Royak
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A Royak is a sit-on-top Kayak (as it is called today) that integrates the features of a surf board with a kayak.
It was invented by Roy Grabenauer in 1968 after years of experimenting with a variety of designs and innovative technologies, although Tim Niemier is credited as having popularized the craft with the rotomold process. He and his wife were using everything from innertubes to surfboards as their platform until his wife developed back problems, and the search for an alternative became imperative for them to continue to enjoy their sport.
Grabenauer worked as a chief electrical engineer for the Sacramento Department of Motor Vehicles and began experimenting with a boat fabricated from an airplane wing tank. The result was a torpedo-shaped craft that, to quote an article in National Fisherman from April, 1978 "...resembles a topless kayak going backwards."
The Royak of today is a hybrid kayak, meaning it blends features of sit-inside and sit-on-top kayaks. These attributes of being low and stable combined with an open cockpit provide for a versatile multi-sport design.
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