BigFish Beute

[M_Wrigh]

Well it has taken some time but took my new AquaYak BigFish out on the water today and I have to say "Why did I wait so long?". Admittedly I have been a bit gun-shy after the disastrous trip I had with my pervious yak and kept making excuses not to take the big girl out. The BigFish was 100 time better than the piece of rubbish I tried to start out in. The day started as I looked out the window, the weather looked good, sunny, warm with a little breeze so it was time to get off my arse and load the yak on the roof and go test her out. after all I had gone a purchased a good set of roof racks not long after buying the yak so as the roof of my little Focus wouldn't buckle under the weight with the carry pads. So I sorted what to take with me, I grabbed a small rod and a box of lures. I put my Kayak Kit box in the back of the car, grabbed my Esky to keep things together on the Yak and loaded the Yak on the roof. Drove down to Patterson Lakes and proceeded to get myself set. Things did not start well, trolley had a flat tyre (shoulda checked before I left) but did not let that stop me. Put on my PFD, Launched the Yak and jumped on in. Right from the start I was overjoyed, it was so stable as I lowered myself off the pontoon and into the seat. I started to paddle up stream towards the M1 bridge and again was so happy with the ease at which it was to paddle and how stable it was as larger boats passed me on their way out to the bay, just a few little bobs as I bore the bow waves but I kept paddling and the BigFish kept true and I had a smile from ear to ear. I took a couple of snaps which I may post later as the only down side to my trip is it may have cost me my new iPhone5 (it dropped in the pool in the foot well as I was taking pix) All in all the BigFish is a great Yak and I shoulda taken her out sooner.

[herbie]

congratulations mate, bet you are glad you didn't give it all away now?

glad to hear you got it on the water and it went well.

Shame about the phone but hey there is a lesson in there...

[Yacker]

Nice one, good to hear that yak 2.0 is better than the first

[M_Wrigh]

Reading back I probably should have posted in "trip reports". so heres an actual review.
The BigFish tracked nice and straight and was a breeze to paddle despite my poor paddling skills. was easy to cast from as I did take 1 rod and threw around a soft plastic for a short while(no fish). The BigFish was very stable bobbing about in the wake of the big boats and even when the wind picked up I was able to paddle against the wind with very little effort and it went where I pointed it. Would most likely have spent a few more hours on the water if not for the iPhone mishap but I wanted to get on land and get the phone in the sun n hopes to save it. All in all a great Yak that I would gladly recommend to anyone.

[melbshayne]

Good work buddy.

Its all about getting out on the yak as much as you can... I know when you have a little doubt in your mind its harder to give things a try..

Get out as much as you can, even if it's just a paddle to take some photos or for a little fish....

Took me a while to get fully comfortable with how the yak feels and doing re entries.. but practice makes perfect...

[shayne66]

g'day michael
glad to hear it worked out better this time
shame about the phone

cheers shayne

[Deefa]

It pays to keep a litre of metho and a take away container in your car if you drop your electronic device in water.
Once the internal water damage indicator has 'marked' your warranty is gone, so
1. take the battery out as soon as you get the phone out of the water.
2. as soon as possible after a dunk in water, completely submerge the phone in metho for at least 20 mins, which will displace the water, stop the corrosion and give you the best chance of the phone working. Dry it out slowly and make sure it doesn't smell of metho BEFORE you put the battery back in. No smoking during this process.

[sputnik]

Sorry to comment so late on this, but how are you finding the yak now? Does she hold up well in the bay?

[hsvgash]

Good to here this report about the yak, was keen on one ,sorry to here about phone.