Historic Perspective
This video from 2008 shows two big guys paddling a tiny W300 (Wavewalk’s first kayak model) in tandem. It’s funny to watch, because the poor kayak looks almost like a submarine 😀
This movie shows two large size adults paddling the 2008 Wavewalk kayak in tandem, on flat water.
The bow paddler is 6’3″ tall (190 cm), and weighs 245 lb. (111 kg)
The stern paddler is 6′ tall (183), and weighs 195 lb. (88 kg)
Their life jackets, clothes, shoes, paddles and gear add 30 lb. (14 kg)
Total load: 470 lb. (213 kg)
The estimated draft on the W300 seen in this video is about 11″
That’s pretty impressive considering this yak is a ten footer, and I can’t imagine any other kayak or canoe that small carrying two large size adults. But how can these two guys fish together from this little boat?
Bob
I agree with your comment.
Fishing is an advanced, demanding application from a kayak, and so is tandem. The combination of fishing and tandem is extremely demanding, and therefore not recommended.
Yoav
I’m impressed. Are these two paddlers professional?
QS
The guy in the back is me. I guess it’s fair to say I’m professional.
The paddler in the front is Jeff McGovern, from Florida – a leading expert in pest control, and by no means a professional paddler, although his knowledge about kayak fishing and his passion for this sport make him an expert in it.
Jeff visits us whenever Orkin, the company he works for sends him to Boston on business trips.
Sometimes I take big customers on such tandem trips when I’m demonstrating the W-kayak to them. They are often terrified but always impressed 😀 and so far I’ve never capsized with a passenger on board…
Jeff’s visit this week was an opportunity to shoot this tandem video.
Yoav
Don’t these kayaks come with flotation on their sides?
They do: All our models feature a pair of detachable side floatation modules – standard, and the E (enhanced) models come with two pairs.
The boat in this movie wasn’t equipped with side floatation simply because we forgot… I guess we didn’t plan on capsizing it 🙂
How does the front paddler fit inside the cockpit?
Both paddlers are in the Riding (mounted) position, of course.
The paddler at the front can stick his knees in the hull tips.
The boat looks so tiny!
🙂
April
why are you warning against using this kayak as a tandem? It’s obviously fit for two.
Mocca,
The Wavewalk kayak is a great tandem boat, but with two big guys such as the ones featuring in this movie it’s simply overloaded, and you need high-level W-kayakers (or canoeists…) to paddle it this way.
Yoav
That’s interesting, 11 inches of draft leave 7 inches of freeboard in that boat, if my math is correct. That’s about what you get in a traditional sik or sot under normal circumstances, when your boat is not officially overloaded.
Mike
Mike, I’d say that in case of this tandem movie they have about 3″ of freeboard. Who wants to paddle with the hulls under water and just the cockpit sticking out above the surface?
QS
If this yak can carry 470 lbs how come you don’t recommend it for individuals who weigh over 250?
We’re just careful in our statements and recommendations.
Big and heavy people can paddle the W-kayak, but they’re likely to face a longer, and sometime more difficult learning curve than smaller paddlers would.
Yoav
Do you think it’s possible to load this yak with 500 lbs?
It’s definitely possible, but I doubt it’s worth trying:
When watching this movie you can see that although the boat is overloaded the saddle top still remains above water level. This means that at 470 lb. total load the W-kayak keeps functioning as a true twin hull.
If you further load it, the water would reach the arched support ribs below the saddle, and normal flow between the hulls would be obstructed.
Under such conditions the W-kayak’s hydrodynamic performance could be seriously compromised.
Yoav