New Kayak

[GermanG]

I have both canoes and kayaks and enjoy them both. A kayak is certainly easier to paddle, especially in open water. If either boat will do on a given outing, I'll chose the kayak over the canoe. But I sometimes use my canoe for duck hunting. There's no way I can fit myself, a labrador, decoys, gun, and misc. gear in my kayak, not to mention another hunter. Fishing from a kayak presents less problems, but I never liked sitting so low in the water while fishing. Likewise, while you can use a kayak for camping if you are a minimalist, canoes allow for much more gear. Then there are my frequent exits, at a moments notice, whenever I see a plant I want to examine more closely or perhaps a historical feature. Kayaks are just enough more inconvenient to get in and out of that I might pass up something I might otherwise hop out of my canoe to check out.

Both boat types have their uses and I think that if you are going to use your boat for a variety of activities, don't try to find something that will be a jack of all trades and master of none. Used boats are easy enough to find at a decent price and will outlast the next half dozen cars or trucks you'll own. There's little reason for not owning both types if you can foresee their need!

 

[LARGO]

Never really did catch on to a Kayak myself. No reason I guess, just don't much like them. Silly but I do feel more stable in a canoe.
I'm pretty tame on a canoe, certainly not a white water type so I guess it don't take much to please me. Heck, I don't even need a fancy canoe and sure don't have one now. Last nice one I had someone liked better than me and relieved me of it. I just cruise along. Don't care for tipping. If I want to get in the water, the canoe gets beached, then I get in.
Turning the canoe around when solo helps some but I am fine to use it facing forward. it's a little more work alone but hey.

Reading this thread and seeing you all recant good times, I think I need to free up a day and go out. It's pretty clear no matter which medium, taking the water by paddle is a treat.
My canoe has just been sitting. Guess I should work on that.

g.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

LARGO, when are coming to reclaim your canoe? Maybe we could take it out for a quick paddle.

 

[LARGO]

That was my idea to request now the last two weekends in a row.
Laughed to myself as I wrote that last piece. I figured by now I'd owe you lodging fees. I may actually have a little Sunday Morn' time.
I will PM you.

g.

 

[onehand]

once i started kayaking i was hooked ! not much up here though with out a long drive

yep, the solituide in the waterways in the pines is great and some of the rental clowns were good for some very laughable moments:rofl:

do miss the pines !

 

[pinelandpaddler]

some of the rental clowns were good for some very laughable moments

Do share some stories.

 

[long-a-coming]

once i started kayaking i was hooked ! not much up here though with out a long drive

yep, the solituide in the waterways in the pines is great and some of the rental clowns were good for some very laughable moments:rofl:

do miss the pines !

Some new chapters will be written on Sept 1 when several members of my family invade the Wading River. This is the 30th anniversary Folcher Family Canoe trip and we hope to see some new folks out there this year. We meet at Pine Barrens Canoe Rental on Rt. 563 and usually do a short route 2-3 hr trip but we spend all day out there. We will meet around 11am. The sound of aluminum canoes banging will be heard for miles around. Ambushes happen and no one safe from attack on this trip. For most of my cousins, uncles, nieces and nephews its the only time they come to the pines so its a special trip. If canoeing down a log jammed river with inexperienced paddlers is your thing, I'll see you on Labor day

 

[whippoorbill]

Do share some stories.

In regard to onehand's laughable moments with rental clowns, that is.

Yeah, I have a story. Quite a few years ago, I was in a long-distance relationship with a gal from Sweden, which started with my having had a wonderful time with her in Scandinavia. Inviting her here, I wanted to make an impression with the things I love to do. A canoe down the Oswego was on the top of my list. Sad day, really. We arrived at Oswego Lake at the same time a large deposit of rental clowns was made ... and the circus began. There was a clumsy rush for the water, crashing and tipping taking place right from the outset. I tried to wait this group out, but their pace throughout the trip was microscopic. Nor was there a way to get past them all. Alcohol was obviously included as part of the group's entertainment package, as, at one point, clowns were seen monkey-like in the streamside trees tossing empty beer cans at passersby. The Oswego presents a little pace with its current, and demands some skill in navigating. What a riot! At least a dozen logjams (canoejams is the better word) were encountered, a few of which we found ourselves in the middle of, with high-speed out-of-control canoes ramming into the mess from the rear. I could write a book about all the things I saw and experienced that day. I was so upset about the trip that I wrote a letter to the Department of Environmental Protection (which was not responded to). Nor did the day make much of an impression on my date, sadly ... but she still married me.

Bill

 

[onehand]

Do share some stories.

to drunks with a submerged canoe trying to lift it stright out of the water to empty it out, both standing in shoulder deep water !!

tandem kayak neither every having been in a kayak before, unable to steer it going from bank to bank and half filled with water !

kayaker and kayak, no paddle ! asking "have you seen a paddle"

all rentals !

and so on and so on !

