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Yakkity Yak Yak‏ event

MarcusArelius

By MarcusArelius
in Northwest

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MarcusArelius

MarcusArelius

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Posted

For those that don't know for several years I have owned a rather large, and heavy, 16' Coleman canoe that I used to transport on the top on a van. When I replaced the van with a truck I had to start hauling it on a trailer. Last summer I dragged what someone :blink: nicknamed "Shamoo" all around the state.

 

To make a long story short I have finally downsized to a 39 pound under 10' kayak that I can toss in the bed of my pickup. During my research (men don't shop) I was a bit dismayed that I couldn't test paddle the "yak" and often could not even sit in them. Since Hydnsek was also in the market we pooled our research and ask fellow water cachers for their opinions.

 

Since several of us now own different models of short kayaks I proposed that we hold an event to try out each other's kayaks. I thought this would be a good chance for any other cachers that were interested in making a kayak purchase to try before you buy. Or to find out if they are really interested in paddling at all.

 

 

I am posting to gather info before posting the event. What do y'all think? Would you want to attend?

 

If you have any type of hand-launch paddle craft could you bring it?

 

Does June 14, or 21, sound like a good day?

 

 

I though we'd spend about 1-2 hours for folks to try each others boats on short little paddles (and for people without boats to try them out too). That would be the "event". I think Enatai Beach (I-90 just west of I-405) would be a good spot since the water is clean and they have a boat rental shop there.

 

The rental shop is so the boat-less people can join us for after event caching up the Mercer slough. That would add another couple of hours of paddle practice. Folks that are not comfortable paddling by themselves could rent a double and go with an experienced person to get the water caches.

 

http://www.ci.bellevue.wa.us/enatai_beach_park.htm

Prices (first hour/addtl hour):

 

Canoe or Single Kayak $17/$8

Double Kayak $23/$10

Single SOT $11/$5

Double SOT $13/$6

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Half-Canadian

+Half-Canadian

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I have an Eddyline Sandpiper 12-footer: that I've owned for a few years. I believe I paid around $1,100.00 for it, and they are now $1,395.00 new.

 

I'm in the middle of moving so I wouldn't be able to attend the event, but if anyone would like to borrow it for the event they can get in touch with me. The yak is in storage in Ferndale until I get relocated. It would fit in a pickup or on any vehicle's roof rack -- it only weighs about 35 pounds.

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SweetSassyPants

+SweetSassyPants

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Posted

Oh my!

 

Gordy and I have a canoe, quite likely it's very similar to the one mentioned by MA. I don't know what the length is (that's Gordy's dept), but I know it's red and has two seats. :blink:

 

We've been on the market for a kayak and hope to purchase one w/i the next couple of months, because there are just some caches where a yak is much more suitable than a canoe.

 

Although this sounds like a lot of fun, Gordy has one of those weird jobs and will be working both of the days suggested for the event so we'll likely miss this one. :o

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Prying Pandora

+Prying Pandora

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Posted

Sounds fun! I would be interested in the event and also in renting a kayak afterwards, except that I've only paddled three times before, each time in a double. I'd like to try paddling a single--how steep is the learning curve?

  • Paddle on left side to spin right
  • Paddle on right side to spin left
  • Paddle on alternate sides to go forward
  • Paddle harder on left side to veer right
  • Paddle harder on right side to veer left
  • Stick the end of the paddle down in the water to stop.
  • Stick the end of the paddle down on alternate sides if you want to stop straight.
  • Paddle backwards if you want to back up
  • Go over wakes and waves head on, not sideways.

There's more stuff that's good to know, but those are the basics.

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hydnsek

+hydnsek

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Posted

I remember now what's wrong with the 21st - that's when the Missoula Cache Machine is. The 14th is the only day I can do.

Ditto. The Missoula Cache Machine is June 21, and I think a lot of us are going. June 14 works great, tho!

 

As soon as Mark has time to help me haul it home, I will have a Perception Prodigy 10 yak, bought at the REI sale for $280. I don't have a way to haul it on my own yet, tho, so I'd like to thank Mark for all his past (Shamu) and future watercraft hauling. :)

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MarcusArelius

MarcusArelius

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Sounds fun! I would be interested in the event and also in renting a kayak afterwards, except that I've only paddled three times before, each time in a double. I'd like to try paddling a single--how steep is the learning curve?

  • Paddle on left side to spin right
  • Paddle on right side to spin left
  • Paddle on alternate sides to go forward
  • Paddle harder on left side to veer right
  • Paddle harder on right side to veer left
  • Stick the end of the paddle down in the water to stop.
  • Stick the end of the paddle down on alternate sides if you want to stop straight.
  • Paddle backwards if you want to back up
  • Go over wakes and waves head on, not sideways.

There's more stuff that's good to know, but those are the basics.

 

Like have a firm hold of something when you attempt to get out. Right? :)

Edited by MarcusArelius
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TeamIDFC

+TeamIDFC

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Ms IDFC and I are most likely in either weekend. We'll even try not to be too obvious about where our caches are if/when the group paddles into the slough... :)

 

We currently paddle in:

- Ms IDFC: a Perception Sundance (12')

- Mr IDFC: an Old Town Loon 138 (13')

 

Both were around the $600 price point - they are between the short/inexpensive 10' models and the larger/more expensive "touing" models.

