Inflatable Kayak Blog

I was recently in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and had a chance to take my sister’s hard shell kayak for a paddle on Portage Lake. The sun was setting so I didn’t have a real long time on the water. I mainly paddled along the shoreline checking out all the new, beautiful homes that now fill the waterfront. This is quite a change from the once mostly wooded area with a few “camps” I remember from my younger days.

As I paddled along I was making an effort to watch my strokes to see how the hard shell kayak moved through the water compared to our inflatable kayak. Maybe I was doing something wrong, because I was having difficulties keeping the kayak tracking on a straight course. I had always heard that inflatable kayaks didn’t track as well as a hard shell, but with this kayak that wasn’t the case. I tried to change my stroke but nothing seemed to work. I will have to change my thinking about how the inflatable paddles now, for the better.

We will be returning to Michigan at the end of September and I will have to give it another try but after riding in that hard shell, I am very happy with my inflatable kayak and the way it handles.

We arrived in Salt Lake City a few days in advance of the beginning of the 2008 Outdoor Retailer Show, so we were able to take in some of the sights and sounds of the area. On Tuesday, we drove up to the Kennecott Copper Mine at Bingham Canyon, the largest man-made excavation on earth. It’s more than three quarters of a mile deep and two and three quarters of a mile long. Seventeen per cent of the copper mined in the U.S. comes from the mine, which is known as the “richest hole on earth”. It’s quite a sight and worth the visit if you’re near Salt Lake City.

Even though the skies were cloudy and there were some occasional sprinkles, we decided to make a slight detour on our way back and head up to Silver Lake in the Big Cottonwood Canyon. The lake is in a bog like area that’s known for a variety of wildlife, including moose. We’re still searching for our first moose sighting! We took the path around the small lake, which takes about a half hour. It took us twice as long due to our propensity for taking pictures. There were several people fishing for trout, the main species found in the lake, from the shore and two dock areas. We also saw a fisherman with fly rod in hand sitting in a float tube. Later we saw a couple paddle into view in an inflatable boat. Kind of unique to see two of the products we sell in action in a small out of the way lake. We asked one fisherman about his luck and he said that today wasn’t too good, but the other day a friend caught about 30 trout, some up to 2 pounds.

More sprinkles and some cooler temperatures gave us a reason to head back to the car and back to our resort. The open-air demo is our next stop on Wednesday as the Outdoor Retailer Show begins.

At a time when larger vehicles are becoming less popular because of the high price of gas, the new Sea Eagle 440 FoldCat is an exception. The boat was introduced this month (July 2008) and it’s the largest folding/inflatable pontoon on the market. It holds up to four people with a capacity of 1300 pounds. Although it might be too large and cumbersome for many who enjoy the small one and two person inflatable pontoons, this boat can be an economical replacement for traditional gas-guzzling bass boats. Both versions of the Sea Eagle FoldCat, the two person 375 and the new 4 person 440, have a full floor so you have far more useable space than ordinary pontoon fishing boats - and it’s a “safety net” that catches gear you may drop. This allows you to carry more fishing tackle and supplies than ordinary pontoon boats. And it will travel up to 8 to 10 miles per hour with an economical 4 hp gas engine. Four fishermen or women can fish from 360 degree swivel seats using up to six rod holders. You can’t do that on a small bass boat. Check it out if you’re looking for something more economical and functional for your fishing expeditions.

It was time to check out and head home from our trip to Fairfield Glade, but it was such a nice morning and we really didn’t have to be back home at any certain time so we decided to take one more paddle before we left. Lake Dartmoor was close by so, even though we had been there before, we decided to go there again. It was a little windy and the lake was a bit rougher than it was the time before. There were small white caps in places, but we seemed to get through them without any problems. Going into the wind we could paddle right where we wanted to go. But when we had the wind at our backs it was harder to paddle straight. We figured that since the inflatable kayak sits a little higher in the water, the wind probably affected our ability to paddle in a straight line. We also thought about getting a Sea Eagle Quiver Sail for situations like this to add a little ‘sailing’ to our ‘paddling’. The Quiver Sail is a hand held sail that can be used with almost any type of kayak, or light watercraft, even hard shells.

