WAVEWALK FISHING KAYAKS BLOG » tandem paddling

The Thorbergs In A Tandem Kayaking Trip In Lake Superior, Minnesota

W kayak — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:24:28 +0000

Gary Thorberg and his wife went on a beautiful tandem kayaking trip in lake Superior.
Gary tells that launching their W500 was easy, and so were paddling and beaching in those little beaches.
This wasn’t a typical kayak fishing trip, but rather a long kayak trip in tandem, in which the W500 performed as a tandem touring kayak, or as an expedition kayak, due to its extended carrying capacity.
The W500 fit easily on Gary’s pickup truck bed.

Gary is Wavewalk Kayaks’ dealer in Minnesota. More pictures on MinnYaks >>

‘First Impressions’ W Kayak Review, By Sam Wire & Sons, California

W kayak — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:32:43 +0000

I took my kids on a day fishing trip to Calero Reservoir yesterday. Fantastic day! My oldest son told me it was the best day of his life. We didn’t even catch any fish! He just loved paddling around in the boat.

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 >>

Captain Shiley – The World’s Youngest Kayaker, Massachusetts

W kayak — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:29:50 +0000

Meet Captain Shiley, the two year old commander of a W500 kayak navigating the mighty lake Massapoag (meaning ‘Great Waters’).
Captain Shiley tells the crew -”Let’s go here!”, and then -”Let’s go there!”, and sometimes they obey her orders…

Although she’s the boss, commanding a crew of 1-2 paddlers, Captain Shiley doesn’t hesitate to grab a paddle, and paddle like everybody else on board.

The crew loves Captain Shiley, and they’ll follow her everywhere she goes!

Next: Watch the movie ‘The World’s Youngest Kayaker’ >>

Boyd’s W Kayak Transportation Wheels – Ontario, Canada

W kayak — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 05:13:23 +0000

Boyd and Sandy Smith, from Ontario, Canada, use their W500 kayak extensively, and needed a solution for transporting it to the water and back from it.
Boyd salvaged a pair of wheels from an broken golf cart, got some 2×2 wood and $10 of hardware, and created his version of kayak trolley, which serves the purpose perfectly.

People everywhere ask Boyd and Sandy “What is this boat?”, so Boyd added the series number 500 to the W logo…

Boyd designed his kayak trolley in such a way that it can be easily and swiftly disassembled, and stored in one of the hull tips.

And this is Boyd’s idea of supreme comfort, for when he just wants to lay back and get some rest after a long paddle: A seat with armrests and beads in the back rest:

The seat can be folded, and stored in one of the hulls, so it won’t get in the way when Boyd is paddling.

Read about Boyd and Sally’s first paddling trip in tandem >>

New: Read about Boyd and Sandy kayaking the Grand River in South Ontario >>

Boyd and Sandy Smith in Tandem at the Grand River Canoe and Kayak Festival, Ontario, Canada

W kayak — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:07:01 +0000

It was our maiden voyage in our new W500 kayak that we had just purchased from Mike Ratigan, at New York Yaks, in Rochester NY.
The occasion was the “Day of 1000 Canoes”. We never did get a chance to practice solo or tandem with the W500 before the Caledonia Canoe & Kayak Festival today, but everything worked out well.
We paddled 20 km down the Grand River from Caledonia to Cayuga.
Boyd and Sandy

Things didn't go that well for everyone

Read about Boyd’s DIY wheel cart for kayak transportation >>

New: Read about Boyd and Sandy kayaking the Grand River in South Ontario >>