Mark Venard poses as he prepares for a day’s outing in their Sea Eagle 370. The Venards go kayaking every weekend, Linda tells us — it’s her cure for empty nest syndrome.

“My husband and I bought a Sea Eagle 370 last summer,” Linda Venard, of Indiana, told us. “I had always wanted a kayak and my husband was fully supportive of joining me on this new experience, especially since we needed to fill the hole of our last child leaving the nest for college. How would we replace all the activity that went with raising 4 children? Kayaking!

We’d been so busy raising kids…

“We had been so busy with school activities, sports, soccer, and so on,” Linda told us. “That’s how we spent a lot of our time. Now we go kayaking every weekend. We have explored many of the little lakes all around the southwestern part of Indiana, from state parks to filled-in stripper pits.”

“Stripper pits” are strip mines that are reclaimed into wildlife areas like the 8,100-acre Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildlife Area near Winslow, Indiana. Sugar Ridge is a richly wooded upland game habitat with reclaimed mine areas that attract a wide variety of song birds, woodpeckers, hawks, and waterfowl.

She took a taste and fell in love

“I always wanted a kayak,”  Linda told us. “Every time we went on vacation in Florida we’d look for kayak tours. That’s how we got a taste of it and I fell in love with kayaking.” Like Linda, many kayakers start by renting. “But we could rent only in areas where there are rental places.” And as the kayaking bug bit her more deeply, she realized, “I wanted to be able to go kayaking wherever we went.”

Then Linda saw Sea Eagle inflatable kayaks. “I thought Sea Eagle would be a great solution,” she said. “I kept looking at them for about a year and we finally did it. I think owning a Sea Eagle is a great way to experience nature and makes kayaking so easy because you don’t have to worry about transporting it. One person can inflate and set it up pretty easily. You don’t have to know much about kayaking to get out and kayak easily.”

Linda and Marc spotted this white heron while kayaking in their Sea Eagle in Goose Pond in Linton, Indiana

Smaller bodies of water are undiscovered gems

The Venard’s first Sea Eagle kayaking trip was to Green-Sullivan State Park near Bucktown, Indiana. This park spans the Greene-Sullivan town line and is reported to be the home of the state’s record bluegill. “This wetland area gave us a close-up glimpse of egrets, cranes, and other birds migrating to the area, as well as giving us experience in maneuvering the kayak through marshy, shallow areas,” said Linda. “It’s like kayaking in a little jungle!”

Linda and Marc often find they’re the only ones on the bodies of water they explore. “We have kayaked in many local areas that are undiscovered gems to the general public. Most of the time we’re the only ones out on the water. A lot of people go to big lakes. We go to smaller ones like Goose Pond,” she said. “We like to get out in wilderness areas, out in nature. It’s very relaxing. We haven’t done whitewater yet. But we may!”

Linda paddles out into Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior on a recent tent camping vacation. “Best vacation I ever had,” she says.

“We recently took off for a tent camping vacation in Michigan — it ended up being one of my favorite vacations ever,” says Linda. “Of course we threw the kayak in the van. How handy to be able to pack it up and take it on the chance that we may just stop and use it wherever and whenever we want.  We made our first stop in Sleeping Bear Dunes and kayaked on a few of the lakes in that area. Our second stop was the Upper Peninsula where we kayaked along the Tahquamenon River and into Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior! How awesome!”

Thanks for the fun!

“We have had so much fun talking about our explorations with our Sea Eagle 370 Sport Kayak that my sister-in-law decided to surprise her husband (my brother) with one for Christmas. And they have joined us on a few excursions.”

‘We are so impressed with the kayak itself and Sea Eagle as a company.  Later we needed to replace our pump and even though we had used it for over a year, it was still under that  generous, three year long warranty. Therefore it was replaced at no charge.  You truly go out of your way to make sure your customers are satisfied and happy with all your products. We are!  Thanks for the fun!”

— Linda & Marc Venard, Indiana

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