Sherry Bunch Loves her All Water 10

I started out thinking I would get a SOT just for a little exercise after all my lower body intensive exercise of hiking, biking and skiing. Some friends convinced me to go with something more versatile and I’m very glad I took their advice and this is my very first boat of any kind. It was important to me that I have a boat that would allow solo paddling on flat water and not always have to round up a posse of white water kayakers to go out or be safe. As with most sports I tend to move rather rapidly through the learning process. I’ve got over 100 hours in this boat in 2 1/2 months and couldn’t wait to see what kayak camping was like. At 3.0 cubic feet of space (approx. 85 liters), in the rear hatch, I was able to carry everything I wanted on an overnight trip to Blue Mesa Reservoir, paddling the arms off the main body of water. I noted that a couple of SealLine Kodiak sacks will fit ahead of the foot braces in the 10, although on this trip I did not need that space. I am an ultralight backpacker and I never carry more than will fit in a 44 liter backpack for up to 5 days. I am sure with my style of camping I could go out for a week in this boat. The All Water is so stable that I was not afraid to go solo on flat water.

I have also spent a number of days on the Upper and Lower Colorado in Class II water at medium to high flow. I was amazed at how easy it was for me as a pure beginner to stay upright and with the other kayakers in their WW specific models. This boat is fast for it’s type and I had to be careful not to run over other boaters as the All Water, left to it’s own design, charges to the front of the pack consistently. The All Water has inspired a lot of confidence in me and encouraged me to go farther with my paddling than I had ever intended. Indeed, now I am considering another model, the Journey, as a step up to longer distance touring trips, but I will keep my All Water for those easy river days and shorter FW paddles and as a reliable loaner for family and friends who want to go out with me. My brother and I are the same size and it would fit him just fine.

All this fit in my Jackon Kayak All Water with room for more

Paddling Lake Dillon in Jackson Kayak All Water 10

Rear hatch packed for an overnight trip on Blue Mesa Reservoir

Lyons Colorado has the best in kids kayaking clubs!

Lyons Colorado is the role model for any town that wants to provide great recreational and physical exercise options to it’s kids. They have really created a fantastic kids club and it’s awesome to see how many of the parents are not only supporting it, but also now taking lessons of their own and pursuing the great sport of kayaking. 8 years ago the town and members of the community raised the money for a whitewater park. A few years later the Lyons Outdoor Games really started to get rolling, and now the town is reaping the benefits of their investment into the park by hiring a whitewater instructor (Jason Beausoleil) to teach kids to kayak every Tuesday and Thursday all year around! They even bought the boats for the kids so that they would be able to easily enter the sport, and invest on their own once they get a bit further into the sport.

This is so cool to see and something that any town that has put a whitewater park in should consider for its kids and to maximize their investment for the long haul.

Bottom line, the future is always in the kids of any society and our sport has a great road map in front of it with all these kids coming through the ranks! Lyons could be churning out the best boaters in the US in no time…

Day Trippers to the rescue!

Edward Anderson, a fly fishing guide from Boise, sends in this tale of why more people should be fishing in kayaks as opposed to trying to wade across the river. The moral… get a Day Tripper and anyone can paddle with the confidence needed for a fun day on the water.

Edward’s Story: Finally we got the fishing opener here on Memorial Day. In Idaho, we fly fisherman get excited to finally be able to fish some of our favorite streams. The weather starts to get warm, hatches start, and with any luck, the season start will raise some fish.

Unfortunately, our trip to the Middle Fork of the Boise River would have too many people to allow a Daytripper for everyone. Instead we decided to do some classic walk and wade fishing. The river was running pretty hot, but shallow enough. We thought we could get across to fish the North Fork of the river. That was a mistake.

Three of us started across the river. Only I was able to make it without falling in. One of my buddies was able to scramble out. The other fell and had his waders instantly filled with icy cold spring run off. He was swept a quarter mile downstream and almost into some big rapids. Luckily our friend, who we’ll call “The Greek”, pulled himself out before things got too dicey. Unfortunately, he was on the far side of the river with a huge hole and a cliff blocking his way back.

After yelling at each other to check his status, we decided I would wade back across to get the boats off my truck. Then I would ferry each friend off the far side. Upon reaching the vehicle, I found two fish and game officers who had been alerted by campers. They seemed doubtful of our rescue plan. They looked at the large Daytrippers on the roof of my truck and thought they would be no where stable enough to get through the swift water. Instead they wanted to get the sheriff involved and work with “professionals.”

