WAVEWALK KAYAKS

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.

Cheers,

Shaun

Since 2007, the movie Walking On Waves has shown kayak paddlers and anglers what a W300 fishing kayak can do in the ocean surf, and that’s something no other kayak to this day has been able to come close to showing, including SOT fishing kayaks that are up to 42 inches wide, that is over a foot wider than the 25″ wide W300.
Interestingly, no one has shown anything similar with any fishing kayak that’s outfitted with outriggers, or features integrated outriggers, since these fishing kayaks are simply neither stable enough, nor can they they offer the maneuverability and control the W kayak design has.

At first, the movie was uploaded to Google Videos, but after some time it was moved to YouTube, where it got 25,000 views.

More interestingly, no paddling or kayak fishing magazine – whether printed or online, saw the importance of this stand up paddling performance, although they’ve all published articles about other fishing kayaks that allegedly offer stand up fishing, when in fact what they offer are tedious, lackluster and often hazardous gimmicks that not too many people seem to take seriously.

No wonder these media don’t benefit from much trust from their readers…

Jeremy is a sea kayaker and small boat sailor from Mississippi, who got his W-kayak a short time ago. The reason we’re particularly interested in him is that he’s planning to outfit his W-boat with a rather powerful DIY sailing rig. We sent him some pultruded fiberglass tubes that are strong and lightweight enough to be used as masts and booms for his sails.

Here’s Jeremy’ second report:

-”O.K., I’m up and wave walking around in 10 mph winds and 12 inch waves. Very cool.  After standing sitting feels much more stable. You’re right, it’s very much like riding a horse or bike, and all my kayaking reflexes are wrong, but I’m adjusting.

Now that I’m feeling more comfortable  with the stability I’ll start fooling around with the masts you sent (thanks!)”

An  unexpected but nice attribute of the boat is that I wheel it on a dolly to beach, about 100 yards or so, and unlike a standard kayak which requires me to twist around while pulling, I am centered pulling the wavewalk ( I put a paddle through the handles to pull on), and so can use both hands with no asymmetrical exertion/rotation.  Doesn’t sound like much,  but on a long pull every little thing helps.

So, reading this headline you must have thought this post is about yet another guy paddling standing in his W kayak, but this time it’s not…

Stand up paddle boards are becoming increasingly popular among surfers, which use special, extra-long single blade paddles to paddle and surf standing.

Jason Starr, from Vermont got himself a double-blade 9′ 4″ long Wavewalk paddle, and this is what he wrote us:

-”I’ve attached a photo of me using the paddle on a Stand Up Paddleboard near Rye, N.H. I really enjoyed having a paddle on both ends and think it’s an advantage over the single blade paddles. Especially when standing facing forward when paddling for speed or on flatwater.
-Jason”



As promised, Wavewalk is now offering new stand up paddles.

Our stand up paddle line includes single blade and double blade paddles.

SUP 7 and SUP 6.1 single blade stand up paddles