Just had a blast on three different kayaking trips in the Point Pelee
region. My wife and I paddled down the east shoreline and portaged into the
park, had a very interesting time in a protected marsh, and made a crossing
from Pelee Island to Middle Island (southernmost point in Canada).

Middle Island has got to be one of the weirdest places you could ever visit.
I don't think I'll forget our time there anytime soon!

Anyway, we've got maps, lots of pictures (some that are more interesting
than the usual "here I am in a kayak") and trip details. Just go to
www.gokayaking.ca and click on "Journeys 45-47."

Just a great place to visit. Highly recommended.

Keenan
gokayaking.ca

"Keenan Wellar" wrote in message
...
Just had a blast on three different kayaking trips in the Point Pelee
region. My wife and I paddled down the east shoreline and portaged into
the
park, had a very interesting time in a protected marsh, and made a
crossing
from Pelee Island to Middle Island (southernmost point in Canada).

Middle Island has got to be one of the weirdest places you could ever
visit.
I don't think I'll forget our time there anytime soon!

Anyway, we've got maps, lots of pictures (some that are more interesting
than the usual "here I am in a kayak") and trip details. Just go to
www.gokayaking.ca and click on "Journeys 45-47."

Just a great place to visit. Highly recommended.

Keenan:

Lurker here--thanks for the report and the pics! Relatively-new BF and I
spent a week on Pelee Island in August, and while we both have done some
canoeing, neither of us had been kayaking before. Fortunately, we set aside
time to rent a tandem from Pelee Paddler and went out for a couple hours on
a cloudy, cool day that would have been lousy for laying on the beach but
was great for being out on the water. We're now shopping around for a 'yak
or two (and I got a roof rack on its way via eBay). Since his buddy at work
owns a beach cottage on the island, we'll surely be back there in the next
year or two, hopefully kayak in tow, and Middle Island sounds absolutely
excellent!

DrLith, who has just sworn Keenan and Julie's pledge

"DrLith" wrote in message
...

"Keenan Wellar" wrote in message
...
Just had a blast on three different kayaking trips in the Point Pelee
region. My wife and I paddled down the east shoreline and portaged into
the
park, had a very interesting time in a protected marsh, and made a
crossing
from Pelee Island to Middle Island (southernmost point in Canada).

Middle Island has got to be one of the weirdest places you could ever
visit.
I don't think I'll forget our time there anytime soon!

Anyway, we've got maps, lots of pictures (some that are more interesting
than the usual "here I am in a kayak") and trip details. Just go to
www.gokayaking.ca and click on "Journeys 45-47."

Just a great place to visit. Highly recommended.

Keenan:

Lurker here--thanks for the report and the pics! Relatively-new BF and I
spent a week on Pelee Island in August, and while we both have done some
canoeing, neither of us had been kayaking before. Fortunately, we set
aside
time to rent a tandem from Pelee Paddler and went out for a couple hours
on
a cloudy, cool day that would have been lousy for laying on the beach but
was great for being out on the water. We're now shopping around for a 'yak
or two (and I got a roof rack on its way via eBay). Since his buddy at
work
owns a beach cottage on the island, we'll surely be back there in the next
year or two, hopefully kayak in tow, and Middle Island sounds absolutely
excellent!

Even with pictures it's a hard place to describe. I took some little movies
with my digital camera that do a much better job. Good luck picking out your
boats, let me know what you decide, always curiuos about what people choose
and why :-)

DrLith, who has just sworn Keenan and Julie's pledge

Ah, good on ya!

Keenan
gokayaking.ca

"Keenan Wellar" wrote in message
. ..
Good luck picking out your
boats, let me know what you decide, always curiuos about what people
choose
and why :-)

Right now we're debating sit-on-top vs. sit-inside "recreational" tandems.

Anticipated uses: primarily will be used for short outings on Chesapeake Bay
and its tributaries
Anticipated occupants: 2 adults, 2 kids (ages 6 and 9, although it's
probably more relevant to say they weigh 45 and 85 lbs, respectively, and
are both in the bottom 10th percentile for height!). Possibly a little
crabbing gear and a couple crabs.

Whatever we get, flexibility in seating will be a plus--I'm not sure how
well it will work having one full-sized and one pint-sized paddler in each
boat. I'm thinking that something with a "middle seat" option will be the
way to go, esp. with the 6 yo.

The pros, as I see it, to the sit-on-top would be that it might be a little
more stable in semi-choppy water such as you can get on the bay, don't have
to worry about bailing if you do take some on board, could also potentially
be used on the ocean as well? The downside is that most seem to have about
zilch storage space, and I'm not sure if using it as a crabbing platform
would be feasible. I also understand they're "wetter" than sit-insides,
which might restrict the cooler weather use?

