Why we don't paddle

Why We Don’t All Paddle. Why We Never Will.



Chances are if you are an avid paddler you have at one point evangelized the sport to everyone you know. “You just HAVE to come kayaking with us up to the lake…” If you have done enough of this you have found that it is not easy pulling a human off the couch. Who is to blame them? Couches are super comfortable. They usually have food close by and are a wonderful vista for tv watching.



It takes a lot to get to the water with a kayak or canoe. If I’m after exercise, I can be on my bike and back home before I’d even get the boat off the car at the put-in. The paddle outing is an Excursion. It is just waiting for an excuse to not be executed. Too hot, too cold, too windy, too much time, too much to do. At the checkout counter of life, paddling is not an impulse buy. You can just put it off until next time, the next season or never. It is like the garbage bags you keep forgetting to pick up at the store. Maybe next time.



Accessibility. The greater the access the more likely you will find paddlers. I was once amazed at how few kayaks sell in the Bay Area of CA. There seems to be water everywhere. However, access is sparse, roads are crowded and very few live right on the water. Way too much work to just go relax on the water. The fastest growing kayak segment in this area is kayak fishing. These enthusiasts are used to working a bit to get out on the water. For them, launching a kayak is way faster than their old motorized fishing boat. Now they are saving time and easing their access to water. Their access has improved through the kayak.


I use a few tricks to improve my chances of getting out on the water. I try to keep a boat on the car and gear in the back as much as possible. I motivate myself by knowing that it doesn’t take much to be the only one out on the water. I’ll drive further, endure a little weather and stay out later. While I’m cruising along on the water by myself I now take delight that the bicycle is easier for most and the couch is even easier.

River Retreat Sunday and Monday

The River Retreat was a blast. We had perfect weather for five straight days. I was so happy that so many people were willing to take time and travel to get together. The conversations that erupt when so many passionate people get together to share in the sports and business we love.

I understand that many shops are still busy or had other plans but what could be better than this...

I took about 60 pics of Tom Strauss from Emotion. He was smiling in every one of them. Try doing that with someone else you know. I bet Tom wins everytime.


One of the many basecamps to hang out in.

Ed Vater from Bending Branches and Aquabound Paddles showed up with Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and some great stories up northern Wisconsin Christmas BBQs. Ed made a lot of friends with these delectables.

Moon Mountain Ramblers rocked

My Dad showed these Northwesterners how to steam 50 head of corn at once over a fire. They were perfect.

Tom liked the 30 lbs of Salmon. We enjoyed fresh Salmon all week.


A highlight for me was paddling with Tom Derrer from Eddyline Kayaks. We huffed and puffed our way upstream before enjoying the lazy float downstream.

River Retreat 2009 Set Up Day

We payed our bills last year at the retreat with weather so we were rewarded with beautiful weather this year. I have been traveling so much that the riverhouse needed a year's worth of yard work packed into seven days. My dad flew out here on Tuesday and we have been running ever since.

The support crew and some of the closest friends from all over the west arrived. The Moon Mountain Ramblers made the trek over from central Oregon. They entertained an eager group
of us. Tom, Lisa and Denny brought the new Shasta down from Eddyline with a trailer full of other Eddylines.

My dad fine tuned his midwest tradition of steaming 30 head of corn in a steel drum over the fire. Steak, Chicken and Veggies off the grill!

More to come!

Outdoor Retailer Show On Water Demo

The trade show for Outdoor Retailers comes early this year so we all left our posts in the heat of the season and headed to the heat of Salt Lake City. The on water demo takes place the first day of the show. Here are some pics from the day.

The on water hydration station from Emotion Kayaks.

Andy Knapp Memorial Paddle.

A perfect day for Costa Del Mar to help people "see what's out there".

Tom Strauss of Emotion Kayaks is ready to play.

ESP Outdoors and Penguin Paddler's Demo Evening

What a blast we had a Whiskey Town Lake just west of Redding CA last Friday night. The weather could not have been more agreeable. The lucky people that call this area their home are fortunate to have nice warm water to play in. It just makes you want to get out messin' around in boats...

Owner of Penguin Paddlers/ESP Outdoors, Garth Schmeck took some time to show all the cool ways to roll his new Greenland boat. What a fun way to spend a Friday evening.

