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my kayak speed record. flat out sprint.

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  • Super User

i was casting to shore.  but i always had my ears and eyes tuned for surfacing bass.  i had my popper rod on deck the whole time.  when the bass surfaced they would only make a ruckus for about 1 minute and then disappear.   when they did, i pull up my worm and warp drive to the fray.  i got it to 5.2 mph according to my fishfinder.  full on sprint.  i got 8 bass that way.  i would cast beyond the feeding frenzy and WHAM!  fish on.  

 

it is the fastest i have ever gone in my kayak.  hands on the rudder.  a turn is kinda sketchy at that speed if you are unprepared.  

 

my legs are strangly sore.  :)  5.2mph.  now i know. 2022 Hobie Outback.

  • Global Moderator

I can hover between 5-7 mph push poling my canoe. And the push pole is a 10’ galvanized water pipe. 
 

a guy passed me going upstream through the rapids in a towee with a jet motor, he was barely going faster than me. I think I blew his mind judging by the look he shot my way 


 

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9 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I can hover between 5-7 mph push poling my canoe. And the push pole is a 10’ galvanized water pipe. 
 

a guy passed me going upstream through the rapids in a towee with a jet motor, he was barely going faster than me. I think I blew his mind judging by the look he shot my way 


 

7-E0450-A3-B5-EA-438-A-8-F55-579927-DD6-

that's fast!!!  nice!!

  • Global Moderator
10 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

that's fast!!!  nice!!

It’s only possible in shallow water tho haha

 

every now and then I Will be flying up the river and come to a deep spot without noticing , go to push off the river bottom and it’s not there, and I almost fall overboard 

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1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s only possible in shallow water tho haha

 

every now and then I Will be flying up the river and come to a deep spot without noticing , go to push off the river bottom and it’s not there, and I almost fall overboard 

please please get this on video.  hahaha

  • Super User

I’ve hit 5.4 outracing a thunderstorm. Thought I might die that day. Not from the storm, but my heart exploding.

That is right fast @TnRiver46.  Thinking about the times a rock has grabbed my paddle and turned my canoe or kayak upside-down in a rapid, I'd surely have an out-of-boat experience if not worse trying poling.  I have seen demonstrations at canoe events, but evidently they have races.  Looks real high stakes with the course laid out with water jugs laid on rocks.  Folks will compete at anything.

 

I have gotten my Old Town Predator PDL to 6.0 mph by graph speed.  Above about 5.2, it starts to feel as though the boat is pushing backward.  I would have figured the Outback would be faster, the Pro Anglers have no trouble keeping up with me.

  • Global Moderator
6 minutes ago, CountryboyinDC said:

That is right fast @TnRiver46.  Thinking about the times a rock has grabbed my paddle and turned my canoe or kayak upside-down in a rapid, I'd surely have an out-of-boat experience if not worse trying poling.  I have seen demonstrations at canoe events, but evidently they have races.  Looks real high stakes with the course laid out with water jugs laid on rocks.  Folks will compete at anything.

 

I have gotten my Old Town Predator PDL to 6.0 mph by graph speed.  Above about 5.2, it starts to feel as though the boat is pushing backward.  I would have figured the Outback would be faster, the Pro Anglers have no trouble keeping up with me.

Cool video! I never thought to windmill the pole , then again I would knock myself unconscious with the galvanized pipe haha. I need one of the aluminum ones they have, although it seems like it would pinch and fold at some point 

 

it’s amazing how shallow you can go upstream , all your weight is on the river bottom instead of the canoe bottom 

  • Super User

Very nice.  I always wondered what max speed was when pedaling, mainly because of social media chatter around pedaling being as efficient and as fast as a motor.  In my ATAK 140 i have gotten to 6.3 paddling before just to see what I could do but I know I couldn't maintain that speed as the hull speed was below that mark and I was no longer gliding between paddle strokes.  Now with my motor I put it at about 80% and can cruise at right around 5 while I drink my coffee or change flies etc....much easier :)

  • Global Moderator
17 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

every now and then I Will be flying up the river and come to a deep spot without noticing , go to push off the river bottom and it’s not there, and I almost fall overboard 

I know this feeling and it does stop your heart for a second. Not sure if it's any better but also had those times when a mucky bottom will grab and hold the pole and I'll lose it when I try to lift it off the bottom to push off the other side and I'm just drifting away watching my pushpole sticking out of the mud behind me. 

  • Super User

I can't remember my record speed exactly, but I think it was just kissing 8mph.  That's with a 30lb trolling motor going full speed, me paddling full speed, and very stiff wind and current to my back.  So yeah, definitely cheating!  I've also gotten my fish finder to register speeds over 10mph.  But that's usually the result of it temporarily losing signal, and then requiring it in a new spot.

 

The fastest I can paddle, if I remember correctly, was about 4.3ish mph on flat water.  The fastest I can get my trolling motor to go is 3.8mph.  My kayak is a barge and does not go fast.    

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4 hours ago, Bankc said:

I can't remember my record speed exactly, but I think it was just kissing 8mph.  That's with a 30lb trolling motor going full speed, me paddling full speed, and very stiff wind and current to my back.  So yeah, definitely cheating!  I've also gotten my fish finder to register speeds over 10mph.  But that's usually the result of it temporarily losing signal, and then requiring it in a new spot.

 

The fastest I can paddle, if I remember correctly, was about 4.3ish mph on flat water.  The fastest I can get my trolling motor to go is 3.8mph.  My kayak is a barge and does not go fast.    

It is funny you mention the whole wind assisted speed.  One time in higher water conditions i turned my motor up to full throttle and going downriver i hit 10.2mph.  In a kayak that was pretty d**n fast lol

  • Super User
12 hours ago, Bankc said:

.  But that's usually the result of it temporarily losing signal, and then requiring it in a new spot.

Thanks.  I noticed recently that my all time top speed was 23.5.  Lol.....I wondered how that happened. 

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