I insisted we would be fine and save allot of time. I asked them to help carry the boats upstream and put in to cross the river four more times. The Daytrippers performed perfectly. Even the guys who had never spent any time in the boats were able to get to safety. Luckily for The Greek, he didn’t have to wait for rescue forces to get in place.

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Ed Anderson
NoBusinessLodge.com

Powers Outdoors’ Employee Demo Day Draws One Conclusion: JACKSON KAYAKS ROCK!!!

This past weekend was Powers Outdoors annual Employee Demo Day. Powers Outdoors is a Jackson kayak dealer in Michigan, and sells kayaks from all 3 of its locations. “This is the our chance to get the staff on the water so they can try out all of the boats they will be selling throughout the summer,” says Jacob Slominski of Powers Outdoors, “lucky for us, this is our homework.” This years Employee Demo Day or E.D.D. showcased the new 2010 line of Jackson Rec Kayaks. “Because this is our first full year selling Jackson, the employees had a lot of new boats to paddle,” stated Greg Slominski of Powers Outdoors, “I think that the All-Water 9’ and 10’ boats were the favorites of the day.” But remember, the importance of Powers Outdoors Employee Demo Day isn’t just to have a little fun on the water (even though that is a pretty cool side effect). Instead, Powers Outdoors encourages its staff to paddle every boat at the E.D.D. so that they are familiar with how each boat paddles, and can understand the features of what they will be selling back at the shops. Experiencing his first E.D.D., Jeff Bantle said, “We were able to share information and talk about the boats with other employees right out on the water. That really allowed me to learn a lot about the kayaks in a relatively short amount of time.” According to Jacob Slominski, “Having an educated staff is the #1 compliment that we receive on a daily basis, so we need to make sure that we all always keeping our people in tune with what is on the sales floor. Our E.D.D has really helped our staff relate to the customer because they are able to sell from experience, not just read something from a description they saw on a label.”

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The 2010 line of Jackson Kayaks is well represented at Powers Outdoors. From Day Trippers to Rivieras, from All-Waters to the new Journey, Powers Outdoors has a full selection to choose from. So, if you are in the market for a kayak, you can be confident that Powers Outdoors staff knows what they are talking about (from experience!) And remember, the demo option is not just for the employees…Powers Outdoors instituted a “try before you buy” policy back in the late 90’s, and that has really given them an edge up on the big box stores who still haven’t figured out that customer service is a huge factor in buying kayaks. So get down to Powers Outdoors today and try out one of the 2010 Jackson Kayaks!

Paddle On,
Powers Outdoors
-Submitted By Gabriel Slominski of Powers Outdoors LLC. Powers Outdoors has been a major regional player in the Paddlesports and Outdoor Gear industry for nearly 70 years, and is the host sponsor for the upcoming 2011 USCA Canoe & Kayak National Championships taking place in Newaygo, MI. Visit www.PowersOutdoors.com

Journey Surfin’ – by Jon Tobiassen

Recently @ Matunuck, RI there was a pretty big swell. The Journey, while not optimized for playing in big, breaking surf, was a blast. The boat has Jackson’s trademark whitewater outfitting which makes high performance play in these conditions possible. The boat is a true sea kayak in that it has the full compliment of safety features (hatches, bulkheads, decklines, bungees, good cockpit rim low back rest, etc) which allow for rescues in these challenging conditions… should that have been necessary.

The boat provided a great platform from which to enjoy the raw power of the waves. The Journey 14 acquired waves with ease, provided predictable surfing, and enormous buoyancy that prevented unwanted pitch poling. The relatively quick hull speed made exiting the impact zone for the open ocean an easy feat. Occasional cutbacks, 180s and even one 360 were all possible thanks to this sea kayak’s excellent maneuverability. I was even able to pull off a consecutive front ender back ender combination using consecutive swells. The back surfs I was getting on this day were tremendous and provided a sense of speed seldom encountered in a kayak.

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After 4 hours of hard paddling and thrashings I was pleasantly surprised not to find one cut, ding or bruise on my body. This is thanks to the Journey’s excellent design and finish level. Typically I would have minor scratches and bruises from a sea kayak after a session like that. On the Journey, there are no protruding fittings or rough edges to diminish your pleasure.

