| AUGUST 2007 -- ULTIMATE™ 12 & 14.5 GULF EXPEDITION | |
Andy Zimmerman, the President & CEO of Legacy Paddlesports, recently came down to the Alabama Coast - to visit me, and to do some paddling and fishing. Andy has paddled wild rivers in exotic locations around the world and climbed some of the highest peaks, but he had never caught a fish. Our main mission therefore, was for him to catch one during this trip. |
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| When Andy arrived, we hopped in a couple of Ultimates and paddled out in front of my house on Mobile Bay. I handed him a rod and reel, gave him a few brief instructions and left him to himself. Shortly thereafter, I heard him holler I got one. I thought to myself that maybe we had accomplished our main mission to soon and that fishing was not challenging enough. I did |  |
| notice that when I suggested that we move on Andy replied just one more cast, the sign of a hooked fisherman. Anybody that knows Andy knows that the word idle is not in his vocabulary, so we decided to take off on a camping/fishing trip along the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. Our kayaks of choice to test on this expedition were the Ultimate™ 12 and 14.5. Our plan was to paddle a stretch of the coast called Perdido Key, which is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. When we arrived, the red warning flag was flying and the surf was crashing on the beach with huge white caps. Nobody was swimming, much less kayaking in this stuff. I suggested that we paddle the inside route where it was calmer. The conditions on the gulf side got Andy's adrenalin flowing. He saw the chance to try out the new full skirting system he had brought down for the Ultimate™ 14.5, so before we could depart, Andy had to test the skirts which allow you to change the Ultimate™ from a completely open kayak to a fully enclosed kayak. After Andy's wild test in the surf, we carried the kayaks across to the Lagoon side and removed all but the bow and stern skirts to stow our camping gear. One of the benefits of these kayaks is the voluminous storage space and easy access to your gear. We purposely carried way more gear than we needed to see how the kayaks would perform when loaded. |
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| We were more protected on the lagoon side, but still had to paddle straight into a fifteen-plus mph wind and waves. Even with the wind and waves, the kayaks tracked like a dream and took on a negligible amount of water with the bow and stern skirts in place in the Adapt-A-Trak™ rails. If you do get any water in the Ultimate™ it is easily removed with a sponge because all water collects in the wells on either side of the tunnel. (I carry a natural sponge in my kayaks for this purpose. They absorb twice the amount of water as a synthetic sponge and if you take care of them, they last for years). Our destination was a small bay at the east end of the |
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| key in which there was a no motor zone. It was a pleasure to arrive in this protected bay, to get out of the wind and waves. It was even more of a treat to have the bay all to ourselves after paddling past an anchorage where a congestion of power boaters had anchored. They seemed to be trying to mute the natural sounds that surrounded them with a competition for who had the best sound system. | |
| We set up our tent on the lee side of a beautiful white sand beach. After a swim and a hike, we positioned our kayaks up on the beach side-by-side in front of our tent. Though we had been paddling for hours, the First Class™ seats were without question the place to sit: we climbed back in our kayaks and enjoyed watching two Ospreys hovering high up and then diving on schools of mullet. A Black Skimmer was flying along the edge of the beach in front of us with his long, lower bill in the water, prospecting for minnows. Seeing all of this dinning going on made us hungry, so we broke out our food and ate a meal of boiled |
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| shrimp and fried fish. Afterwards, we eased the straps on our seats and enjoyed a spectacular Gulf Coast sunset. When the stars showed themselves, I was contemplating whether to sleep right where I was rather than retire to the tent. This truly was “First Class™ Seating.” | |
JIMBO'S WATERLOG
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