My first kayak experience was in a much different kayak. One that I thought would be extra stable, and impossible to tip over. Well, not only did I flip it over, it was impossible to control in the wind. This kayak has retractable outriggers, and yes when they are OUT, the boat is quite stable. This stability came at too high a price. Paddling in a wind (with or across) was not fun. The kayak just wanted to turn nose into the wind. Into the wind, it still didn't track all that well, and it as a lot of effort to make headway.
I first looked into the NuCanoe
Frontier on the Internet, and in March stopped in at Kayaks By Bo in
Titusville, and talked to Tom. I knew I wouldn't be able to try it that
day, or fish much until I got a lot of things done on our new house in
Orlando, so I said I would get back over in a few months.
During that time, I was able to
read up and watch videos on a LOT of kayaks. All of them said they were
stable, and a great fishing platform. After my first experience, I
knew I would have to try out ANY boat before I made my decision.
I tried and paddled a lot if
kayaks in the last 6 months. Many big names, and highly touted models.
They all paddled OK, during tests, but they all fell short of what I
wanted in the way of stability. There were only two boats that I felt I
could feel comfortable in standing up and casting. One was the very
expensive Hobie Pro Angler, nice but too heavy (no way I was going to
get that up on my CRV). The other was cheap, stable, but just felt
flimsy.
I finally went over to see Tom
at Kayaks by Bo again yesterday, and they sent me over to the IRL with Chuck. After 15
minutes, I was convinced that this was the Kayak (Canoe, SUP, what ever
you want to call it) for me. We went back to the shop and wrote it up.
Only problem was they didn't have a
Transformer paddle in stock. It should be on order now. I took the
kayak home with a loaner paddle last night, and today I spent 3 hours
fishing and paddling. My only concern was that the width of the boat
would make for difficult paddling. The loaner paddle is only 240cm, but
I had no problem paddling in any direction. With the wind, cross wind,
up wind, it didn't matter, the Frontier tracked well and was easy to
paddle. I stood up, fished, and paddled for a half hour. Again, no
problems, even with boat wakes. There was a breeze, but not a "wind,"
but standing or sitting, I was very happy with the handling.
I have just begun this journey
into serious kayak fishing, but I am confident I made the right choice
in a Kayak. I can hardly wait for the new paddle to come in so I can
see what the Frontier can REALLY do.
I will be reading through the
forums and other pages to see what other folks are doing with their
Nucanoes. I hope to soon be an active contributor.
Continue Success,
C.B, Orlando, FL