Also, as this is a plastic sea kayak, launching and landing in large breaking surf on the cobble and barnacle covered beach was a snap. While out past the breakers, I was able to pop my spray-skirt and pump out any water that forced its way past the seals of my skirt and dry top. I was then able to pump out my friends in their tiny surf play boats extending their sessions as well.

Last night I was also out in my Journey doing “no-paddle 720s” while catching big striped bass in thick fog and darkness. But that’s another story for another blog.

I love this boat!!!

Darcy and Don, send in this ambassador update from BC!!!

The Puntledge River festival is a sweet event put on by the Vancouver Island Whitewater Paddling Society. They have worked with BC Hydro to release water in the 65-110 Cubic Meters per Second range for the festival (for those of us using cfs, multiple the cms by 35 and you’ll have a pretty good idea of the cfs). There are 2 runs on the Puntledge–the Lower is a fun Class III/IV play run and the Upper is a Class IV+/V- creeky, slidey, waterfally run. Also nearby is the Brown River which happened to be running while we were there due to all the rain.

Don testing out the boof on his 2010 AllStar. This is the waterfall on the Lower Brown River’s “play run”
Hey, Shayne told us this was a play run–he didn’t say nothing about no Waterfall!

Darcy, first time paddling her new 2Fun–it’s pretty sweet for boofing 10-footers, now I just gotta find me a surf wave.

Shyane, our trusty Vancouver Island guide.
Shayne and Carrie came down to Ecuador on a trip with us a couple years back to enjoy some warm weather paddling. Vancouver Island definitely has some awesome whitewater, but even hard-core British Columbians like to get out of their drysuits every now and then. So they spent a week with us checking out Ecuador’s best whitewater. This weekend Shayne was returning the guiding taking us around to the festival’s best runs.

Kayakers waiting to get shuttled to the Lower Puntledge for a play run.
There are no races or other competitions at the Puntledge Festival, it’s just a bunch of people who want to get out on the water. The festival organizers had shuttles running all day long for the Upper and Lower sections of the Puntledge as well as the Lower Brown river. It’s pretty awesome to have so many people out on the river doing lap after lap until their bodies are too tired to take it anymore. Then it’s time to drink beer and huddle under the tarps to meet new friends and hide from the rain!

The Upper Puntledge is a very unique piece of whitewater that, unfortunately, doesn’t lend itself very well to photography due to the lack of eddies and super thick and bushy shoreline.
So, we have no photos, but Don put together a video from his Go Pro camera. It was mounted on his boat instead of his helmet so the perspective is a little skewed, but I’m telling you, it’s a lot bigger than it looks! The river, at the best flows, is roughly 3800 cfs. The river is 200-500 feet wide, often splitting into 2 channels, and is full of slides, waterfalls, and ledges. It’s a pretty crazy experience to be “creeking” on almost 4,000 cfs.

Anyhow, enjoy the video:

Here’s to a job well Done!! – from Eric Stiller of MKC

From Eric Stiller of the Manhattan Kayak Company

When I first received the JOURNEY I was immediately impressed by the clean, beautiful lines of the boat. I was also struck by rigidity of the hull and the quality of the deck rigging, hatch covers and rudder connections.

The joy did not stop there. I was thrilled by the comfort of the seat and the excellent support of the draw tight backband, hip and thigh supports and solid easy to adjust footbracing. I jumped into the boat on the grass of my front yard and dialed myself in solidly knowing that I had a full body control cockpit.

Later, my father Dieter Stiller , the long time importer and distributor of Klepper Kayaks from Germany, came around, took a draw on his pipe as he scanned the boat and said “this is a very beautiful boat Eric” .

The next day I took the boat to our boathouse at Pier 66 at 26th St. and the Hudson River and seal launched off the cock into a 25 knot headwind. The boat seemed to drive itself easily and elegantly with few basic forward strokes as if the wind and the waves were barely there.

I was totally surprised how the boat travelled across the wind with no weathercocking or bearing off. Mind you this is WITHOUT the rudder.

