Discussed with doctor. She recommended surgeons, but explained the increased potential for infection due to my history. My sister had three knee joint replacements (three?). One was done twice. Her body deteriorated the adhesive, she will soon have to change the other one. Piece of cake. She needed the replacements, but she still can’t get in and out of the kayak any better. She told me I could get an operation to reattach the two detatched tendons. But . . . No promise it’ll work, and . . . Possibility that overuse could tear it . . . Again. Maybe I can give up kayaking. I’m thinking . . .
We are here for you and hoping you don’t have to give up kayaking or canoeing. Sometimes kayaking is harder as far as the git up and git down .
We have a Yak Port but its attached to the floating dock at home so of limited use. I find that a pack canoe ( in my case a RapidFire) is best adapting to my old age( going on 76).
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There are other ways to enjoy being on the water. If you need inspiration to hang in there, well, String can provide it. He has yet to hang it up, but could have already. I won’t go into his situation, but he does have mobility issues that would have caused most of us to have quit a long time ago.
As an aside my mother was born in Cambridge, MD. Almost all her ancestors have lived in Dorchester County since colonial times before America became a country. I spent 2 weeks each summer with my family there with the Choptank River just a few blocks away. Learned to crab, and fish there. I have many fond memories of those summers.
My Dad caught a 75 pound Black Drum fishing with one of my Uncles. He caught and landed it from the bridge across the Choptank River. To land it he had to walk it about a half mile to get it to shore reaching the rod around each of the numerous light poles along the bridge. My Uncle waded out to get it and told him it had to be a submarine it was so big. Uncle always made us kids laugh too. He caught it on 12 pound test line. It would have been a line weight record for Black Drum, but they didn’t get a girth measurement. It wasn’t required in the past but had been changed a few months before. They didn’t know that when they had it weight on 2 certified scales and length measured. This isn’t a typical fish story as I have photographic proof. I am 9 years old in the photo taken in my Uncle’s backyard.
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Adaptation is what we humans are good at. I’m sure there’s still ways you can continue to stay on the water. Maybe as kayamedic said, a pack canoe, or perhaps look into some type of rowboat, e.g. adirondack guideboat. Although, I would say based on your stories, you’re doing fine. None of us are what we used to be.
Dats a beeg feesh. Drum is good; so is Rock. The medium size fish have cleaner meat. I don’t intend to give up kayaking. My comment was about trying to adapt to more specialized boats. Not complaining - explaining.
Pain is temporary. I came home today, iced the shoulder, took an anti-inflammatory, and went on about my life. My pleasure is the freedom, the open water, the challenge, the exploration. The Chesapeake Bay is my rush; it’s unique in the world. A salt marsh is as vibrant and diverse as a forest. An exotic boat isn’t needed. I want to encourage anyone in the area to explore it.
A Tsunami is the perfect tool for what I do. It’s rock stable, fast enough, virtually indestructible, and dry up to 30" waves (when I say it will handle up to 36", it’s not bragging, it’s my accepted limit), and I can get in and out of it as long as it’s on stable footing. My boat looks like an old shoe.- no gel coat. The only thing I may change is the high back seat in favor of the backband kit, because the seat is becoming more trouble than it’s worth.
I don’t need the big water rush, an exotic boat, or isolated travel locations. I get to share that experience with the pictures and the stories posted on the forums. I do plan to pack my boat down to explore the intercoastal around Jupiter, FL (visited family there and regret not having my boat).
There’s more to kayaking to me than soul searching about mastering techniques. I retired after 39 years from a careers that required me to develop and hone specific skills, and I retired because it was just to much work. If I want to see more, I just have to go faster. I focused today on my paddling technique; I’m happy with it. When I’m in the zone, the boat moves. My only plan is to play with paddles. I’m getting back up to speed, but still have 1.5 mph to go, before I reach previous levels.
Up until I was 13 we lived just south of Jupiter, FL. We lived less than a mile to the beach and I could ride my bike over when old enough. There was hardly any construction between Riviera Beach and Jupiter back then.
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We visited my wife’s nephew during March a few years ago. Two days before the trip, we had a 20 plus inch snow storm in Baltimore. I manage to clear my long driveway and were met with 69° weather. I decided to take my car rather than the truck, and left the boat. What a mistake. A one week trip turned into two weeks. The day we left, temps hit 80°.
Just to steer back a little to the theme of this thread; I used to think that the proliferation of inexpensive paddling craft might introduce the sport to a lot of folks who otherwise might never stumble into it. To some extent that probably is the case, but lately I had the chance to paddle one of these things. It was a sit on top that they said was a 10 footer. Whatever my daughter paid for the thing, she wasted her money. If I had started on one of these little torture floats, I would have been done. It was so bad that there should be a law that restricts the use of the word “kayak” with reference to these–whatever they are.
My true feeling is that too many of these so-called recreational kayaks are so bad that more people will quickly lose interest in paddling if that is what they start out with. So beginners beware; it just might not be OK to buy a rec kayak.
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You need to go back and read my first few posts about the cheap SOT I bought, and about a gazillion replies and posts since.
First, there are two types of recreational kayaks, sit-in and sit-on-top. I would very strongly advise against buying a cheap SOT, and probably a cheap sit-in too.
