Packing for the Journey...How Does Harold Do It?

Harold Murphy has taken his Innova Safari Inflatable Kayak more than 4,500 miles down American Rivers. He took some time to explain some of his tricks for packing and rigging his boat. We hope you appreciate them. Click on the images to see them rotated and larger in their photo album.

A Journey Down Indiana's White River in June 2011

This June, Harold Murphy flew to Indianapolis, paddled down the West Fork of the White River to Maysville, hitched a ride to Vincinnes, and hopped a bus home. In all, Harold paddled 135 river miles, exiting the river a bit earlier than he had expected due to flood warnings. He traveled with clothes, food, water, and his Innova Safari.

"Ahhh, the beauty of the White River. There was more solitude on the White River than civilization. Within 2-3 hours of leaving the center of Indianapolis, I entered into remote areas with beautiful rolling hills and farmland. Since the White River often goes over its banks, there were very few houses near to the river. Camping was easy and safe. There were three small (but still dangerous!) dams that were easy enough to portage around. Drinking water was a bit of a problem (I found only one fresh spring in 135 miles, but there were a few small towns and cities where I could fill up).

"The river speed was a fairly consistent 2-3 mph, at times 4 mph. No rapids, but a lot of debris in the water (the result of earlier floods).



"A few days into the White River trip, there was heavy rain in Indianapolis and points North. I was perhaps 50-80 miles below Indianapolis and that high water "followed" me. While it posed no real danger, I made sure to camp 8-10 feet above the river. As I approached Maysville, the forecast was for the White River to rise another 3-4 feet and flood the low farmlands. This didn't present a danger, but it would have made it difficult for me to find suitable campsites and provisions. I decided to end my journey there."

If you want to find out more about navigating the White River, author and riverlorian, Jerry Hay, has put together a White River Guidebook.







Visit our photo album to see more photos!

Glenn Canyon Summer 2011

This looks like quite a trip. Perfect for an Innova inflatable boat.
Owners of Innova Inflatable Kayaks have one thing in common - they like to travel with their boats. The photo above was taken in Glenn Canyon this summer. It looks like they've packed enough gear to stay a while. Where are you going in your Innova kayak? Let us know!

Helios I - South Bethany Beach, DE

Love the kayak! Everything fits into the trunk of my Mustang!

Here's a pic of my kayak parked in South Bethany Beach, DE.

Best regards,

Bob

Paddling the British Virgin Islands

This summer Everyone's Travel Club visited the British Virgin Islands. They went kayaking, snorkeling, and exploring around the Islands.

From their blog:

I arrived on the island (Eastern Standard Time) at 2 in the afternoon with two pretty big bags (full of kayaking gear...and inflatable kayak). I woke the next morning and made it down to the ferry dock (Speedy's). My ferry left St. Thomas, a U.S. Virgin Island, to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. It took only a couple of hours and there were other Virgin Islands in view the whole way. On the boat ride I filled out my customs form (using the captain's pen...the one piece of gear I didn't bring) and turned it in upon arrival at Virgin Gorda. The kayak in my carry-on made it into the country just fine.

Snorkeling at Little Trunk Bay, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Kayaking the North Sound, Virgin Gorda, BVI

Kayaking from The Baths, Virgin Gorda to the island of Fallen Jerusalem Island

Virgin Gorda B.V.I. - Kayaking at Savannah Bay

How to Inflate an Innova Kayak

Everyone's Travel Club inflates an Innova Helios II inflatable kayak. Actual time to inflate: 7:24...not bad.

Canadian Rangers chose the Innova Helios II

The Canadian Rangers need a tough boat that can be packed into remote search areas, a kayak that can be loaded easily in to a sea plane or a helicopter and quickly set up. They need a boat that is a rugged as the country they patrol. They chose the Innova Helios II.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUI42Xt7NWw

Kayaking the Bahamas: Peterson Cay National Park

Everyone's Travel Club visits the Bahamas!

Peterson Cay National Park

"Peterson Cay is a very small island, surrounded by a coral reef, about a mile offshore. You have to take some kind of watercraft to get there. We made a about a 5 hour trip out of it."

The Mighty Mississippi from Burlington, Iowa to St. Louis, Missouri...in an Innova Safari inflatable kayak

In September 2009 Harold Murphy kayaked down the Mississippi River from Burlington, Iowa to St. Louis Missouri. He spent 10 days aboard his Innova Safari, pulling alongside the river each night to set up a tent or a hammock and sleep. He packed everything he needed onto his inflatable kayak and set out to explore the waters of the mighty Mississippi.

