2013 Journey 13.5
Found a 2013 stock Jackson Journey 13.5 with rudder. Still new and wrapped in plastic. Sat in it. Man that thing feels comfortable. Thinking about grabbing that.
Makes total sense to me…
That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about paddling. I got into paddling a few years ago when I bought a cheap-o rec kayak from Dick’s. I absolutely loved being on the water. It is my zen. However, right from the very beginning, I’ve always wanted something more. Like you, I watch myriad YT videos of folks on long-expedition sea kayaking trips in Alaska or around NZ or through the locks in Scotland, et al. I long for that kind of adventurous paddling. It calls to me. I can’t explain it, and it makes NO SENSE to anyone else when I try to explain it to them (non-paddlers).
About 1.5 years ago, it was coming upon winter, and I was asking fellow Pnetters what they recommend doing over the winter to stay paddle-minded. The most-offered advice was to take a pool kayaking course over the winter and learn how to roll. That’s what I did. The only course I could find was a whitewater kayaking course, though. With no real desire to do WW kayaking, I took the course anyway and fell in love with WW. I’ve been WW kayaking exclusively for the past year and have been having a blast.
However, the adventurous spirit of sea kayaking kept calling to me even as I was enjoying the WW. It has gotten stronger lately, and I have been longing to get back to “regular” paddling. I finally gave in and am selling my WW kit. After searching for a while, I picked up a used Necky Chatham 16 last weekend. Took it out on a local river early Sunday morning and loved it! I’ve often seen it referred to as the “playboat” of touring/sea kayaks. So, I still get to have a lot of fun learning and maintaining all my WW skills of bracing, edging, rolling, etc.
My Necky might be more sea kayak than I will ever need for the 95% flatwater paddling I will be doing in local waterways. But at least now I have a boat that I could potentially take on those epic expeditions I keep dreaming about and watching others do on YT!
nice boat
I often paddle with somebody who has one of these and she can keep up with me in my 18’ Greenland kayak with it. It’s a nice boat and well outfitted.