Inflatable Kayak Blog

Even though this has been one of the hottest Summers in history around here, my wife and I have still been able to get out and do some paddling in our inflatable kayak.

But along with the hot weather, as always, comes “bugs”. If they’re not whizzing around our faces, they’re crawling on us, or worst of all, biting us.

My wife is especially harassed by insects. Not sure if it’s something in her body chemistry or what, but she’s a real taste treat for the little buggers. She’s always getting bit, even when she’s not outside very long. Repellants sometimes work for her and she doesn’t use scented soaps or perfume when were paddling. Maybe we’ll figure out the solution someday.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about pesky outdoor pests, there’s an article on PaddleTheWorld.com about “Insect Bites and Stings” that has some tips on how to prevent bites and stings, as well as some treatment procedures if you get bit or stung. Check it out.

(Candace Clayton is an author who’s written novels, poetry and other short stories. She was kind enough to write this fictional adventure series specifically for the Inflatable Kayak Blog about ‘The Traveling Man’, a kayaker who tells us tales about his youthful adventures with his buddies on the rivers where he grew up. We hope you’re enjoying it!)

When last we met The Traveling Man and his fellow traveler, John, they had discovered the remains of an old canoe in a cave, deep in the swamps of Louisiana. Suddenly, sights, smells, and sounds they could not believe surrounded them. Let’s rejoin our adventurous duo and see how they get themselves out of their current situation.

John and I just stood there with our mouths hanging open. This sure was an unexpected development. I mean, who would think to find themselves in a cave full of ghosts? Not that I even believed in ghosts before then. Had to do some serious rethinking on my part to even wrap my mind around what was happening.

I closed my eyes, thinking that when I opened them those ghosts would be gone. But no sir, those ghosts were still there, dancing round that fire. John had turned whiter than those there beings, so I knew he saw the same things I did.

“We gotta get outta here.” John spoke in the tiniest whisper. I could hardly hear the feller.

“How you planning on us doing that? We got no light and no idea where we even are. What we gotta be doing, is figuring out why these ghosties are here.”

“Pfft, I aint aiming to talk to em.” John looked at me like I had lost my marbles.

“Nobody said nothing about talking to em. I don’t think they even know we are here.”

“Well, then how do you plan us to figure out why they are here, iffen we don’t talk to em?”

“I don’t rightly know, just yet. I am thinking on it.”

“Well, think faster, those ghosts are giving me the willies.”

All the while John and I had been talking it over, these ghosts had continued their dancing and chanting. They had paid us no never mind until that moment. All of a sudden, one of them looked right at us. Ever so slowly, he crooked his finger as if he was calling us over there. Scared us so bad, I pert near wet my pants and John’s jaw hit the cave floor again.

“John, I believe he is wanting us to go over there.”

“I ain’t going anywhere near there.” John squeaked like a rusty old harmonica. He was so terrified he could barely talk.

The Indian specter kept staring at us and signaling we should join him. I started walking forward, but John grabbed my arm.

“What are you doing? Are you nuts?”

“Nope, I am aiming to find out what he wants.”

“Well, it’s your funeral.”

With those last words of support and friendly concern, John let go my arm. I walked toward those dancing ghosts, but not quickly. No sir, I was taking my time. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard it was almost as loud as those drums and pounding feet. The mist was swirling wetly around my feet and I hoped I wouldn’t step on another gator. If I did, I was someone’s dinner for sure. From within the darkness, I felt a hand grab my arm and I let out a holler.

“It’s me, man. Don’t freak out.”

I turned to see John’s face right next to mine.

“Thought you weren’t going with me.”

“Shoot, with everything we been through together? You think Imma let some old ghosties do you in?”

“Well, I’m mighty glad you changed your mind.”

John and I continued towards the frightening images. As we got closer, they all started turning towards us. One by one, those ghosts stopped their dancing and turned till they were all standing there next to the pieces of canoe ruins and staring straight at us…

Come back next month and read more of The Traveling Man’s ghostly adventure.

The author, Candace Clayton, lives in Granbury, Texas with her Husband and family, spending as much time in the outdoors as she can.

(New Chapters of “The Traveling Man” series are published on a monthly basis here in the Inflatable Kayak Blog. Check back soon for another chapter or set your computer to receive our RSS feed and you’ll be informed automatically when the next part of the story will be posted.)

A few weeks back, I posted a link to a video about safety gear for kayaking. The same guy who did that video, Matt Preye, also has a video that explains some of the basics of paddling a kayak. His tips on where and how to hold a kayak paddle and, of course, how to use it to advance and to stop a kayak are explained in an easy to understand manner.

Although I’ve been paddling for over two years, I found the explanation of the basics refreshed some things for me. It’s like participating in any sport. It never hurts to review the fundamentals, no matter how experienced you may be.

Matt Preye is a kayaking expert and instructor with fifteen years of experience as a recreational and a whitewater kayaker. Even though he’s talking about paddling hard shell kayaks, remember that all these paddling tips apply to folding kayaks and inflatable kayaks as well.