In Harolds own words: "Most people look at the Mississippi River as too large, too many boats, too many cities, and little beauty or remoteness. I think people would be surprised as to how beautiful and remote the Mississippi River can be."

Following are a series of photos following Harold Murphy's kayak adventure. We've published his entire trip (in higher resolution and with captions) on Picasaweb: http://picasaweb.google.com/innovakayak

It was just one of those rare combination of incidents...a sudden storm, a dragging anchor (which fouled the prop), a strong current and a bridge between us and open water.

We purchased a new Sunny and have been very pleased with the boat. In fact, our small cruising sailboat was caught in a severe sudden storm while anchored one night off Bahai Honda Key, FL and broke free. Our sailboat was blown in strong currents and 45+mph winds into an old railroad bridge, breaking the mast and causing other significant damage.

My wife and I managed to escape our near capsizing craft by stepping into the Sunny that we had secured to our stern cleats. The Sunny certainly played a role in helping us get to shore (no paddles) and save ourselves during the ordeal. We also managed to pull it up on the coral and rocky banks and secure it during the blow. The Sunny came through with only a few scratches (as did we), though my sailboat has been declared a loss by the insurance company.

It is sad to have our little Flicka declared a loss, but given the situation we did pretty well to save ourselves and, eventualy, most of our gear on board.

It was just one of those rare combination of incidents...a sudden storm, a dragging anchor (which fouled the prop), a strong current and a bridge between us and open water. We were one of 11 boats the coast guard had to respond to during the storm. A 50' catamaran suffered a similar fate at another bridge a few Keys to the east. It's just a part of sailing.

The Sunny has drawn lots of attention among the cruising community in Marathon (200+ cruisers moor there) and other spots. I often found myself giving out information on the boat and your company to folks interested in looking into getting one as a tender or back-up tender/water toy.

Guess we will be doing more paddling for a while....

Roy

Harold Murphy's Safari Trips

From Harold Murphy

I will try to explain my Safari trips in a few words. This one picture explains it well. Here I have my Safari loaded with 10 days of food and a few days of water. The scenery is blue and green, the wind is at my back, the river current is 1-2 mph. Camping is no problem.

I do not have a worry in my mind. All I need to understand is which way the river flows, and follow it around the next bend, then the next bend, and then the next bend. Need I say more? Life is simple and perfect here.

And for 2011?

I just booked my flight to Indianapolis, Indiana (early June) to  travel the White River, south-west to the Wabash River south, to the Ohio River west, to the Mississippi River south as far south as New Madrid, Missouri. Should be 400+ miles. Should be another "adventure" with my Safari & camera. P.S. New Madrid, Missouri lies exactly on top of a major earth-quake fault that has been "sleeping" for a couple hundred years. Hope it continues to "sleep" through June, 2011

Harold Murphy on the Mississippi Summer 2010

Inflatable Kayaking in Naples, Florida

Sent from one of our customers: the Innova Helios 1 in Naples, FL

Reasons Why to Get an Innova Inflatable Kayak

#1 - fits in your overhead bin.

What do Lake Titicaca, Great Salt Lake, and the Baja Peninsula have in common? They're all places you can get to with your Innova inflatable kayak.

It's as simple as:

- make reservations
- pull your Innova kayak out of your closet (comes in its own backpack)
- pack your clothes
- fly wherever

Awesome!

October Kayaking in British Columbia

Larry James took his Innova Sunny inflatable kayak out in October in BC, when he was often the only one on the lake!

In his own words: From Clearwater B.C. on Kalamalka Lake I took my GPS with me and recorded the stats: In 5 hours and 25 minutes, only stopping a few times, but never getting out of the kayak I paddled 24 kilometres averaging 5 kilometres per hour with a top speed of 8.5 kilometers per hour, all on calm water. Now that was a workout, but big FUN!!! Two days later I managed to squeeze 8.9 kilometres per hour out of that Sunny, (in a short burst of speed). I've learned all of the proper gear to take with me now for all types of weather and am enjoying the heck out of my Sunny!!! Unfortunately, time to put it away until next year.

Kayak Guatamala

Innova inflatable kayaks will soon be sold at a distributor in Guatamala. As we venture into the winter months up North, these photos are exceptionally appealing. Kayak Guatamala!

Innova Inflatable Kayaks on a helicopter

This photo was submitted by one of our customers.

Geeday from down under, I've been using Innova (or Gumotex?) IK's for ten years running white water, especially the K2 and safari, I thought you might like to see a pic of them being shuttled by helicopter into the Hokitika River, South Island New Zeland.