While we debate which large screen e-book reader will be our next purchase, we’ll share one of the ways we can enjoy some of our recreational habits while living and traveling abroad.
We like, love, and imbibe in water sports: we are avid kayakers. However, both carrying and storing a hard shell kayak (or more than one) aren’t easy if one wants to live and travel abroad. We had relied on renting kayaks but often we found that the kayaks (and the accompanying rental paddles) were the novice versions, which means that everything feels heavy, and one of us isn’t a fan of extra weight. We wanted our own kayaks and did not want to be reliant on rentals which may not be available according to our schedules.
We first hit upon the idea of folding (and later inflatable) kayaks while living in an urban apartment. We didn’t have a safe place to store the kayak, nor did we want to pay high rental fees to store a kayak at a nearby boathouse.
We first looked at a collapsible craft of some kind. In fact we were sure that we wanted a folding kayak, but quickly found that they were generally very expensive, often quite heavy, took a long time to set up, and had fragile parts. Then we found the Innova site by chance. We contacted someone there, who was very responsive (responsiveness is really important to us) and we became the proud owners of a Helios.
Our first inflatable kayak, the Helios, was fun. It was an open double and we managed to run class one and two rapids on the Potomac River and once at the end of a heavy rainfall, we ran Rock Creek. Our kayak went to Florida where we paddled with alligators on the Loxahatchee River. We also had a blast on class three rapids in West Virginia.
Having an inflatable kayak completely changed the paradigm of outdoor recreation—suddenly we had something that we could travel with, take on the subway, pack on a bike trailer, and use in rivers, lakes, oceans, surf, and for snorkeling. The Helios went around the world—although after a couple of years of sun (despite UV treatments), it was a faded, pink-colored boat. With the exception of having to replace most of the main valves and having to glue the aft deck seams back to the boat, we had no issues with it and never had a flat. Last year, an internal batten collapsed on one side and then the seams blew out. It might have been possible to repair, but we decided we’d look for a replacement and found an Incept double through The Boat People.
We feel our Incept Pacific is certainly a step up—it’s faster and pricier; it seems to handle UV rays better, it has a much greater cargo-carrying capacity (making overnighters more practical), has a better rudder system, has all the necessary accessories bundled together, and is currently more attractive than our previous boat. However, it’s also a bit more specialized, so we’re not taking it on whitewater! Fortunately, though, we still have a single Innova Safari, which is great for playing in waves and solo paddling.
The advantages of having an inflatable kayak while living overseas: it’s easy to transport, easy to store and it opens new horizons and dimensions to places one lives in or can visit. Now we have all the advantages of owning our own boat and none of the disadvantages. There are all types of inflatable kayaks out there – lightweight, singles, doubles, and even triples. Check them out and enjoy.
