On the verge

I thought I heard that Next Adventure is having a kayak demo day on May 30th at Sellwood.  We went last year and had a lot of fun, you can demo dozens of kayaks and really get a good comparison of the models and brands.

Yup! It's the annual Summer Splash Demo Day. Next will have tons of kayaks next to the water that you can try out. It's always a good time! I should be able to make it but I might be a little late.

If you buy a "cheapie" you'll get what you pay for.  You would be better off to buying a good quality used
boat(s).  A very short wide (10' or less) kayak is a pain in the ass to paddle and a very long (over 14') one is fast, less stable, and usually heavy. SOTs are preferable to SINKs in most cases.  I suggest a boat like a Cobra Fish & Dive or a Hobie Outback in the 12-14 foot range.   You'll have good stability and they are easy to paddle or pedal.  With a wider boat you'll need a longer paddle.  My boats are 36" wide and I use paddles in the 230cm-240cm lengths. Shorter paddles will bang against the hull and cause you to bend your torso more leading to tiring more quickly.  Get the best PFD you can afford, one with large pockets.  Try several on and make sure they do not interfere with paddling.  Attach a safety whistle to the zipper for ease of access.  Waders will fill with water if you go in and make it harder to recover into your boat. If you have to use waders, cut the feet off at the ankles and get some neoprene socks.  Make sure all your gear is tethered so you don't lose it if you should flip.  Always wear your PFD!  Good luck.       

Great job Rawk! Kinda funny to see my wife and son in the background under the tent during your segment. Cool video!

If you buy a "cheapie" you'll get what you pay for.  You would be better off to buying a good quality used
boat(s).  A very short wide (10' or less) kayak is a pain in the ass to paddle and a very long (over 14') one is fast, less stable, and usually heavy. SOTs are preferable to SINKs in most cases.  I suggest a boat like a Cobra Fish & Dive or a Hobie Outback in the 12-14 foot range.   You'll have good stability and they are easy to paddle or pedal.  With a wider boat you'll need a longer paddle.  My boats are 36" wide and I use paddles in the 230cm-240cm lengths. Shorter paddles will bang against the hull and cause you to bend your torso more leading to tiring more quickly.  Get the best PFD you can afford, one with large pockets.  Try several on and make sure they do not interfere with paddling.  Attach a safety whistle to the zipper for ease of access.  Waders will fill with water if you go in and make it harder to recover into your boat. If you have to use waders, cut the feet off at the ankles and get some neoprene socks.  Make sure all your gear is tethered so you don't lose it if you should flip.  Always wear your PFD!  Good luck.     

You bring up some great points and I agree with pretty much everything except the part about waders filling with water. This theory has been tested by people in the past and was shown to not really "hold water".   When talking about using waders in the kayaking realm, they are perfectly safe as long as you use a wading belt or cinch down a dry top over the waders and always wear a good PFD. Waders are particularly a good choice because lots of fishermen already have them and they are generally cheap and easy to find in stores. Wearing wading boots make swimming a bit tough though.

You might want to research that place you're taking a class at, specifically,  incident report netarts bay.

jesus christ this was a terrifying read:
http://blog.redalderranch.com/?p=89

There was also a demo client from their shop that had to be rescued recently as well.

I thought I heard that Next Adventure is having a kayak demo day on May 30th at Sellwood.  We went last year and had a lot of fun, you can demo dozens of kayaks and really get a good comparison of the models and brands.

Unfortunately we'll be out of town that weekend, so missing a great opportunity.

If you buy a "cheapie" you'll get what you pay for.  You would be better off to buying a good quality used
boat(s).  A very short wide (10' or less) kayak is a pain in the ass to paddle and a very long (over 14') one is fast, less stable, and usually heavy. SOTs are preferable to SINKs in most cases.  I suggest a boat like a Cobra Fish & Dive or a Hobie Outback in the 12-14 foot range.   You'll have good stability and they are easy to paddle or pedal.  With a wider boat you'll need a longer paddle.  My boats are 36" wide and I use paddles in the 230cm-240cm lengths. Shorter paddles will bang against the hull and cause you to bend your torso more leading to tiring more quickly.  Get the best PFD you can afford, one with large pockets.  Try several on and make sure they do not interfere with paddling.  Attach a safety whistle to the zipper for ease of access.  Waders will fill with water if you go in and make it harder to recover into your boat. If you have to use waders, cut the feet off at the ankles and get some neoprene socks.  Make sure all your gear is tethered so you don't lose it if you should flip.  Always wear your PFD!  Good luck.     

I do have the Outback in mind as an eventual target. I like the idea of having multiple modes of propulsion. In point of fact, one of the places I intend to lurk is the Willy in the Newberg area. So my plan would be to launch, head up river, then drift my way back with the current, fishing along the way. Pedaling would let me do that faster and further, and would also be welcome on a lake when the wind gets up and you gotta make a quick exit.

But I think I nead to learn how to paddle and control a kayak, first.

I do intend getting a long paddle to match the wide kayak, to avoid unnecessary strain on my back by too much leaning to reach the water with too short a shaft.

I will pull the trigger on the Solquist Fisherman at the first opportunity I get to try on for size (post school).

