Test ridding a Trident & stumbled onto an amazing kayak!

I think the guy that owns that company is on this forum. I saw him post a pic of a Halibut on here. I found this on the web. I l like my cobra navigator, but whatever floats you kayak.

   Thanks for the intro, VWool.    Yep,   I'm on this forum now.  I  recently signed up... after viewing as a guest for awhile now.   I'm just here for the fish'n  and comraderie, hopefully make a few friends as well.  BTW, I just caught that a few weeks ago and posted it under "Halibut Pics "  but since someone just directed me to this thread, I've got to respond to some of the comments.
  I met Joe " Wildhorse " last Sunday.   I just happend to catch him while he was out test paddling a Trident.  I then offered to let him demo the Raptor after hearing him talk about the things he didn't like about the O.K.    He's not new to fishing, or kayaking and knows what he wants in a fishing kayak...  as do I.  Comfort, stability, speed.   Comfort includes room for my goodies. Stability means keeping my goodies in the boat. 
     I can't tell you how many times I've heard    " you'll need one of these "   (referring to a bilge pump)   Yet every time I read about a sinking kayak, it's  always a SOT !     When water gets into one of those it is impossible to keep it upright on the waves.    I had one of those experiences myself about 10 years ago at  Monestary while on a SOT...     Keep your bilge pump handy, the guy down in LaJolla had his onboard, but still his boat went under.   He eventually was picked up by some fishermen after swimming a few hours  And that happened in calm waters !   
    
             here's just a few more incidents...  all SOT sinkings
http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7556
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/sinking+kayak
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=411366
http://www.kayakdiving.com/diving.html
http://www.topkayaker.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=19720
 
  When water gets in with my design, it's quite different.  For one, you'll notice it right away. It's easy to pump out should that occur. With the floatation bags installed you wouldn't even need to worry about pumping the water out, you could still paddle it back to shore.    The water sits evenly in both pontoons keeping the boat level, not sloshing from side to side causing that tippyness which occurs in a SOT.     It will literally hold about 8+ gallons before you would even get wet because the  "keels" hold the majority of water. 
    I had one person take the Raptor out in 10' swells outside Moss Landing with 25 knot winds in the rain. after 45 minutes he came back with less than a cup of water in the boat.   And that was without a lap skirt.   I've had it myself outside Emeryville in 20 knot winds with whitecaps and the rolling windwaves that occur under those conditions.   the high coming keeps the water out.   I recently picked up a Go Pro and will have  video of some serious wave conditions to post to my site shortly.   However... in the thousands of photos's  posted online, etc...  (all showing calm waters ) who in their right mind goes out fishing in 25 knot winds with 10' swells ?   If so, this is NOT the boat for you. 
   I find it entertaining to read peoples  comments about my design.  Most of whom have never seen or paddled it, yet feel  qualified to cast an opinion.   
   Mostly I hear " it's cool " 
   Others...   
   Sometimes it's...

   The  310# weight capacity...   That's the coast guard formula I used.  It takes 1100 lbs before water would come over the coaming.  divided by 1/3 rd less the boat weight.      All done based on CAD calcs.   Jason  ( our videographer ) who tops 265 lbs + gear doesn't seem to have any problem several miles outside the harbor.    However the bottom line is " You must be under this size to ride the Raptor "

 
    I'm pretty sure there is no perfect boat.   If so,  Hobie wouldn't have 52 different kayaks in their line-up.   Kayak Angler's " Buyers Guide" wouldn't have 165 " Fishing Kayaks " listed.     Get my drift ?    Whatever floats your boat.  What bothers me is the "Dodgers vs Giants "  type mentality of  "my kayak is better than yours".   I can almost understand it if you're sponsored by  one of the Big Three...   gotta keep your sales quota up, protect your market share.

 So judge not, least ye be judged.           
 I'm pretty sure I'll catch some flak for this posting... there are some opinionated readers out there I've come to discover.

BTW,   It's a SIS,   not a SINK !