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hydnsek

+hydnsek

Posted
Posted

Sounds fun! I would be interested in the event andalso in renting a kayak afterwards, except that I've only paddled three times before, each time in a double. I'd like to try paddling a single--how steep is the learning curve?

Don't worry, I've never paddled a kayak, either. :) I haven't even gotten my new one home from REI yet. But I hear it's pretty easy (see Prying Pandora's note :)). The saleswoman told me the key to paddle technique is to focus on pushing, not pulling. (That is: push the top of the paddle forward, not pull the paddle through the water.)

 

And if you're gonna be in the water, be sure you have a PFD on!

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Dgwphotos

+Dgwphotos

Posted
Posted

There's more stuff that's good to know, but those are the basics.

 

Like have a firm hold of something when you attempt to get out. Right? :)

Yes, that and put your camera in a ziplock bag so you don't ruin it if you inadvertently go swimming. :)

 

I'm not sure that would be very good protection.

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John E Cache

John E Cache

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Posted
I would be interested. Yes. I have a Flobot foldable kayak (comes in one or two bags and you put the frame together and insert it into a canvas shell), and a 16.5' fiberglass Mad River canoe. June 14 would work for me.

Did you mean Folbot? :-) I took Nols kayaking course and kayaked a Folbot in Prince William Sound for two weeks(before the Exxon Valdez). We packed 70 pounds of camp gear and food. I bought a used Klepper folding kayak and may show up at the event.
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Ambrosia

+Ambrosia

Posted
Posted

There's more stuff that's good to know, but those are the basics.

 

Like have a firm hold of something when you attempt to get out. Right? B)

Yes, that and put your camera in a ziplock bag so you don't ruin it if you inadvertently go swimming. ;)

 

I'm not sure that would be very good protection.

You could buy a small dry bag. ;)

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Dgwphotos

+Dgwphotos

Posted
Posted

There's more stuff that's good to know, but those are the basics.

 

Like have a firm hold of something when you attempt to get out. Right? ;)

Yes, that and put your camera in a ziplock bag so you don't ruin it if you inadvertently go swimming. :o

 

I'm not sure that would be very good protection.

You could buy a small dry bag. ;)

 

That's kind of my recommendation.

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brumbjorn

+brumbjorn

Posted
Posted

I'm going to at kleast drop by. I have some travellers that I was supposed to move along last weekned at the Mount Rainier CITO event that I had to miss at the last minute. note to self: remember to grab the darn things back from the cache! Argh! stupid brian cell sucking cold medicine

 

Anyone willing to give lessons? I have not been in a canoe or kayak for about 20 years :o

 

I will say though: I was one of the first girls to get my "Paddle, Pole and Roll" patch in my Girl Scout council, so I am not entirely hopeless! ;)

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Allanon

+Allanon

Posted
Posted

I'm going to at kleast drop by. I have some travellers that I was supposed to move along last weekned at the Mount Rainier CITO event that I had to miss at the last minute. note to self: remember to grab the darn things back from the cache! Argh! stupid brian cell sucking cold medicine

 

Anyone willing to give lessons? I have not been in a canoe or kayak for about 20 years ;)

 

I will say though: I was one of the first girls to get my "Paddle, Pole and Roll" patch in my Girl Scout council, so I am not entirely hopeless! :o

What did I do? ;)

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TeamIDFC

+TeamIDFC

Posted
Posted

Speaking of kayaking - has anyone kayaked the entire Sammamish River from Marymoor to Kenmore? Ms IDFC and I think it looks like a good one-way float - about 12 miles of very calm water.

 

But that broaches some questions:

 

1) If you did it, how long did it take? Did you do one-way or round-trip? Which direction?

 

2) Does anyone know of a good method to lock kayaks in a public place? To go one way we'll need to do the two-car trick. We live near Marymoor, so the preferred way would be to drop the boats off at the launch, drive both cars to the pickup point, leave one there, and drive back to the launch. We can then pick up the spare car on the way home and we only back-track once. If we have to leave someone to defend the kayaks then we have an extra out-and-back, and with gas prices like they are... :)

 

3) We're obviously going to cache along the way, but there is only 1 cache in the River. We don't want to spam the river, but we do want to place some caches. What do people think a good balance is between too many/too few? One a mile seems the max, but we probably want to add more than one...

 

-- Michael

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brumbjorn

+brumbjorn

Posted
Posted

I'm going to at kleast drop by. I have some travellers that I was supposed to move along last weekned at the Mount Rainier CITO event that I had to miss at the last minute. note to self: remember to grab the darn things back from the cache! Argh! stupid brian cell sucking cold medicine

 

Anyone willing to give lessons? I have not been in a canoe or kayak for about 20 years :ph34r:

 

I will say though: I was one of the first girls to get my "Paddle, Pole and Roll" patch in my Girl Scout council, so I am not entirely hopeless! :)

What did I do? ;)

 

*snerk* Sorry about that.

 

As I like to say:

 

I can't brain today. I have the dumb.

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