not necessarily stoned, but beautiful
March 27th, 2006 | 
Author: 
Are you tryin’ to prove to that you’re
Made out of gold and-uh, can’t be sold
So-uh, are you experienced? – hendrix
As he stood there fiddling with his pump and paddle float I couldn’t help but notice he looked pretty professional. His boat was a brand I’d never heard of, yet it was covered with all the gear a national geographic photographer might take a long for week long trip into the unknown. Then as he sat down in the cockpit and began to put his bending branches paddles together I noticed his wardrobe. This was a guy perfectly dressed for a nice warm spring day. Obviously the athletic type, he wore a nice dark wicking t under the windbreaker. Hmmm, I’d seen this before somewhere. As we walked by I said, “Beautiful day, eh? First roll of the year?”, He smiled as he pushed out into the lake. “naw, water’s a bit cold, I’m not going in.”. . . why do they always say that??? We continued to walk by as he paddled slowly out into the lake. I bent down and picked up a good sized rock and tossed it out on to the ice shelf just a few feet away. It still didn’t break.
You know, I’ve never had the “fleet” in one place at the same time. So, since we were doing yard work and I had to re-arrange them anyway I thought I’d line ‘em up and get a photo. Nothing like Alex’s collection of course. . Left to right – CD Breeze, My Explorer, The Acuta, Mary’s Greenlander, the Pyranha. See, now I can’t buy any more boats, they won’t fit in the frame!
Happy Monday! – d
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Our collections are the same size now! All I have now is the Pete Strand SOF, the Foster Silhouette, the Riot Dominatrix, the Riot Tekno, and the Liquid Logic Scooter. Once I sell the Tekno, I’ll be left with only 4 boats until that fateful day when I actually get off my but and build my kayak which is currently a pile of materials in my basement. I’m finally finding some balance with my fleet as I have a much better idea these days of what kayak I want and why.
Yeah, I can justify each boat now. CD for guests, Explorer for trips and just when I need a keyhole (ie classes etc). Acuta for play/rolling. Mary’s boat of course, and the WW boat. Each with it’s own purpose.
Hey, How did you get from 9 to 5 in a day??
Hey hold on now, when I come up I wanna paddle Mary’s Greenlander! Don’t put me in the Breeze, please!
TD
Hey now, no picking on the Breeze. It rolls like a dream………;)
Now, about that wide-angle lens….
))
Rowland
The Scooter was the ninth boat I’ve purchased in the 2.5 years I’ve been kayaking. Of course since I’m down to 5, that means I’ve sold 4 along the way. I think 6 boats were the most I’ve ever had at one time. Chronologically my purchases were:
Perception Sonoma 13.5
Dagger GT 7.8
Riot Dominatrix 44 Ultralite
Betsie Bay Valkyrie
Valley Skerray
Pete Strand “Black Beauty” rolling qajaq
Riot Tekno
Nigel Foster Silhouette
Liquid Logic Scooter
ha! I’ll get my fisheye out. That should be good for another 20 or so. .
Ok, here’s my list. . .
CD Breeze
Perception Captiva (barge)
WS Cape Horn 17 (broke)
WS Cape Horn 15 (replacement for summer)
NDK Explorer
Valley Skerry (m) (she found it to be too squirly)
P&H Capella (m) (she felt like it was too high in the water, big, bouncy)
NDK Exploerer (m) (she wanted to faster greenlander)
Pyrannah I3
NDK Greenlander (m)
Valley Anas Acuta
So that’s 11 boats in 4 years.
My modest kayak history:
NDK Explorer (Josh, did an endo with the stern surfing it backwards, hit bottom, broke the stern off, fixed it, sold it)
NDK Greenlander Pro (Josh, replaced Explorer, love it, particularly in following seas)
NDK Explorer (Jacqueline, sold it, wanted a Romany LV)
NDK Romany LV (Jacqueline loves this, fits like a glove, a rolling machine)
Mega Cyclone (Josh, surf kayak, too fantastic for words, but if you surf, you know what I’m talking about… Damaged much by hitting bottom and breakwater, thinking about getting a plastic Mega, maybe an Maverick [with fins!])
My rule. . anything under 15 is modest!!
So at my current rate, in another 2.5 years I’ll reach 15 boats in 20 months (I’m averaging about .3 boats per month).
whoops, I meant to say at my current rate (9 boats in 2.5 years)…
Five boats total.
17′ Grumman canoe – 75lb beer can, too heavy, wind blew it all over the place, sold it.
Perception Carolina, tan, still have it, haven’t paddled it in years.
Perception Carolina, gray, didn’t learn anything from the first one, my brother paddled it a little, sold it.
Current Designs Extreme, Mango over Smoke, thought it would help me advance my abilities, turned out to be a real confidence killer, too narrow, too long, sold it.
Current Designs Gulfstream, Green over Mango, I love this boat. It’s all that I paddle now.
This blog is cooler as ice!
Ken
Well in addition to the current fleet of 11 (see earlier post!) there were 14 others in the past, running from a home built wooden deathtrap, through slalom (2), whitewater racer (2), K1 (2), K2 (1), Nordkapps (2), Explorers (3) and a Romany! In my defence, that covers 41 years of paddling!!
Rowland
(‘My name is Rowland and I’m a kayakaholic….’) (and not due for reformation anytime soon!)
Yikes! Well, we’ll come back to this conversation in about 37 years and then I’ll have an opinion. .
Derrick, what is the story with the foam backrest on the Romany, in the pic? I have been plagued with back problems the last few years. I am curious how it works and if you would put one in another boat.
You coming over for QajaqTC this summer? Freya and Stamer are supposed to be there, I hear. I am pumped to learn the rolls from the best, and getting away from my job for a few days will be cool.
Matthew Keller
mikayaker.blogspot.com
Hi Matt,
You know I really want to. We’ll see. I’m instructing at 3 midwest symposiums this summer, so it’s all a matter of free time.
The foam is better than the back band but still needs a little work. It’s not really because of my back. I had to replace a bad seat. Check that out in my personal photo gallery (bottom).
At the risk of sounding dogmatic, foam block backrests are the way to go – I find I slide in (and out!) more easily, and when doing an R&R I don’t get that infuriating ‘folded over backrest’ sensation. Shaping can be a bit tricky, but it repays the effort. I find they give excellent support and offer no resistance to full body rotation. Five of the current fleet have them… (World shortage of foam blocks…!)
Rowland
Yeah, what he said! I’ve really like the block, but I have to shape the lower section a little more as it causes a bit of pressure on the tail bone after a couple hours of straight paddling, especially with winter gear. I’d never noticed just putzing around. The first time I did a nice long day trip. .youch! . My experience is it’s the way to go, thing is I need more experience shaping them.