as an outdoor professional i’ve seen the kayak sales phenomenon grow exponentially in the last 10 years. one of the ongoing questions i hear over and over is “how do i portage my kayak”, “can you recommend a good yoke system for my kayak?”
yes my friend i can. it’s called a canoe. thousands of years of indigenous cultures evolved these craft for their ideal purposes. kayaks evolved for wide open water; sea travel. canoes evolved for inland water travel; lakes and rivers, carrying your boat when needed. a tandem canoe is ever versatile and some designs can do ANYTHING. all you need is an investment in skill. sure if lake Superior is your thing a sea kayak is the best way to go, but never underestimate the practicality of the canoe for 1 or 2 people to travel through most wilderness areas. think about it, and happy paddling.
portaging kayaks...
As an avid kayaker and canoer
I have to disagree with you on the portage issue.
Several years ago I devised, invented or whatever you want to call it a portage yoke for my 62 pound kayak and have e-mailed pictures of it to quite a few people on this forum.
Most kayaks are lighter than most canoes and with a yoke are even easier to portage than a canoe.
With all that said, the next time we do the BWCA, I will still use the canoe, since I would feel guilty portaging my yak there.
Cheers,
JackL
Ahhhh… the old bait and switch…
lure us with a kayak subject line and then try to reel us in with the canoe sermon. I'm not converted, I'm sticking with my kayak and "kayak kaddy". ;o)
no sermoning here mate…
just good old common sense. i’m an instructor in all disciplines but ww kayaking (if i wanted to skateboard, i’d buy one) and LOVE sea kayaking. it’s just that i find it funny that some folks want desperately to try and make kayaks fit into an environment where it they are essentially impractical. loading and unloading a kayak for numerous portage trails must be a bear of a job.
now having said all that i realise that there are a thousand different ways of tripping and variations on the theme. heck i paddle with some guy who rows a maritime fishing dorry and loves it. it’s all good.
cheers, jbv
tell em its called
a shoulder.
What Krousmon said!
jbv,
you sure are right about packing and unpacking the hatches for the portages, but on the other hand, you’ll never be windbound on those big wilderness lakes with a sea kayak and some skills.