Kayak tips for women

[Irulan]

Um, how about WEAR the PDF? Especially for a newbie!!!!!!

I'll be frank. I put PFD for water and helmet for biking in the same category of mandatory safety equipment. Especially for beginners.Especially small craft.

You wouldn't tell a new biker to make sure you have a helmet along and wear it only if you are nervous, would you? Of course not. You wouldn't tell a beginner to bungee the helmet to the bike, would you?

Calm water, you swamp the boat, you get a little cold and tired, not wearing a pfd? Sudden weather change, all of a sudden calm water is not calm, boat swamps, no pfd? Things happen fast in the water and a PFD does you no good if you aren't wearing it. The decision to not wear one should only be made by experienced boaters who are confidently aware of the consequences. I think to not wear it, or to only keep it handy is absolutely TERRIBLE advice to give a beginner.

[solobiker]

Of course wear a PFD...That is pretty much assumed esspecially where I am from/grew up it was mandatory by the coast guard.

[Kiwi Stoker]

Wear something on your bottom half that you don't mind getting wet (ungainly falls getting out of kayak quite likely) and maybe a change of bottoms half for afterwards.

[lovelygamer]

Thank you!! I did not think of all of these things. He did send me to the paddling website and I watched a video about getting in and out of your boat.

I can swim decently, and will be wearing a pfd. If you live in Maryland and can't swim-for shame! Most people I know from our state were born with gills.

I am looking forward to the challenge and something new. Appreciate the feedback.

[OakLeaf]

Wear your cycling gloves or pick up a pair of neoprene paddle grips. Paddles will blister your thumbs pretty good if you don't have calluses there.

If you have a choice of boat you'll be renting, ask the people to talk to you about fit. My boat is too big for me and it just makes it not very much fun, so I don't paddle near as much as DH would like.

I'm with Irulan on the PFD. We paddle only in very flat shallow water, and I feel okay about my swimming ability, but you just never know. It's why water sports are the most dangerous sports there are. You could hit your head, or sprain a limb, and in the water there's no sitting on the ground for a couple of minutes to collect yourself.

Have fun!

[Brandi]

Ok this may sound funny. But don't drink a lot. Then you have to get in and out of the boat. We kayak a lot and that is my biggest problem! Hahah. Just enjoy it. Once you get used to the balance and stuff it is like riding a bike. Oh And sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen! Oh and a camera in a plastic bag.Have fun though I love kayaking out in the ocean here where we live.

[Irulan]

if you are not in a spray skirt, don't forget to sunscreen your feet!

We make up what we call a take out bag with a complete change of dry clothes and shoes for when you are off the river. It feels so much better to get dry pants on, a clean shirt, dry underwear and dry shoes.

I disagree with "don't drink much because it's a pain to get out of the boat to pee". Sure it is, but so is dehydration, over exposure to the sun, and potentially heatstroke. OK, so heat stroke is probably a far reach for an hour or two on the water but ..headaches and dehydration are not. Really, don't drink much water when spending time out in in the sun? It's a nuisance to get off your bike to pee ( and to find a discrete place to do it instead of just jumping into the water) too but I don't ever see the advice on this board to not drink very much when riding a bike...I'm really having trouble with the laissez-faire attitude towards water safety in some of these posts. Water depth is irrelevant IMO, people down in bathtubs. And heat as an excuse to not wear a life vest? I spent three weeks in 117 degree heat on the Grand Canyon, and plenty of it is flatwater, and I work my PFD all day long on the water.

[emily_in_nc]

I think to not wear it, or to only keep it handy is absolutely TERRIBLE advice to give a beginner.

Where I'm from, the kayaking we did was extremely tame -- flat creeks and rivers with negligible current, and only about 2' deep (had to do lots of portages where it was even shallower). It was also hot as hades, which PFDs made worse. I'd say only about 10% of paddlers we saw wore PFDs -- a bit different from bike helmet use, which appeared to be about 90% in our area. We carried our PFDs under those paddling conditions but didn't wear them. We did wear them on the rare times we took the kayaks to deeper water or faster moving creeks.

I didn't suggest that she shouldn't wear it as you imply...I said that she should carry one and that she should wear it since she was nervous.

Maybe I should have said that she MUST wear one. I just don't like to dictate to people what they MUST do.