Preview: Sportyak – The Recyclable Dinghy From Bic®

15 Responses So Far to “Sportyak – The Recyclable Dinghy From Bic®”

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  Linda-Beth Juchli says:

  I have watched this video for the third time now. I enjoy that this dinghy it has such a solid following. I have had people make fun of mine: a Sportyak II. But I now come to “own” this dinghy and have just fixed a whole in it. Thank goodness for 3M products and Marintex.
  Looking for Oar locks to fit the small openings now.
  I agree with Burton Blais…you can not beat practicality.
  Thank you OCH for celebrating this little boat.

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  Joe Chada says:

  We used one for years with the added benefit of raising our first five children on board, it became the perfect kiddy pool for the tiny ones. I want to say the first one lasted for about 20 years.

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  Nathan Hazen says:

  We’ve had a Sport Yak for 70 years at a lakeside camp in New Hampshire. I can’t tell you how many kids (and adults) have rowed – or learned to row – in that boat, which we called the “butter boat” because it reminded one of the elder generation of a classic corrugated-bottom butter dish. Another elder used it – inverted – as a bar counter for their late afternoon stand-off-the-beach relaxations; another elder used it – also inverted – as a floating support during small dock installations. A delightful peculiar boat – so many uses! Seen a lot of them in France!

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  Joseph Ebsworth says:

  I have a Sport Yak II on my 21′ walk around. It weighs the same as a kayak so it’s a no brainor solution. Mine has a molded in back seat but It’s not for sitting.

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  Jerry McIntire says:

  I had more fun with my friend Eric in one of these. It was his family’s dinghy, and we played for hours in the harbor with it– rowing, paddling with our hands, filling it with water, capsizing, getting back in, capsizing, getting back in… It was a kid-size boat and a swim toy and it would make a great kiddie pool as well!

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  Arthur Haberland says:

  growing up in the 70s, my best friend spent his summers aboard his parent’s Owens Margarita. We had full access to an all orange Sport Yak that we spent weeks in rowing around the marina. It originally came with a sailing kit that his older brother destroyed and eventually got a 2hp air cooled engine, but it was near indestructible.

  One difference I noticed, the one we used had a molded in Stern Seat, did they drop that feature?

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  Jerry Stavola says:

  I laughed all thru this video because of the memories it brought back. I also had an orange Sport Yak for years. One party weekend at Block Island, we had 4 adults coming back from the beach and that boat did not sink! Just a lot of fun!

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  Ken Lee says:

  My cousin and I had one on 1968 on my first boat, a 21′ wood cutter we restored. We found it in the weeds in his dads boatyard and used it to row out to our mooring in Waukegan Harbor, WI. It worked great and we didn’t worry about anyone stealing it.

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  Ian Hancock says:

  We had one of these on Fearless (Alden Malabar 7) in the ’70s. I could row a 60lb CQR out as a kedge in a 3ft chop and occasionally towed the boat into marinas with it with a loop of chain in the water to even the effect. It must have looked rather strange with this big boat following the tiny dinghy with no apparent attachment.

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  Tom Strong says:

  I would have liked to see him boarding the Sportyak from his sailboat. Nice video.

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    jean-marc Leforestier says:

    Exactly ! This Sportyak is a piece of wet soap !

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  Michael Erickson says:

  We took sportyaks down the Green River through Desolation Canyon in ’77.
  Fun little boats, I would have never thought of using one as a dinghy.

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  David Tew says:

  Great! Such fun. Nice guy.

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  Peter Marshall says:

  I learned to row on a bright orange sportyak! My Parents carried it on the house top for decades. INDESTRUCTIBLE!

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  Burton Blais says:

  Huzzah for practicality!