Well I had to start somewhere.
When I stepped on the Aqua Adventures dock this morning faced with two walls of boats stacked three rows high I didn't know how to choose the first one for this game. I did know that I need to save some of the decked touring kayaks to paddle during lessons and open coast tours and such. Surf kayaks would be saved for days when it'd be a shame to not get on the waves and I'd want to save paddling the stand up boards for those mornings when it's so calm and glassy that you can see right to the bottom of the bay. That left our sizable selection of SOT's and some open canoes to get stared on. So with the thought that every big job starts with one small bight I selected one of the smaller boats in our fleet, the nine foot ten inch "Venus 10" from Ocean Kayak.
The Venus 10 is a fine example of a boat that I'm not the appropriate size person to paddle. Most definitely designed for smaller paddlers, at 160# I'm only a few pounds away from it's maximum capacity. I have not been in this boat much before and I have seen it cause a swim for more than one unsuspecting person yet it felt stable enough for me but certainly not as stable as most sit on tops. I paddled a simple four mile loop around Vacation Island on Mission Bay and was able to average a comfortable 3.5 miles per hour. The boat has a nice enough glide for a short boat but one thing I noticed was the rather noisy bow wake the hull pushed up. It may have been due to the fact that my weight had the boat pushed into the water further than normal or it may just be a quirk of the boat's hull shape. The fact that the 10' boat was very maneuverable was no surprise and I liked the fact that it actually responded to edging. Overall it was a pleasant paddle and a great boat to start out with.
Manufacturer = Johnson Outdoors
Brand = Ocean Kayak
Model = Venus 10
Length = 9'-10"
Width = 28"
Weight = 34 lbs.
Capacity = 160-175 lbs.
Location = Mission Bay (Vacation Island loop)
Time = 6:30 AM
Distance = 3.84 miles
Duration = 59:00
Avg. Speed = 3.9 mph
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