I'm gonna leave the neoprene socks intact on my waders, but I expect to mostly use rubber soled dive booties over them instead of wading boots. My boots are...thinking....oh yeah. Korkers Devil's Canyon, so they are lighter than some others.

I will eventually go for a custom fat man dry suit made to fit my sculpted form. Presuming of course that I don't decide that I hate the hobby, the waders aren't fully satisfactory, and especially if I ever aspire to big/salty bodies of water during the "r" months.

As far as gear, yeah I expect to be particularly anal about that, and for the fishing part I am trying to be very selective in what I bring even on my bank-bound adventures - everything must fit in the fishing vest. I figure if I know what I'm fishing for I can bring a very narrow set of gear and minimize how much is even on the kayak, much less needing to be secured.

If you buy a "cheapie" you'll get what you pay for.  You would be better off to buying a good quality used
boat(s).  A very short wide (10' or less) kayak is a pain in the ass to paddle and a very long (over 14') one is fast, less stable, and usually heavy. SOTs are preferable to SINKs in most cases.  I suggest a boat like a Cobra Fish & Dive or a Hobie Outback in the 12-14 foot range.   You'll have good stability and they are easy to paddle or pedal.  With a wider boat you'll need a longer paddle.  My boats are 36" wide and I use paddles in the 230cm-240cm lengths. Shorter paddles will bang against the hull and cause you to bend your torso more leading to tiring more quickly.  Get the best PFD you can afford, one with large pockets.  Try several on and make sure they do not interfere with paddling.  Attach a safety whistle to the zipper for ease of access.  Waders will fill with water if you go in and make it harder to recover into your boat. If you have to use waders, cut the feet off at the ankles and get some neoprene socks.  Make sure all your gear is tethered so you don't lose it if you should flip.  Always wear your PFD!  Good luck.     

You bring up some great points and I agree with pretty much everything except the part about waders filling with water. This theory has been tested by people in the past and was shown to not really "hold water".   When talking about using waders in the kayaking realm, they are perfectly safe as long as you use a wading belt or cinch down a dry top over the waders and always wear a good PFD. Waders are particularly a good choice because lots of fishermen already have them and they are generally cheap and easy to find in stores. Wearing wading boots make swimming a bit tough though.

I am of the same mind regarding the waders, and will certainly be using the wading belt, even through there's not a lot of slack between me and the material in the first place !

I have rubber soled diving booties that should allow me to get from the parking lot into the boat and back, and also provide for some bank fishing time as it comes up (islands, etc.)

You might want to research that place you're taking a class at, specifically,  incident report netarts bay.

Maybe I'm dense, but I read that incident report, and honestly I don't see great cause for ongoing concern. Looks to me like the correct responses and application of lessons learned, given the original errors.

Would you care to be more specific ? Is this outfit generally agreed to be dodgy/disreputable ?

I've taken two kayak classes at Alder Creek and both were excellent and the instructors were professional and very helpful.   I bet there were many lessons learned that day in Netarts, by everyone. 

You might want to research that place you're taking a class at, specifically,  incident report netarts bay.

Maybe I'm dense, but I read that incident report, and honestly I don't see great cause for ongoing concern. Looks to me like the correct responses and application of lessons learned, given the original errors.

Would you care to be more specific ? Is this outfit generally agreed to be dodgy/disreputable ?

I've taken two kayak classes at Alder Creek and both were excellent and the instructors were professional and very helpful.   I bet there were many lessons learned that day in Netarts, by everyone. 

You might want to research that place you're taking a class at, specifically,  incident report netarts bay.

Maybe I'm dense, but I read that incident report, and honestly I don't see great cause for ongoing concern. Looks to me like the correct responses and application of lessons learned, given the original errors.

Would you care to be more specific ? Is this outfit generally agreed to be dodgy/disreputable ?

That's what I'm hoping. If there's more to the story, or more stories I'd like to know.

I will say I would hope for a trip like that with a guide/leader to conduct the pre-launch more along the lines of a teaching session - "What do you folks see out there ?" then tell them what they should be looking for and what it means, and how they are processing that into their assessment of conditions and location. But maybe that's not a realistic expectation on my part.

If you feel like something isn't safe,  don't take an instructors word for it.   I also don't think it's smart too put people in demo kayaks in a flowing river with no immersion gear.  They tried to do that with me 4 or so years ago when I was shopping for s Jackson coosa at that shop.    Did I mention that a few weeks ago one of their demo customers had to be rescued from the river?

To top things off,  they were long time employers of a giant a-hole that thought he was the end all be all of kayak hand line fishing,  and safety. The guy threatened members of this board and still wasn't fired.  He was banned from the forums though.  The asshat still puts himself in for kayak angler of the year,  every year.   

If you feel like something isn't safe,  don't take an instructors word for it.   I also don't think it's smart too put people in demo kayaks in a flowing river with no immersion gear.  They tried to do that with me 4 or so years ago when I was shopping for s Jackson coosa at that shop.    Did I mention that a few weeks ago one of their demo customers had to be rescued from the river?

To top things off,  they were long time employers of a giant a-hole that thought he was the end all be all of kayak hand line fishing,  and safety. The guy threatened members of this board and still wasn't fired.  He was banned from the forums though.  The asshat still puts himself in for kayak angler of the year,  every year.

Ah, that connects a few dots for me, thanks.