Re: [Paddlewise] WS Tarpon vs Heritage sit on tops

From: Al Vazquez <alvazquez_at_kayakguide.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 18:49:27 -0400
Henry,

There are a number of things I like about the 16 foot fiberglass 
Heritage Nomad I've paddled for over 5 years:
- I love the convenience and safety of a sit on top; no hassle with a 
skirt in the warm Florida waters I normally paddle. (But sunblock or 
slacks are important :-)
- The Nomad is a nice blend of tracking and turning that allows me to  
paddle fast to a a flatwater creek mouth, then turn reasonably quickly 
paddling
the creek itself.
- In the fairly flat river,  creek, and inland waterway paddling I 
frequent, the primary waterline is narrow and rarely contacts the 
water, so it's a fairly  fast 16 foot boat.
- It has quite a bit of internal storage and two O-ring sealed hatches; 
one screw and one with turning latches.
- It has a perfect place to mount a fishing rod holder between my knees 
(which I did).
- I like the secondary stability built into a secondary waterline that 
normally is not in contact with the water. These sides provide 
substantial secondary stability for me for fishing, pulling through 
creek brush, camera juggling, etc. And I can enter and exit the Nomad 
easily in deep water.
- And finally, the seat is above the waterline, so it stays fairly dry.

I weigh 160 lbs. I mention that because the sides of the hull that are 
normally not in contact with the water for me would make contact more 
often and slow the Nomad with a heavier paddler or in rougher sea 
states.

This is the boat I uses most often and am very satisfied with it for 
warm, flatwater, fishing, photography, snorkeling, and shorter camping 
trips.

Please feel free to email me directly if you have other specific 
questions.

Best regards,

Al Vazquez
KayakGuide.com
- Places to Paddle -

On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, at 09:43 AM, Henry Donnelly wrote:

> Any opinions on these two in 16ft configuration? Hard to find a place 
> to demo them. Thanks


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************
Received on Tue Sep 30 2003 - 15:49:34 PDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:10 PDT