Kayak Missing, please help.
 

Friday, headed down to La Jolla for some white meat and came back home, with a little less than I started off with.

Now... here's what really sucked.

The night prior, I set up all the gear and tightened up the yakima rack. Everything was tight and stable, all fishing gear ready to go. Left home a little after 4:30am(in San Fernando Valley), traffic light, my heart/mind set on some good fishing. Around 6:30am, near Oceanside (1/2 mile from Cassidy St.) I hear my Yakima Rack coming unbuckled(?) and in my rearview mirror, my X-Factor (with my yakima rack, Q-Towers, 58" bars, Mako Saddle and Hully Rollers) FLY off behind me. FORTUNATELY, no one was right behind me and when the yak hit the road, it bounced and landed on the left shoulder. I was in the inner most lane. First thing that came to my mind was.... "WHEW, no biggie, at least no one else was involved int he mishap.

At that time, I stopped my car in the left shoulder and the kayak was about 200-300 yards behind me. Not wanting to reversed the car on the freeway, I got off the next exit and returned back to the spot where the kayak landed. THE KAYAK WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. The whole setup was gone, noone to ask for help, I just sitting on the freeway, just... zoned out. I did see a car (I don't know what type of car it was) stopped on the left shouder (when I first got on the freeway) but it was so distant...I didn't know if it was for my kayak.

Went back and forth for the next 45 minutes, but the kayak was not going to be returned. I exited and re-entered the previous and following exits to see if a good samaritan was behind this...

Had I not promised to meet Josh at the shores, I would have went home right away.

While on the water(with a borrowed yak) I called CHP and Caltrans and they said they were "Sorry for your loss"... and that when some calls in about the yak, they'll contact me. I'm going into Craigslist to see if anyone has posted anything, with no luck.
Does anyone have any experience with this type of mishap?
Yakima racks come off that easily? I've never had such problem before.
If you have any ideas, please help.

Description

The kayak is a Malibu Kayaks Grey X-Factor with Gator Hatch. It has all three hatches and four rod holders, and has bungie paddle keepers on both sides of the handles.

Andy(OEX Sunset) recently fixed it(last month), removing a rudder system that was on there. The rear end of the yak has a good marking where the rudder used to be installed as the plastic was "melted" on. The deck connector was installed at that time as well. The fish finder base (installed on deck)and Transducer is installed(gooped) inside the kayak.
Overall a very clean looking yak. A fish net and scotty bilge pump was inside the hull.

A memorial day weekend indeed!

That sucks. I will keep an eye out for it otw and in classifieds. Good reminder for me and all the other lazy folk out there that a bow strap is a good secondary protection for the drive. I don't use one, and it always haunts me a little bit as I make the drive down. Hope you find your yak.

THAT TOTALLY SUCKS I will keep my eyes and ears open

That Sucks, must of been a truck to pick it up that fast. Will keep a look out for it.

Some yahoody scooped up your yak in a pick up truck.
He could have thought it was there for hours, and left for dead.

It sucks that it happened. I think I will go check my Thule rack for tightness.

Thanks guys.

What's really mind boggling is that the night prior and at the time of departure, the equipment was tight and snug.

I hope you find your kayak.

I always worry about my kayak when I drive between Oceanside and San Clemente. It's usually very windy near the marine base and I have stopped a few times there to tighten my straps.

It looks like someone else lost a kayak in a similar way.

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/laf/1188466629.html

You should try putting a lost & found ad on craigslist.

Good luck.

Buki,

Thanks for looking.
I just posted a Lost and Found on craigslist.

Steve

sorry for you loss, did ya at least get any fish to make up for it?

also, i recently heard of thule's flying off a camper shell with a brand new pro angler attached that was also stolen.

Sorry for your loss... Who ever pickup you yak on left shoulder, it was a quik one. All I can say is, double check your strap all time.

yep, I've heard of the same kinda shit happening to people with surf boards... always reverse and never let it leave your sight... good luck to you.

Sucks you lost a kayak but it could have been 10,000X worse had your fly-a-way kayak caused an injury accident or a worse a fatal crash!

The cost to replace your kayak & rack is nothing considering what it could have cost you!!! Plus you didn't get cited for not securing your load.

What really sucks is some douche bag picked yer yak up and ran with it.. fawker .:doh:

well put.

Brutal. Good luck.

That blows,I allmost lost mine once on the 91fwy.Like previously stated it could have been much worse.Post your loss everywhere you can.I would have picked up a yak off the fwy had I found it and that early in the AM it was probably a construction guy like myself with a lumber rack.I would put up a reward too.

Sorry about the expensive lesson but it's cheap compared to someone getting hurt. I have that same setup on my Toyota Matrix, I'll have to check my setup. I, too, would have picked it up and posted in lost/found. Were you using a bow/stern tie downs also? I'm not sure if it's law but I do cuz I think it's safer. Now you can think about your next ride.:)

TWEEKERS SUCK
 

Just thought id chime in on this one because I ve seen similar. Im not saying this is what happened. but when you mentioned it was tight the night before. Bout 4 year ago I notice one of mu racks was a bit loose. In conversation witha buddy (We used to be lil more savage) he mentioned how meth-users (tweekers) will ride by on bikes or walk by several times in a night or over a few nights and slowly loosen the bolts and straps on trailors. They do this because takes to much time to loosen every thing before they steel.. So they take there extra time about and get it already... Sure enough after stakingout the truck for the night same guy came by twice loosing racks...well 1 1/2 times. He wont be back. So just to make everybody lil more paranoid... So from now on I check everything first before assuming.. Also it may not have helped in this case but check out the python locks from Master... the can fit though scupper holes even rod eyes, tighten like zipties and give a more peace of mind on the road... (just dont forget the keys)

It's only plastic...
 

These were my exact thoughts when we met at the launch, not to mention the possibility of getting killed backing up on the shoulder. Having a family and all, losing a used and abused piece of plastic, big deal. No doubt about it, this sucked, but in the end it's just a piece of plastic.

Like I said, you can barrow my X-Factor any time you want to fish La Jolla. If you asked me that old kayak of yours had bad mojo anyway :D, my ride will serve you well.

Hey man I think this might be your Kayak.

http://www.plasticnavy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4760