But what a lot of people don’t seem to get is that not all recreational kayaks are cheap pieces of junk. If you buy a reputable brand, like Old Town or Wilderness Systems, and spend a little more money, you are going to get a well designed boat with lots of features. You might need to pay even more for a good SOT, but I’ve never paddled a good SOT, so I can’t really say.
One thing I would point out is that most recreational kayaks are stable because they are wide, and this can create problems for smaller paddlers. Some models come in two or three sizes, for different sized paddlers, which is helpful.
I might also add that longer is usually better. For an adult, I wouldn’t buy anything shorter than eleven feet and I, personally, wouldn’t buy a kayak shorter than twelve.
You guys are both on point. How can both be right? Because every paddler has a different purpose for being on the water. If you’ve never been on the C. Bay, I can tell you within 1/2 mile per hour what to expect from a given tide and a section. My enjoyment comes from calculating the conditions and predicting the outcome. Other people want to just relax and explore the salt marshes. They can do that in a $300 boat. My Tsunami does both, but I paid five times as much for the stability to go just five more miles into the open channel. Five more miles can be covered with a $300 boat by just turning right on the way out.
Some boats are junk, but they work for introducing people to the adventure. I started out looking for fishing boats, and gave up fishing to explore. My 9 ft kayak was on sale for $269 was great for salt marsh exploration, but it was so limiting, I outgrew it before the season was over. I haven’t used the canoes I bought at the same time because I converted to kayaks. The Old Town Penobscot was on sale for $1,200 - that could have been spent on a good kayak. The money wasn’t wasted. I use the boats to introduce people to kayaking and canoeing. At one point, I didn’t have the cash flow to do that. Same with paddles. My nephew had his mother’s $489 paddle strapped to his front deck. He used his Aqua Bound Manta Ray that cost $189. The great thing about kayaking is the variety and range of gear. That makes it accessible to different interests. My rotomolded boat is indestructible. That’s why I keep it.
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At my size (5’6”, i.e. not that short), it’s very hard to find a rec kayak narrow enough so I’m not bashing my knuckles against the side of the boat when I use what is a natural-to-me high-angle paddling style. Luckily this didn’t turn me off kayaking; it just made me want a narrower boat.
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I envy you Doggy Paddler. The only way to get buoyancy in a short rec boat is width. Because I’m 6’1", the width wasn’t a big problem for me. You may have hit on the reason I went with longer paddles and low angle paddle stroke. Then I probably got tunnel vision and stuck to it when I went to narrower, but wider boats. The Tsunami is still 25.5" wide. I’d love a 22 inch boat. But my feet won’t fit in most performance boats. When I got back into kayaking. It took several trips before I could get my foot placement right without knee stress. My deck is like a wind sock at 16 inches. The cockpit is tight getting in and out, but it serves well to keep waves out. I’m now down to 224 lbs. The boat handles like a different animal now. The paddle posts has helped me redefine my propulsion. Thank for your help in that, by the way.
I could not agree more. I have had a few whitewater that I tried for light kayaking and prefer the rec kayaks. Some rec kayaks work phenomenally well but not be as fast as touring ones.
Another cyclist here. I have 4 bikes. I have 2 carbon road bikes. One Aero and one Roubaix style. I have a gravel bike and I have a mountain bike. Each of these bikes fills a niche and a type of riding that I may choose to do. The Aero is for high speed club rides. The Roubaix is for rides with significant hills. The Gravel is for non-paved rides or rallys. The Mountain bike is is for single track riding usually with lots of hills. Could I use these interchangeably? Maybe. Not as well. The road bikes don’t have the tires to last on miles of gravel. The road bikes can’t do the climbs of single tracks. The mountain bike is far too slow and heavy for club rides. The gravel bike doesn’t have the gears or suspension of single track rides. You can make all of these do a little of each.
Kayaks are the same way. Oh I’ve taken my canoe and my sea kayak on rec paddle events but neither are cooperative when it comes time for shuttling kayaks on rivers so I usually bring them on lake events. Even when I bring them they are much faster than the rec boats so I do a lot of waiting. I wouldn’t take my canoe on Lake Superior unless it was a relatively calm day. Same is true for a rec boat. None of these boat are suited for whitewater paddling but they are capable of handling the lower class levels.
I had a new pungo I bought in 2019. I sold it this past winter 2022. I didn’t like it enough. Too heavy. Too laid back seating. No decent bracing. Giant cockpit which some might like, I decided I didn’t. The thing I hated the most is the biggest design flaw with rec kayaks, no front bulkhead. Some recs don’t even have rear bulkheads. If it capsizes or takes a wave it’s not easily recovered. For flat water it’s not an issue until a speedboat swamps you. That happened to me. I see people take these on Superior. On a calm day yeah it could be done. One rogue wave and you’re down. As far as my rec paddles I’m looking at a transitional yak. The Delta 12.10 to be specific. It covers the shortcomings of the Pungo.
Where am I going with this? Buy the boat that suits your intended paddling. Buy the bike that suits your intended pedaling. You will be much happier with your purchase. It’s not a snob thing, it’s an advice from experience thing.
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Some people have so little self worth, they only feel better when they belittle others.
That’s crazy, and it only works if everybody else is clueless.
Welcome to most social media platforms…
Shouldn’t be that way. Intelligent people should accept reality.
This thread always gives me a good story to tell when someone on the river comments on my OT Flamingo 147.
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