Great review. Your description that it’s a great cross over between the rec boat and sea kayaking is how I feel about the Tsunami. That’s the best description, an I consider the entire Tsunami line crossover, even the 175 version that’s 24" wide. The stabity is excellent. You’re in the right weight range for that size boat.
I compared Wilderness Systems to other kayaks in the same class. I preferred it over all others by every measure of comfort, speed, tracking. You found the same features at hslf the price. Now that I dropped weigh, you encouraged me to pull it out of mothballs. I might even pull out my spray skirt so I can power through the waves without slowing down.
It light be helpful if you mention where you bought it to help anyone looking for a good starter kayak.
The Aventura is a jump up toward what I consider to be the real kayaks, the touring kayaks. We paddle the many lakes and reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains including Lake Tahoe and this handles these lakes very well. It really is a perfect boat for those with a little experience under their belts that want to move up to the next level from that 30" wide, 10 foot kayak.
I bought my Aventuras, one for myself and one for my wife, from Headwaters Adventure Company in Redding, CA during COVID. In fact, I got COVID the weekend we went to pick them up. It’s s long story, but our home burned June 30, 2021 and it was very difficult getting the FeelFree kayaks west of the Mississippi. I had written FeelFree about a replacement after the fire and due to COVID they had no stock, so I asked them to notify me when they did. Once they did I went online and tried to order two, but I couldn’t complete the order so I ended up contacting them again. They stopped shipping to the West, except to a couple of distributors. They gave me the names of three distributors and Redding was the closest to us, we’re in Reno, NV.
Headwaters Kayak on YouTube, a great place to see reviews and learn about paddling, actually has one of the very few reviews you can find on the Aventura. Headwaters Kayak on YouTube and Headwaters Adventure Company are not one and the same as I once thought. There used to be a connection, though. Here’s a couple links to Headwaters Kayak. I don’t think Headwaters Adventure Company is selling FeelFree any longer.
If you can afford an Eddyline, your money will be much better spent on a Delta, especially on the Great Lakes. Deltas are far more stable than Eddylines on big water and they have much more room in the hatches if you’re interested in camping. In terms of your skill, it would be difficult to go from an 8’ recreational kayak to an Eddyline in large waves and rough water. In those conditions, your skills would be a safety issue in an Eddyline. I suggest the Delta 14 for a great combination of light weight, stability, and speed.
Glad you like your Journey. I was convinced it was a great fit for me to upgrade from 12’ rec kayak to something a bit more serious. When to try it out with full intention of buying it but in my test paddle I couldn’t keep it going straight for some reason. It wanted to veer off left or right and once it started it was hard to correct. I tried leaning each way to edge it a bit but it still felt random and would just pull to one side or the other and want to keep that line. I left puzzled to if it was me or the boat. I have paddled many rec kayaks over 20 years and never experienced anything like it, but I have never paddled a longer touring kayak.
Are you confident with how to properly edge to track straight? The 14 ft journey is a virtual copy of the 140 Tsunami (previously listed as 24" wide, buy now listed as 25.5). The only difference I see is in the chine.
A thought on veering side to side. Was that boat weighted toward the stern making it bow light? Could you be seated more towards the bow?
I’ve read that some lighter paddlers correct that by adding a gallon of water toward the bow.
Awesome boat, Jackson makes good products! And Werner! I think you chose a good boat but I’m curious on the fit for you? Usually, MOST higher brands make a 13 1/2’ kayak for smaller paddlers, they tend to have lower decks. Where all the other 1/2’s (12.5’, 15.5’, 16.5’ ect) are higher volume. Let us know what you think about it, solid boat for how you want to use it. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you could outfit it with shim pads and a rudder if you ever want to venture a tad further from shore. Although, anything under ~15.5’ - 16’ doesn’t need a rudder, imo.
Enjoy the boat! You got a heck of a deal and you’ll be playing in some good waterways.
This has not been my experience with the Jackson. I’ve taken it on many river trips and across some decent size lakes at this point and it feels stable and tracks straight as an arrow. I also find it quite maneuverable, even more so than my 12’ boat.
I’ve had the opportunity to take it on a 4 day camping adventure, several stretches of river and across some decent size lakes. The fit feels perfect for me and I find it maneuvers better than even my smaller boats. The only thing I don’t like, and this would be an issue for me in any narrow yak… my legs feel claustrophobic sometimes as I tend to shift positions and move around a lot… you cannot sit cross legged in this boat which is something I do on slow moving flat water sometimes lol. This is especially true with the spray skirt on. But that’s not an issue with the boat, rather something I have to get used to with narrower boats… less room to “toss and turn” my legs.
Oh yeah! That’ll take some getting used to. You’ll get there, just keep at it and keep having fun and the claustrophobic feeling should go away. If you ever bring it up north, let me know!
I know we are getting off the original topic but for the tracking I was totally shocked. The boat was empty except for me at 200lbs. The other strange thing was it was hard to change directions once it set off right or left.
I’ve used that method (ballasting the bow) to correct wandering. Briefly had a vintage Aquaterra Scimitar (raspberry with yellow and black pinstriping, whoohoo!) that was supposed to be a touring kayak but paddling it was like trying to walk a chihuahua straight through a street fair. I figured out that stowing a couple of 1liter Nalgene bottles of water in the front of the bow hatch would correct the tracking.
Same zig-zagging behavior was evidenced when paddling with a friend who had loaned her young son her old 10’ discount store rec boat. By the time I realized how much the youngster in the rec boat was struggling to keep up with us due to his wandering bow, we didn’t have anything heavy with us to ballast his boat, so we pulled to shore and stacked several chunks of shale (maybe 10 pounds) as far as we could stuff them in the nose. Did the trick.
I will have to try that in the future, and great analogy! Moving the paddler forward a bit (like a thick back band or even sitting more upright) seems like it could accomplish the same effect.
