The ***OFFICIAL*** Friday/Saturday Night Singles' Thread Jan. 13 and 14th, 2006

1.13.06 | apackof2

[DollyCali]

I do a lot of kayaking Bill & find I don't cramp up as I am OUT of the kayak frequently. I normally go with a male friend.. sometimes his kids. Always our dogs. The dogs run/swim along the shore & when tired get in kayaks.

My favorite is down river but lakes are fun to explore also.

I have used all different types but my favorite (slow) is the Swifty. I can put it IN my van, lots of inside room & it is pretty stable for all the stuff I take & when Oliver (used to) get in with me. I have only had pooch Toby since labor day & shortly afterward got a groin sprain (fun) and so in the decent weather left didn't take the dogs out kayaking. Hope Toby does as well as Oliver did.

[nhoward14]

Of course. I've had a lifetime indoctrination of that special kind of arrogance that makes someone a true Cowboys fan.

[WFTR]

I have a Dagger Bayou which is the Dagger counterpart to the Swifty. It's an okay boat, but I'd like something faster for the flat water that I like to paddle. I'm also over the weight limit on this boat, so I bought a couple of alternatives in 2003.

The first one that I got was the Wilderness Systems Pamlico 145T. This boat is a tandem and would probably be pretty nice with a partner (or a dog) in the front seat. As it is, when I sit in the back, the front end rides too high. When I sit in the middle, the tracking isn't very good. The other problem is that no skirt would fit the boat and me well enough to keep water out of the cockpit in a rain. In Louisiana, I need to be prepared for rain and have a spray skirt that will keep a hard rain from filling the boat. I mostly bought it hoping that I'd find a young lady who wanted to paddle with me. Unfortunately, that's never happened.

My main boat is a Dagger Magellan. It's a pretty good boat, but I just don't have any room to move my legs. If I got out of the boat every 45 minutes or so, I wouldn't have the cramping issues, but I don't always have that opportunity. I'd like something that allowed me to move enough to relieve the strain of any one position. I'll likely sell this one if I find something more comfortable for me.

Right now, my primary prospects are the Pungo 120 and the Dagger Catalyst 13. The Catalyst 13 has front and rear bulkheads and would probably survive some open water use. It doesn't have the weight capacity for me to camp, but I'll probably never be interested in camping. I've heard that this boat is fast, stable, and designed for bigger paddlers. I had a short demo paddle in it last year. It felt good for the ten or fifteen minutes that I tried it. It has full deck rigging, and I could probably do a self-rescue alone in open water. The Pungo 120 is a great kayak, but I wouldn't want to take it on big open water. I doubt that I could self-rescue into a Pungo. For bayou hopping around here, it would be wonderful. The Pungo would also be less expensive.

I've never done down-river paddling. I generally go solo. Without someone else to shuttle vehicles, down-river isn't practical. The slow rivers and bayous in this area are fine for what I do because the current is slow enough that I can paddle upstream and then return.

Bill