Here are some underwater vids that show the body mechanics of various front and back sculling braces and rolls. Thanks Garth...you make it all look so fun. Ain't that the point...!?

Spitfire Kayak

I had a great time showing Northern California Kayaks the 8' Spitfire Kayaks. Head Instructor, Del Davidson, is really excited to use the Spitfire as an introduction to the sport of kayaking craft. Specifically, he think that it will work great in a pool course he teaches that emphasizes the ease of re-entering a sit on top. He also hosts kid's kayaks camps and plans to use the Spitfire to be a great launching point for young new paddlers.

Del had no problem making the boat go where he needed it to go and was impressed with the capacity of the 8' Spitfire.

Bending Branches and Aquabound Rendezvous, St Croix WI

The entires sales force all flew in from our own hamlets and territories to meet at the Aquabound & Bending Branches Paddle factory this week. I know that everyone had to put a lot on hold back in the home turf but it was well worth getting together.




Everyone should have a hand made wood paddle in their quiver. They have the benefits of natural flex, comfortable on the hands, smooth in the water. In the under $200 price range I don't think there is a better choice for kayak paddles. Mother nature had it right all along.

The last time I toured the factory was in February of 09, shortly after the merger of Aquabound and Bending Branches paddles. A lot of new machinery, equipment and raw materials had just been moved from British Columbia. Everyone at the factory had already put in 2 exhausting months and yet there was still work to do. Viewing the factory this week was a wonderful "show and tell" of how much can be accomplished in such a short time. All the paddle materials were now neatly organized in large industrial shelves. The various machinery had clearly been whirling all season and the paddle craftsmen/women had proudly mastered another bag of tricks.

Bending Branches/Aquabound can now build to order the entire wood, aluminum, fiberglass and carbon paddles all the Osceola WI facility. Every day, yesterday's orders are shipped!

Put a pile of enthusiastic paddlers and industry insiders in a room together for two days and ideas begin to rain like it has been out west this spring. Everynight, we buffered the intensity of the day's meeting with good wisconsin fried cheese curds and ale.

The final day of the meeting left us with enough time to take a lazy float down the St Croix River. What a great spot to have in your backyard. We paddled and joked all afternoon. I enjoyed being on a river that has so much history with the trade, timber and native aspects of our country. Like any good Fourth of July paddle, we finished up with a grill out at one of the many parks that line this National Wild & Scenic designated river.

Eddyline Repair: Thermo Form Repair, Carbonlite Repair

Here's a fracture from this kayak being pinned against a piling with a lot of water pushing against it. No one was hurt and this kayak will be as good as new in one hour.

Here is a detailed step by step video and photo tutorial on how to repair thermo-formed kayaks. This repair was completed in less than 1 hour with materials easily available at any hardware store or even Walmart.

Here's what you will need:

1. Devcon Plastic Welder: This is the adhesive that is used to seam and bulkhead Eddylines. You can get this from Eddyline or find it at most hardware stores and even...Walmart.

2. Fiberglass Cloth: 2-3" wide Fiberglass cloth can be purchased from Eddyline or found at Marine stores. The Eddyline stuff is especially nice because the sides of the cloth are closed stitching and won't fray.

3. Carboard Working Surface

4. Piece of Rubber to Spread Adhesive.

5. Hobby Pigment: Used for coloring Devcon Plastic Welder adhesive for the exterior repair. Krylon Fusion Acrylic Spray Paint can also be used by spraying small amount on glue.

6. Rubbing Compound for final sanding. 400, 800 and 1200 Wet Sand Paper for finishing.

6. Masking Tape: Keeps it all clean and your work within the "lines"

Clean repair area of kayak with rubbing alcohol.

Apply Devcon Plastic Welder on one side of the tape and user your rubber squeege to spread evenly to entire cloth.

Pick up this strip and apply wetside down to the inside of the damaged surface.

Wait a minute and then add and spread Devcon Plastic Welder to the exposed "dry side" of the cloth.

Repeat the same process for the second patch, covering the first patch.

Move to the outside of the repair and use a dremel tool to create a "V" where along the fracture. This will receive pigmented Devcon Plastic Welder for the exterior cosmetic repair.

