Wavewalk Kayaks

Tom and Jenny on another day - enjoying surf paddling.

Tom Buddington recently wrote us from Florida:

-”Just thought I’d post a follow-up review after having several more experiences with this truly unique boat. Recently my daughter and I were caught out in what I estimate were 25 knot winds (higher gusts I would bet for certain) and the river became dark and menacing (Gosh it was so calm and peaceful moments before!). The waves were like a white water washing machine. It just happens with those out of nowhere summer storms; I try to be careful, especially with my daughter with me, but you might not ever go out if you worried about the possibility of a storm that wasn’t even predicted. THAT’s the moment of truth. 30 minutes of dark weather paddling at first into and against 20-25 knot winds and 2-3 foot storm slop and then having it on your tail (which is worse in my opinion). We just strapped on our PFD’s NICE and TIGHT and worked it with the Wyak. And she kept us out of the water and got us home. I was impressed the whole time with the stability of the W kayak in serious conditions. We used her best attributes (those twin hulls) and the geography of the Indian River Lagoon and ducked into a safe little cove and waited for things to get calm (we were in the middle and had a long way to go to get to that cove mind you). I can’t stress enough that the ability to alternate between significantly different positions (i.e., standing to riding and a few others) in the W kayak and use different muscles made this one a story with a happy ending. Would have been wiped-out exhausted in any other boat that day.

I speak from the perspective of a guy who loves the water and lives on the water and has been a waterman for, oh, say 30 years. I have 7 other boats of differing designs, 2 of which I have committed to sell to make way for my next Wyak . The W is an incredible craft and I like it.”

And here’s another picture of Tom and Jenny surf paddling at the beach:

The W kayak can carry two adult passengers onboard, providing none of them is very big.
In these pictures the guy is 6 ft 200 lbs, and the girl is 5′5″ and weighs 135 lb. That’s about the maximum passenger load this boat would take and still perform reasonably well.

To begin with, it’s important to stress the fact that tandem is an ‘advanced’ application, which means both paddlers are required to be experienced in solo W kayaking before they go paddling it in tandem.

The secret to successful tandem paddling is having each paddler perform his / her role: The front paddler should paddle as regularly as possible (e.g. left-right), and the back paddler, who’s in fact the ’skipper’ should follow the movement of the front paddle with his own paddle while trying to keep the paddles parallel to each other in order to prevent them from colliding.

The paddler in the back is also the one who’s more responsible for tracking and steering, and should try to do it without losing power and momentum, that is while applying different strokes of varying power. Sharp turns should be done together.



The older W kayak models enable sitting in the Riding-Over position outside the cockpit - on their hull tips. The New, 2008 design offers to ride over the cockpit as well, due to its lower spray deflector.

Riding-over is basically a static position offering you to dip your feet in the water in case you want to cool down, and try yet another position in case you feel like changing. It’s practical for fishing, and since you can ride over the hull tips it enables establishing a bigger distance between two fishermen working from the same W kayak.You can paddle in this position, as well as correct the kayak’s location.



Sometime it’s nice to go paddling with passengers on board your W Kayak. It can be fun to combine such an excursion with fishing, camping or bird watching.

Storage space is not a problem since the W kayak’s hull tips offer ample storage space, and you can attach additional gear on top of its hulls, but in case you need to take two passengers with you in the cockpit you’d better plan ahead. In such case canoing style paddling presents certain advantages over kayaking style paddling since the shorter, single blade paddles are less prone to hit each other.

Roles should be well defined and understood, in order to facilitate tracking.

The paddler at the stern should be the one responsible for the entire crew, since he/she can see the two others and can apply long J strokes that would help steering and tracking.

The paddler in the front can switch sides more easily than the two others - in case an additional blade is needed in the water on the other side of the kayak.

In case you use kayak (I.E. double blade) paddles, it’s important that the front paddler set the pace and the other two follow his/her paddle in parallel, otherwise the paddles will hit each other.

Like most things related to paddling - practice makes perfect.

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.



By ‘tandem’ we mean two adults, since paddling with a child onboard is less of a challenge, at least in the W kayak.

A lot has been said about kayaking in tandem, and it usually confirms the observation that kayaks are basically meant to be solo boats more than anything else…

However, paddling in tandem can be fun and rewarding - if it’s done properly.

First, you need to address the problem of balance, especially if your partner is not experienced in W kayaking (assuming you’re a proficient W kayaker yourself). The way to do it is mount (ride) the back of the saddle and then let your partner in (slowly) and position himself or herself as forward as possible - in the riding position as well.
You will probably need to compensate for your partner’s lack of experience by taking extra care of balancing the boat yourself - at least in the beginning.

The second problem is synchronizing your paddle strokes. It’s less of a problem if both of you are using canoe paddles, or if the front paddler is using a canoe paddle and you are using a double blade one.
If both paddlers are using double blade paddles the front paddler should just make slow strokes, switching regularly from left to right, regardless of tracking, turning etc. The back paddler’s paddle should follow the front paddle in parallel, touching the water a fraction of a second after the front one did, and getting out immediately after the front one.
The back paddler is also the de facto skipper, and he or she should take care of tracking, turning etc… This task can be quite demanding, especially in moving water, and this is why you’d better practice tandem W paddling on flat water first.
It is very helpful to be aware of the possibilities offered by the extra long W paddle in terms of controlling the length and direction of the stroke, J strokes etc.

This video shows a couple of W kayakers paddling in tandem in the surf - Needless to remind the viewer that both of them have some experience in W kayaking.

Yoav