I think that in the 35-plus years that DW and I have been together, we have never once, without hesitation, decided to drop a chunk of change on something that we didn't need, but simply wanted.
Until this weekend.
A house: needed. Cars: needed. An HVAC system: needed.
For years, I've told DW that I've really wanted a good telephoto lens for my camera. In our travels and nature outings, we've been taking more wildlife photos, and my current 70–300mm lens really isn't sharp enough.
The lens I've been looking at, lately, sells new for about four grand, though I've seen some used ones for about $2,500 to $3K.
DW isn't buying it, figuratively, and so I haven't been buying one, literally. "That's an extravagant expense," she's said. "Think of the great vacation we could do for that money." And so, even though I've been in a camera shop and held one of these lenses in my hands, I'm going to have to wait for a benefactor to help me out.
Four years ago, we decided that to preserve our sanity during the pandemic, we were going to buy some kayaks so that we could venture out without fear of getting too close to other people. Years earlier, we had shopped for kayaks and even tested a few in a pond near Carp, but were never able to justify the expense then, which was about $1,000 each at that time.
We decided to buy our kayaks in early 2020 and we haven't regretted doing so. We're nearing the end of our fifth season with them and we've been out at least a dozen times each season. The number of times that I've created YouTube videos of our kayaking adventures hasn't even scratched the surface of the outings we've had.
I have a couple more videos coming out in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
In August, DW returned to Killarney Provincial Park, off Georgian Bay. She wanted to circumnavigate Phillip Edward Island, which we paddled along a couple of years ago. I didn't want to go on this five-day camping adventure, so she went with one of our Paddlefolk friends.
Because DW wanted to have as much storage space as possible on her trip, she borrowed my kayak, which is a bit longer. "I could really use your extra 10 inches," she said.
I swear, those were her exact words.
On the first day, she and our friend battled a strong headwind. Our friend has a 14-foot kayak with a skeg (a retractable keel), and did a bit better than DW in my 12' 10" kayak, which has no skeg or rudder. When they reached their campsite, that night, DW texted me.
'We need longer kayaks."
Last year, DW and I went to Algonquin Provincial Park and paddled 15 kilometres on Opeongo Lake, with strong headwinds and whitecaps on the huge lake. It was the toughest paddle and I hated it. With no skeg or rudder, we had to edge quite a lot, plus paddle largely on one side of our crafts.
It was exhausting and was the only time in our five seasons that I honestly didn't like being in my kayak. I captured video footage of our trek but hated the paddling so much that I never used any of the footage.
When DW said we needed longer kayaks, I immediately thought of that Opeongo paddle. We've looked at 14-foot kayaks with a bit of envy but we still really loved our kayaks. We had no real need to upgrade.
And there's that word again: need.
We've never dropped a lot of cash on anything we haven't needed before. We've talked a couple of times about someday, when our kayaks were long in the tooth, of upgrading them.
On Saturday, we drove out to the place where we bought our kayaks, Frontenac Outfitters. During the height of COVID, this kayak and outdoors retail shop offered to deliver our kayaks for next to nothing. The next year, we ordered skirts for our kayaks but paid way more in shipping than we had for our kayaks. And about a month ago, I ordered hip padding for my kayak, as I've been doing more edging in it and it makes a big difference.
It was high time that we actually paid them a visit.
The outfitters were sold out of the kayaks that we were interested in, a 14-foot version of our Delta kayaks, but they offered to honour the 2024 price if we ordered the 2025 models, which were expected to be $100 more, each.
Frontenac Outfitters is close to Pearkes Lake, to the southwest of Frontenac Provincial Park, and they had a couple of 14-foot Deltas that they rent out: one, with a skeg; the other, with a rudder. They took them down to the lake and let us play with them for about an hour.
DW and I took turns using both. They're both impressive crafts, and the weather on Saturday gave us some good training, with rain and wind gusts. Both kayaks were impressive in cross winds, keeping a straight line.
Overall, we decided that we liked the kayak with a rudder because it takes up no room in the aft storage space. I've seen our friend's skeg get some debris in the recess, which prevented the skeg from dropping down.
The rudder sits on top of the aft section of the kayak and easily deploys down when needed. There are pedals that turn the rudder, making tight turns easy.
When we were done playing, we brought the kayaks ashore and headed back to the shop, where the person who helped us was waiting.
"What did you think?" she asked.
DW and I didn't hesitate. We didn't need these kayaks but we wanted them.
"I think you've just sold two of the kayaks with a rudder," I said.
And that was that. Without hesitation, DW and I dropped more than $5K on new kayaks. We don't know when they'll be ready, whether we'll be able to acquire them in the fall or have to wait until next spring. But we're in no rush.
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| This might be the new colour of mine or DW's. It's complicated. |
In the meantime, we'll enjoy our current kayaks for the rest of this season, getting out in them as much as we can. When the season's over, we'll lovingly clean them up (the rubber on our roof racks leaves little black marks on the hull, but they clean up easily), hang them in our garage, and sell them in the spring, when some adventurer is looking to head out on the water.
I love my kayak. It's treated me well. Apart from that weekend on Opeongo Lake, it's been a dream to paddle. Whoever takes it next will be very happy with it.
Now, if only I can convince DW that I can have the lens that I don't need, but want.
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