We weren’t the only ones out enjoying the day; there were two other kayakers out there too. We were paddling in the same area as one of them and got to chat for a bit as we paddled along. She lived on the lake and got out paddling quite often. We paddled on the far side of the lake this time checking out more of the beautiful, big houses. Seeing we still had to get things packed up to head home, we only stayed out for about a half hour. We got the boat all packed up, checked out of the room and got on the road before noon. The nice thing about the inflatable kayak is that you can carry it with you when you travel. And every time we passed a nice river or a scenic lake on our trip home, we would make a mental note of more places we’d like to kayak.

We still had a few more days at Fairfield Glade before we had to go home and we wanted to get out early before the sun got too hot. As usual, I like to sleep in so we didn’t get away as early as we should have. However it was still fairly cool when we finally got to the Lake Catherine. We hadn’t had time to totally check out the area for launch sites and this part of the lake only had a little picnic area. We inflated the kayak in a shady area near the car and put the kayak paddles and life vests inside the boat, then carried it all to the water. There was a place along the shore that was flat and although we had to walk through some reeds, it was easy to put the boat in the water.

Lake Catherine is a much smaller lake than Lake Dartmoor but the paddling was just as nice. The homes were not quite as impressive as the ones on Lake Dartmoor but still offered some pretty scenery. We paddled along the shoreline all the way around the lake. At the far end we saw some ducks heading for the other side of the lake and later, as we paddled through the area, we passed some feathers floating along on the water. Now that I think of it, it might have made a neat picture. We also spotted the boat launch area so next time we can put the boat in there. People in this area are very friendly and we said “Hi” to several as we passed them on the shore.

One of our favorite vacation getaway locations is Fairfield Glade, TN. It’s just a few hours drive from home. Although it’s usually a golfing destination, this time we only took the inflatable kayak. Fairfield Glade is a peaceful resort on the plateau in middle Tennessee that has several lakes to put the boat in and get out and explore.

Our first day out we went to the largest lake, Dartmoor. We inflated the boat and launched from the shore of the beach at the marina. We enjoyed the calm waters as we paddled by fabulous houses. I had never seen places that landscaped with waterfalls on the water, but several of the beautiful homes had done this. What a great idea, just pump the water from the lake and make a waterfall. As I mentioned this is also a great area for golf and one of the holes is on the water. We paddled into a little cove and watched some of the golfers hit some shots, and then try to retrieve the balls from the water. It was so peaceful I didn’t want to go back and kept saying “Let’s go just a little bit farther”. The bad thing about traveling “farther” is YOU HAVE TO PADDLE BACK! We finally made it back to land and we were both pretty hot and tired when we pulled the boat on shore. But it had been an enjoyable trip so that didn’t really seem to matter. As we were putting things away, several people stopped to check out the boat and ask questions about it. Seems like there is a lot of interest in the kayak when people see it, so you get to meet some people along the way too. It’s always nice to spread the word about the fun of kayaking.

So far Destin has provided some interesting locations to paddle. We still had time to get another day of exploring in before we had to head back home. We remembered the couple we met on the first day mentioned that Grayson Beach State Park had nice places to paddle so that became our last paddle destination on this vacation. It was a pretty area with sand dunes along the beach. The lake was large with several different areas to explore. I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised to see the “Alligators - Swim with Caution” sign. It’s Florida, of course there are alligators!

