Wavewalk Kayaks

Advertisers often cross the line between fact and fiction, and sometimes they cross the line between true and false.

For example, a well known kayak fishing store has recently advertised on its website that one of the brands it offers* for sale is (quote): “The only kayak to truly let you stand & fish with 100% confidence”.

By doing so that store made a number of significant mistakes:

First, they openly admitted that all the other brands they have advertised for years as being suitable for stand up fishing in fact do not offer to stand and fish with 100% confidence. This is exactly what what Wavewalk has been saying all the time.

Second, that store is misleading the public to think that particular kayak is safe, while it is far from being so since its outriggers are positioned at the stern, and therefore leave the standing kayak fisherman with no extra buoyancy at all to support him on the sides of his kayak’s middle and front parts, where he’s likely to tilt his boat when fishing. Anyone can see that.

Third, if a kayak fisherman standing on that SOT loses balance, as he’s expected to do sooner or later, he has a metal frame to hold on to, but nothing to fall down on - Assuming that fisherman is holding his fishing rod with both hands (common practice…) he’s likely to fall overboard, as he would from any other SOT or sit-in kayak. In fact, holding on to the metal frame increases leverage on the hull and makes it easier to tilt sideways and overturn.

And last but not least, that store’s statement is obviously false since the only fishing kayak that really offers fishermen to stand up and fish with 100% confidence and safety is the Wavewalk, as anyone can see by watching these movies at the bottom of the article discussing stability in kayaks.

* a sit-on-top kayak equipped with folding outriggers



Yesteday’s movie was in slow motion, to enable perceiving the paddler and the kayak’s movements.

This movie is in actual, regular speed:

Here’s another one of those spectacular (goofy?) demo movies we produce from time to time. It shows a rather special stand up paddling technique involving hopping while paddling…
Totally useless in terms of kayaking or fishing, but it’s the best workout I can imagine.

And this is the second part of the super stability demo video:

Earlier this year, Craig Masterman, a W kayak saltwater fly fisherman from Massachusetts contributed some innovative rigging ideas in his fishing kayak review. Craig recently emailed me the following report from Cape Cod:

-”The fishing has been only fair along much of Cape Cod this season.  That seems to be the consensus of many anglers I have talked to.  There are fish around, but you have to work hard for them.  I have taken the W out in Pleasant Bay twice and on the Brewster flats in Cape Cod bay once, and I caught fish on each outing with the fly rod.  The rigging for the rod and paddle worked out really well. I did add a small cleat on one end of the boat right over the W logo to tie off the anchor line as I had planned.  The first trip on Pleasant Bay found me paddling up onto a beautiful white sand shallow flat next to a deeper trough of water on a falling tide.  I was able to stand and slowly pole/paddle along the edge and sight cast to visible stripers edging onto the flat to feed.  I hooked a 26 inch fat fish on the third cast!  Just perfect!  …I love the boat and will keep you updated as I tweek the rigging over time. Craig”

Thanks Craig, we look forward to more reports, rigging ideas and pictures!

Yoav

Bevans is a kayak fisherman and paddler from Texas who contributed this new, exciting W fishing kayak review to our website.

In his review he tells about his first experience with his 2008 W fishing kayak, paddling standing up, and stand up kayak fishing adventures.

Bevans’ W fishing kayak is rigged simply and efficiently.

-Thanks Bevans!

Sometimes we tend to forget that kayak fishermen are people with additional interests in life besides fishing… Some have families, and they like to share their experience and even their boat with family members and friends.

Such is Dan, from Vermont (see Dan’s W Fishing Kayak Review).

Dan invited his daughter Emily and her friend Tunie to try his 2007 W fishing kayak, and like him they had no problem paddling standing:

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!

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.



-”Went out for the fourth time yesterday- getting my W outfitted for sight fishing carp with a fly rod in the flats.
I stand almost the entire time now, great line of sight on the fish, and it’s also easier to fight the fish standing.

I have a stake out pole for anchoring in shallow water, and a 3 lb dumbell for dropping anchor.

Steering is easy by dipping the paddle on the side I want to drift toward. I installed a notched foam paddle seat on each side so i can quietly set down the paddle and make no noise or slippage.

Yesterday I caught a real nice Common Carp– about 26″ and 7-8 lb. He ran me around for 15 minutes, and was released healthy after pics!

I also hooked a monster bass (thought I was throwing to a carp) but I lost him when I got too much line slack.

The W is a delight- easy to load, my back is feeling good, and I’m catching fish!

–Ben”

The logo on Ben’s hat says “Delaware River Kayak Fishing”.

Being a kayak fisherman or a regular paddler you may be interested in improving your stand up paddling skills and technique. This is a short movie that shows how paddling standing in the W kayak is done on flat water:

The video also shows some ‘warming up’ exercise: Jumping up and down in the cockpit.

This image taken from the video clearly shows the W wave created by the W Kayak bow:

When it comes to pushing the boundaries we’re always trying to come up with something new, even if it doesn’t always makes sense for daily paddling or fishing.

Our latest experiment is paddling standing in tandem, and by ‘tandem’ we mean two adults - In this case it’s a 6′, 200 lbs guy with a 5′ 6″ , 130 lbs gal.

It certainly required keeping cool, considering the water temperature was below 40 F… -A good exercise in team spirit building.

We’ll keep experimenting as both weather and water get warmer.



You may ask yourself “how stable should a fishing kayak be for me to feel comfortable in?”
The answer is simple, and widely discussed on this blog, but pictures are better than words, and a movies are the best for showing such things.
So, according to us, a fishing kayak should be stable enough to enable you to fish from it standing in full confidence, and this is the basic test in flat water, as demonstrated in this 12 seconds video:

A six foot, 200 lbs guy is standing up in his W kayak, he’s jumping up and down repeatedly, and hopping from one leg to another. The W Kayak is the only fishing kayak that offers such stability, and therefore it’s the only one enabling fishing standing in full confidence as well as paddling standing with the same ease and confidence as sitting.