Kayak Sailing

Karl, go for the tandem!  The AI Catalina vid is a great marketing tool.  I wished that my wife were into fishing and that's what we would have gotten instead.

As for the registration, kayakcity in sacto will force you to register it as part of the transaction.  They've had a few customers get cited at various lakes.  They also mentioned that the other sails are smaller and less scrutinized, but a knowledgeable officer could write you up for that too. (Part of it is what you're using as the primary means of propulsion at the time - it's open to interpretation and a little too off topic. )

It's easier to fish from, but it also depends on what you're targeting that day.  I wouldn't take it to fish kelp, but would use it if the kelp were miles away/trolling/planning on staying when the wind picks up.  Other uses would be to transport others to the clam beds or to check crab traps.  As for transportation, the akas bars go inside the car and the sail is right along the yak. The outriggers take up a bit more room and it takes about 10 minutes to piece together.  It's my 3rd yak and it's the first time that I'm excited about tricking it out.

Which sailing yak were you considering?

nudling - I'm only joking about buying another one.  Got to pay for the first one first!

I bet your wife would have loved sailing in the Tandem. I read somewhere though that some couples tend to fight too much for control in the Tandem and end up buying two AI's instead     
 
flounder pounder - I don't think you will find any naysayers on the sailing front.





   

 

 

When I first saw the AI, first thing I thought was Crabbing!  I like the way you think Nudling!

Hai, was that you I saw heading east 580 yesterday in Livermore?  The yellow AI and the car looked like yours.

I really think this AI thing will get more popular because it does give you all those other options.  The fun that you get from sailing it more than offsets the extra time to set it up and the added cost.  Now why didn't I rig up mine for the PIF?  We could have had 2 AI's pulling everyone.  Actually, my plan was to sail after the bbq but all that food, beer and margaritas didn't help at all.  With the wind going the wrong direction in the am, I didn't want to peddle to much to avoid tacking.  One thing about the AI's, once it's fully rigged it is heavy to move in the water without the help of the sails.  Unless of course you got strong legs like ChuckE.    Well, next time. 

Off the topic....  Has anyone heard about some wsb's and salmon being caught in Monterey right now?  Rumors?  As Chuck said to me, Monterey is perfect for sailing the AI and I agree.

Rey

Karl,  I was kidding too... there are some on the hobie cat forums with an AI and TI.  Impractical, but would be awesome to have!  But, I wouldn't get 2 AIs - can you imagine having to carry and setup both by yourself (oh shoot, I went there)? 

Rey, no, I was stuck in my cube so it must have been another AI. That would have been awesome if you and Chuck teamed up and towed a SUP - wakeboard style!

SB, one of the AIs will tow you to the shrimping grounds during the dungy opener (150+). 

It might take a little longer to set up, although not by much, you could stay on the water longer.  That was my primary motivation for getting it.  Fishing days are hard to come by so instead of coming in at 1, you could stay for the second 1/2 and it's nearly equal to 2 fishing days. In terms of range, the only thing out of range is Tuna.  If the conditions are right, you could go from HMB to Ritz or even think pink (Moss to west side of the hole).

Watching those videos reminded me of my old fleet 222 Hobie cat days in Monterey, Thanks

Here are some of cool kayak sailing & fishing vids:

Fully Rigged Hobie AI

To each their own, but I would hate this setup!  There is so much crap on board!  It's like a traveling hardware store.

I guess this is a separate forum topic by itself, but when is it no longer kayak fishing?  Those hobies may be fun, but are they really kayaks, or trimarans that you can peddle?

I'm not really critical of it, but it is an interesting conversation.  I came at this sport more from the traditional kayaking perspective, where kayaking meant paddling.  Now we have motorized "kayaks," sailing "kayaks," and others that hardly even resemble what used to be thought of a kayaks.

Even when I see Jim Sammons posts on his mothership trips in Baja, where it looks like Juan is holding his beer while he reels in a fish, I question whether that should be called kayak fishing. 

Sorry for the thread jack;  I should just post this as a topic.

Dave,

Valid points. I bought the AI last fall with absolutely no kayak experience. And I went through many issues/mistakes because of that inexperience. I spent probably my first 3 months trying to load/unload and launch from a dock. That was my ingrained experience from years of PB fishing. It was really tough to do (in hindsight). I lost some expensive gear as scars of battle. It never really dawned on me about launching from the boat ramp itself. Part of it was I was afraid of scratching the bottom of the new boat. I didn't really learn the simplicity of it until around the time I hooked up with some of the board kayakers and watched how easily they got in/out and loaded/unloaded their rigs without getting near the dock. Pretty simple stuff really...

