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”

Again, according to Isaac Newton’s Third Law whenever a body exerts a force on another body, the latter exerts a force equal magnitude and opposite direction on the former.

This also means that when your torso’s entire weight is combined with the weight of your thighs, and together this weight pushes down against your seat, your seat pushes back up with an equal force on your posterior and lower back.
One more, instead of having your powerful legs support your body weight, you find yourself in a position where you have to support most of your legs’ weight with a part of your body that already supports your torso’s weight.
This vertical pressure is exerted during the whole time you’re seated in the traditional kayaking position. Furthermore, it is combined with the horizontal pressure that your legs exert on your lower back (see part 1), thus enhancing the ergonomic problem in your lower back.
No wonder cushioned seats and various ‘lumbar support’ solutions don’t change much.

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