non-ocean Kayaking

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I want to go kayaking on the charles river in boston once or twice this summer. I've kayaked once before in boy scouts, on a lake, and it wasnt very hard and not nearly as unstable as canoing. I dont expect the current of the charles to be carrying me away, and there are certainly no white waters.

do you think i should sign up for the how to kayak course, or just wing it? anything i should keep in mind?

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

Do you know how to right a kyak if it turns over? That's the part that scares me most about kayaking... drowning.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

I thought that canoes are stable like rocks and kayaks are made for flipping!

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

no, i dont know how to do that. what's the risk of that happening on smooth, non ocean water?

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

Muh? I dunno. Even if the risk is low, the consequences seem high. I'd at least borrow a book.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

http://www.boatwashington.org/canoe_kayak_safety.htm

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

thanks.

sorry for ruinging your thread Geyser.

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 9 June 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

If you intend to kayak a lot, it's worth signing up for the course. Some basic manuvering techniques as well as the most energy-efficient paddle technique are non-obvious. Some places will only rent you sit-on-top kayaks if you don't have some knowledge, although this may be mainly to drive sales of their classes.

If you know how to swim, don't use a spray skirt, and don't go too far away by yourself, you'll be fine.

― mikef (mfleming), Thursday, 9 June 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

cool, thanks mike. I think i'll try it once without the course and see how i like it.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 10 June 2005 11:34 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

t/s: sit on top vs. sit-inside?

― milo z (mlp), Sunday, 23 July 2006 03:45 (nineteen years ago)

top

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 23 July 2006 04:13 (nineteen years ago)

OK, I'll bite. Why on top? Is that just for being on smooth water?

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 24 July 2006 01:33 (nineteen years ago)

you only need a sit-inside (read: "normal") kayak if you're planning on keeping stuff/your person dry. if you're just mucking about on a lake or smooth river, a sit on top should be fine.

unless you're planning on hitting serious whitewater, you don't need to know how to roll. if you flip, you just pull the loop on your spray-skirt and swim. no biggy. it's just annoying to have to and retrieve your boat. SOME heavy-duty whitewater is considerably more dangerous to swim in than it is to boat in, so that's a good reason to develop a roll. also, if you can right your boat, you can keep boating.

you absolutely cannot learn how to roll from a book.

also, flat-water roll != "combat roll"

― gbx (skowly), Monday, 24 July 2006 03:42 (nineteen years ago)

There are kayaks that you sit on TOP of? Weird.

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 24 July 2006 12:36 (nineteen years ago)

yo NY'ers: on the west side o' Manhattan, kayaking on the Hudson, no skill required, you paddle around the 72nd ST piers. my wife & kid did it one recent afternoon and had a blast.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Monday, 24 July 2006 12:42 (nineteen years ago)

The kayaks I've tried would be easy to get out of if they rolled. I've always gotten pretty wet—those drip-stopper gasket things on the paddles never work. So don't wear your favorite ballgown.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 24 July 2006 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

I'm looking at something in the 12 ft. range - like the Tarpon 120 (sit on top) or Pungo 120 (normal) (Wilderness Systems makes those specific models).

Sit on top - if you roll, just get back on, cooler during the ten months a year when Texas is hot, not as fast or easy to paddle, better for fishing supposedly

recreational sit-in - drier, faster, more dry storage, I guess?

I think I'm leaning toward the SOT, I'm only going on slow rivers and flat lakes and I don't mind getting wet. If I discover I'm really good at it I can get a normal one for 'winter.'

― milo z (mlp), Monday, 24 July 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

it is kayaking season in the USA! never done this before but i'm trying it this weekend. anyone do this on the reg? i'm stowing some ziploc bag'd sandwiches in the legs-compartment of my vessel, just in case i need a sandwich but can't find a sandwich barge. hopefully i don't flip over and drown in the dirty city river water, that's one of my worst fears.

― del griffith, Thursday, 3 June 2010 17:19 (fifteen years ago)

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