The Terror Of Sea Kayaking

Most of our guests have 'kayaked' before, but most have never sea kayaked. Recently, one of our guests who at first strongly protested paddling in a tandem with someone else wrote us this note after her trip:

"Many thanks to the 2 men who were our guides . I insisted on kayaking solo, as I have kayaked many times solo , but NEVER in a tippy / flippy , terrorizing SEA KAYAK !!! Charlie detected I was in trouble and I feel may have saved my life by changing me out into a tandem AND stable kayak. That vigilance by him made my adventure WONDERFUL, instead of feeling sheer terror of rolling, because of my choice!

I ate humble pie, facing fact that even though (I've paddled) ocean, white water, and many times lake kayaking experience… never being in a SEA KAYAK…. I really DIDN’T “ know it all!”

I’m 70 years old and thanks to Charlie… may just see turning 71 in a few months .

No more SEA KAYAKING SOLO !"

Now to be clear, she wasn't in danger. Flipping in a single kayak is somewhat expected for beginners. In fact, I would say 50% of guests who hop in a single kayak for their first 'sea' experience do flip over unexpectedly. This is usually due to lack of balance until getting our 'sea legs'. After a short while most folks get used to the balance of a narrow sea kayak and do fine. The problem is that there isn't much time to adapt during one of our shorter day trips.

This paddlers is practicing rescues, but conditions you see are fairly common.

A tandem kayak offers much more stability than a single for those without experience paddling in wind and waves.