We put the boat in and headed out in the biggest part of the lake along the shoreline checking out the scenery. We paddled under the low bridge back into another pretty area. There were water lilies along the shore and a neat dock with a gazebo. The water was calm and the reflections of the trees on the water made for some nice pictures. We paddled back as far as we could go in that area and I wanted to get a picture of the water lilies. We weren’t too far from shore when we saw something breaking the surface about 20 feet off the starboard side of the boat. All I saw was a brown, bumpy part that looked like small fins and a long pointed tail. Alligator?! All we could think of was “inflatable kayak and alligator” not a good situation to be in. We paddled as best we could to get out of there FAST! At the time I wasn’t thinking about getting a picture, but now I wish I had. Maybe next time? Let’s hope there isn’t a next time. We did ask the park Ranger on the way out if what we saw was potentially a gator. He said there was a big one that hung out in that area and pretty much confirmed our suspicions.

Destin is a great place to take an inflatable kayak. There are so many wonderful places to get out and explore. One launching spot is at a little park that was on the bay near where it meets the Gulf. The water was a beautiful blue-green color and fairly calm which was good considering it was only our third time in the boat. We were getting better at paddling together and feeling a little more comfortable with the way the boat handled. We paddled along the shore checking out all the beautiful homes. There were pelicans all around and we loved seeing them flying over head.  At one spot we saw a blue heron on the shore and paddled closer to get a good look. We noticed that there were several more herons roosting in the trees all around this area. There were so many places that we could have explored, but still not feeling all that proficient in the boat we stayed close to shore and didn’t venture out too far or nearer the gulf. We’ll save those neat places for next time we’re in Destin.

After about 45 minutes in the boat we headed back to shore to pack things up. There was a neat restaurant, Dewey Destin, on the water that we were told had great seafood so we went there for lunch. As we were eating on the dock we noticed that there were dolphins swimming right in the area we had just kayaked in. How neat that would have been if we were out there when the dolphins were swimming by. That’s now become one of our goals … to paddle with the dolphins some day!

After our first outing with our Sea Eagle 330 inflatable kayak, we were ready for some more paddling adventures. We took our kayak along on a trip to Destin, FL at the end of April. Although there were some very calm days on the Gulf we just didn’t feel comfortable putting the boat in the ocean. We did ask at our resort for some places we could put the boat in the water.

One location they suggested was just past Eden Gardens State Park. Although we were eager to get the boat in the water, we first toured the grounds of this pretty state park. There is a mansion on the property that you can see in the picture. We would recommend it as a place to spend a few hours if you are in that area. Up the road from the park was a boat landing with easy access to Tucker Bayou, an area that connects with the bay. What made this a really interesting trip were the fish that jumped totally out of the water and for very long distances. Being from the north, we had never seen mullets before and we found it fascinating to watch them. The water was calm and made for smooth paddling as the fish jumped all around us. After we made a trip around the bayou we headed back to shore, a bit more tired than we were from our first time out. This is fun; we are going to enjoy this kayak.

When we were putting the boat in the water another couple also put their kayaks in the water. They were more experienced kayakers and they told us of another state park that was fun to paddle. That will be another story…

We haven’t had our inflatable kayak for very long, but in the time we have had it we have enjoyed some memorable adventures. This is a story about our first paddling experience in our new Sea Eagle 330.

Our first time out was at a small lake in a county park in Harrison County, Indiana. It was a warm night in mid April. We were surprised at how fast the boat inflated and we were eager to try our hand at paddling it for the first time. The lake was very calm so there wasn’t any problem with the stability of the boat and we found it easy to launch. Getting both of us to get the paddles into the water without clunking them together was another story. This was the first time either of us had been in two-person kayak. For the first part of the trip around the lake, we weren’t very coordinated. After a while, though, we were almost looking like we really knew what we were doing, at least to a few people on the shore who would wave or ask us about out boat. We didn’t want to get overly tired for our first time out so we only stayed out on the lake about 30 minutes. After this paddling trip we were on to bigger and better things. I’ll be blogging about some of the places we have been, including some more ‘eventful’ trips. If anyone else would like to share some of their adventures, I would really like to hear about them.