Sometimes in the paddling community we are just too nice. “All boats are good boats”, “whatever’s right for you” and so on. Well, the truth of course is NOT all boats are good boats and often as we are getting into the sport we choose a lot of bad kayaks because we are selecting them for all the wrong reasons. Let’s be honest, not every boat is well. . . good.

The same of course goes for gear. I mean, we spend millions of dollars each year buying all the stuff we need to go out on the water. We buy clothing, safety gear, camping equipment, tents, hydropacks, filters, lights, food, ropes, compasses, GPS, cameras, shoes, hats, sunblock, and the list goes on. Of course in the end we often spend a good amount of money on pure, unadulterated junk until we find a good product, or get advice from someone honest and experienced.

So I was having an interesting conversation recently about paddle magazine product reviews. Of course when we are looking for a new boat we get information where ever we can. We ask friends, test paddle, read reviews and all the rest. I’ve certainly sat around the fires enough to get into those conversations about print reviews to know there are some who really feel the mags are fair and sometimes even a bit harsh. While on the other side of the fence are those who feel they are biased because of the small size of the sport and concerns about advertising dollars and such.

Then there is my Rockpool which after much time and yeah, a bit of frustration I finally have a delivery option. Using the company that Geoff gave me I can get it here for under $2000. See the boat was not done in time to send by ocean which would have been a ton cheaper. So I have no choice to use airfreight. Then when I compared it to the cost of just flying over, plus gas to drive, and lost time here (3 days). In the end 1886.38 is still no bargain, but it’s the best I can do with the time I have left.

On the upside Reed Chillcheater got all my new fancy duds to me in no time and I’m now fully kitted out for PR. Now here’s the thing. I plan to go using one big duffel. No more. Ever try to fit a month of your life in one big duffel? LOL! We Americans are way to material oriented. I remind myself of that each time I scratch another thing of my list that is NOT going to fit in the bag.

I don’t know about you, but I have a special connection with my kayaks and paddles. These are the bits that you use every day. They are like your friends and you come to trust them. Changing gear can be hard. It’s like when Capitan Kirk got his new Enterprise and missed his old command chair! I’ve always used Lendal paddles and just holding something different felt strange for a bit. But in no time I was enamored. I felt like I could just tear it up on the water. Of course then there is that fun bit that Kelly Blades showed me; Paddle backwords, then let the Ikelos slip through the water. Put the high blade by your ear. . You can hear the water trickle past your blade!! For some reason the sound is amplified from the water blade, through the shaft and out the top blade. It’s very friggin cool! LOL! And you know me, I’m always turned on by those silly bits.

I had my Trak kayak out on the beach for a couple days. Interestingly there was another green Trak demo there as well. Two Trak Kayaks in one spot! A sign of growth. Now I took mine out for a “Fun with Kayaks” class which is probably the most stressful on your boat. LOL! Lots of crawling around, jumping, etc. Yes, the Trak did just fine. The only lesson I have for you is. . . be sure to fill your float bags! If you don’t. . . DO NOT, wet exit! LOL! All in all there there was quite a bit of interest in the Trak boats. Right when I was leaving, the green one was going out for a rescue class. . I wonder how that went?