Boatpost_001 - You Can Just Buy A Boat For $200 On Amazon. It's Not Illegal And No One Can Stop You. A Real Boat That Goes On The Water.

That's what I wanted to have printed on a giant flag when I was paddling around Lake Merritt for the maiden voyage of my goofy little inflatable (but still real!) kayak from Amazon.

In my usual plan trip first acquire skills second fashion, I finally decided to do the trip I've known about for years but which always seemed too cool for it to be a real thing I could do: Kayaking in Tomales Bay on a late summer night in water filled with bioluminescent algae. Tomales Bay has campsites that are only accessible by boat, and so I had my eye on a solo boat-packing trip: paddling out in the morning, setting up camp, and then going out late at night in the glowing water.

I didn't have my own boat, and I do not own a car. Rentals were pricier than I'd hoped, and the whole thing just sounded like an ordeal. I'd recently learned about packrafting, and started thinking about some kind of small, portable craft I could buy for this trip (and keep afterwards!)

One of the blogs I came upon in my research listed this $200 inflatable kayak from Amazon as its top pick. Their best budget option was a tiny inflatable raft, priced at $350, so I'm assuming this one is a discontinued model or something, and that's why it's so cheap.

Anyway!

I ordered a boat on the internet and it came in the mail! A kayak! That fits into its own very large and stupid looking lime green backpack! With a paddle that comes apart and fits into pockets on each side, sticking up like a pair of antennae!

grey and black kayak with lime green racing stripes and seat on a messy kitchen floor — The backpack comes apart to become the seat and spray skirt, it's very silly and kind of clever.

So I guess the next step would be learning to kayak

I decided the best place to start out would be Lake Merritt, in downtown Oakland. It's small and self-contained, doesn't have big boat traffic, and I had no danger of being swept out into the San Francisco Bay.

The Lake Merritt Boating Center, in addition to rentals and lessons, offers a BYOB option for a $5 launch fee. I was intimidated by the entire prospect; I just assumed it would be expensive and snooty and all the other things I associated with the kinds of people who can afford to do boat things in the Bay Area. But after reading some reviews, virtually all of which were glowing, I felt a bit more at ease. People were talking about how friendly and helpful everyone at the boating center was, and how much they work to make boating accessible to people of all skill and income levels. Their parking lot is even used for skating meetups!

5 star review from Charles Strauss: It's hard for me to even describe how much I love this place. In the past five years, since I took an excellent Introduction to sailing course here, I've taken out sunfish and hobie cats and sometimes kayaks somewhere around 80 times. And I've only capsized once! The people are lovely, and there's nothing like being all alone in nature while you're still in the middle of a big city, and the wind gives you a new challenge every time. Some of the equipment is a little bit old but they do their best. Sailing is normally a rich persons hobby, but the boating center makes it extremely affordable, especially if you get a frequent sailor card, which I highly recommend. Lake merritt is the jewel of Oakland, and the best way to experience it is on one of their sailboats.

5 star review from Alice Wolf, with pictures of a nighttime roller skating event: Great place to rent a boat. The parking lot is a fun roller skating venue and the site of a lot of community events as well.

Just to reassure my anxietytism brain, I called the Lake Merritt Boating Center the day before, and had a conversation that was something like "Lake Merritt Boating Center, how can I help you?" "Hi I would like to boat on Lake Merritt, can I do that here?" Ok, confirmed, you can indeed boat at the boating center. Glad we got that all sorted.

I packed up my Big Dumb Green Backpack (air pump, snacks, dry bag) and walked to the bus stop. On the way over, I ran into Atomly's other partner. He later told me that when he spotted a tall queer person with a big goofy backpack at a bus stop, he was going to take a picture of them to send to me, because that sounded like something I'd do. Hey, companies spend millions of dollars trying to generate brand recognition like this.

me in my apartment hallway with the boatpack

me at a bus stop with a bright blue shirt, bright green backpack with a paddle sticking out of the back

The part of the blog post about going on a boat where I actually go on a boat

I got off the bus and walked through Adam's Point, and when I spotted a fleet of tiny sailboats, I knew I was at the right place. I paid my fee, signed a waiver, and they were pretty much just like "all right, have fun!" As I was doing my paperwork, I watched a dozen or so elementary school kids take off in the tiny sailboats.

approaching the boating center, with rainbow sails in the distance

When it was time to go to the dock and set up my boat, there was a group of tiny kayakers-in-training getting ready to launch. They were absolutely fascinated by my inflatable boat. I pretty quickly had a small crowd gather around me, and they all had a billion questions. It was hilarious. They were like "I wish MY kayak was inflatable!!", which was also hilarious, as they were the ones with real, hard-shell kayaks.

a pile of stuff on a dock: a folded up uninflated kayak, the big green backpack, a pump, and a life jacket — An inflatable kayak is just a regular kayak with extra steps

After the second tiny flotilla left, I was ready to launch. I got in my kayak from the dock without falling in somehow, and then I was off!

a dork in a red loaner life jacket on a lake

I did a loop around the perimeter, which is about 3 miles. It took me a couple of hours to make it around because I have wee little noodle arms. I had a blast. Lake Merritt, with its 3 mile walking trail and wealth of benches and grassy lawns, is always a great bird- and people-watching spot, and is always busy. I was pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was just a few dozen feet from the shore.

my legs, a paddle, and a lake, with tall buildings in the background

Lake Merritt is home to the oldest bird refuge in the country, and I enjoyed watching gulls, cormorants, and pelicans flying, landing, fishing, and diving. I also spotted some birds I'd never noticed from the shore, like the common tern, circling over open water in the middle of the lake. It was hilarious to be behind seagulls "in traffic" so to speak. I wonder if they think I'm some kind of large, clumsy water bird.

a fountain with large water birds posted up on the barrier around it — None of these pictures are very good because it is hard to paddle a kayak for the first time and also take photos.

a canada goose followed by a slightly smaller canada goose on the lake — None of these pictures are very good because it is hard to paddle a kayak for the first time and also take photos.

Buying a shitty little boat on Amazon was all I hoped for and more. It rules just as much as I thought it would. Sometimes (oftentimes?) doing the weird little ideas that pop into your head turns out great Sometimes you buy a whole entire boat to avoid having to talk to the people at the rental place and it changes your life!