Your Thoughts?

[Hobie-Pedaller]

Originally Posted by makobob

....No paddle harness? ....

ANOTHER advantage of mirage drive kayaks.

NO harness necessary. whenever paddle is dropped in water & floats away from yak, u just pedal after it & pick it up.

i've never used a paddle harness, and never lost a paddle in 10 yrs of yakking.
.

[makobob]

Ok, I stand corrected, but you would not have had to swim back to boat if you had leash.

[Deamon]

I found out that when I merely watch someone else fall off a kayak...even on YouTube...I get a cold sweat and have flashbacks at night on my past failures...Not cool. I didn't sleep well. I'll try to avoid these types of videos in the future. Jim

[Baja_Traveler]

I learned that I need to get my A$$ to LJ - because that blue water looked AWESOME!!

[Salty Dog]

1. To turn down volume before hitting play button
2. Your rudder was not deployed
3. You are training for the US Gymnastics Team
4. I will start thinking about rigging up a kayak leash. A lot of good a Mirage Drive will do me if it drifts away

[taggermike]

That's a funny vid but a few things are clear.
Don't stand up in a kayak.

If you come out of your boat grab it asap. Even in those nice conditions the kayak was getting a way from the guy in the water.

Practice re-entry before you have to do one.

Having a buddy handy is nice. Seriously. Mike

[tomahawk]

1. Don't stand
2. Have someone close by
3. Old guys rule but aren't necessarily coordinated
4. Keep the GoPro charged

[Old Man in the Sea]

#1 Rule do not fish without a buddy.
#2 Make sure I always wear my PFD with my floating Acr ResQlink 2880 PLB in the left pocket.
#3 If you are alone in the water in waders without a PLB you will be very lucky if you are found alive - especially at night.
#4 Standing up holding your fish for a picture in a kayak is ALMOST as dangerous as stand up paddling in a kayak.

[driftwood]

Yup, old men rule!!!

IMG_0027.jpg

[Dirty Curti]

Never stand up in a kayak when your buddy has the GoPro focused on you and laughing.

Thanks for sharing

[GregAndrew]

I prefer to do my standing on the beach.

[Deamon]

I put your photo into an experimental google earth map app and it triangulated your exact location, thanks! See you there in the morning, I'll be there early. Jim

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

I prefer to do my standing on the beach.

[makobob]

Jim that's the hard way. Put a tracker on both your rides yesterday.

[StinkyMatt]

Greg, there is a dead sardine stuck to the side of your waders.

Otherwise a very pretty picture.

[lowprofile]

Originally Posted by Hobie-Pedaller

ANOTHER advantage of mirage drive kayaks.

NO harness necessary. whenever paddle is dropped in water & floats away from yak, u just pedal after it & pick it up.

i've never used a paddle harness, and never lost a paddle in 10 yrs of yakking.
.

unless your using it because your mirage drive broke...

[Irishman]

Leash.....
End of story without one. Not been kayaking for long but can tell this much that the paddle should be firmly attached to the kayak....here's my very simple reasoning why....
Surfed my share of big waves with and without a leash, gook cord call it what you will....learnt one very invaluable lesson.....there is no such thing as an atheist when you are in the ocean with big water. It has a way of humbling you very quickly. If you have ever been in a life threating situation in the ocean you will know what I mean.
It's a funny video to watch....but what if the wind was up, paddling solo and the drive broke??? Sorry to be overly paranoid...just be prepared.
With that said it was funny!!!

[StinkyMatt]

Most kayak schools or instructors will tell you to never have a paddle leash when launching or Landing. Safety thing.

Out in the open water I guess it could make sense.

[Hobie-Pedaller]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

unless your using it because your mirage drive broke...

well, i suspect the odds of THAT COMBINATION happening, are somewhere along the lines of getting struck by lightning, or similar extremely unlikely occurrences.


in 10 yrs of yakking, and knowing there are thousands of mirage drives in use, and following every yak fishing website in existence over that 10 yrs.... i've have heard of a grand total of ONE mirage drive breaking. (posted just in past few months on this website.)

so i don't think that is really much of a significant concern.

AND IF A MIRAGE DRIVE DOES BREAK, THEN ANY PRUDENT YAKKER COULD THEN EASILY FOCUS ON MAKING SURE TO HOLD ON TO PADDLE SECURELY, AND NOT DOING ANYTHING RISKY, SUCH AS MANY OF THE THINGS POSTED EARLIER IN THIS THREAD, TO RISK GOING OVERBOARD, OR LOSING PADDLE, ETC.

i would worry more about being struck by lightning, or getting eaten by a shark, than worry about the odds of having BOTH my mirage drive break, AND then ALSO subsequently losing my paddle after that, when knowing i did not have a working mirage drive available.
.

[jorluivil]

Although this all started as a joke it became a eye opener the second that I was unable to swim faster than the kayak was drifting.

• Do I drop the paddle?
• should I take off my PFD so that I can swim faster?
• Should I hail the USCG(I'm not sure how many of you noticed but my VHF was clipped to my PFD)?
• should I strip the layers of clothing that are weighing me down?

I can't imagine what the end result could have been if I was alone. Fortunately, this all ended well but it was only because Matt was near me and rest assured I would have never tried this if I was alone in open water.

[Old Man in the Sea]

) yes forget the paddle - IMMEDIATELY use your arms in a fast crawl stroke back to the kayak - you waited too long.
2) no never/ever take off your pfd it will keep you floating and it has the vhf.
3) yes if you don't catch your kayak
4) in your clothing case yes if #1 fails immediately - kick off those shoes - arch to heel and push - then grab your butt and pull those pants past your knees and kick them off - swim back with full power using arms and kicking...
5) You must use a long teather tied around your waist and the other end to Tony's swim step if you want to try it alone...