishing seated in a canoe.

The answer is that it has to do with how much support you have for your casting and reeling-in efforts, as well as when you’re fighting a strong fish:
The result of every physical effort you make, whether it’s jumping, running, pulling or throwing something depends on the kind of support your body gets from the ground you stand on. Soft, slippery or shaky ground doesn’t offer you good enough resistance.
Similarly, fishing from a big boat enables better physical performance than fishing from a small, unstable one: You can cast to longer distances and fight bigger fish more easily.
Riding the saddle of a W kayak doesn’t offer you as much stability, support and confidence as the deck of a big bass boat, but it certainly gives your legs more support than a sit-in or SOT kayak does, and through your legs you get more support and power for your arms and upper body.
Imagine riding a pony, which is similar to riding a W kayak saddle: The horse rider can gallop and jump hurdles, throw a spear or shoot arrows like ancient warriors used to do, or a lasso like modern days cowboys still do, and so on. -Now try to imagine all this being done when the rider sits on the horse’s saddle in the traditional L kayaking position… It’s practically impossible because the rider lacks stability and sufficient support from his legs.
Like any analogy this one is not perfect but it’s close to the truth: The combination of having two hulls on the W kayak’s sides and riding the saddle that you mount in a posture that’s advantageous from a biomechanical standpoint changes everything when you fish.

As Jeff McGovern puts it: -”I would venture to say the W offers improved casting with any gear. From the riding position, I get more power with my casting and spinning because I can put my whole body into the cast and use my legs. The solid feel of the boat gives you a great sense of security. ” (Read More)