Origami Paddler - a folding paddle board that can fit in a cockpit locker

rhumbunctious · #1 05-30-2012

Looks like an interesting option to either compliment a dinghy or even replace one (for the well-balanced). A bit bulky, but still stowable below, or in a cockpit locker (harder to steal than a fixed board lashed to the stanchions...)

Not yet on the market, but if you invest into the Kickstarter you get a discount.

(no affiliation, just thought it was an interesting option)

Minnewaska · #2 05-30-2012

I don't get paddle boards. A more difficult solution to a simple problem.

Jgbrown · #3 05-30-2012

I see them around here every morning, I've often wondered what the point was, it seems like the least efficient transport possible, even the peddle boats are faster! Plus I wouldn't want to go for a dunk around here...

Minnewaska · #4 05-31-2012

What really kills me is to see kayaks or paddlers, or whatever, just poking along in a narrow channel with their heads twisting around, looking at all the pretty boats. Seemingly oblivious to the limited maneuverability of the 40,000 lb boat that is bearing down on them. They almost always have plenty of room to the side of the marked channel, where boats can't go. Drives me nuts.

Once, there was a women and younger child right in the middle of the channel that did not anticipate that we were going to have to turn 90 degrees in the channel, so we could back down a fairway. My wife went to the bow to try to let them know. She goes, because she will do it kindly and in a nice tone of voice. However, they either can't hear her or don't respond and I start the turn. They aren't really in danger, nor would I put them in any. But when we started turning, they realized they didn't know what we were doing and panicked. Four wide eyeballs, arms frozen and paralyzed. We were not going to hit them, but from 2 inches above the water, it probably looked pretty scary. Hopefully, they went home and told all their kayaking friends.

hellosailor · #5 05-31-2012

"Hopefully, they went home and told all their kayaking friends. "
Is it cruel to say hopefully they went home and SOLD their kayak? Or at least, took a boating safety class?

I think paddleboard are a Fitness Thing. You know, exercise the whole core as you stand and sway while you're paddling? Kinda like doing the BenHur Chariot Thing with two sityaks, for the folks who are two cheap to buy a matching pair. (VBG)

Barquito · #6 05-31-2012

I would imagine the point is to have another toy to noodle around the anchorage when the water is dead flat. Just a fun thing that doesn't go fast (like a sailboat).

Capt.aaron · #7 05-31-2012

It's not the Kayak it's the person in it. I can't imagine cruising with out my sit on top, There are places only a kayak can go. There are thing's only a kayak can do. And conditions only a kayak can handle. They are stealth for spearfishing, towable for snorkeling, Mine is a valuable tool and has gotten me out of sketchy situations, and gotten me to shore when the dingy couldn't. If you sit on a paddle board it becomes a kayak. I have used mine to set second anchors, scout shallow back country channels, the list of uses are endless. I've anchored off little Cenatral American towns, with no dingy dock and my kayak was the only viable option for the choppy sea wall. You can alway's find parking, or pull them on land and lock them to a street sign, the current and wind don't effect them much, and a stowable one is priceless if you are a healthy, agile, weight proportionate, self sufficient sailor, who does'nt need gasoline and a combustable engine move about the water. Thanks for the info on the folding board, I want one.
One time I saved a girl caught in a current because her dad's dingy wouldn't start, as she drifted away, so did he frantically pulling his outbaord ( he had cast off before starting the eng.) after I pulled her on to the board, I towed him to the beach. They are quick to launch, I could obviously go on and on....

hellosailor · #8 05-31-2012

"If you sit on a paddle board it becomes a kayak. "
No no no it doesn't. It becomes a "sityak" and a sityak leaves your whole body outside the hull, as opposed to a kayak where everything below the waist is inside the boat, under the deck, fairly warm and dry and out of the sun as well.
It's the difference between having a "sailing canoe" and having a boat with a real cabin on it, or at least a cuddy cabin.
Velcro your thongs to a sityak, voila, you've got a paddle board. But you don't have a kayak.
Some clever Inuit figured out they could sell half a kayak to the southeners by calling it a sityak. I'm hoping they made a fortune and took out patents.

ShoalFinder · #9 05-31-2012

There are plenty of good reasons for a sit-on-top kayak. Here in Florida, a real kayak with a skirt wrapped around your torso is the equivalent of paddling around in an Easy Bake oven. You just don't see them here. I see them for sale, but I never see them in use. We don't have freezing water we need to be protected from nor white water rapids that would motivate someone to be shrink-wrapped into their kayak.

Perhaps some Inuit did make a million bucks. Let's hope so. Good ideas deserve to be rewarded.

smurphny · #10 05-31-2012

I don't get the paddleboard thing either. The only similarity to a kayak is that they both float. I keep my little whitewater kayak right on board. If I could find room, would take the longer sea kayak. The small Dagger steep creek boat slides right into the forward berth when travelling and will tackle just about any kind of water. If within 20 miles of shore and sinking, I would get into IT rather than the liferaft. Kayaks can negotiate going through surf on a beach, can be easily lifted or dragged over rocks, can carry a small amount of food, etc., can fit in almost anywhere and are GREAT for exploring shallow places. You can travel a long distance (10+mi) easily in a kayak. All in all kayaks are damned seaworthy little boats and handy to have while cruising. Also, they need no stinking gasoline!