Off we go to Ladysmith: Alison, Paula, Bernie, Louise and myself. A day of kayak demos, courses and exhibits awaited.
Kayaks as far as the eye can see....
Bernie got distracted not by a kayak, but by a small tent that attaches to a roof rack. That looks pretty cool! Mind you, it cost about two grand, but it still looks cool!
Since Louise and I both own Delta kayaks, we started there. Behold a deluge of Deltas, including the brand-new tandem in white at the back.
Here's me in a Delta 18 Expedition. This was the best boat I tried all day.
What can I say? I just love these Deltas! They're a thermoformed plastic kayak and they are fun, and stable.
This model is 18'8" long. It's freakin' huge! It goes like stink and super straight. Louise tried it and thought it was just too big for her.
Here's the front end -- that's a lot of boat.
Here's what the beach looked like from the water.
Bernie tried out this Current Design boat...
...while I joined him in a Current Design Solstice Titan LV.
This is a fiberglass boat, and I found it a bit tippy. Mind you, I've tried Alison's Current Design and found it a bit tippy at first, too, before I got used to it. This kayak had a HUGE cockpit. Even I felt small in there! And this is the low-volume version!
Louise joined us on the water in an Eliza.
Eliza is marketed as a "woman's kayak." Louise just loved it! She's trying a rotomolded plastic version, but they also had a fiberglass version to try, too.
Paula loved the Eliza, too! Alison tried it and didn't like it as much, but she thought it wasn't too bad.
Alison tried this Current Design boat which looks like a longer version of her own boat.
We also tried a number of Lightspeed kayaks. Here Louise tries a Photon.
Paula is paddling an Intrigue, a strange but fun little kayak.
Louise is going out in a Phoenix, which is a longer version of the Photon. I tried it too, and liked it, but not as much as the Delta. It has some sort of fancy state of the art rudder/skeg combo but neither Louise or I could get it deployed. It's not a bad boat and has some interesting features.
Here's Bernie trying a sit-on-top. That's something I wanted to try but didn't get around to.
And here's Bernie (in a rotomolded Necky) in his rolling class.
He got the rolling upside down part very well. The rolling up part still needs work.
Paula took the same course (also in a rotomolded Necky).
She didn't manage a roll, either.
Then there was this guy, named Dubside. He put on quite a show. Using his Greenland paddle, he demonstrated various rolling techniques.
He just sat in the water and rolled. And rolled. And rolled and rolled and rolled. Then he rolled some more. And some more. Then he threw away his paddle and rolled again. And again. And again and again and again. Then, you'll never guess what he did. That's right! He rolled some more!
Wow, he was amazing.
Louise ended the day by winning a door prize. No, it wasn't a door, it was a pretty nifty dry bag, worth about $70 from MEC.
We had fun fun fun in the sun sun sun!
My pictures are here.
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