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Posts Tagged ‘get outside’

The Kayak Search Continues…

03 Apr

I honestly thought I would have had a kayak sitting in my garage by now, taking up space.

But I don’t. And its not without a lack of trying. Just this past weekend I attended a promising (but lame) Bike/Kayak swap meet in St. Louis Park and stopped at Gander Mountain to see if I could use a Cabela’s giftcard to buy a kayak. Alas, no.

If I wanted to pay full retail for a kayak, it would be in garage already. But I don’t like paying full retail for anything  – who does?

To go back to my first post, here’s how I’m going to use the kayak “most” of the time.

1. Overnight trips on the river with my bestie

2. Afternoon tours

3. Races and tri events

The longer the boat, the more stable it is in the water, which means more speed (#3) and less wear & tear on your upper body for paddling (#1).

Therefore, I need a 12 or 14 footer. Anything longer than that is consider a “sea touring” kayak…and is more money.

When beginning your kayak search, figure out your priorities – what are you NOT willing to give up? Mine are:

1. Double dry bulkheads: If you do overnighters, you need two of these. One for firewood and one for your pillow/blanket. The rest of your stuff, including Oreos, can sit on top in a drybag.

2. Comfie seat: For trips any longer than 3 hours, you will wish you spent a couple hundred more for a seat that adjusts in several places.

With all that in mind, following are the ‘yaks I’m most interested in. (All are around $800 to $950 range)

1. Wilderness Systems Pungo 140: 14 feet in length with double bulkheads plus a SUPER comfie seat system. I sat in this for 15 min at Canoeacopia in Madison and didn’t want to leave. I only left becuase people were giving me looks. The seat adjusts in several places and if you kayak for more than 3 or 4 hours in one day, you want adjustments. Wilderness also created a cool “Kayak Konsole,” which offers even more storage and CUP HOLDERS! Yes, the kayak community finally figured out that beverages are a part of any kayak outing. The another great point is the cockpit is OPEN, very wide and very open. Even when you put the Konsole on, you still have a lot of room.

NOTE: The Pungo 120 is, you guessed it, 12 feet in length and less expensive. BUT, you only have ONE dry bulkhead and you lose a little of stability with the shorter version. If you think you are just doing day trips (no overnighters) then this is a great alternative.

2. Perception Carolina - 14 feet with double bulkheads. I didn’t find their seat AS comfie as Wilderness systems, but it also adjusts in several places and would be great on long trips. The cockpit was smaller/tighter, but not as tight as a sea kayak. Its a great hybrid for people who think they might be in rougher water and need the sleekness of a sea kayak with the comfort of a touring ‘yak.

NOTE: They also have a 12 foot version that loses a bulkhead and is less expensive.

I find these two kayaks pretty interchangable, but feel Wilderness edges out Perception with their better seat system and the Kayak Konsole.

ANOTHER NOTE: I know what you are thinking, you’ll just buy Wildnerness’s seat system and put it in your kayak. Sorry, they don’t sell them separately. Boo. But, you can buy that Kayak Konsole separately if you have a kayak with a large cockpit area. Retails for around $70.

3. Dagger Axis 12 – A 12 foot kayak with only one bulkhead BUT it has a skeg. A skeg is essentially a drop down rudder system that you can use when you need it. When down, the skeg helps you track on the water better – especially useful in high winds.

I’m torn on this one. The skeg sounds awesome – but I’m losing out on a bulkhead and two feet of boat. Theory goes I won’t need those two extra feet for tracking ease because I have the skeg. But when discussing this with other kayakers, many said they never even use the skeg.

There are others in the mix, but they don’t fit well with my priorities above. For instance, Old Towne Camden 120 looks like a great kayak as well, but it only has one bulkhead. This version also comes as with a fishing package. The Black Cherry color is to die for – never saw a kayak with that color. This is where I almost bought a ‘yak based on color.

Current Designs is a popular kayak brand, but I find them WAY too far out of my price range. And I don’t see what that extra money is getting me. The Kestral series comes as a 12 and 14 footer in both composite and rotomolded. The composite can run up to $2,000 (ouch!) while the rotomolded sits at $999 for the 14 foot price. For $50 to $100 more than the kayaks above, I don’t see what that’s getting you other than the Current Design name. And Wildnerness still kicks their pants when it comes to the seat design.

My morning ritual now consists of me searching on Craigslist for “kayak” and scouring the outdoorsy places in the Twin Cities for potential sales. My search should have began last fall – but I was moving and not interested in hauling a kayak from Milwaukee to the Cities.

The adventure continues….

 

 

 

 

 
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Gavin Harvey, CEO of Sportsman Channel, Patagonia Trip Report

11 Apr

I asked Sportsman Channel’s CEO, Gavin Harvey if he would write a guest blog post for me since I’m getting into this whole “guest blogging” notion (read my guest post “Yoga for Hunters” at The Hunter’s Wife.) He readily agreed and I thought I would see in my inbox some piece on thought-leadership and growing yourself or business. But this is the Sportsman Channel and, well, we practice what we preach. Below is a tale of Gavin’s recent trip to Argentina and the success he found in the hills and valleys of Tipiliuke Ranch. (This is way better than a fussy business piece – thanks Gavin!)

DAGGA BOY JOURNAL

April 7, 2011

Destination: Tipiliuke Ranch; Patagonia, Argentina  

I locked the reticle on the stag I had been dreaming about since my first trip to Patagonia two years ago.  The rut was on in the Southern Hemisphere.  Heavy-beamed with spectacular crowns, the stag was standing sentry over his impressive herd of hinds, occasionally roaring at a distant challenger. The custom McWhorter 6.5 WBY MAG I held has a trigger about as soft as a button on your computer keyboard.  I pressed “send,” the Berger bullet zipped 220 yards, and the stag dropped at the shot.  We called him “El Grande.”