A sit-inside seems like it could also be used for short overnights, but BF's
argument is that we also have access to a canoe, and if we want to do a
paddle-in overnight camp, we could just take that instead of/in addition to
a kayak. The tandem sit-insides also "seem" a little faster, but that
probably varies a lot?

So, I'm curious if anyone has any particular additional insights or
considerations to add--especially with regard to the mis-matched paddler
question. I'm favoring the sit-inside alternative (something like the
Pamlico 135T?) and BF is favoriting a sit-on-top. That ultimately may be the
deciding factor (he's buying), but he's quite reasonable and open to
persuasion.

in article , DrLith at wrote
on 9/8/04 3:12 PM:


"Keenan Wellar" wrote in message
. ..
Good luck picking out your
boats, let me know what you decide, always curiuos about what people
choose
and why :-)

Right now we're debating sit-on-top vs. sit-inside "recreational" tandems.

Anticipated uses: primarily will be used for short outings on Chesapeake Bay
and its tributaries
Anticipated occupants: 2 adults, 2 kids (ages 6 and 9, although it's
probably more relevant to say they weigh 45 and 85 lbs, respectively, and
are both in the bottom 10th percentile for height!). Possibly a little
crabbing gear and a couple crabs.

Whatever we get, flexibility in seating will be a plus--I'm not sure how
well it will work having one full-sized and one pint-sized paddler in each
boat. I'm thinking that something with a "middle seat" option will be the
way to go, esp. with the 6 yo.

The pros, as I see it, to the sit-on-top would be that it might be a little
more stable in semi-choppy water such as you can get on the bay, don't have
to worry about bailing if you do take some on board, could also potentially
be used on the ocean as well? The downside is that most seem to have about
zilch storage space, and I'm not sure if using it as a crabbing platform
would be feasible. I also understand they're "wetter" than sit-insides,
which might restrict the cooler weather use?

A sit-inside seems like it could also be used for short overnights, but BF's
argument is that we also have access to a canoe, and if we want to do a
paddle-in overnight camp, we could just take that instead of/in addition to
a kayak. The tandem sit-insides also "seem" a little faster, but that
probably varies a lot?

So, I'm curious if anyone has any particular additional insights or
considerations to add--especially with regard to the mis-matched paddler
question. I'm favoring the sit-inside alternative (something like the
Pamlico 135T?) and BF is favoriting a sit-on-top. That ultimately may be the
deciding factor (he's buying), but he's quite reasonable and open to
persuasion.

It's a complicated question to be sure!

This is an article that talks about canoes, standard kayaks, and sit on
tops...not bad: https://mohawkcanoes.com/canvskay.htm

Keenan
gokayaking.ca

"DrLith" ) writes:

Right now we're debating sit-on-top vs. sit-inside "recreational" tandems.

... I'm favoring the sit-inside alternative (something like the
Pamlico 135T?) and BF is favoriting a sit-on-top. That ultimately may be the
deciding factor (he's buying), but he's quite reasonable and open to
persuasion.

you have the option of getting one of each to satisfy both preferences.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

In article , William R. Watt wrote:

"DrLith" ) writes:

Right now we're debating sit-on-top vs. sit-inside "recreational" tandems.

... I'm favoring the sit-inside alternative (something like the
Pamlico 135T?) and BF is favoriting a sit-on-top. That ultimately may be the
deciding factor (he's buying), but he's quite reasonable and open to
persuasion.

you have the option of getting one of each to satisfy both preferences.

We're in the same boat (all puns intended) as we've currently got a 22yo
Madriver 14' Canoe (kevlar) that I recently aquired. We've been using it
around in the LA area (in the ocean marinas -- not out in the ocean proper
as it would capsize & sink rather quickly). Anyway, my brother recently
got a Feelfree Nomad Sit-on-top (SOT) that he's been doing just about
everything in for the past month or so now and loves it. However, both
of us have interests in eventually going beyond just paddling around in the
local marinas and would like to go out in the ocean proper. But, I also
want to make sure that we can take the little ones around as time
permits (3yo and 7yo). Both love going around in the canoe, but few SOT's
can take both kids and me in them easily (a few can that have the middle seat).

Personally I'd love to get an SOT so that I can go out to get some exercise,
and would prefer a traditional sit-inside for that particularly with the winter
months coming (and likely won't have the extra kid(s) to take with me, so a tandem
probably isn't needed/wanted). We're planning on attending the Southwest Kayak
symposium next weekend in San Diego to checkout some of the boats & vendors,etc.

We'll see what goodies they've got..