Does anyone Kayak?

Yes! I just got my first one last week and I'm in love. I got a Hobie bc I wanted the option to pedal when my arms got too tired. I also prefer the sit on top vs inside. Can you demo different styles in your area? I firmly believe in demos.

We have some. I have a cheap Pelican kayak and I love it. My dh has a shorter and wider kayak and it's harder to control. I'm another person who likes to wear kayak gloves. And that's just doing lake kayaking. It's so fun and can be great excercise. Wish I could get out more often.

I open-water kayak all the time. I have a sit-in Olde Towne, 12'. It's a bit hard for me to transport alone, so I'm most likely going to get one a bit shorter. Take some time to try a few out, and test your paddles (as mentioned above). Paddles are heavy - and you'll be using them a lot!

Enjoy! It's one of my favorite outdoor activities.

River - you're so lucky you get to go so often! I only get to go usually a few times a summer, and so far nothing planned yet for this year. I'll have to get on that...

We just bought 2 kayaks at Dick's annual memorial day kayak sale. Future beach fusion 10 foot kayak. Only one color was available at that point - blue. But the price was great!
We've gone out a couple times and it's a lot of fun. I've been wanting a kayak for several years now (my son is a serious kayaker and claims that it's HIM that has created a kayak boom in our town - it's kinda true lol). I set a goal of losing 25# and I'd get 2 for us.
Mission accomplished. (and more).

I enjoy it more than the $20k motorcycle in the garage honestly.

We have a couple of kayaks. I have a 17 yr old son and he loves kayaking.

We prefer the sit-in kayaks because it's Florida and there are alligators in every body of water. It just feels a little safer.

We have only kayaked nice calm springs around here to see manatees and photograph wildlife no experience with rapids or waves.

It sounds a little silly but I really prefer the kayak we have that has a cup holder right in front of me. It comes in handy. I use it for all kinds of things like my glasses, to set the camera lens cover in, etc without dropping stuff down inside the kayak and then fishing around to find again.

Have fun!

Kayaks are AWESOME! DH and I bought ours in 1998 from Monterey Bay Kayaks as used rentals. They've got RUDDERS even! I think each one was $700 including the paddles (that come apart into 2 pieces and store INSIDE) and seats and dry bags. Ours are sit on tops and have 2 compartments that we can put the dry bags into. They're perception brand and about 16' long and I would buy these same ones in a heartbeat!

2 kids later, we are looking at adding to our kayaks. I thought about 2 person but then you're tied to going wherever the other person wants to go. DH likes to fish off his. I'm not into that. I prefer to explore. The kids are almost 6 and a year old. The one year old won't be going out on a kayak unless he's riding with us. The 6 year old wants her own and we ALMOST bought the kids one that Costco had on sale for her (it is good for up to 140 lbs so even an adult could use it!). We decided to let her use ours this summer and go from there. Costco always has them in the summer.

We started out kayaking on Monterey Bay and Elk Horn Slough. Then moved 3 hours northeast from there. We now kayak on the lakes up here.

As far as storage.... we have ours hoisted to the roof in the garage. They're LONG so we couldn't just stack them somewhere. I can't remember where we got them or what they're called. If you're interested I can see if I can find them.

For hauling them- we have yakima racks. You can get wheels for the back of the boat so you can just pull them along. The wheels store inside the boat. We don't have wheels and I always wish we would get them! Those suckers are heavy!

Have a fun time with whatever you decide to get! They're awesome!

eta: quick search found these- this is what we use to keep them up of the ground... www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-CanoeKayak-Storage-Hoist-System/1152376.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dkayak%2Bhoist%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=kayak+hoist&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

removed pictures for the purge for space

I love kayaking and do it often.  We just do ponds, lakes and rivers.  I like the sit in ones.  I also like a longer kayak, like a 10ft or 12ft.  The little 8 ft ones don't feel as stable to me. 

We have 4 different kayaks and I like the ones with the larger opening better.  It is easier for me to get in and out of with bad knees.  We also don't really do rapids so we don't use/need a skirt.  We are more just leisurely exploring type kayakers.

I have very basic kayak knowledge though, and this is only my opinion.  My friend also has a little Boston terrier that likes to go out with us sometimes, but just around the pond at our camp mostly.  We make sure to put a life jacket on her that has a handle on the top so you can scoop her up if she goes over.  She just likes to sit between my legs and check things out. 


ETA - Stability it pretty important to me so that is something that we paid attention to when purchasing them.

I really don't kayak, but we did a "class" or tour one Saturday with our local parks & rec department. We had the sit in kind with a foot pedal rudder and I felt safe and in control. It was pretty easy going out, but coming back in when the wind changed was quite a workout.

templatequeen Do you live in or have an area near by that you can rent them and try out the sit in or sit on style?

seaexplore I live in Santa Cruz and work in Monterey. Small world.

@scrubologist We are thinking about getting an inflatable to take when we go camping so we can float around on lakes. Nothing serious like ocean or rivers. Good to know you liked the inflatable.