By Sam Wright

The family was over this weekend to celebrate a birthday, so I had to do some bragging. I brought out the inflatable kayak to show the guys my toy and explained how much fun I had. Of course I went through all the benefits. The biggest was enjoying the “peace and quiet” a few days out of each month so I could ponder the universe without any interruptions. After working my demanding job all week and all the other obligations that we all face each day, a day or two on the river does the trick to rejuvenate and invigorate the soul.

The last benefit won the crowd, well all except one.  Bobby is my brother’s son. At age 21, he looked at the kayak and agreed that looked like fun for a few old guys who wanted to wander around the waterways and get away from it all, but he had grander plans.  Bobby talked about going to Hawaii (someday) and surfing the big waves. Not to be outdone, I got out the laptop and pulled up the PortableKayaks.com web site. Low and behold he saw something that he didn’t know existed; a paddle board. It was perfect and he was sold.

The paddle board wasn’t a surf board and going away to Hawaii was at least a couple of years down the road, but it could be used here and now and, even with Bobby’s new job, this was in the affordable range. He ordered the LongBoard 11 Stand up Paddle Board Startup Package. The fact that it touted giving you a fantastic work out and a greater view of the water were two attributes that sold him on the new toy.  With the paddle board you can stand up to paddle and enjoy the near surfing experience or you can sit down for some comfort and still have a great workout.

Showing Bobby the paddle board made me ready with my upcoming birthday wish. Just wait until I tell my wife about this new addition to our water equipment. We can’t be outdone by a mere 21-year-old. My wife is equally as energetic and competitive as I am. I bet we might have to have two just like we did with the original kayaks.

I wrote a while back about our two Sea Eagle portable kayaks. Sometimes we take one and spend a day together and sometimes we take them both. My best bud and his wife like to travel with us and more often than not, the two ladies travel together in one and have their “girl talk” time, while me and my pal kibitz in the other.

I hope my 21-year-old nephew finds himself a good woman that is as much fun as my wife. We are raising our own team of kayakers and the family four passenger version is on the purchasing horizon a couple of years down the road.

In the meantime, we are having a blast with our weekend sport. This is much better than joining a gym.  You can watch the incredible scenic water ways, enjoy a day in the sun, and get exercise in the best way possible – while playing –after all, if it works well for the kids, why shouldn’t it work for us.

My advice to my 21-year-old nephew at the end of the day was to buy great toys and find a girl who enjoyed playing the games he liked to play. It’s worked well for me.

During our recent trip to Fairfield Glade Resort we took our Sea Eagle 330 inflatable kayak so we could get out on some of their many lakes and do some kayaking. It didn’t turn out to be the best kayaking weather while we were there. It was very hot most of the days and we had rain several other days. In fact, we were just leaving the condo to go kayaking one morning and as we opened the door to head to the car, the heavens opened up and the area got a much needed rain shower. But by the time it was over, it was too humid to get out for a paddle.

We did manage to make it to Lake Glastowbury the morning before we had to leave. It was still pretty hot, but we figured it would be cooler on the water so we found our way to the boat launch and got the kayak launched in the very calm waters of the moderate size lake. The lake was like glass it was so calm and made for some beautiful reflection pictures. We paddled around the perimeter of the lake and it was just the right amount of time in the kayak for only our second kayak trip of the year.

We did have some company on this paddle, a family in a canoe and two kayaks were also out for a paddle and we passed them on our way back to the launch site. It was such a peaceful place and aside from the other paddlers, we had the lake all to ourselves. How cool is that!

Living in southern Indiana, we don’t have a lot of beautiful lakes and rivers to go kayaking in, and having a hotter than normal spring and summer has postponed us getting our kayak in the water until this past week while we were on vacation at the Fairfield Glade resort in Tennessee. We love the area and they have many beautiful lakes to put the kayak in for a paddle. Though it was still fairly warm we took the kayak to one of the largest and deepest lakes at the resort, Lake Dartmoor. We launched from the little beach area and had several curious onlookers checking us out as we were inflating the kayak. We always love to tell people how much we love our inflatable kayak and show them how easy it is to get it inflated and into the water.

We had been on this part of the lake before, but always love to check out the big beautiful homes as we paddle by. As we were paddling to the nearest golf hole, a line of geese came swimming across the lake. We watched as they made their way to the other end of the lake. I had my camera, as usual, and managed to get several pictures of them as they passed by us.

There was a slight breeze on the water that help keep us a little cool and also gave us a chance to try out our Windpaddle sail. We were pleasantly surprised that even with the small breeze we were able to get the kayak moving along pretty well. We definitely need more practice with that, but it will be handy to have on future paddling trips.

We didn’t want to stay out too long seeing it was our first trip of the year, but it felt great to get out on the water, get some exercise and get some great pictures too.

Technology continues to advance at a rapid rate in all forms of product development including inflatable kayaks and watercraft. One of the more recent innovations is the high pressure drop stitch construction process that has enabled the development of inflatable stand-up paddleboards.

