Me and a friend are thinking of doing the san juans in a tandem early Nov. The trip is not concrete, but I told him I would look into boat rentals. Neither of us belong to the BCU tent and have no certifications through them so Body boat blade is out. Know anyone that rents them or anything similar (we don’t want a tub! something narrow and fast). Thanks.
-Assad
Re BBB
I have a friend who got into their file as “can rent a boat”, at least for a while, by spending half a day with a guide proving that she could do a self-rescue at least two different ways, brace, turn, that kind of thing. Granted she had to pay for the guide’s time and lost half a day before she could just go out and paddle, and I don’t know how long that card is good for. But if you think you might be out that way more than once you may want to see if they can do that for you. Tho’, both of you would probably have to be able to do all this stuff - can your friend do this or is it just you?
(She came back from that trip resolved to go ahead and get a cert from someone - at the time the ACA levels were more disparate from the BCU than now so BCU was more apt for the purpose.)
hmm…
to much of a PIA, since we won’t have that much time. My “friend” is my slalom coach who used to race open crossings around the San Juans. He’s a good lad and all, but I don’t think he will deal with the fuss of things. I don’t really mind it, but knowing him, he sure would.
Now if it would take an hour or so, I could talk him into that. Was it really a half a day?
Not sure
Just tried to check - she’s not around. To meniton, her time also involved getting her into a drysuit, since it was before she had one. Apparently it went with the boat.
Best to call, maybe see if you can talk directly to Leon though. Could be that this kind of thing is more overhead than they can support on the day you plan to be there, like if they have a lot of groups going out.
cerification
In our area, at California Canoe and Kayak, the instructor signs off on a card that shows the classes you have sucessfully completed. I think shops should accept something like that in these cases.
Kayak rentals
Try George or Barbara at kayakacademy.com. They are first class people and should be able to supply you with good eqpt.
Requirements at Kayak Academy?
– Last Updated: Oct-11-07 11:40 PM EST –
Just looked at their site - do you know what they have in mind with "safety training"?
"However, with the exception of our sit-on-top kayaks, you must take or already have safety training before we will rent a kayak to you. So contact us well in advance of your trip and we'll get you started. Call us to make a reservation or E-Mail us for more information:
Phone/Voice mail (206) 527-1825"
Jarra - their tandems are ruddered Necky's. As I recall a decent boat. Do you guys have your heart set on an NDK tandem, or would you consider solo's?
By the way, they do set their renters up nice. I just looked at the equipment they send out with a boat. Not a full kit, but tons more than most places give.
celia …
my name is assad (you keep on calling me jarra) 
I know George personally. I never thought about renting from him. He’s got good solo boats but never thought about tandems.
At 28.5 inches the necky tandem sounds like a tub. Chris is a much stronger paddler (and faster) than me and a double would be better for us since we want to make it around many islands. Hmm … is there anyone out there that rents or demo’s NDK in the seattle area besides BBB?
Name
I am really impaired when it comes to names, also am not sure from time to time if someone is comfortable having their real name used here when it’s not their user name. I’ll usually only use the real name in a post after I’ve seen a clear indication that it’s OK and used by others. I may have missed such signals with yours.
Sorry if this habit offended you.
Good luck with finding a Triton.
no worries
Just was letting you know you can call me by my name :). I consider you and Wilson to be my virtual buddies. What with me having gone to RPI and the help you gave me with deciding over the Qaarsut over the Romany. Thanks again for your help.
Cheers
-Assad
Nootka Plus
Johnson Outdoors in Ferndale has a few doubles for rent. The Nootka Plus is certainly a fast double, so your friend should be happy.