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| FL, Rainbow River, fl http://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=61021 |
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| Author: | lessund63 [ Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:31 am ] |
| Post subject: | FL, Rainbow River, fl |
Hi all, I've been wanting to Kayak on the Rainbow river. I have an Outback mirage. I've been on many spring runs and I'm concerned about the shallows, underwater debris and grass. Would it be best to just paddle and not try the mirage drive, even though the fins can be retracted?? Thanks for any help! |
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| Author: | mmiller [ Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
Yes, best to paddle if in very shallow conditions. Why risk the drive. |
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| Author: | fusioneng [ Tue Jul 11, 2017 3:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
We go on the rainbow river quite a bit, It's actually pretty big. He have had revo's, oasis, and a couple of our TI's in there, shouldn't have any difficulty peddling anywhere, just watch for roots near the shore. One of the springs has poles blocking the entrance to prevent big boats from going into the spring, but you can get smaller kayaks thru there. Our TI with the AMA's mounted is too wide so we park and tie up to the shore near the entrance and wade into the spring. I was told it's one of the few places where you can get near manatees (in the winter only, they are all out at sea in the summer obviously, there can be hundreds of them in there). Those rules may have changed, I would ask first to make sure it's still ok. The water is 72 degrees year round coming out of the springs (we usually take our wetsuites along, but don't always wear them in the summer, but we carry them just in case we get too cold. Depending on our mood that day and if we plan to scuba dive or not we will either just take the TI stripped down in kayak mode only (no ama's, big sails, or motors). However it's about 5 miles out to open ocean, kinda far for just kayaking. We are also avid kayak sailers as well (actually our fav pastime), and have kayak sailed out to the gulf and back a few times (with oasis and revos, and Ti in kayak mode). But it's a long haul ,(way easier with the big TI with amas, massive sail sets, and outboards. We car topped and stayed at the best western. There is a ramp at the dive shop, we launched there, we also got our tank rentals their. Fun place FE Edit: I just looked it up, everything described above is at the Crystal river (not rainbow river), oops, I got the name wrong. We haven't been on the rainbow river and I know nothing about it, However we have been on the Sante fe many times (near Jinny springs) and others in the area with our kayaks (never with the big ti and all it's massive sailsets, ama's, and outboards, only in kayak mode and kayak sails). The sante fe river is narrow and very weedy in the summer, (and always very crowded). We use our mirage drives and rudders where we can, then paddle with the mirage drive out and rudder up thru the weedy areas, (about 1/4 of the trip). As long as you are careful and put the bungy on the mirage drive (yes you can still peddle with the bungy on). When in rivers down here we tend to shallow peddle a lot. Basically you set one pedal to seven and the other to 3 or 4 and pedal like normal, but the fins go up and down like butterfly wings vs swinging all the way thru in an arc. If you pedal with the bungy on, as soon as you take your feet off the pedals, the fins fold safely against the hull, (we have done class 2 rapids this way without much damage quite a few times (never on purpose, the rapids sometimes come up on us too fast to get the drives out (lol)) you should be fine assuming the rainbow and sante fe rivers are similar of course, (most of the spring fed rivers are very similar). Again I haven't been on the rainbow, but have been on quite a few others in the area with our Hobies. Most of what I'm describing is general stuff for this area, hopefully someone who has done the rainbow will chime in on good launch spots and where to avoid. Again sorry I got the river name wrong. |
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| Author: | lessund63 [ Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
Thank you fusioneng!! Great information. I'll proceed carefully, with this new information. |
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| Author: | lessund63 [ Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
Thank you fusioneng for the additional information. It saves me lots of time figuring it out on my own and gave me new ideas abot planning as I enter new areas! |
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| Author: | Brewski [ Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
For the most part the rainbow river is about 10 to 12 ft deep. |
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| Author: | Pescatoral Pursuit [ Wed Jan 24, 2018 10:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
Now if you want to go down the Wekiva or Econlockhatchee (Econ) rivers, you should spare your MDs the grief. All kinds of submerged trees/ sandbars. |
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| Author: | Pollo de muerte [ Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: FL, Rainbow River, fl |
Pescatoral Pursuit wrote: Now if you want to go down the Wekiva or Econlockhatchee (Econ) rivers, you should spare your MDs the grief. All kinds of submerged trees/ sandbars. Co-sign. I live in Orlando and have a place in Cedar Key. I gave up using MD kayaks in either the Wekiva or the Econ. Rainbow run is fine as far as I recall. |
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