I've been reading Paddlewise for a couple of weeks now and have come to a couple of tentative conclusions about the group. You/we have a great group of people here who are very helpful and don't mind answering the kind of questions that newbies like me might ask. I've learned a bunch and picked up some ideas that I will definitely implement on my boat, i.e. paddle and self tethers, towing setups, survival gear, etc. One of the things I've picked up from Paddlewise stimulated consideration of matters is that I'll want to place my diving weight belt as close to under my butt as I can, to further stabilize an already fat/stable boat, while en route, without impairing maneuverability, as putting it in one of the end compartments might. I can also see that my first thought of packing it in the front compartment when finished diving might well cause me some little surf transit problems [submarining?] on returning to the beach.)I've found it all interesting and plan to continue on th! ! e list, hopefully I'll eventually find myself able to contribute some answers to questions and/or helpful opinions in the cause of stimulating thought. I'm an ex-paddler of some 12 years experience in "Royaks," which many may never have seen. (I've learned that us'ns who started growing up before color TV often refer to things that make people go, "huh? What's that?") They are/were an ABS/cycolac yellow boat shaped a lot like an aircraft wing tank half, designed for diving but with a ton of storage volume which made them passable for river camping, tho' I wouldn't think they'd be good in white water. I understand the are no longer made; they used to be very popular with the SCUBA/Snorkeling crowd back when I was Dive Activities Chairman for the Sierra Club Dive Section (San Francisco Bay Area) for a year or so. That ended about 20 years ago when my ex' and I split and I gave her everything I had to get my retirement free and clear. Now I'm 5 years into retirement and, after remembering how it seemed half the fun of diving with the Royaks was paddling to the dive site, I've gotten a paddle boat. After a little internet researc! ! h I bought a Cobra Explorer kayak. I think it's going to be just fine for what I originally intended, Day trips around here with frequent dropping out of the boat for a free dive, after anchoring and setting up the dive flag on one of those bike flag pylons. I'm already considering buying a longer boat, 15-18 feet for the purpose of longer trips, day to a week, from which I would probably want to dive, occasionally. Because of the diving aspect of my kayaking I have chosen the sit on top variety. I took some kayaking classes and didn't find the limited in-boat mobility of the sit inside variety suitable for what I want to do. The ones I've tried didn't give me what I considered a very practical platform for handling your diving gear. I do find the discussions very applicable to my usage, except for rolling and skirts. Considerations of width and stability make it likely that I'd keep my present fat boat for mostly diving and reduce the diving from the 'traveling' boat because of its narrower profile and desire to keep it as light as possible for easy long-distance paddling. I hope to someday get the point where I'll be able to cross Monterey bay from Santa Cruz to Monterey. This one, I think would qualify as an open ocean trip, as! ! in the middle you'd be at least 10 miles offshore of Moss Landing and 12 miles from the start and end. People make the trip in 5-6 hours, which is beyond me in my current boat, even if I were foolish enough to try such a trip at my current skill level. I figure such a trip is at least a year or so in my future, if not more. Are there any/many people here who sit on top instead of inside, or are we outside kayakers considered not 'real' kayakers on paddlewise? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. dflory_at_earthlink.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Sep 21 1999 - 13:09:57 PDT
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