I had to leave early today to make my gig at Church and missed a  great opportunity to get some great family pics as everyone took off to play in the Kayaks.  Anyway, my nephew came early this afternoon and we got a decent ride in.  Here are the day's pics.

 So it's Memorial Day Weekend!  We are camping at Warrior's Path State Park on Patrick Henry Lake.  A great spot for boating, fishing, Kayaking, etc.  Today I headed out by myself.  It was a perfect day for cruising around the banks, and checking out the wildlife and scenery.

You know the days you have when everything just seems to fall into place?  That was my day today!  I left work early to go Kayaking.  When I pulled up to the launch site, there was my nephew getting ready to launch his boat!  So we hooked up and took a little trip.  Very enjoyable talking to him as we paddled. I did take a few shots.  Beautiful day!

 All of my life I have fought a stigma!  That of being a redneck!  On the product reviews that I have done on YouTube, I usually get more comments about how I talk than about what I have said!  It is so very frustrating.  But today, I came across this local footage of a recent Tornado that touched down about 20 miles from my back door.  Listening to these folks, especially the lady, kind of helps me to understand how "Listening to how you say it" becomes more important than what you say. 

I have been looking for several months to get back into recreational Kayaking. And what I require is what anyone else does!  Boats that are stable in the water, track well and have ample space for comfort, and some extras. So I have done net research and also looked locally to see what dealers have to offer.  This led me to Dick's Sporting Goods. There I found a brand I was very familiar with (Perception) and a name of a Perception Kayak that I had never heard of. (Rhythm 11)  So back to the net I went to learn more about this "Rhythm".  Turns out, Perception once made a Rhythm 14'.  This was a fiberglass boat however, and didn't in any way resemble the one I saw hanging at Dick's. No, according to my research, this Perception Rhythm 11 is a boat sold exclusively through Dick's Sporting goods.  And according to Ask.com, this boat is made for Perception by a company called Confluence Inc . Confluence is the third largest Canoe/Kayak manufacturer in the world and market several products under brand names such as Wilderness Systems®, Perception®, Dagger®, Wave Sport®, and Mad River Canoe®.  My dilemma was trying to find some valuable info on this boat before I laid down the hard earned cash for it.  After much pondering, I decided to take a chance and purchase this boat.  I was very nervous until I got it out on the water. 

So I have paddled this boat only on a small lake but have paddled it enough to form some opinions. Here we go! 

• Tracking and Handling - The boat does a great job of tracking! It goes where you point it! Wind drift is not too terribly bad. It's not a tub! In fact, it's really pretty nimble. It's not the fastest boat on the water, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well it came out of the water when I paddled. The bottom line: for a Kayak of this class, I think you will be hard pressed to find anything out there better. 
• Stability - I have gotten very confident in a very short time with this boat! So much so, that the first time out, the digital camera came out of the dry bag and into my jacket pocket.  I was able to reach down into the boat to locate items, and not feel like I was going to tip the boat.  leaning to the left or the right, caused the boat to lean to the left or right but it doesn't feel like you will keep going over. 
•  Cockpit - 38" long and 21" wide. Plenty of room!  The seat is comfortable and the butt portion also removes for cleaning. The backrest is very comfortable and also allows for multiple adjustments.  Adjustable footpegs are comfortable and offer a wide range of adjustment. This boat also includes knee pads.  Although a very welcome feature, especially when running in class 2 rapids and above, this design seems to be lacking.  The pads are "riveted" to the boat.  These rivets are plastic and not very tight.  Carrying the boat on my shoulder to and from the water normally means that at least one or two of these rivets come out and yes, I have already lost one!
  
• Storage - water-tight storage behind the seat is a welcome feature in a boat like this.  I can't speak for how much there is, but I can say it is rather large and a 40 liter dry bag went in it without issue, and slight room to spare. Of course it also includes webbing on the front which  should never be overlooked in any boat of this type.  I use this webbing in so many ways. I secure my paddle there when needing both hands for other things like taking pictures. :) And on other boats, its great to have jackets, etc handy.