The first time I went without all the extras (pure kayak) really opened my eyes on the real nature of a kayak. Did fine until I reached back to grab a rod in the holder and came real close to rolling the rig in 45 degree water. Still wasn't thinking in k-a-y-a-k. That was a great trip and after about an hour I seemed fine operating that skinny 16 ft craft. Still a little nervous in the back of my mind about the possibility of dumping it though.

Went back to my security blanket of having the outriggers (training wheels) on with the flapping big sail. In my mind the nature of the boat was about speed and distance. The boat was my friend in this mode. I felt pretty comfortable. The wind was the big wild card here. Kept going to the open water north end of Berryessa in the middle of winter to sail miles from shore alone. Pretty damn crazy actually. Wearing blue jeans and a light jacket with only my PFD as a "safety" feature. Cold, numb hands and water splashing over the sides. The wind would come up with whitecaps and I HAD to sail to get back to shore.

I haven't used that sail or outriggers in almost 2 months now. I'm a kayaker now. It's a blast running in pure kayak. I see and feel the joy of cutting through the water on a 27 inch wide/16 foot bullet. You adjust. And before you know it, you don't even think about it. Big waves, no problem. You learn. Tippy? - not at all. Reeling in a big fish - like sitting on a dock now. And the paddle is even being used at times 

So the AI may not look like a kayak, but underneath all that stuff is a real kayak. I find as much joy running it as a kayak now as I did for the first several months as a sail boat. I just did it backwards. The kayak part was my big fear. The last frontier. Many of the other guys buying the AI  are super secure in their base experience as a kayaker. I'm not. Now they are learning how to sail well and I'm learning how to kayak well.

So I guess my point is that you have to learn more on these AI's than what first meets the eye. To use all its variations/modes takes effort and a lot of time on the water. I agree that these things can resemble a hardware store w/all the gear. Of course, that's the downside of the much increased range. Just so many possibilities out there... 

DaveW--

Great discussion!

First- there's not nearly as much crap as it looks like in these vids. I went from my Prowler my AI thing pretty easily. Getting used to fishing with the pedals as clutter was harder than the sail, but after one outing it is second nature. I'd try before you make a final hating decision.

from a purist sense they're not kayaks- neither are pedaled boats:
noun /ˈkīˌak/ 
kayaks, plural

1.A canoe of a type used originally by the Inuit, made of a light frame with a watertight covering having a small opening or openings in the top to sit in,  powered by the occupant or occupants using a double-bladed paddle in a sitting position

Here's my perspective - fully rigged it is not a kayak any longer. That's true even legally (has to be registered).  I think pedaling is still yaking, pedaling with an ama/aka or two- still yaking...however, the moment you add a sail and move from human powered to wind powered you've crossed that line.

For me it is a very very versatile tool- a swiss army knife for fishing - where i get to choose which part of the tool to whip out.
Tight kelp surf launch- it is a pure paddled yak
open water jigging or casting- pedaled with an ama/aka- and i can kneel on the tramp
long distance trolling - fully rigged

This kind of discussion seems to come up every now and again as the human-powered-watercraft-fishing sport evolves
Maybe the AI folks should post their fishing reports "non-yak", or maybe the AI folks'll need their own board...up to the community i would say

Just like going from an OK to a hobie. I fell instantly in love and never looked back. Now my new love is the AI. I'm just following evolution... The more I use it the more I love fishing off this "platform" To be honest I don't care what anyone wants to call it. I just call it a great fishing vessel. One of the most diverse vessels I've owned. (that's why most of my other boats and water craft have been sitting for years.... ) I just used my AI for the first time crabbing this past weekend. Altho the crabbing sucked, (should have gone deeper)the fishing was great!  I found that if you sail over your float, letting it go under your tramp. Climb out on the tramp and then grab it as it comes out the back it's a breeze to pull and the trap stays out and away until you get it to the side. Then just haul it up onto the tramp and harvest. Also you have the smooth bare metal of the rear aka to haul the line up over. Then when your done picking out the crabs throw it off the back and your back fishing. I found it was easy to sail upwind and then cross over to get directly upwind, inline to the floats. My only complaint that day was I didn't bring a rod out to troll around with. Make no mistake folks. These are fishing machines! Everytime I go out, I figure out something new about em. 

Thanks for sharing the info!