We all need a little stability in our lives...

...I get mine from my boat.

The kayaking bug bit me on Memorial Day weekend. On Tuesday I was on Craigslist searching for a used boat. I found one a little under two weeks later, a gently used Wavesport Diesel 65 for $500.00. Other than some minor, primarily cosmetic scratches and the mild stink of sitting in a garage for awhile after my seller broke up with the ex he had purchased it for, it may as well have been a new boat.

When I say the kayaking bug bit me, I am not kidding around. I try to go every weekend, if not every other weekend, and when I can go both days, I do. Exhaustion, hangovers, neither are a factor. If I can go kayaking, you can be sure I will. The Diesel has seen the Upper, Middle and Metro Chattahoochee, the Cartecay, the Nantahala and the Tuckaseegee, some more than once, in the two months and four days I have owned it.

I am no expert, folks. I have run my share of Class II rapids, and a couple of Class III's, and I typically do not run them in the ideal way. But my boat has almost without fail refused to flip. I can be completely sideways in a rapid (or flat water, mind you, when I am goofing off or caught by a current), with my head under the water, and the Diesel will recover and put me back into an upright position. If you have read any of my previous posts, you know I am a complete disaster when it comes to coordination, so, really, it must be the boat. More experienced kayakers I have met have described the Diesel as "stable but fun", "forgiving", "a great beginner's boat" and fairly easy to roll, though I have not tested that final feature to date.

My advice to the many beginners I know who are thinking about buying a boat and feel like stability is an important feature, I highly recommend taking a test run in a Diesel. It has all the stability of a bigger boat, while still being small enough to maneuver and get the full effect of the rapid.

Fun, stable and forgiving are fine qualities. Now, if only Wavesport made men...