Submitted: 01-13-2009 by dzager
Used this in Florida Keys - both paddling and with a "sailboats to go" sail kit. Paddling it reminds me of my Old Town Pack canoe (with a 260cm kayak paddle) - good stroke is needed to keep it on course. My "all day" speed is 3 mph (GPS), and I could push it to 4.5 mph. Not much glide.
The seat was really comfortable with an extra PFD tucked under it. Inflates easy and is really rigid. You have to mess with the placement of the floor if, like me, you are picky about the boat inflating to a symmetrical shape. The valves are high pressure Halkey-Roberts. I used an electric inflator (12v) and then pumped to pressure in about 5 minutes.
The sail kit works pretty well. With two people and the sail kit you are going to get wet in anything near 1 foot chop. Sails faster than it paddles - we had it up to 7 mph on the GPS. The sail kit does twist the boat some - but seems no worse for the wear. Sailed up wind pretty well, too.
Had a lot of fun with it and then deflated and got it back in the bag for the drive home. |