This past summer I was perusing Kickstarter. I came across a campaign with an interesting twist on kayaking, a sport I enjoy during the summer. The campaign sponsor told a story of migrating from Seattle to San Francisco and rueing his inability to store a kayak in his miniscule new digs. Over wine, drinks, whatever he and friends explored ways to accommodate a kayak in a two bedroom flat in San Francisco. The answer was a foldable kayak. Employing origami principles, the Oru Kayak was born. I signed on right away with a slightly different perspective.

I am a fan of sports that don’t involve internal combustion engines or gun powder. Plenty of options to choose from. My favorites are cycling, soccer, sailing, tennis, archery, jogging and kayaking. This Kickstarter campaign fired my imagination. What if I could trailer a kayak on my bike to the Bay in SF? Cycling provides great aerobic exercise for the legs and lower body, but does nothing for the arms and upper torso. Being able to combine cycling with kayaking seemed like a small version of nirvana to me.

My pre-order through Kickstarter got me a great price and a 3 month projected wait time until my kayak would be ready to ship; Mid-October. I didn’t have a problem waiting until then. The projected ship date migrated later into the year as time passed. In mid-November I inquired on my status and got an opportunity to pay my balance due with a new projected ship date of 8 to 10 business days. Three weeks later I inquired again about my now paid in full kayak. “It would ship in a few days,” they said. It did. This weekend, with my daughter, Veronica, I had a chance to play with this new toy.

Conceptually, the Oru Kayak is a great idea. Fold a twelve foot long 20 inch wide boat into a large suitcase sized case weighing less than 25 pounds for easy portability. Could this really work? After pulling the suitcase version of the product from its shipping case we felt it a good idea to try unfolding it into final form at home before heading to the Bay.

On our back deck I timed the initial unfolding and set up. 20 minutes, give or take a minute or so, from start to finish. Written instructions and the site’s video were great help.

Will it float?

While it appeared to assemble easily, how well would it float? Our next stop was San Francisco Bay. Folding the boat back into suitcase shape was relatively quick. The trick was the last folding step which I am still concerned really takes two people to do. The folded kayak fit easily into the back storage area of our Prius without putting the back seats down.

At the Bay with the Oru Kayak in suitcase form

We parked along Terry A Francois Street and set up the kayak next to a boat ramp north of 16th Street. Assembly, this time, took us no more than eight minutes (coming down the learning curve quickly!). Once built the kayak is quite light and easy to portage down to the water with one hand. While we were doing our assembly a couple stopped to chat and were intrigued by the idea unfolding before their very eyes.

Out on the water I found the Oru kayak, initially, more tippy than other kayaks I had used. More tippy, but more responsive and easier to turn. After about ten minutes and a few adjustments to the foot rests this concern went away and I was off. After about a 40 minute tour of San Francisco’s eastern shore I returned to the boat dock to let Veronica have a try.

On cruise control

Veronica handled the boat really well on a short ten minute ride. She agreed with me that the boat handled well while feeling tippy initially. Our refolding, repacking efforts took only about five minutes during which we chatted with a nice gentleman and his daughter. The folding kayak concept is a real attention grabber.

No problems and staying dry

Now that we’ve successfully had our maiden voyage I need to seriously explore the bike trailering option and complete my initial vision. Stay tuned for the continuation of the saga.