OK, I am kinda embarrassed by this. On my way through Santa Maria last week with my newish tarpon on the yakima rack (hully roller & saddle, straps but no bowline attached) I hear a slight flapping noise, start to pull over on the 101, and I see my boat and the rear rack bar fly off into the fast lane. A "Holy S**T" moment ensued, while I pulled off the highway. Fortunately Poseidon must have been looking out for me a little, because at that moment the yak flew off there was no following traffic, and the boat landed in the median after one bounce. I manged to jerry-rig the yak back onto the roof with about 10 straps (It was NOT going to come off again unless I wanted it to) and got home to inspect the damage. Only a little road rash to both the yak & the rollers, both are still serviceable only a little more "seasoned" looking.
The culprit (besides myself not attaching the bow line) turned out to be the attachment point of the front yakima strap. On my old bronco I always just looped a strap around the roof rack bar (its a permanent basket type rack), but on the pickup with the new yakima setup the strap goes through a little T-shaped piece of hardware that "locks" into a slot in the Mako saddle. The T fitting got tweaked out of the slot, the boat torqued enough to yank off the rear rack, and voila, kayak was free and momentarily airborn. Moral is, always double check the strap attachments and use a bow line if you are concerned. I got really lucky that no one was behind me for a few miles.
After close to 20 years of shuttling kayaks this is the first time I've ever had one come off in transit. I think this will be the last time too.
-Sean

Has anyone done the boat-in camping thing at Tahoe? I knew a guy who used to do this by kayak years ago but never went on a trip. My wife found a link and is considering this for a short vacation for us. Since we now have two touring boats it sounds good to me. If anyone out there has done this little trip please post comments, etc. I probably won't do much fishing (freezer is already stocked), but the paddle on the lake would be interesting.
-Sean

Where are folks fishing for this Sunday's shindig? I usually fish North Coast (Davenport, etc.) but I'm normally solo.  I missed a couple of the past derbies so I'm kinda looking forward to this one.
-Sean