I don't have a video, but I do have a WD12 and a knee injury from 40+ years ago which made me a less than agile person. Just to make it worse, for a good chunk of my WD12 ownership time I was way overweight, so that made my agility even worse. With all that, the WD12 was/is the easiest kayak I have ever gotten in and out of. A good sense of balance and upper body strength makes up for a lack of agility. A helper makes it so that you don't need agility, balance or above-average upper body strength.

The exact technique depends on whether you're at a dock, ramp, a steep river bank or beach (with or without breakers). Here's how I do it solo:

1. Ramp and beach with no breakers - put WD bow-first into the water with the stern actually floating or just barely touching the bottom. Straddle the boat and walk out to the back of the cockpit. Sit down onto the deck just where it meets the coaming. Lift one leg at a time into the cockpit. It helps to use your paddle to balance the boat while you do this. Once both feet are on the cockpit floor, let go your paddle (it's tied to a paddle leash, right?), grab the sides of the coaming with each hand and smoothly lift yourself forward into the cockpit onto the seat. Initially, you should practice this on a sand beach where you can leave the stern high and dry without scraping it. As you get comfortable with the process, you'll be able to do this with more and more of the boat in the water. Eventually, you can do this with the stern entirely floating and not have to worry about scraping the boat. Getting out is the reverse with the bow up on the sand.

2. Beach with breakers - pretty much the same, but you have to time it with the breakers and accept that you'll be getting wet. Bring a towel, bailer and sponge and decide in advance that it's a water sport.

3. Low floating dock - secure the boat to the dock, ideally at the cockpit, such that the bow is on your dominant side (right if right-handed, left otherwise - you'll be needing that upper body strength. Sit on the dock with feet in the cockpit, then smoothly and simultaneously a) turn to face forward, b) slide your legs forward and c) rest your elbow onto the dock to limit the boat leaning as your weight transfers to the boat from the dock. Again, practice makes perfect and just make up your mind that you're not worried about your dignity or appearance.

4. High dock, steep river bank - evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

The best of all worlds for solo is when the launch facility has one of these:

Barring that, if any of these are too challenging solo, go kayaking with a nimble friend. Having someone else steadying the boat and maybe pushing it off from the shore makes things a lot easier.

Also, depending on your situation, it may be possible for you to improve your agility some with some physical therapy, exercises and stretching before getting in the boat, and even a little bit combined with practice can make a large difference. Whatever your situation, the WD12 is a really good choice for getting in and out. That huge cockpit opening gives you a lot of freedom to choose many different styles of entrance and exit. It's served me very well, especially since I've gotten rid of my excess weight.

Good luck,

Laszlo

Thankyou for your well explained and detailed response Laszlo. A response like that takes time and effort. I really appreciate it, andf it rings true. Again thankyou.