Sea kayaking for me is a sensual and romantic experience. If it weren’t I’d do something else. What turned me on to sea kayaking in the first place was how sea kayaking brings human and nature together in a way like no other. Alone on the water under a cloudy sky with the spit of rain running down your face, you are as close to being one with the universe as you will ever chance to get. A perfect kayak is the one that goes unnoticed when you are engulfed in other things and becomes part of the beauty of the experience when you ask it too. Finding one kayak that can be your loyal companion is not easy.

I’m lucky in that I’ve been privileged to experience many of the best kayaks on the market. As I’ve been told so many times, “All boats are good boats.” And I’m sure that’s true, for the right person. But few boats are the “right boat” for any one person. Each person has their own “right boat”.  Recommending a kayak to someone else is akin to recommending a spouse.  It’s something you should probably never do, but you know you will. For me sea kayaking, my personal “alone time” is something that is probably closer to a spiritual experience than anything else I can describe in life.  I simply want one kayak  that’s with me no matter what the sea or the world throws at me. A faithful steed.  Lord knows I’ve come so close.

My old warhorse NDK Explorer will always hold a special place for me. I can’t imagine a more universal kayak. Not to mention, a kayak that just feels like it will keep you safe no matter what’s going on around you. Made in 1996 mine came from a day when kayaks were still built to fall from airplanes and land without major damage. They simply don’t build them like this any longer. For the sake of a few lbs many new kayaks spider crack in a strong wind these days. I can only speak for me, but I sense that the trek for lighter layups did more for sales than it did for quality or maintenance. You may remember that years back I crash landed my Explorer through solid washtub 6 footers onto a break wall. The fact that in the end the Explorer was retired due to age and not damage says something. Even though the gelcoat is turning white and starting to flake I still take it out on my local like now and again simply to spend time with an old friend that was with me through my first years of kayaking.

My Alaw Bach is a dancer. The Bach fits like a glove and runs like a dolphin on the open sea. In rough water and surf it slices and dices like no other with an almost psychic response to your will. Well, mine does. Some of you will be able to relate to the emotional connection you make to a kayak sometimes and since my PR trip on ’07 the Bach has been my baby. The poor thing simply took such a beating I can’t find a way to make it strong enough to handle me any longer. It’s crunched and cracked all over the hull and the combing seems to defy any repair we try to throw at it. Like my Explorer, my Bach goes out with me on my local lake where we can still enjoy a day together. But I know I can’t teach, or stand on it, or take it into the open sea again.

It’s that preamble that brings me to have the P&H Bahiya strapped on my jeep today. With a new season upon me, lessons to teach, symposiums to attend, all my personal paddle time not to mention Scotland in the fall, I find myself  once again wondering if there even is that “one” kayak. Am I asking too much?? Is there a boat that will play with me like a Bach and yet withstand the world like my Explorer. Maybe there is something out there that I never actually experienced before?  Am I overlooking something?  I don’t know. I’ve found there is a style for me. I like boats that lean toward British traditional designs. They seem to come closest to being “all-arounders” and yet up to the big stuff. It’s a personal thing of course.

With that in mind, I’ve paddled just about everything it seems at one time or another with one exception, P&H Kayaks. Well, I did own one once for a few days. It was Mary’s and it was so not her at that time and I already had my Explorer. I just didn’t glance at them again. Later it seemed I came to know lots of guys who for whatever reason were paddling P&H and they all kept saying, “Derrick try P&H!” but I resisted. In time it became sort of a ritual. I was simply getting all bloody minded because there was a P&H “tide” going on around me and my gut rejects tides. I don’t go with the flow very well. (Which some would call mastery of the understatement.)  So P&H was like the girl next door in a way. I just put on my blinders and walked by. Well now that I’m back on my quest, I became aware how I’d been sort of unfairly blowing by P&H boats.   I’ve been watching Kelly Blades jump all over his for years now. Duh, they’re tough. Is’nt that part of the equation? Ok. Well, did I actually ever look to see what they had? No.  Bloody minded.

So quietly when no one was looking, I browsed the  P&H website and checked reviews. I’ve shared those links with you here in fact. While I have to admit I’m a bit jaded, I was finding that I was feeling a little twinge about the Bahiya. It sounds like me.. quasi-British traditionalist with a bit hardchine roller mixed in, responsive or squirly depending on your skill.. I finally ate a bit of crow pie and and asked Kelly if I could try one which he dropped off this morning.  (Thanks Kelly!)  At first glance that sleek kayak sitting outside my window under a stormy sky looks like me.  I can see the linage in it’s design. Beautiful lines, sharp, up-swept bow.. But is it the one? Well, things like this take time…

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