 One more thing,    I'll be holding a demo event this Saturday afternoon ( 4/16/11  )  at the Santa Cruz harbor.  Hosted by Kayak Connection.    It will be at the main boat ramp ( Crows Nest ) from 1-4 .     Anyone that wants to test paddle is welcome. ( there may be some home-brewed Pale Ale  poured after )
   

Thanks for posting a reply to this post,
As I stated before the main concern I had was the weight capacity.
After seeing this craft at Clear Lake it is clear that it could handle more than the specs seggest.
Also it was nice to meet you this weekend and I'm glad you could join us.
As for NCKA you coulden't ask for a better group
Hope to see you at more events.

See Ya Soon,
Eric / Yakhopper

Looks like a kayak from Star Wars

cool stuff. As I mentioned I was really impressed with some of the videos. the one where you swamp it really opened my eyes. since all of us seem to pimp our yaks it would be cool to see what you can do (have done) to the raptor. Does it do OK in the wind? That pic with the butt makes is look like it sits pretty high in the water.

   Thanks for the intro, VWool.    Yep,   I'm on this forum now.  I  recently signed up... after viewing as a guest for awhile now.   I'm just here for the fish'n  and comraderie, hopefully make a few friends as well.  BTW, I just caught that a few weeks ago and posted it under "Halibut Pics "  but since someone just directed me to this thread, I've got to respond to some of the comments.
  I met Joe " Wildhorse " last Sunday.   I just happend to catch him while he was out test paddling a Trident.  I then offered to let him demo the Raptor after hearing him talk about the things he didn't like about the O.K.    He's not new to fishing, or kayaking and knows what he wants in a fishing kayak...  as do I.  Comfort, stability, speed.   Comfort includes room for my goodies. Stability means keeping my goodies in the boat. 
     I can't tell you how many times I've heard    " you'll need one of these "   (referring to a bilge pump)   Yet every time I read about a sinking kayak, it's  always a SOT !     When water gets into one of those it is impossible to keep it upright on the waves.    I had one of those experiences myself about 10 years ago at  Monestary while on a SOT...     Keep your bilge pump handy, the guy down in LaJolla had his onboard, but still his boat went under.   He eventually was picked up by some fishermen after swimming a few hours  And that happened in calm waters !   
    
             here's just a few more incidents...  all SOT sinkings
http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7556
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/sinking+kayak
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=411366
http://www.kayakdiving.com/diving.html
http://www.topkayaker.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=19720
 
  When water gets in with my design, it's quite different.  For one, you'll notice it right away. It's easy to pump out should that occur. With the floatation bags installed you wouldn't even need to worry about pumping the water out, you could still paddle it back to shore.    The water sits evenly in both pontoons keeping the boat level, not sloshing from side to side causing that tippyness which occurs in a SOT.     It will literally hold about 8+ gallons before you would even get wet because the  "keels" hold the majority of water. 
    I had one person take the Raptor out in 10' swells outside Moss Landing with 25 knot winds in the rain. after 45 minutes he came back with less than a cup of water in the boat.   And that was without a lap skirt.   I've had it myself outside Emeryville in 20 knot winds with whitecaps and the rolling windwaves that occur under those conditions.   the high coming keeps the water out.   I recently picked up a Go Pro and will have  video of some serious wave conditions to post to my site shortly.   However... in the thousands of photos's  posted online, etc...  (all showing calm waters ) who in their right mind goes out fishing in 25 knot winds with 10' swells ?   If so, this is NOT the boat for you. 
   I find it entertaining to read peoples  comments about my design.  Most of whom have never seen or paddled it, yet feel  qualified to cast an opinion.   
   Mostly I hear " it's cool " 
   Others...   
   Sometimes it's...

   The  310# weight capacity...   That's the coast guard formula I used.  It takes 1100 lbs before water would come over the coaming.  divided by 1/3 rd less the boat weight.      All done based on CAD calcs.   Jason  ( our videographer ) who tops 265 lbs + gear doesn't seem to have any problem several miles outside the harbor.    However the bottom line is " You must be under this size to ride the Raptor "

 
    I'm pretty sure there is no perfect boat.   If so,  Hobie wouldn't have 52 different kayaks in their line-up.   Kayak Angler's " Buyers Guide" wouldn't have 165 " Fishing Kayaks " listed.     Get my drift ?    Whatever floats your boat.  What bothers me is the "Dodgers vs Giants "  type mentality of  "my kayak is better than yours".   I can almost understand it if you're sponsored by  one of the Big Three...   gotta keep your sales quota up, protect your market share.

