: There is definitely something liberating about throwing all of your
: gear in your boat and launching it down a really steep
: embankment like a sled on your way down the gorge to the put-in
: and knowing you won't cause any damage AT ALL... And a seal
: launch off rocks into rocks... But as for Mike's comments,
: regardless of the center of balance I could NEVER enter my ww
: boat on the water. It's a tight fit even for a skinny guy, and
: requires a bit of work. It took a whole winter of pool practice
: to get used to how hard it was to get in, and a while to get
: over the scary feeling of being nearly immobile for the first 20
: minutes before it felt comfortable. This coming from someone
: used to Greenland SOFs.

: This is probably not news to pnet followers...

: m

There are advantages to the much older ww designs, being much longer they are a bit easier to enter from the water. I'd still love to have the chance to spend a day playing in a 6 footer though, looks like fun :)

Anymore though it's the grounding out, lifting oneself up out of the kayak to a standing position, dragging the boat over the shallow spot, climbing back down into the boat, getting the skirt on and going 100 yards only to do it all over again, that's got me into a Royalex canoe :)

20 years ago, maybe 5 years ago, it wouldn't matter, does now.

Bill H.