Ocean kayak Prowler 13

[Pav]

13 stone. All these sitontops are HIGH volume. I've got a paddling background but it would suprise me if anyone would find any of the sitons tippy. If you tried to capsize one you'd fall off it before it tipped! Guys stand up and fly fish from these!

The only other short option I know is the Frenzy, but when you top up all the extras you get with the malibu kayaks they aren't anymore expensive + imho you get a better build quality.

I know your not on the mainland but cornwall canoes (newquay) and there string of shops will let you borrow and test drive most of the yaks.

I held back drilling holes last year until I knew I liked the boat. This year it will be rigged!! ... keeping it simple but will add a speargun park, flag etc.

 

[Amphibious]

I find them tipy but then again i used to spend my lunch hours rescing people running rapids in them

they don't roll so well

little yellow helmets make great targets for throwbags

 

[Old Man Dave]

Thanks Pav. The Frenzy is the model I was looking at as they have it in the (only) local yak store. I definitely want to try one before I would even consider buying one. Ed (portinfer) is going to let me try his 18 foot skinny one but maybe I can track down a Frenzy. Your Mini X does look good but no local agent so that's a draw back. How about paddling wearing your long fins. Maybe not out or back but inbetween dive spots. Seems to me putting on your fins especially in deep water is one of the most problematic things. To maximise usage I could see myself wanting to hop on and off quite a few times in deeper water.

Dave

 

[foxfish]

Dave check out the Boat exchange

 

[Magpie]

Some mainland kayak places do surprisingly good postage to get kayaks over here Dave.

Try Bournemouth Canoes UK, Poole, Dorset - Your UK Canoe Shop They do the MiniX and quoted me 50 quid to get a Scupper Pro here, which is a lot longer and heavier than a Mini-X. Shipping info: Bournemouth Canoes delivering to Jersey, Guernsey and the Channel Islands

Have fun on Ed's, it is skinny but I found it plenty stable enough to fish off.

 

[land shark]

I found this today, intresting

The myth of length - KayakWiki

 

[Old Man Dave]

That is interesting. I am becoming more convinced that an 11 footer will do the job for me. Thanks for the link.

Dave

 

[Magpie]

More info on the subject:

Kayak Speed Fishing Techniques, Rigging Explanations, Kayak Recommendations and more

One thing to remember Dave is the tide. You may be happy to pootle along at 2-3knots in still water, but as soon as you get in a bit of tide you're soon not actually going anywhere. Thats when a kayak with a faster potential speed is key.

Its pretty obvious really but this post from another forum explains it well:

Newcomers are often confused about the "speed" of a kayak and often you will hear people say that their kayak is not THAT much slower than another one - so why does it matter? I get to the mark only 5 or 10 minutes later than the quick boys anyway, so it is OK. To a point they are right - BUT the little difference on flatish water with no current very quickly translates into a massive difference when there is a bit of tide running - as one chap found out to his cost off The Orme and had to be rescued.....

Lets take two kayaks at opposite ends of the spectrum and use some pretty reasonable figures to illustrate how the difference mounts up.

Yak A - a wider model with a sustainable speed of 3.5 knots. Not an unreasonable speed to give it.

Yak B - a "faster" model which can maintain 5 knots - there are some which can do 5.5, but we'll stay well within bounds as it serves the purpose.

We will take a mark that is a pretty average sort of distance - lets say 2 miles (because it also makes the maths easier!).

Yak A at 3.5 knots takes 35 minutes to get there from the launch.
Yak B at 5 knots does it in 25 minutes. So there we are, the stated 10 minutes difference.

Right, now we'll factor in some tide. Lets do it the easy way and use 1 knot increments.

With a 1 knot tide running in your face Yak A can now only make 2.5 knots, so that paddle out to the mark takes him 48 minutes (50 minutes).
Yak B can still maintain 4 knots - so it takes him 30 minutes. The difference is still only 20 minutes - but it has already doubled.

The tide run is a bit stronger now and is coming through at 2 knots - plenty of places we fish with a 2 knot tide.

Yak A can now only maintain 1.5 knots over the ground. The 2 miles to the mark takes him 1 hour 20 minutes.
Yak B can still get along at 3 knots - and so it only takes him a little longer than it took Yak A with no tide.....40 minutes. Can you also see that even though there is still only 1.5 knts between them, Yak B is TWICE as fast as Yak A.

Today we have spring tides and it is roaring through at 3 knots (like off many headlands, including the one where the rescue took place).
Yak A can now only judt make headway at 0.5 knots - so that 2 mile paddle against the tide is going to take him 4 hours.
Yak B can still get 2 knots over the ground even into that fast running tide - the 2 mile paddle will take him an hour.

These figures are not pie in the sky either - they are actually very realistic and they serve to illustrate how the slower kayaks can very quickly get into trouble when there is any appreciable amount of tide flow. There is still only 1.5 knots between them - but if we up the tide to a 3.5 knots....Yak A can no longer make progress of any sort. Yak B can still make some progess at a snails pace of 1.5 knots. That 2 mile paddle is within bounds at 1 hour 20 minutes, even against a very strong tide.

I hoep that helps a few folks to understand the difference between them and how it can make a very big difference on the water - and we haven't put in any wind or waves yet either. Factor some of that in and the difference shows up even faster."

AnglersAfloat - Login

 

[Old Man Dave]

There have been some threads lately, including this one, about using kayaks and swim floats as aids to spearing. I was wondering is anyone has had any good experiences using a scooter, either just to tow you out to a mark, to get you to the bottom more easily or even to use when searching the bottom for flatfish/scallops etc.

Dave

 

[Old Man Dave]

Something like this


SEADOO Sea Scooter EXPLORER ZS7A

Dave

 

[Wanny]

Hi OMD, no experience with a scooter but I have a frenzy. its a great little kayak, very stable. I've not tried diving from it yet, just never got around to it last year but will do this year. Its not too heavy so its easy to take up and down the beach on the wheels. Also figure that because its a bit smaller it won't be so blown by the wind or pulled by the current making it easier to dive from.

Main issue I can see is that it will soon be too hot paddling in a suit jacket but it may be difficult getting it on and off when you are out and with weights etc.

cheers

 

[Pav]

not exactly the reply you are looking for but to add for information I have used the dive bodyboard type bouys before and rate them poorly. I think i know where you are coming from oldmandave. BUT its the compromise between something that is going to get you where you want and something that feasably could be used as a floating bouy without causing you to much resistance when hunting.