After filling the "V" with pigmented Devcon Plastic Welder, you can use a razor blade to take down the extra adhesive before it hardens.

Back to the Water!


For Those Who May Need More Detail:

I use the above repair materials for repairing Royalex Canoes and even Composite (Glass, Kevlar and Carbon) Kayaks and Canoes. The reason I prefer the method and materials described above is that the materials store easily in the field and mixing the adhesive is a cinch. Using conventional polyester resins and hardners like MEK (a known carcinogen) in the field is not only hard to mix correctly but also more cumbersome to carry and store after use. Devcon Plastic Welder is really an amazing adhesive that cures to full strength in 20 minutes. In the repair above we use Devcon Plastic Welder as the "resin" to laminate glass to the inside of the kayak. We also use devcon plastic welder mixed with a small amount of hobby pigment to match the color to the outside of the boat. This step is not necessary in the field.

The repair materials pictured and used above are small enough to even fit in my Life Vest as a field repair kit.

You can also just use Devcon Plastic Welder as a filler for scratches and gouges:

• First lightly sand or dremel the gouge to be filled. Then clean the area with rubbing alcohol.
• Squeeze a little Devcon Plastic Welder on to a working surface and add a little pigment to color match the color of the boat surface. Acrylic Hobby Pigment works fine but I prefer Krylon Fusion Spray Paint because it is easier to find around town and can be used for spray painting my name on bridges. I'll just give a little spray to the Devcon Plastic Welder as I'm mixing the two parts.
• This colored Devcon Plastic Welder is great for filling gouges and scratches. I have even used it to rebuild the ends of the boat if you have a very well used boat.
• Once you have filled the gouge you are working on you can use a razor blade to scrape off the excess.
• Then you can used wet/dry sand paper to smooth the surface
• If you are really a polisher, you can use a rubbing compound to give it the final shine

How Tough Is Carbonlite?

Carbonlite is harder than gel coat (composite kayaks). Carbonlite boats will not scratch or gouge as easily as a Fiberglass boat. I think that Carbonlite does even better on glancing impact than a fiberglass boat that can get spider fractures. Loaded Impact and Torsional Flex is more debatable and probably unique to the individual injury. In a rough surf zone crash you might end up doing repairs on both glass and carbonlite. Different types of repair...and in my opinion a glass boat is more difficult because spidering gel cracks are a real pain.

Emotion Mojo

Emotion's Mojo is a very stable 12' sit on top kayak that is available in a basic or angler version. One of the neatest features of the Mojo is the large rear compartment that can be used as a rear facing child seat. With a child or pet in the seat behind, the front paddler can make an easy forward stroke.

Emotion Kayak Tandemonium

Emotion Tandemonium
Emotion's Tandemonium is the family sportsmobile. You can paddle it solo, tandem, or load it up with the whole family. In the video below, two over 200 lb paddlers are shown in the Tandemonium.

In the video below, I sat on the bow seat facing the two paddlers above. At a total weight of 585 lbs, the Tandemonium still cruised right along proving its stability and load capacity. We were having a ton of fun with this boat. The Tandemonium would make a great rental kayak or family boat to leave down by the water. If you are looking for a lighter and smaller tandem, Emotion offers the 12' Comotion.

Spitfire Kayak

Nick from Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe Bend OR, treated us to a test paddle last week of the new Spitfire Kayak from Emotion Kayaks. This little 8' value kayak did just fine with the current. I think we are going to see a lot of new paddlers with this kayak.

Nick (6'1" 200lbs), having fun in the Spitfire Kayak.

Emotion Kayak Temptation

Emotion Kayak's Temptation

Here's a video of the new Temptation from Emotion Kayaks. The fine gentleman paddling the boat weighs in around 200 lb proving the boat has plenty of stability. The Temptation just received Paddler Magazine Buyer's Guide 09 "Recreational Pick of the Year"! Emotion also offers an angler version of this boat called the Stealth. The Stealth has 2 flush mount rod holders and 1 front mounted Scotty rod holder.

I think that the Temptation is one of the most versatile sit on tops that Emotion offers. It has a very predictable lean to it and tracks exceptionally well for a 10' kayak. The kayak has a built in seat back and a sculpted seat that offers a lot of comfort and great water drainage.