I have two sons, one 10 and one 8. I put one of them on one end of the cabin, myself in the middle, and the other son on the other end of the cabin. The one sitting behind me faces the opposite direction so he can fish out the back of the boat. When we weren’t casting into the weed beds, we were trolling around the lake. I was the trolling motor and my kids each would put a pole in the water on opposite sides of the boat. This boat is just roomy enough for me to fit myself and the two kids in the boat so we can all go fishing at once. It is incredibly stable. This particular lake is a water ski lake so we often had boat wakes to deal with. Boat wakes make me nervous in a traditional kayak, but they are no concern in the W500.

I took it out for it’s maiden voyage last weekend. I went to Manresa State Beach just outside Watsonville, CA. Anyway, the plan was to go fishing but surf was quite large that day and given my inexperience with the W500, I was worried I’d lose my tackle. So I left all the tackle in the truck and just took the W for a joyride. My 8 year old and I dawned our life jackets and paddled out to sea thru 4 foot waves! The waves were going over the top of our heads. But keeping the W500 pointed straight into them, I was able to safely paddle out thru the waves. I had some water to bail out of the boat but we got thru the surf just fine.
Coming back in, we weren’t so fortunate. We made it all the way to knee deep water (really shallow water) when a wave dumped us. In retrospect, I should have jumped out of the boat sooner. But, practice makes perfect.
Your product proved to be superior to anything else out there. I just needed to learn how to use it.

Sam Wire

Update: Read Sam’s story about his recent fishing trips with his 2 sons >>

The weather has been very rough for the last month – not cold but continuous storms.
It finally settled yesterday. It is now getting colder but is quite settled.
When I say cold – in this part of the country it never gets very cold. We have 1 or 2 frosts each year but it seldom gets much below a daily maximum of 10 degrees C (50 degrees F).
As a consequence of the storms, I haven’t been able to get out in the sea in the kayak, but all is not lost.

Boxed W fishing kayak on top of Dennis' SUV, New Zealand

I took the W500 out on the Sunday after I received it. I spent part of Saturday making a wheel so that I could push the kayak over the sand.

Dennis' DIY wheel for his W500 fishing kayak

The day was overcast and the sea was rough but I decided that I had to give it a go.
The waves looked small from the shore but 20 yards off shore I struck breaking waves about 2 to 3 feet high. I was really impressed how well the W500 handled them. I would not have taken them on with my SOT.

Out past the breakers was a swell of between 4 and 5 feet, and I was really impressed at how comfortable the kayak was in those conditions. I paddled out about half a mile then parallel to the shore for a while and then headed back in through the surf. I didn’t try standing.

Paddle clips

About a week later, desperate to go fishing, I took the W500 to the local harbour, no joy with fish because the anchor kept dragging in the strong current and strong wind – both in the same direction. However I saw a guy standing up in a board (supping) so thought I would have a go at that. I paddled up wind for a while then stood up and let the wind push me back downwind while I experimented with steering by leaning. Had a great afternoon and came home even happier with the W500.

The weather has been rotten so I have not taken the w500 out for a while until last weekend – I went fishing but not kayak fishing.
I belong to a local surf casting club which has a competition weekend each month.
The May competition was last weekend.
Because of the very rough sea, club member all headed to the local harbour to fish. The harbour is very shallow, and there are only a few places where you can cast into deep water from the shore.

My favourite spot is a toing beach at the bottom of a tall clay bank. At some time someone has cut a short driveway from the top of the bank to the beach so that a small dinghy can be launched there.
The problem with the spot is that there is really only room for 2 people (we all fish 2 rods).

The solution – I loaded my W500 on my ute (pickup), and when I reached the fishing spot I loaded surfcasting rods, sand spikes (rod-holders), bait, waterproof coats, an extra change of warm clothes, fishing box, chair, and enough food to last me through the night, and paddled the W500 across to an island in the harbour. It held all the gear easily and it was an absolute breeze to paddle even in the strong wind that was blowing at the time.
The fishing was wonderful, and although I intended to stay from about 4pm when I arrived to the 4am high tide, I ended up heading home at about 9.30pm.

Fish Dennis caught with the participation of his W kayak...

Limit on this variety in this area is 9 fish. They must be over 27cm (9 inches) to be of legal size, but 30cm (12 inches) to be accepted for weigh in by the surfcasting club. These fish – snapper – are great sport fish. Even the small ones put up a great fight, and they are the most preferred variety for eating in the country.

Dennis' W500

Dennis' anchor trolley

New: Read Dennis’ account of the first time he paddled his W kayak standing up >>
Dennis catching a 100 lbs eagle ray, at night, with his W kayak >>

The W300 represented a breakthrough in paddling and fishing, from every aspect:

It introduced stand up paddling into the kayak world, as well as stand up fishing. To this date, no other kayak has shown such performance, except the W500.
The W300 also introduced the W saddle, and the Riding position, as well as the freedom to switch between a variety of comfortable positions – none of which is the infamous L kayaking position.
The W300 broke the records in kayak mobility and versatility, and was the first kayak to enable its operator to move fore and aft along the saddle, thus enabling to change the boat’s center of gravity (CG), and thereby gain the best control in strong wind, breaking waves, and fast current.
This was also the first kayak to offer leaning into the turn as means to facilitate turning – a feature that some kayak designers had argued was a fiction, until we proved it to be real in online demo videos

The W300 gained fans in 4 continents, among kayakers and canoeists as well and anglers, who outfitted it with electric motors, outboard gas engines, and sails.

The W300 made people happy, whether they were 80 years old, or 5 years old. It was used for both solo and tandem paddling, and I loved playing with it in the ocean surf.

The W300 enabled people with sore backs and other health issues to paddle and fish again – Without it they would have had to stay at home, or go in a motorboat.

The W300 took 3 years to design and build. Jo Mares, a boat builder and offshore kayak fisherman from Key West, Florida, said about his 2006 W300: -”…still thrilled with the W and not have been able to improve the basic concept without detracting from it in some other way. The W really is the best”
This was an important sentence for me, since it forced me to work harder in designing the next generation of W kayak – the W500 series. The challenge we took upon ourselves was to improve everything… and today, one year after we launched the W500, it’s possible to say we succeeded:

1. The W500 weighs just a little more than the W300, yet it’s much bigger and roomier.
2. The W500 is just 12″ longer than the W300, yet its redesigned hulls make it go much faster.
3. The W500 is just 3.5″ wider than the W300, yet it’s much more stable, without being harder to paddle.
4. The W500 is a true tandem kayak, yet small children and elderly people can control it very easily.

Customers who already owned a W300 and tried the W500 unanimously said that the W500 was much better. Some of them sold their old W300, and some kept them as ‘guest’ boats

New customers kept ordering the W500, and praising it, and the W300 became so much less popular in comparison to the new, bright star, that we finally decided to discontinue it. However, we’ve kept all the customer reviews on it on our website – for sentimental reasons  – We simply love this boat

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

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…