The boat was completely seaworthy and easy to control with 2-3 foot wind driven chop buffeting the boat continuously. I then , took the Journey into the teeth of a full power ebbing 3knot tidal current with the wind coming from my left side and the boat tracked and surged forward. I continued to point the point in many direction and found no bias in the boats behavior. Then, I finished with a little surfing on a following sea and found the Journey steady, predictable, easy to control and hell of alot of FUN in the rough conditions.

Manhattan Kayak Company
The Boathouse
Pier 66, 26th Street and 12th Ave.
New York, NY 10001
(212) 924-1788 (ph)

Chilliwack River Festival AND our first winner of this summer’s contest!

 Posted By Darcy to Small World Adventures–Kayak Ecuador

(We just aren’t sure which is prettier, our van or the snowy BC mountains)

Don and I just finished a lovely weekend at the Chilliwack River Festival in British Columbia. The festival is put on by the Vancouver Whitewater Club and those guys and gals did a great job organizing everything from food, to shuttles, to prizes for their raffle.

In addition to writing up this sweet festival, we also need to announce our very first winner in the 2010 summer “boatin n’ promotin” tour. Bryan M. is now the proud owner of an IR Thin Skin (A lightweight, tight fitting rash guard. Made with a 4-way stretch a polyester/ bamboo fiber)! Congratulations Bryan. We hope you can put your Thin Skin to good use out there on the rivers.

(Tony and Don enjoying some dinner and a good laugh after Saturday’s river festivities)

This festival is unique and very cool in that it is really centered around beginner and intermediate kayakers. The Vancouver Kayak Club is doing an amazing job getting people into the sport of kayaking. And, the beginners themselves are super hard core. It was a chilly weekend, with snow still VERY close by in the mountains. The river water isn’t exactly warm either, but there were lots of eager paddlers out there giving it a try. My hat is off to them for sure. Learning to kayak is a hard enough endeavor when it’s warm out, let alone when it’s springtime in BC!

Don and I met Tony (pictured above) down in Ecuador a few years back. He came on a trip with us when he was just getting into the sport himself, and he’s since become an invaluable asset to the VKC. Tony, Philip, Katherine and all the other VKC volunteers really made this a special weekend for beginner and intermediate paddlers by helping them to get out on the water–nice work everyone!

(2 women racing down the Tamahi Rapids on the Chilliwack River)

The festival program includes beginner Class I and II runs with experienced members of the VKC leading new kayakers down. There are also guided trips down the Class III and IV- sections for intermediate paddlers, a downriver race, a World Kayak throwdown (for paddlers of all levels) and non-kayaker activities as well if friends or family of kayakers want to come enjoy the weekend. With boat demos, drysuit, helmet and PFD demos, if you live in the Northwest and are trying to get into kayaking, this is a great place to give it a whirl, you will find tons of support here.

(The shuttle bus dropping kayakers off at various points along the Chilliwack)

(loading up the trailer to head to the put in)

It was really great to see tons of paddlers getting after it even though the weather wasn’t exactly “tropical.” Don got to try out his new 2010 AllStar with his new IR Comp LX dry deck with Kling On spray skirt. Despite the fact that everyone else was wearing drysuits (it was 6 degrees Celsius after all–that’s 43 degrees to us Fahrenheit people) Don paddled in shorts and stayed warm and dry in his Jackson/IR set up. Needless to say, he was pretty stoked.

After a nice weekend of boating, Don and I are heading up to Whistler to get in our last few days of skiing for the season. Then we’ll start making our way down to the Clackamas Festival in Oregon stopping off in Seattle and Hood River to hit a few more rivers on the way.

www.smallworldadventures.com

Here are the First two owners of the Journey 14, proud and happy as can be

Jackson Kayak is very proud of if flagship touring kayak…. The “Journey”. Gauging from the reaction of those the purchased the first two ever Journeys at Canoecopia, it looks like we hit the nail on the head. This touring design has all the bells and whistles. Reflective perimeter rope, super dry hatches, our ultra comfy outfitting and performance oriented back band, and last but not least the best rudder in the market… Smart Track.

This boat has been in development for over a year and the fact that it paddles this well is a testament to Tony Lee and David Knights endless pursuit of perfection… We are very happy with this craft and from the reaction of the first two owners, we know you will be too.

For all those with orders, the wait is over… we start shipping this week!

Join us in our JK Community, set up a blog, share your JK Lyfestyles with other JK kayak owners and the entire JK Team!