Drop stitch construction allows a much higher air pressure than other inflatable technologies. Thousands of tiny threads connect the top and bottom layers of the board, which means an inflatable paddleboard can hold 12 pounds of air pressure, more than double the working pressure of other technologies. The resulting stiffness makes for a hard surface that you can stand on.

When Sea Eagle introduced their new Fast Track 385ft kayak, they included a drop stitch floor which increases the rigidity of the kayak and adds to the efficiency of the paddler’s strokes. This concept has become such a “hit” with customers and made such a difference in paddling performance that Sea Eagle is now including a drop stitch floor with their complete line of Explorer kayaks, the 420x, 380x and 340x. The new floor replaces the I-Beam floor that has been the standard since the Explorer kayaks were introduced.

by Dee Owens

When choosing between the Sea Eagle Fast Track 385ft Deluxe Package and the Pro Package you will want to evaluate which package fits your needs. Here you will find specifications between the two packages offered to help make a better choice.

The Sea Eagle Fast Track 385ft inflatable boat is NMMA certified, with two self-bailing drain valves, spray skirts in both the front and back, plenty of storage space below and above with lacing made of elastic rope. The large skeg at the rear gives more yaw control and faster speeds. The skeg itself is removable. Sitting on the Sea Eagle Fast Track 385ft is even more secure with six D-Rings to secure seating for up to two people, grab handles at both the bow and stern, and the high pressure drop stitch flooring for more stability. The hull is resistant to both sun and saltwater, and comes in a nylon carry bag, with a repair kit and printed instructions. The interior dimension of the Sea Eagle Fast Track 385ft is 11-foot by 7-inches in length and 1-foot by 3-inches in width, while the exterior is 12 foot by 6 inches by 2 foot 10 inches. Even at that size, it will condense down to a 31-inch by 19-inch by 8-inch inflatable boat. The boat itself weighs a mere 35 pounds and can safely carry up to 750 pounds. It is made of 1000 reinforced Denier, which inflates in approximately 7 minutes. The Sea Eagle Fast Track is suitable for waters up to Class III.

The Deluxe Package comes with the Sea Eagle Fast Track 385ft Inflatable Boat, two 7-foot and 10-inch AB30’s paddles, two inflatable seats, a foot pump, and free shipping.

The Pro Package contains the inflatable boat, two 8-foot AB40 paddles, two tall back seats, two stern bags, a foot pump and free shipping as well.

The major differences between the two packages are the seating, Stern bags and paddles. Seating wise, the Tall Back Seat is more similar to the seating in high end hard shell kayaks, although I’ve heard that people like the inflatable seat almost as well. It seats you higher and still gives good back support. The paddles are both four piece, but the AB40 is a step up from the AB30. Lastly the Stern Bags are for the kayaker that takes longer trips and needs to carry some gear with them. If you’re an overnighter, they’ll surely come in handy.

When choosing which Sea Eagle Fast Track package is right for you, take in to consideration the amount of time you will be spending in the water, your personal comfort preferences and what type of paddling you’ll be doing.

The author, Dee Owens has published two novels and a variety of articles online. You can learn more about her at http://deeowens.webs.com.

It’s always great to hear from customers about their experiences with their inflatable kayaks. Recently, Chuck R. from Texas e-mailed me his inflatable kayak review and a video with these comments … “Just had the kayak out yesterday for the first time on the Guadalupe River in Gruene (“Green”) Texas. It performed beyond my expectations and we had a fantastic time with it. My 2 daughters and their friend occupied it for the most part with 3 adults in inner tubes alongside. During rapids, as in this video, I climbed aboard and guided them safely down the river. I love the kayak, and will probably reach for this one first over either of my 2 sit-on-tops. Great boat!”

Just click this link Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track on Guadalupe River in Texas and the video will open.

Enjoy the video and if you have any questions about the Sea Eagle Fast Track 385, feel free to give me a call at PortableKayaks.com.

By Sam Wright

A wise man once told me, “Everything you need to know you learn from the water.”  Honestly I thought that was his excuse to go fishing more often but lately after my many excursions out on the lake, I am beginning to see what he meant.

I love traveling and finding new areas to kayak, but time and money for travel away from my hometown isn’t always available. I have been to the same water over and over. When you see the same place, you start to notice things. You see when the water line is rising and falling. You see how the water changes by pollution or climate or temperature.

Just like the television show “Cheers” you start to feel comfortable and you have that feeling that the critters and the place is somewhere where they know your name. The other boaters or kayakers and residents of the area become familiar. If they aren’t around, you wonder about them, and when they are, you pass with a friendly wave and sometimes a quick hello. This serene water world is your world. You learn to relax, you learn to think, you learn to help out as needed and you learn to smile once again.

After a day kayaking on the water, you return home at peace and ready to share your joy and serenity with your loved ones. You too want them to experience this world so you plan, you work a little harder, and you save a little more money. Your focus is clearer and you know you want to share this experience. You want them to feel that everything they need to know they can learn out here on the water.