This is the first time I try paddling in tandem with a paddler that’s heavier than me, while I paddle standing up.
Craig is 215 lbs, and I’m 200 lbs, and with our gear etc. our combined weight was 440 lbs, and that’s 80 lbs above the max recommended load capacity for the W500, which is 360 lbs.
It was fun, and pretty easy, although the overloaded W500 was somehow sluggish.
Kayak fishing hype is everywhere, but the truth has a value of its own, since it can be demonstrated and proven in real life:
Kayak stability without comfort and safety is a misnomer, and so is kayak fishing standing and stand up paddling without comfort and safety.
It is not reasonable to expect a paddler or angler to rise up from the L position to a standing position, and it is reckless to expect that they’ll sit down from a standing position in case they lose balance, which always happens when you stand up in or on top a kayak.
This is where the 14 inches high W kayak saddle shines…
Craig Masterman came to visit yesterday. Craig is a saltwater kayak fly fisherman who’s been fly fishing out of his W300 for the past couple of years, mainly in Cape Cod and Florida.
He enjoyed paddling the W500, and fishing from it, and soon he’ll get his own, yellow W500.
Craig and I paddled the W500 kayak in tandem, and we both were surprised to see how easy it was, and how well the boat performed considering it was visibly overloaded, as our combined weight exceeded the maximum recommended load by 20% : Craig weighs 215 lbs, I weigh 200 lbs, and with our paddles shoes and clothes the total load was about 440 lbs, while the max recommended load for the W500 is 360 lbs.
The kayak moved at a reasonable speed, presented no significant balance issues, and was even pretty easy to maneuver considering the unusual circumstances.
The last time I did something like was when Jeff McGovern to visit me back in October of 2008. Before that I had paddled the W300 in tandem during demos, with (sometimes frightened…) clients, one of which was Craig, back in the summer of 2008
And one last thing: The W500 is such a pleasure to paddle because it’s only 28.5 inches wide, unlike common fishing kayaks that are much wider, and therefore are slow, clumsy, and difficult to paddle with or without a rudder.
We salute Kevin Blinkoff, the editor of On The Water – The Angler’s Guide for writing and publishing the first serious article on the subject of choosing a fishing kayak to be published in a fishing magazine.
-Why ‘First Serious Article’?
Some fishing and kayak fishing magazines have published information about our W fishing kayaks in their ‘New Product’ and ‘Buyer’s Guide’ sections, but On The Water is the first fishing magazine to mention them in a full featured article about a broad range subject such as this.
Unlike all other authors and editors in this field, it seems Kevin looked at the real world, and wrote about things he saw, and not just about the stuff that’s in the minds of kayak marketers with deep pockets full of advertising dollars, which is what other editors prefer to write about and publish.
Kevin writes and publishes for his readers, as it should be, so he didn’t try to conceal the existence of W kayaks from his readers just because Wavewalk doesn’t advertise with his magazine.
Note: The image that was chosen for the article is of a W300 and not a W500 fishing kayak, but it still looks cool. Stuff happens, and this is a minor technical glitch…
Kevin mentions the importance of stability in fishing kayaks, which proves he knows what he’s talking about, but we think he should have also covered the big problem of poor ergonomics in fishing kayaks (except W kayaks…), but maybe that’s a subject for a future article
Most of the kayaks we ship are to customers in the continental US and Canada, naturally, but we do happen to ship to overseas clients, and this is the first review we got from Australia. Since Australians use the metric system, we added the info in US units.
Hi Yoav, it’s all good – I’m enjoying the W500.
I did get out in the surf the weekend before last, and managed a bit of stand-up action in some 1m [3'4"] swell – only fell out once!
I did manage to get out on Saturday morning – the weather was good for autumn [Australia is in the southern hemisphere, so the seasons there are reversed...] – the sea was flat and comfortable! I also used the anchor for the first time and that worked great.
Shaun’s W500 fishing kayak rigged for offshore fishing
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I was happy to get 3 nice calamari squid in a short time. The largest is 35 cm [14"] total mantle length.
I’m still not that game to go too far offshore – about 500m [500 yards] is my limit so far.
Close-up on the 3 calamari squid Shaun caught in his W500 fishing kayak
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This weekend I’ve planned to give it a try in a local river, the Onkaparinga, and maybe flick a few bream lures around.
It can get a bit chilly here in mid winter . The coldest month is July, with a mean 9am temperature of 10.4 Celcius [50F]
The piece of water I was catching dinner from is the Gulf St. Vincent.
If I’m any good, I’ll eventually be able to send you pics of yak-caught King George Whiting, Yellowfin Whiting, leatherjackets, Snook, Garfish, Salmon and Salmon trout, Bream, Tommy Ruff, and (fingers crossed) Snapper -All fantastic sport fish and great on the plate.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and two is better than one.
