By Gary Rankel

Nature Coast Fishers Club

After 3 cans of spray paint, I finally got the saddle the way I want it.

 

By Rox Davis

Connecticut

I put the W700 together on how I’d like to set it up for fishing.

Not sure if I’ll leave the windshield on, but I’ll know better after my next outing.

One thing I know for sure, if anyone wants those flush rod holders, don’t do it, if they plan on adding a motor, they get in the way of the mounts.
I cut mine down and capped them so they won’t leak, and they’re are out of my way for storage.

I have a couple of showings with some friends who want to see the W700, hopefully it will bring in some sales.

 

 

 

More fishing and outfitting posts from Rox »

 

Visit Rox’s website »

By Captain Larry Jarboe

Florida Fishing Kayaks

Internet service is still negatory in Key Largo. I am at the Mickey D’s in Homestead with a hot signal but it is hot in the car, too. Plus, there is a curfew to get home before the gate closes on U.S. 1.

Still, we now have water and power at the bunker in the sky in Garden Cove (my house). And, all the boats survived. The two work boats will need refurbishing but the amazing Wavewalks weathered the storm without a scratch.

Looking forward to resuming our Wavewalk Adventures guide service at the beginning of October. In the meantime, my white S4 (the White Knight) is performing ferry service and supply delivery for boat people stranded in the local hurricane hole.

These Wavewalk vessels are the best hurricane preparedness and recovery portable shuttle craft that I have ever seen or used. Two W500’s, four W700’s, and three S4’s rode through Hurricane Irma like the powerful steeds they are and are ready to continue rescue duty.

Have to go. Seeking a little T.V. with rabbit ears. Two or three stations that work is better than a thousand that won’t come in thru a busted cable service.

Time to prep for the next one…

Larry J.

 

 

 

 

 

Read more from Larry about fishing, boating and outfitting »

 

Visit Larry’s fishing and diving guide and Wavewalk kayak and skiff Key Largo website »

Jack, a middle aged owner of a motorized S4 from Texas writes  -“Love to jump the wakes of jet skis and other boats.”
Anyone who owns a Wavewalk would immediately understand what Jack is talking about, and identify with him, but other kayakers, canoeists and people who fish out of Jon boats, dinghies and skiffs would probably raise an eyebrow when they read this sentence –

For people who go in small watercraft and fish from them, a wake is a series of fast moving waves created in the water by the passage of a fast motorboat, and it is a threat. Kayakers hate wakes, and canoeists dread them, because a wake hitting their unstable vessel on its broadside can capsize it.
But even passengers on board bigger and most stable boats, such as dinghies, skiffs and Jon boats, are not big fan of wakes, to say the least, and they would not associate wakes with fun. Although wakes are typically not powerful enough to capsize a good size Jon boat or skiff, a wake suddenly hitting such a boat on its broadside is enough to destabilize passengers who stand in it, or on its deck, if they are unprepared for the sudden sideways tilt induced by the wake. And losing your balance in such a small boat can mean that you’d go overboard, or worse – capsize your boat, frequently as a result of your abrupt change in position causing another another passenger on board to lose their balance, in a chain reaction…

It is easy to destabilize a person standing on the deck of a Jon boat, or a skiff, but it is almost impossible to destabilize a person standing in a Wavewalk S4, with a leg in each hull. Why is that? It’s because a person standing this way in their S4 and momentarily losing their stability would simply drop on the S4’s saddle, to the lower Riding posture, which is the same position in which people driving a personal watercraft (a.k.a. “jet-ski”) drive their fast ride, or by extension, the same position offered by all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and snowmobiles.

All these vehicles, namely Wavewalks, PWC, ATV and snowmobiles are the most stable in their domains, and for their size, and they all offer similar saddle seats and riding postures to their users. There is no coincidence here, since the riding posture they offer is similar to the riding posture on horses and motorcycles, and it is naturally stable, namely that a person riding with a leg on each side of the saddle has the full ability to react intuitively, instantly, and most effectively to any change, and thus balance themselves in the most efficient way.

To put it clearly – a motorcycle is a vehicle with no stability it itself whatsoever. It you try to make a motorcycle stand without a person driving and balancing it, or without a mechanical support such as a metal leg or a wall, it would always fall on its side. But give that motorcycle a driver who rides its saddle, and it could go over the roughest terrain, and at high speed. This is to say that all the stability perceived in a moving motorcycle comes from its driver, and only from them, and it is the result of ability to balance themselves effectively while riding their vehicle’s saddle.

In comparison, a Wavewalk kayak offers the same balancing capability, plus its own stability as a twin-hull boat, namely a catamaran.

Read more about kayak stability »

The following video shot by Captain Larry Jarboe’s on board his Wavewalk S4 demonstrates how little effect a fast motorboat’s wake has on him:

So what’s fun about driving a Wavewalk S4 in wakes? The fun is that nothing bad happens, and you get to hop and bounce, and maybe get splashed a little, in a worst case scenario.