 

[LARGO]

With friends and one of them wanting to navigate a particular known drop in the Batsto. Caught it sideways and the roiling water spun Canoe and the pilot like a rotisserie. Head up, head down, up, down. Once I got him loose the canoe was a bugger getting out. It was caught just right to keep turning & turning, etc.

I like to take folks out for their first time. I had back in school a couple friends who were massive brothers. Football player size. Couple really cool colored fellas.
They wanted to be in the same canoe and at the forks we put in and they made it maybe 40 - 50 feet before a serious turnover. With the canoe
and their stuff floating scattered, they got in a fine argument right in the water, each yelling at the other and a few Yo Momma's being said (Brothers remember) Probably something the locals there don't see much.

A late night paddle on the lake in the pocono's (a weekend with my wife's brother) I was a little tuned up and went out alone. Pitch black. The Alpine next door had a massive big screen T.V. on floor two and this was to be my mark. I made quite a distance and of course there were many houses lit up. People started to go to sleep and lights went out. Those folks with the T.V. went to bed as well. Well, sucked to be me. I basically skirted the whole lake until I spied the paddle boat also in our cabin's yard.
On that same trip I saw the best tip over of an aluminum skiff ever when another fellow fishing stood up unbalanced. Another time for that one.

Countless idiots on countless turns yes.
A few real close calls myself.
And... some of the most peaceful moments that my life might yield just floating along.

g.

 

[long-a-coming]

That all sounds like great fun. See you guys on Labor Day!igfly:

The folks in my family are not as bad as the above descriptions. Most of us know what were doing a little....

 

[Sue Gremlin]

There is room in my heart and my life for both canoe and kayak. I have always had both, and I prefer to use the canoe when I am going out solo. I also turn it around and sit in the bow. Well, I say I do, but it's been about 6 years since I've taken it out alone, and I don't see using it again, so I've been trying to sell it.

When I first met my husband, I had a Perception tandem kayak. The front seat slid back on bars so it could readily be paddled solo. I only took it out when I had a dog. She'd sit in the back seat, and that seemed to balance things really well. She was small though, and didn't paddle, so she didn't interfere. Much. I thought better of introducing my husband to the joys of paddling with that thing, so I traded it in for two single seat kayaks.

I remembered the fight I had gotten into with an old boyfriend while paddling the tandem. I never used the back seat again after that. There is a great test of a relationship right there. A canoe is a lot better to use if you want to experience paddling togetherness, I have found, although that, too, has its challenges.

 

[long-a-coming]

Canoeing w/ your significant other is one of the true tests of the relationship!
My wife (girlfriend at the time) attended our Labor Day excursion in a year w/ very high water and no margin for error conditions. Encountering a big blowdown I tried to negotiate under it and my wife's brother who was like 11 at the time got knocked out of the canoe. She jumped in to save him and there was major drama on the river that day. Every single canoe in our party went down hard that day. Countless eyeglasses, cash, hoagies, jugs of high octane crazy juice, hoagies were lost forever in the unforgiving current.

When it was all said and done my waterlogged and bruised sweety decided to continue seeing me... but has never returned to that dangerous river, that's her loss

 

[piker56]

I mostly canoe alone and also sit in the bow seat facing backwards. Since I fish, for me a canoe is much better than a kayak. More room to spread out. I do take a yearly kayak trip with my daughter on the Batsto. Last year we had a rental story. The couple in front of us were getting set up and when the guy from Bel-Haven tried to hand the lady a paddle, she said "oh, I don't need one of those, he's going to paddle". My daughter looked at me and nicknamed them the little princess and her prince charming. About a hundred yards down stream they got stuck broadside between 2 logs and blocked the stream. Prince charming was out of the boat in the mud and the little princess was shouting directions at him (she was still in the canoe). We helped them out (and tried not to laugh), gave them some pointers and then got far ahead of them as fast as we could. I don't think they were having much fun.

 

[46er]

Two places to get some good laughs; 1) Behind inexperienced paddlers on a twisty stream, 2) At any boat launching ramp during the summer season. Just bring a cooler and some snacks..... :rofl:

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Last spring, my girlfriend and I took a canoe down the Atsion Creek. Ten minutes into the trip, we came upon a group of a dozen or so renters on kayaks that were trying to get past a downed tree. We patiently waited about 15 minutes for them to each get out of their kayaks and lift their boats over the tree. We decided to stop for a snack while waiting for these clowns do do their thing. When they were out of sight, we got back in our canoe and painlessly went under the tree in a matter of ten seconds. When we caught up to them a minute later, they were in disbelief and asked us how we lifted our canoe and all of our stuff over the tree so quickly. "Just a little brain power," I told them.

I'm not a fan of the liveries.

 

[MuckSavage]

I'm not a fan of the liveries.

Here Here

 

[Ben Ruset]

My first trip on the Oswego was a disaster. I did not have an easy time with the kayak and fell behind. Fortunately I seem to be doing much better at it now. I can really blaze a trail with Gabe's kayak.