Paddle Boarding

[Jim Dockery]

My wife and I got a couple of inflatable paddle boards last summer. Living close to Lake Stevens made it a no brainer for casual stress free exercise. We are never going to be extreme (we don't go when there's much wind or waves). A few more miles from our house is little Lake Casidy which limits boating to electric trolling motors, so is very calm and quiet. Last week we took our young friend Torrey out for a much needed morning of calm exercise. She just started an intensive Physician's Assistant program at the University of Washington and has limited time for fun. It was great to get her out paddling while Debbie and I were in our double sea kayak (the paddle board fit nicely on top of the kayak for transportation). I brought my iPhone as a camera.

Cloudy misty morning made for nice cool calm conditions.

Debbie and I had admired the Lilly pad flowers when paddle boarding here a couple days earlier, but I don't bring a camera on the board. It was nice to be able to get close and snap some shots from the kayak.

Note the eagle near the top of the dead tree

Heron takes off

 

[Ben Egbert]

All this with an Iphone? Good job and looks very relaxing.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks Ben. For quick sharing (air-drop between iPhones virtually instantaneous), and screen viewing like this, the new iPhones can beat out a real camera. I wouldn't make big prints from these, but I'm not doing much of that anyway. It's so cool to have this quality in your pocket most of the time.

 

[AlanLichty]

Neat scenery out on the waterways. I like the lily pad flowers and the heron shot.

How well do the inflatable paddle boards work?

 

[Jim Dockery]

Alan, I'm no expert, so don't have other boards to compare to other than one I rented in Hawaii a few years ago. I know that one scared me because it was so hard I figured I'd really bang myself up if I fell onto it. There were enough waves that day that I knew I'd fall more than once so I ended up sitting and kneeling to get across the bay to my snorkeling spot. These boards meet our needs perfectly, rigid enough to work well, but with enough softness to not worry about a fall, which I did 3 times our first day which had quite a few waves. Since then I haven't fallen at all. I did add an electric pump that automatically fills them to optimum pressure. We just leave them inflated most of the summer and strap them onto our kayak rack on the car for easy quick use.

 

[AlanLichty]

Alan, I'm no expert, so don't have other boards to compare to other than one I rented in Hawaii a few years ago. I know that one scared me because it was so hard I figured I'd really bang myself up if I fell onto it. There were enough waves that day that I knew I'd fall more than once so I ended up sitting and kneeling to get across the bay to my snorkeling spot. These boards meet our needs perfectly, rigid enough to work well, but with enough softness to not worry about a fall, which I did 3 times our first day which had quite a few waves. Since then I haven't fallen at all. I did add an electric pump that automatically fills them to optimum pressure. We just leave them inflated most of the summer and strap them onto our kayak rack on the car for easy quick use.

Thanks for the feedback. I have a 16' solo canoe but the roof of my RV isn't built for cargo so I can't mount a rack to transport it. Inflatable sounds like a good solution.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Alan, as a photographer I think you'd rather get an inflatable sea kayak, which would give you a much more stable platform, and place to keep your camera in a dry bag. I love paddle boarding though and count myself lucky to have both, although our 80 lb. kevlar double kayak has the same problem as your canoe, can't take it on our camper so some day we'll sell it and get an inflatable.