 So judge not, least ye be judged.           
 I'm pretty sure I'll catch some flak for this posting... there are some opinionated readers out there I've come to discover.

BTW,   It's a SIS,   not a SINK !

 One more thing,    I'll be holding a demo event this Saturday afternoon ( 4/16/11  )  at the Santa Cruz harbor.  Hosted by Kayak Connection.    It will be at the main boat ramp ( Crows Nest ) from 1-4 .     Anyone that wants to test paddle is welcome. ( there may be some home-brewed Pale Ale  poured after )
   

+1 Great Feedback 

 

        I can't tell you how many times I've heard    " you'll need one of these "   (referring to a bilge pump)   Yet every time I read about a sinking kayak, it's  always a SOT !     When water gets into one of those it is impossible to keep it upright on the waves.    I had one of those experiences myself about 10 years ago at  Monestary while on a SOT...     Keep your bilge pump handy, the guy down in LaJolla had his onboard, but still his boat went under.   He eventually was picked up by some fishermen after swimming a few hours  And that happened in calm waters !   
...
  When water gets in with my design, it's quite different.  For one, you'll notice it right away. It's easy to pump out should that occur. With the floatation bags installed you wouldn't even need to worry about pumping the water out, you could still paddle it back to shore.    The water sits evenly in both pontoons keeping the boat level, not sloshing from side to side causing that tippyness which occurs in a SOT.     It will literally hold about 8+ gallons before you would even get wet because the  "keels" hold the majority of water. 

First off, I meant no offense by my bilge pump comment. But you do seem to be very weary of comments about bailing for your new kayak.  I mentioned it because of the video's I saw on youtube of launching in the Santa Cruz surf:



Now, I dont know about you, but I dont like to bail my boat after I just launched it.  Of course even SOT's need to keep a pump on hand in case of an emergency.  But its a differnent story if you have to expect to bail after a surf launch.



 

    Just the big surf.   You Tube has several surf entry attempts posted.  That's Dave Johnson ,  our local kayak surfing champion making it look easy.          And thanks for all the great comments.    I didn't sleep well thinking I should have kept my mouth shut
( it somehow always seems to get me into trouble ).      See you all on the water 

   I'm nursing a stiff back from 6 hours of sitting yesterday in my P-15, so standing up, or even kneeling, for a change has a lot of  appeal.   
    I hope some people with some serious NorCal fishing experience on  SOT's  buy the Raptor and give us good reports after using them.  Then again, maybe I'm not, because then I'd have to think about laying out the cash for one. 
   

   This just in this morning from paddleandflies  review     Needless to say,   " I'm stoked "

   http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/gear-guide/92-staff-reviews/1351-santa-cruz-raptor.html

Congrats. I know it must be a challenge to enter a market against the BIG boys! I'd say try and come to more NCKA events. Ppl will want to test drive! I know I do!

   This just in this morning from paddleandflies  review     Needless to say,   " I'm stoked "

   http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/gear-guide/92-staff-reviews/1351-santa-cruz-raptor.html

Great review Jim, I bet you are stoked. I always say there is the a perfect boat for everyone, that is why demoing multiple kayaks is so important.

By the way, I like the look of your sail!    Is that a pet project, or an option your testing out for the Raptor?

Congrats. I know it must be a challenge to enter a market against the BIG boys! I'd say try and come to more NCKA events. Ppl will want to test drive! I know I do!

+1

Baitman....a little constructive criticism....the aerial shot, concept drawings and video on your website don't do your kayak any justice bro. Without a body and some fishing rods to give it some perspective it kinda looks like a dutch clog....and well, like its just a kooky little platic yak.  That hali pic, or any of the others you have hidden in the photo section offer a way better portrayal of your boat, you might want that to be the first image potential buyers see.