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.