El Grande

I was one hour into the first day of hunting.

There are many great things about hunting at Tipiliuke Ranch, and one of them is that you get to keep hunting after you harvest a world-class trophy.  I went on to hunt hard every day for the rest of my week on the ranch, which generously encourages hunters to cull management stag and “assassins,” which are stag armed with long beams, but missing brow tines; these long daggers are a deadly threat to the well-endowed trophy stag and need to be culled from the gene pool.  I volunteered for the cause, enjoyed several exciting stalks, and harvested three big management stag.  I also took a fierce-looking boar, which are abundant. All the wildlife there is free-range… as free-range gets.

On one such culling trip my guide spotted something, glassed it and suddenly became very excited.  He spoke little English, and I speak no Spanish, but there is a universal language among hunters for “Holy shit, that’s a friggin’ monster!”  I got a glimpse of the antler mass in my Swarovskis and we took off in hot pursuit.

Daniel, my guide, is a master stalker but the wind was terrible, howling at our back.  We were 270 yards when the stag winded us and took off.  Dropping into a painful thorny bush for a rest, I hit the stag at 300 yards, quartering away, when he slowed to start up a steep incline.  This one did not drop at the shot and instead galloped away like Seabiscuit.  We tracked him for over a mile and with each step and passing minute I became increasingly bummed that I would never recover this great animal.  When Daniel exclaimed “Aiee!” – “There!” – I had never heard a more beautiful Spanish word in my life.  “There” was laying a 13-point stag, with a quad crown as well as a triple; heavy-beamed; exquisitely pearled and palmated antlers.  And the most important, and rewarding revelation was that he was ancient.  Alone in the wild without any hinds, teeth worn to the gum, he had spread his incredible genes for a dozen years on this ranch and now was done.  We called him “El Viejo” – The Old Man.

El Viejo

My expedition was arranged by High Adventure Company, an exceptional outfitter with expertise and resources in the best hunting and fishing destinations in America and around the world.  I was met at Tipiliuke Ranch by John Burrell, the President of HAC, whom many Sportsman Channel viewers will recognize as the host and producer of our whitetail hunting series Brush Country Monsters. Tipiliuke hosts only 25 hunters a year, and when John’s guests are there, he makes sure it is the experience of their lives.  If you have invested so much time, money, vacation days and travel to enjoy a world-class experience like Tipiliuke, you don’t want to worry about any logistics or snafus – and High Adventure doesn’t want you to either. 

Tipiliuke Ranch should be on every sportsman’s bucket list. I returned not only for the epic hunting and trout fishing but also because the lodge and amenities are world-class.  Set in vast wilderness, the lodge is like a small boutique hotel where the staff is warm from the start, the dining is simple and outstanding, and non-sporting guests can horseback ride, hike, wildlife watch, picnic by a river, or just read in a hammock.

In Patagonia the rut is waning now and my Stag-a-Palooza is over.  The trip home is long – but the memories are a lot longer.

All photos by Gavin Harvey. You can follow Gavin on Twitter: @daggaboytv

 
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Stillness Retreats

31 Jan

I like to compare things. I like comparing our network to other networks. I enjoy seeing contests and asking myself how I can adapt it for a contest with Sportsman Channel. When I see slogans my mind automatically thinks of ways to spin it for the hunting/shooting/fishing crowd. For example, HGTV has a new contest called “HGTV’d.” I don’t even know what it is about, but as soon as I saw the commercial, I was wondering if we could get our viewers  “Sportsman’d”

My latest comparison inspiration came from a life-coach blog. (You know I love those life coaches, read a post about it here.) This one is called “Your Courageous Life” and she’s promoting a “Stillness Retreat” in early March in California. The description says “you’ll be surrounded by the smells of cedar and eucalyptus, with the ocean just a ten-minute walk away.” I gathered the purpose of the retreat is to find peace and quiet to write, meditate with the opportunity to unwind and get a downward dog or two in there.

Stillness by Lady-bug

I sort of grunted when I read the retreat description. As in, does she make money doing a “stillness retreat?” Do people not have the time/energy to just be still for an hour or an afternoon? That they need to travel somewhere and PAY someone for the pleasure of being alone and still?

I already know the answer is “yes” to all of the above. We are so busy, so tied up, so stressed we need to pay someone for the pleasure of stilling our body and minds.

But I have news for you over-stressed folk – there is another way and it’s FREE!

It’s called Being Outdoors.

For those who hunt deer in a treestand, would you say you are practicing stillness for those 4-5 hours?

For those who hunt turkey in blind, are quieting your mind and body so as not to alert any sharp-eyed turkeys?

For those who fly fish or just drop a line in a smooth stream, don’t you have a quiet focus about you as you perfect your cast or tie your fly?

Granted you don’t have your journal or laptop with you as you do these things, but I’ve heard hundreds of stories of fellow hunters who’ve solved problems, created lists and generally sorted out their life while in a treestand. Call it therapy.

So if the outdoors industry could capitalize on these “Stillness Retreats,” I think we could really get some stress-out suburbanites enjoying the outdoors with us.

The ad would say something along the lines of:

Be surrounded by the smells of pine and fresh moss, with a gurgling mountain spring just steps away. Be able to contemplate the meaning of life and organize your mind’s “to-do” list while sitting comfortably in a safely enclosed area with your own private view of the forest. (This is my version of a blind in corporate speak) Back at the cabin, a quilted bed and roaring fireplace welcome you to share your day’s journey with your comrades. And you can bring your camera, journal and laptop, as you’ll have plenty of time during the day to capture memories. All the while you are surrounded by quiet….Stillness.

 
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