WAVEWALK KAYAKS

This review is specific for how I feel about the kayak after my first trip in it.
Please take note that I have no experience at all with a mono hull/regular kayaks. Also please note that I weigh 72kg (160 lbs) and I was with my daughter who weighs 16kg (35 lbs). She was sitting in the front, facing me.
The bay (Ashbridge Bay – Toronto, Ontario) did not had big waves, but there was high traffic, big sailing boats and ski jets.
The w500 kayak was very easy to launch, no wet feet.
First minutes in the kayak I felt weird about its buoyancy effect; When I leaned in one direction (any, front, side, back) the kayak bounced back. This is weird initially, but after few minutes the feeling passed. It’s like starting to learn to ride a bike. The beginning of the ride is hesitant in balancing the direction, same here.
After the first minutes you learn how to sit steadily – the trick is to stay firm on saddle.

Paddling was easy, with no big effort; I paddled for almost two hours continuously with small breaks to watch the birds and fish, without feeling pain or tired.
Based on the bay size I think I put somewhere between 3-4km. Next time I will take the GPS to track the distance.
To change direction by 90 degrees it took only one backwards stroke.
I did not splash any water inside. For a newbie like me I think this is also good.

The paddle bought with the kayak is good, does the job well. I dropped it in the water; It floats and does not retain any water.

The lower part of the legs is well protected by the cockpit.

I did not have any problem in keeping direction while paddling. I found that it is easier and faster to paddle sitting at the rear, and not in the middle of the kayak, but please note that my daughter who weighs 16kg (35 lbs) was sitting on the front.
The kayak absorbs impact, and I think this is good, and at same time it feels rigid enough.
The tips of the kayak are great and very handy for storing stuff, plenty of open storage.

I found the eyelets mounted on the body useful for rigging various stuff.

Now, after the trip, strapping it to my minivan looks easy, using only 6 straps. No additional device to rig on the car, no foam, no special rack.

In my opinion the kayak delivers the features that are posted on the manufacturer’s website. For me, it met all the aspects that I was looking for. I don’t see now major changes needed to the design or rigging. I will mount maximum four RAM 119 rod holders, nothing more. I have a portable fish finder. I don’t think that the kayak needs more rigging or holes.

Overall I am happy with my purchase, and I am looking to have good time with my family using the kayak for fishing and just touring.
As a veteran Wavewalk kayak angler (Rox) said  – Life is good.
Regards and safe paddling from Ashbridge bay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
29 August 2010

Petru Rotariu

Paddling a kayak in tandem isn’t easy, as anyone who tried would tell you.
Getting two teenage brothers to do something together isn’t easy either, as frustrated parents would attest.
Therefore, putting two teenage brothers in one kayak and getting them to paddle it in tandem should be considered a particularly ambitious project, unless that kayak happens to be the Wavewalk W500:

The paddlers are 14 year old Yadin and his 11 year old brother Yanay.
Their aggregate weight is 235 lbs.




Jeff McGovern to conduct kid’s inshore fishing clinic at Genung’s Fish Camp, Crescent Beach, January 23

Palatka, FL 1/4/10—Come spend an exciting, fun day with Jeff McGovern at Genung’s Fish Camp from 9 AM to Noon on January 23, 2010. Learn how to choose lures, bait, line and rigging to catch more fish in fresh and saltwater.
Emmrods will be featured and there will be a drawing for an Emmrod Packer Combo donated by Jeff’s Tackle Box at the end of the program. This free event is open to youth and youth groups of all ages and their parents and chaperones.
Coffee and donuts will be provided.

Registration is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment.

Genung’s Fish Camp is located at 291 Cubbedge Road (just below the 206 bridge at US 1), Crescent Beach, FL. For more information or to register, please contact Johnny at (904) 471-4144.

For more information about Jeff McGovern or Emmrod, go to www.jeffstacklebox.com

Happy Thanksgiving!
Thought I’d share some fishing news:
I took my visiting 5 year old grandson on his first ‘fishing trip’. We have a small pond in this wooded area behind our house and since his parents had left us alone while out shopping, we decided to go fishing. We had a lot of trouble trying to dig up worms, but we finally found 3 tiny little guys.

Anyway, after some lessons on how the bobber on the line works, he wound up catching 5 sunfish to my one! I tried to explain that he caught more than me because I was the one constantly rebaiting the hooks and that he was holding the rods 90 percent of the time.
Later I heard him tell his Grandma that he was a good fisherman today and that Grandpa was a bad fisherman.
Some things never change I guess!
John Z

Read John’s Review of His Motorized W500 Fishing Kayak

Had a great summer, and looking to a better fall with the W and the grandson.

We really have been doing a lot of fishing from Narragansett Bay to exploring new fishing ponds and lakes. Luke hasn’t caught the real big lunker yet, but plenty of nice fish like this calico bass.

The W500 is ideal for me and the kid, easy to move and plenty of room for fishing. He can spin around, stand and paddle like a pro.

Planning many more trips before winter sets in.  I can’t wait to see him struggling to pull in the big 5 lb bass – It’s gonna make a great picture!

Norm

Norm Craig from Rhode Island contributed a review on his W500 fishing kayak, and now he sent us this great story:

-”I took my first passenger today – 6 year old Brian, who caught his first fish. The Big W was easy to take a kid out on, more than enough room. No problems at all once he got used to it. He was hanging over between the hulls playing in the water. Nothing like seeing a kid catch his first fish… He caught about a 15″ pickerel that scared the boy so I couldn’t get a pic… He even picked up one end of the kayak, and helped me carry it to the truck .    Norm”

So, you want to have some quality time kayak fishing with your children (or grandchildren)? Well, it better be fun for them, or else they won’t like to go fishing with you again, and they would find all kinds of excuses to stay home and play a video game…

The L kayaking position isn’t that hard on a child’s back as it is on an adult’s back, but children need to move more than us, adults, and being locked in a kayak in that position, whether it’s for paddling or fishing, can get to be frustrating for them. This is why it’s important they have a kayak that offers them a chance to switch between a variety of fishing and paddling positions. Besides, kids love to stand up in boats (don’t we all?…) and both paddling and fishing standing in the W kayak comes naturally to them – Try to stop them from standing up and you’ll find they don’t hear you that well…

This two year old movie shows children paddling their W fishing kayaks on flat water and at the beach – in the surf:

Click to play movie

There are other, safety related considerations to why you may prefer to have children fish from a W fishing kayak rather than from a sit-in or SOT fishing kayak. It has to do with the fact that as a child lands a fish in a sit-in or on top of a SOT kayak, the fish is fighting to get free right in the kid’s lap – hook and all included. This is a situation that’s not always easy for an adult kayak fisherman to deal with, but for a novice kayak angler who happens to be very young it’s both stressful and potentially hazardous.
This is not a problem in the W fishing kayak, where the fish lands at the bottom of one of the kayak’s deep hulls, where it can struggle as much as it wants – until it gets too tired to be a problem for anyone.

Here’s another video clip from the beach:

This time it’s two brothers, aged 9 and 12, who perform whatever is possible considering the waves at the beach weren’t that great

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:

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!”