【HIGHLIGHT】Mid Kokaigawa River with Aqua Marina Tomahawk Air-C and PacMotor

Google Street View:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/qxcwqxA6fYHAq...

Blog:
https://www.takashimorimoto.com/blog/...

The day after I did my location scouting ride around the Kokai River, Hoan, my dog Tom and I went on a short canoeing trip. This is the first time we try PacMotor, dual thruster motors. I've purchased two units via their Kickstarter campaign. While I had a huge expectation for this invention, it made me wait over two years to arrive. I'm still waiting for their original batteries to get here, but for now, we are using generic marine batteries instead. This versatility, in fact, was what I really liked about the system; PacMotor can be used generic marine batteries while other similar products often use their own batteries which only last less than an hour. Marine and boat batteries are significantly larger in capacity, and you can bring on board more than one if necessary. This is a big advantage for me, and I'm very excited to see how strong it goes and how long it lasts.​

We launched from Kokaigawa Riverside Park. I checked the location on a day before, and I knew that we can drive up close to the water. It is a nice riverside park that you can launch small boats and canoes. The location seemed to be known for bass fishing as well. Our main focus for the day was to experiment PacMotor, but we did bring some rods to feel how it is like to fish from a canoe with the thruster system. We started paddling towards the north of the Riverside Park, against the current, and immediately, we noticed the propulsion of the thrusters being quite strong. We were impressed that we didn't have to paddle to go against the current. The heavy canoe was carrying with two male passengers, a dog, paddling gears, camera equipments, fishing stuffs, two heavy batteries etc. PacMotor itself adds some weight too. It's got to be over 200 kg (440 lbs). And again, we were heading up the river against the current which was slow yet constant. It was impressive!

Just under 5km into the paddling, we made an U-turn at Okazeki Weir. Okazeki is one of the three major weir on the Kokaigawa River. There is a weir called Fukuokazeki in the north and another one called Toyodazeki in the south. The Kokaigawa river has a long history of flood control, and the water system of Okazeki dates back to 1630. Along with the history of development, they planted sakura cherry blossoms and created accessible parks and roads. Back then, the Kokaigawa was known for its scenic environment. Today the river is not very famous as I got to know only through the Goolgle Maps. But, I found the river and the surrounding region very pretty. The rivers with long slow and calm flow are my favorite. Too bad, the Kokaigawa's water is only available during the warm seasons, and it dries up in the winter. But, I definitely come back here in the future.

After a short break at a small river island by the Okazeki, we headed back. We casted some lures just for fun, but didn't catch anything. It's a bit too early for basses to be aggressive towards the bates, but we saw some carps being active for their breeding season. I really enjoyed experiencing the powerful PacMotor. This time, we really combined multiple activities; paddling canoe with my dog, operating PacMotor, mapping with Insta360, lure fishing and shooting footages above from the drone! The wind picked up and became gusty right when we arrived at the riverside park. We were relieved as we saw white caps on the river surface. In the end, it was a really nice short canoe trip!

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