Re: [Paddlewise] Wavewalk W1 kayak

A friend of mine is/was a West Coast distributor for
this and let several friends and I try it out. Frankly
I would not take it as a gift. All of us found it to
ride very high, be extremely unstable, uncomfortable
to paddle whether standing or sitting and awkward to
steer. To see if it could hold more than one person
two very experienced kayakers tried it and
immediately, in spite of hilarious frantic paddling,
went ass over tea kettle into the water. All of this
was done on flat perfectly still water in a lagoon! I
can't imagine trying to ride that thing in surf or
down a river. 

Perhaps if it were fully loaded it might sit lower in
the water and be a bit more stable, although I doubt
it. Even so, the model I tried didn't have bulkheads
and once water starts to pour in bailing it out with
one hand while attempt to stabilize it with the other
just ain't gonna make it.

If anyone lives in the San Jose Area I could probably
arrange a tryout, but frankly the last time I checked
it was twice the price of a decent little sit-on-top
like a Maui and lacks its bulkheads, stability and
maneuverability.

Raphael
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