A moment’s nostalgia … These boys are fearless !!
Unfortunately we don’t yet import this model into Panamá. However, Tim says that if you’re paying the airfare he’ll track this surfing kayak down for you somewhere in the South Pacific. Shipping may be costly from a small island with no airport and only float-planes, and he ain’t gonna paddle all the way home unless it’s downwind.
It looks like a lot of fun though. My guess is that the man at the back is the more experienced, and the man at the front has an enormous faith – and enormous cohones is the popular phrase with Billabong XXL these days.
…. So why not have a go on the “Evolution Duo“, I’m sure those rod-holders for fishing could be adapted to take an outrigger. Perhaps I should ask Stealth Performance Products if their R&D have looked into this simple conversion into a dedicated big wave surfing kayak.
Paddle Panama also carries plastic built tandems in its stock: the “Perception Sport” Double Play; and the “Perception” Tribe 135. Whilst both of these are better for general fun as you can hit rocks and drop them in the car-park without causing tears, if I was faced with a vertical drop like this I know I’d want to be in some light-weight fibre-glass craft with a rudder to steer.
A great account of paddling and riding a surfing kayak is given by Alexander Hume Ford in “The Passing of the Outrigger Canoe, 1911“, from where this great surfing kayak photo came.