1st trip on the Passport 12

I took my new Passport 12 out for its maiden voyage today.  I launched before 8 at HMB Kayak and did a lap within the breakwall to get the hang of things and feel into the stability.  Then I headed out to the westside beach within the breakwall to practice some self-rescues in swimming distance to shore.  The Passport proves difficult to capsize.  I had to really hold on to the handles and force it over.  It's much easier to right, though.  It's super easy to get back in -- I didn't even have to reach for the far handle... just the gunwale.

The way the seat mounts is a little annoying.  The rear rail of the seat drops into a molded recess and a plastic tab swings in place to lock it.  The side rails rest on two molded points along the gunwales, but the front edge of the seat just hangs over from there.  The problem is that if you scoot forward to adjust pedals or toss a fish in a fish bag on the bow, you weight the front of the seat, the side rail points become the fulcrum and you pop the seat right out of the lock.  I'm thinking this might be resolved with a pool noodle on the front to support it, but need to take measurements.

After some self rescue drills, I headed outside the jaws to play in the swell a bit and see how she does with quartering and following seas.  Following seas makes for some fun, rather stable surfing.  Quartering sea wasn't very noticeable.  Mind you, it was only about a 4' swell with ~10 second period today.

All in all, I'm stoked on the purchase.  It seems to be a good platform if you're looking to mod it yourself and add things that other boats come with from the factory.

Thanks for sharing the maiden trip and self rescue practice with us Tedski.

Thanks for the review. That seat issue does sound annoying...

Nice man, can concur on the seat thing. I’ve popped mine out a few times and was surprised the flimsy seat “lock” didn’t snap... One other thing to keep an eye on is the rudder calibration thumb nut can loosen so check/calibrate it before every trip. I got OTW once pretty far out before I realized the rudder was cocked due to the thumb nut drifting on the steering rod. It was pretty frustrating to steer that day. But my left turns were money