So excited and so annoyed (How I'm almost a kayak owner)

Today was a picture-perfect spring day, and it's supposed to rain for the next three days, so I thought it would be the perfect time to go for my first paddle. I had no trouble loading the kayak (thank you Hullavator!) and went to a lake my friend told me about. I figure until I take the class I'll avoid the ocean and stick to flat water.

I slipped into the water and immediately knew buying a kayak was a good decision.
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It was a decent sized lake that took me about an hour to explore. Very quiet, only two other paddlers out and one guy fishing. There were some geese that were displeased with my presence, and the turtles were enjoying the sun as much as I was.
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After a while, I grounded myself in a little cove and just lounged for a bit:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6478967_n.jpg

I was out for a little over an hour and a half. When I was getting out, a couple was getting ready to launch and the man helped carry my kayak back to the car.:) He asked about the Hullavator, and I quickly tied things down and went on my way. I need to work on my foot placement. I cant really keep them straight up unless my legs are straight, but if I move them in a bit, my feet go numb from keeping them at an angle. I pulled the seat forward a bit and that gave me more support while rowing. I think the thigh pads are in the right place, but when I take the class I'll have them take a look. I didn't feel like I was getting a tremendous amount of speed and wondered if I was a high-angle paddler after all. Again, I'll have them take a look and tell me what they think. Maybe it's just a matter of playing with the paddle angle and working on my stroke. The boat felt very stable, with little rocking even if I turned to look behind me. All in all, I was very happy with the boat and am anxious to go other places and explore!

Nice. I see you have a floating banana too ;)

The tsunami 135 isn't really a fast boat - so I wouldn't expect you to get a lot of speed. Taking a class will help your paddling, and yeah, paddles do make a difference - concentrate more on a high cadence light stroke as opposed to trying to muscle the kayak along.

Looks like you had a great paddle!

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Originally Posted by Zen

Nice. I see you have a floating banana too ;)

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To be honest, if they'd had red in stock I would have snatched it up. From there I had to cycle through my options. My bike is blue, so I wanted a different color scheme from that. The greens were ugly, the orange was ok, but yellow was fun. Some day I'll buy something in the exact color I want. Didn't happen with either car or the bike or now the kayak, but some day it will!

I love the "lounging in a cove" photo, NoNo! There is great benefit in just being quiet and still.

It's like I've joined a little club!:) A guy on the train yesterday said "I see you're a kayaker." He and his wife also have kayaks. I told him I was new to it and looking forward to finding places to paddle. He told me about a place near the Rhode Island border they go to, and I need to get there! It's a large tidal marsh near the mouth of the Connecticut River with tons of birds (he said they spotted a bald eagle last year) and 10 foot high reeds. He said it was very quiet, not too many people paddling there. I've been reading about it this morning and it sounds splendid. Literally miles of waterways to explore, I could spend a whole day if I wanted to. My uncle's friend is supposed to be at our party this weekend, and he's the one that recommended the kayak shop I went to. I'm looking forward to talking to him about places to go and some of the local clubs he's involved with.

Recently changed our vehicle to a Ford Ranger pickup and found it just too high to comfortably (or easily) load our kayaks on top.
We had looked at all kinds of options: j-racks (which we tried), trailer, etc. but because we have a topper on the box, it was just too much to load the kayaks and I'm not wild about pulling a trailer anytime we want to get out. I'm not a tiny person and have reasonable upper body strength but I just found that we would decide not to take the kayaks out because it was too much trouble to load. :(
Finally decided to go with the hullavators - local shop installed them for us in less than 30 minutes. Admittedly it took some tweaking (moved the positioning of them on the racks) and three loads/unloads before we were happy with the postioning on the vehicle but they are incredible for lifting and strapping on the kayaks.
No question, I can load and unload easily by myself.
Although, as NoNo mentioned, we did notifce the whistling while driving and find it rather odd/annoying. Not sure what is causing it & whether there is anything we can do about it.
So glad we decided to spend the money (agree that they are expensive!) but it lets us enjoy kayaking more frequently!

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Originally Posted by Serendipity

Although, as NoNo mentioned, we did notifce the whistling while driving and find it rather odd/annoying. Not sure what is causing it & whether there is anything we can do about it.

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In preparation for my trip to Canada next week, I set out to find a cure to the whistling. I simply wasn't going to listen to a tea kettle going off for 12 hours! I saw a few random mentions of adding tape somewhere, but nothing specific. Yesterday we looked around and determined that the sound had to be caused by air coming under the boat and through the saddles. We jammed a towel under the boat and between the saddles and it was quiet as could be! Give it a try, your ears will thank you!:D

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Originally Posted by NoNo

In preparation for my trip to Canada next week, I set out to find a cure to the whistling. I simply wasn't going to listen to a tea kettle going off for 12 hours! I saw a few random mentions of adding tape somewhere, but nothing specific. Yesterday we looked around and determined that the sound had to be caused by air coming under the boat and through the saddles. We jammed a towel under the boat and between the saddles and it was quiet as could be! Give it a try, your ears will thank you!:D

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NoNo - a couple of things...first of all, where in Canada are you visiting? Wherever it is, welcome!!

Secondly, if I understand your comments about the whistling, the sound results from the space between each saddle and the kayak, so filling that space (at least partially) with a towel is what you did? Wow, sounds like an easy fix - gotta try it! Thanks.

I'm heading to Go Home, ON to visit a friend. I very badly need a vacation and when he sent an invite I was more than happy to take him up on it!

Yes, that's precisely where I'm talking about. There's no noise when there isn't a boat, so I figured there had to be something happening under the boat. I guess when the boat is on there, the air gets forced between the saddles and the metal housing for the hydraulics.

Had to Google that location - Muskokas are beautiful!! Enjoy.

Will try the extra padding on the saddles to try and cut down the whistling. It was tolerable for the half hour or so driving on the weekend but any longer than that I'll be the one whistling...:D:eek: