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| Lake Cochituate |
So the other day I took my newly acquired kayak for a paddle on Lake Cochituate. It's a few years old (2009), but new to me. I saw it listed on a Craigslist ad. It was the model and size I had decided on - an Old Town Dirigo Angler, 12 ft. And at $500 it was the cheapest of the used ones I had seen over a few weeks of research. A new one costs around $800 on sale. The paddle, worth an added $60-90 was included.
Everyone warned me about meeting a stranger with cash in my pocket, probably still thinking about the guy who used Craigslist to meet his victims then robbed and even killed one of them. Fortunately, this guy was just a guy who just wanted to sell his kayak. I guess sometimes things are what they seem to be.
I used tie-downs to hold the kayak on the top of the van for the forty mile ride home. The were no mishaps en route.
I started checking out the kayak sections of the local sporting goods stores and quickly realized that I was not ready to go boating. I needed accessories. Mandatory was a PFD or as we landlubbers call them life vests - the new tech term is personal flotation device. I suppose they changed the name so you can't sue them if you drown wearing one. Also I needed a bilge pump to get water out of the cockpit, and a dolly to help transport the kayak from car to water's edge. Sometimes this can be quite a distance. If you have to carry or drag the thing (weighs around 50 pounds) you would be exhausted before you even get it in the water. More accessories are needed: A rooftop kayak carrier, drybags to keep stuff in, a paddle leash - a cord that you attach to your paddle and your vest to keep the paddle from running off. Eventually I would need to get a spray skirt - to keep water out of the cockpit in rough water (I have no intentions of trying to paddle in anything but calm waters for the foreseeable future).
One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, the weather was perfect for a test run. 80 degrees, no wind. My wife insisted on accompanying me on the maiden voyage. I guess she wanted to evaluate my "floatability". It was good that she came, since I did not have the dolly yet. I figured I could use the help carrying the kayak the 50 yards from the parking lot to the launch area. She also brought the camera, to record the event for posterity. I removed the seats from the Caravan and loaded the boat. About two feet stuck out the back, so I just used bungee cords to hold everything firmly with the hatch partially open. It is only 10 minutes to the lake on back roads, so this was an acceptable way to transport the kayak.
The thing about a kayak is that it sits low in the water, unlike a canoe where the paddler is sitting on a raised bench. The flexibility required for graceful entry and exit of a kayak is found only in the fit and thin, neither of which am I. Thus, the description of my getting-in and -out of the kayak will be skipped out of respect for my self esteem. Suffice it to say that I got wet.
But once out on the water, I was quite happy with my new boat. I paddled around for nearly an hour before the muscles began to complain.
This shot was taken of me returning to shore. I would not let my wife take pictures during the "exiting the kayak" maneuver, but if she'd had a video recorder, the ensuing action would have made it to America's Funniest Videos.