So here’s a couple of kayak fishing pictures sent by Jeff, the kayak fishing guru from Florida:
Words are unnecessary, but in this case it’s amusing to read what Jeff writes:
“Notice the happy smiling face I have, I’m not wet or in any way uncomfortable, but I think the other two guys I went fishing with were, and we did have one confirmed case of “wet butt syndrome”.
Both their fishing kayaks had obvious paddling effort issues into the wind the W had no concerns with.
One of them could stand in his boat but it was one of those things done for a quick look not for standup angling. The W500 in comparison to the two other boats fished much larger. Meaning that for it’s size so much more of the boat was available for the angler more of the time. Wasted out of reach areas really don’t exist and the work space for gear and rigging is unsurpassed.
When you arrive in from a day of fishing the W you are ready to go right on back on the water for more. With other kayaks you really need some down time to prepare your body for more abuse.”
Dave Baumbaugh drove all the way from Pennsylvania to Sharon, Massachusetts, where Wavewalk is located. He wanted to make sure that he won’t be buying the wrong fishing kayak… Upon his arrival Dave took one look at the W500 on display, and said: -”The picture you have on your website isn’t doing justice to this boat!” Then, Dave declined our offer to take the kayak for a test ride, saying: -”I can see it’s what need just by looking at it.” When we attached the 11.4 foot long W500 on his big pickup truck, the boat looked so small it nearly disappeared, and Dave drove back home with it.
Says Dave:
I am still in awe at how easy this kayak is to handle and how stable it is.
First time in the kayak on the water and I spent about two hours just getting the feel of it. I tried paddling and even stood up and paddled, I think that if I am going to do much of that I’ll need a longer paddle.
I had no problems getting in or out of the kayak and even tried it from a dock and didn’t get wet. All of this was on a lake. My next venture will be to a very large river to see how well it does there. I am anxious to see and feel how the twin hulls react where there is significant current and rocks/boulders.
What really got me going was that I mounted a set of oar locks and now the electric motor guys better look out. It is simply amazing how fast you can go with out a lot of effort.
The one pic is from Easter when we had the family over and as you can see the kids had fun in the kayak. The other pics are so you can see how I attached the oar locks and the stabilizer bar between them.
From Wayne Taylors’ picture on the web site I could see that you placed your locks at the third rib and I used that as a pattern. Since I have the W500 I don’t have the vertical height at the top of the compartment that Wayne’s old W300 had. To compensate for the angles I used a 2X4 and measured in an 3/4 inch from the edge and the used a skill saw set at 45 degree to cut my stock. I also used 1/8 X 2 in aluminum stock as backing material on the outside of the cut 2X4 and inside where the nuts go. All of my material is 12 in long and I ended up with the sides flexing to much. I solved that by using a piece of 1/8 X 2 X 28 1/2 inch aluminum stock and I drilled a 1/2 in hole in each end for the oar locks. That little trick took out all of the hull flex and now I can apply as much pressure as I need when rowing.
I also made a rod holder using a plant stand that straddles the saddle perfectly and slides under the edge of the cockpit.
I have had it out three more times. Once fishing and the others just getting the feel of it, even caught and released some fish (no camera with me). I even tried it in the river and soon learned that the river trips will definitely be warm weather trips. Although, I have yet to take on any water the river was just to swift to row or paddle against it. We’ll see what happens when it comes down a few feet and warms up a little.
When you’re 6’3″ tall and weigh 245 lbs, like Jeff McGovern, you can speak softly (he usually does) and carry a big stick, or a small one – in this case an Emmrod fishing rod.
But you can’t stand up in a fishing kayak unless it’s the real deal, that is a kayak that works in real life, and not just in the mind of some kayak manufacturers, and in their marketing hype…
So Jeff, who likes to feel comfortable anywhere and anytime (he usually does), especially when he’s kayak fishing, uses only a W500 fishing kayak – and he won’t use anything else.
He calls his W kayak “a therapeutic yak”, since last year he had sciatica problems after a long drive from Florida to Chicago and back, and his W kayak helped him relax and stretch.
This photo was shot by Jim Green, Jeff’s son in law, and a promising kayak angler himself.
Just look how Jeff is perfectly relaxed while casting…
Donavan Campbell is a stream kayak angler from North Carolina, who got his W300 in the summer of last year. He took his time to write a review, and it was worth waiting for…:
I wanted to share my review of the W300 with you…
-”Look at the teeth on that Muskie!”
I use the W300 on the New River in the NC mountains (Sparta, Jefferson) for smallmouth bass fishing.
I was very impressed with the stability of the W300 for river fishing and it’s tracking.
Water depths range from 10′ to 6″ on the New River and the W can handle either along with occasional sharp rocks.
I keep the rigging light for easy maneuverability out of the water and plan to add an additional rod holder and the “wheels” I see from other owners. I fish with other standard kayaks and am glad I purchased the W, I strongly recommend the W to everyone that asks, thanks.
Donavan Campbell
Statesville, NC
Added some fish pictures, first calendared fishing trip for 2010 is March 26th & 27th!
PS- If anyone in western NC wants to check out a wavewalk I would be happy to help them…
