i11s 'Tour de Sunset Bay'

took advantage of good conditions Sunday (NW3'/13s + SW1.5'/6s, wind 7-9mph) to go for my first i11s ocean bottom fishing outing, which turned into more of an ocean tour after an 8am 'powerboat hatch' turned Simpson Reef into a parking lot.  I ended up covering about 6 miles so this was less a fishing focused outing and more of a ocean kayak test while fishing.

couple of boat details- seat in low position and I had the skeg installed plus the 'sailing rudder' from my Oasis.  Skeg is great for paddling (note this early in the video), it also reduces wind push on the aft of the boat, but slows steering response.  Larger rudder helps but you cannot make quick turns with the skeg in.  I have more testing to do before I decide the best configuration.

launched 5:40am in light rain, headed to Simpson Reef (2miles) and fished off the end for a while, lots of bites but it was one of those days when they weren't sticking, put a 2# black in the boat and when all the PBs showed up decided to head for Baltimore Rock (2.5miles) , more bites just in from there and put a black rock-tank in the boat, thought it was my first 4#er but not quite (3.75#)...PB radio chatter about some Biggs Orcas in the area, I had noticed less than normal seal/sea lions around, saw a black dorsal in the distance but didn't get close to any of them...back to Sunset Bay just after 11am so 5.5hours on the water.

The boat was very stable and behaved the way I would expect an 11' kayak to in the mixed swell conditions, I was definitely not standing up and was more careful moving around on the deck.  I could hit 5mph into the swells but above 4mph and I would get spray in the face, so that didn't make much sense....3mph all day.



from "What are your goals for 2016" thread:

my goal in 2016 is to get out multiple times for rockfish/lings out of Sunset Bay....

and also to get my i11S and figure what sort of trouble I can get into pedaling it over the summer...cheers, roger

with 4 trips out of Sunset Bay and 4 more in lower Coos Bay already, plus lots of i11s testing, I should add the following to this year:  catch ocean salmon from one (or both) of my kayaks and find some California Halibut when they are in Coos Bay.   cheers, roger

How do you like the way the i11 handles? I'm kinda still new to this sport but i like the idea of minimalist fishing on that platform. Any tips would be appreciated.

Nice video Riger , curious though have you surf launched or landed they bad boy yet, I got an opportunity to see a tandem one at TBMD 2 it came in A tesla trunk all the way from Idaho and once in there you wouldn't know it was there.

Thanks, Roger!  It's fascinating to watch these test rides.

Thanks, Roger!  It's fascinating to watch these test rides.

Test rides?  LOL.  my freezer is filling up with fish that I am catching taking the i11s on test rides...

Nice video Riger , curious though have you surf launched or landed they bad boy yet, I got an opportunity to see a tandem one at TBMD 2 it came in A tesla trunk all the way from Idaho and once in there you wouldn't know it was there.

you will notice that the other Hobie inflatables have 'sides' on them like a kayak, the i11s is flat and I have found 3 advantages to this:  less area for the wind to push on, easier to add rigging to the deck (boxes, coolers, crates) or hang things off the edge, like a sonar transducer or anchor (downrigger is this weeks project), and not having sides makes re-entry way too easy...so far, I have not modifyed my boat at all, the rigging is all mounting modular style using the existing Hobie attach rings.  cheers, roger