Andrew and the Ditch crossing

I spent an hour tonight on the phone with Paul Hewitson of Mirage kayaks…he spoke of Andrews situation…if any here are following and I think many of us are put him in your hearts for the next couple of days, evidently he’s got a major weather system soon to hit him. Paul said last night while sleeping the kayak rolled many times.

Andrew’s Web Site
Here’s a link to Andrew’s web site:



http://www.andrewmcauley.com/index.html



Looks like he’s halfway between Tasmania and the South Island of NZ.

i think he past the half-way mark
yesterday our time, so almost 2 days ago their time…Caffyn tried this twice and that says a lot! speaks a lot about Mirage too…I’m curious how Andrews stock Mirage rolls with ‘Casper’ in place, seems like it would flop over onto its side and stay there?

580
I enjoy my Mirage 580.

Mirage 580
Hello all,



I started my kayaking career in a Mirage 580. They are a great boat and excellent for expeditions. http://www.mirageseakayaks.com.au/



Most of the success of these kayaks can be attributed to their outstanding performance on the water.



This includes:

A high cruising speed whether empty or fully loaded.

An excellent combination of primary and secondary stability.

Good tracking in all conditions, with or without their rudder.

Designed not to dive or broach in big following seas.

Easy unassisted deep-water entry, Eskimo roll, or re-entry and roll ability.

Of particular interest to the kayaking enthusiast is their ability to handle a wide range of sea conditions including calm water touring, confused seas in tidal currents and large ocean swells with strong winds.





The Price for a new 580 makes it the most affordable boat here in Australia and other brands find it hard to compete against it. The cost is approx US$2100 or A$2700



The Tempest 170 pro is cost approx A$3900.

and if your curious, price delivered
to the USA is rougly $2700…and that is a kevlar boat with bilge pump with custom colors and an extra rudder (you can choose 3 sizes and two of them will have a leading edge)…

with all its stated capabilities
I was a little disappointed when I visited the website to discover it’s just another sea kayak

Can’t judge by a picture

– Last Updated: Jan-30-07 12:02 PM EST –

The Mirage, though new to me, sounds like an extremely capable boat. I thought the recharging arrangement they installed for this trip is pretty slick too.
So far a lot of these kinds of passages have been made in kayaks that were questionably so - enclosed large boats that would self-right (so the paddler could stretch out and sleep), really more like modified sailboat hulls than a kayak. It is kinda neat that this is a basic sea kayak. It'd be interesting to sit in one of these and see how it responds.

Mirage 580
I looked at a lot of alternatives when searching for my second composite boat, and the 580 had the best combination of features important to me. There was nothing else I could find or tried that had the same combination of speed and stability. The maneuverability without using the rudder is not great (though it tracks really well), but since the rudder is integrated that’s never a problem.



It’s a great boat and Paul is both knowledgeable and pleasant to deal with.