“‘I am Bright Banana Yellow, 48lbs, 16 feet tall, all skin and bones, though still sexy, responsive, adaptable and tough. Likes long stroll’s on the sea, under paddle and to get down to Business wet and wild in the Surf. I am looking for someone who loves to travel, the outdoors and is willing to explore possibilities.”
If you where to find a personal ad of a Trak kayak looking for a life partner, that is possibly how it would read. I had been searching for a boat that could possibly help me find a new way to explore well paddled areas and also to see the world with. and i came across an ad in a paddling magazine that read pretty much as i wrote above (well at least in my head).
I finally meet my Trak kayak mid May 2010 after 3 months of promising to get together. It was an exciting and nervous experience for me, so much expectation and dreams where hinging on this moment. Was this the pack kayak I had always looked for? One that was easy to set up. Not clunky, functional, fun and tough. I felt I would know soon enough. I have paddled many kayaks before, of all walks of life, from white water creek boats and play boats, to K1’s and Surf Ski’s, and I have had many days sea kayaking all over the world in different exotic models from the far corners of the globe. The Trak would need to be good.
I found the Trak tucked behind the corner of the house, where she was living in a cardboard box under a Tarpaulin shelter. She had been living very simply waiting for me to return from Central America; however she had a million dollar view of the sea at the edge of the lawn in Nanoose Bay, Lantzville BC.Despite her rustic accommodations she had keep herself Tidy, the Blue travel bag she wore still shiny and when I eventually extracted her from it, curious and excited , she was well folded and packed. She looked like all I wanted at this point, but what would she perform like??
I was excited by a challenge at this point. I had heard many stories of how long it took people to first put this kayak together, Trak itself claimed Ten minutes, I had heard varying numbers from 45 minute to 80 minutes. I decided to give it a shot without reading the instructions, though I had researched the boat well before purchase, and see how I went (surely a good true test of how intuitive and well thought out the kayak design was). I was wonderfully surprised, the internal aluminum frames came together intuitively and one was obviously for the bow and the other the stern. Then there was the seat, the combing and the jacks (hydraulic jacks that stretched and flexed the frame). I slid in the stern frame, then the bow, found I had to use the jacks to push the frames apart enough to then mount the three jacks properly.
The seat went in logically and the only thing to stump me was the combing, which I reverted to the manual, for I thought I must have screwed up, it didn’t seem to fit!! Though I quickly perused the page for combing installation and found I was actually right on, I just needed to release the jacks and clip it in.
25 minutes was the time, with a quick peruse of the manual, I feel I could get it down to at least 15 minutes easily ( I will time this again later once I have had time to acquaint myself with the process) and 10 minutes should be there somewhere. The boat looked great, sleek lines, variable rocker, hard chine's, Spartan and Sexy in its construction. But how would she paddle??
It was late evening the sun was low on the horizon, I walked to the water carrying her on my shoulder and gently placed her down on the edge of the calm lapping water, I put on the appropriate safety gear and skirt floated her hull and slipped inside her cockpit. Twitchy comfortable and floating, we paddled into the sun. “This could be a match made in heaven!”
The boat paddled well, she tracked wonderfully when the rocker was straight, turned well when tilted, though not overly responsive on a lean turn. Though once I adjusted the center jack and increased the rocker (creating the nose and tail to lift putting an arch in the hull), she turned responsively. It was a quick, apprehensive, though enjoyable first outing and I came back in happy with our first little paddle, and wanting more. I hosed her down with fresh water, sat her next to the four other hard shell sea kayaks on the property and said good night.
I fell asleep that night slipping into unconsciousness, with the last thought “Maybe the dreams could be a reality?”
