45
votes
Accepted
Are longer kayaks faster than shorter ones?
Executive summary: All else equal, a longer boat will have a greater hull speed. A greater hull speed means less drag and hence greater speed for a given amount of "paddling effort". Hence, longer ...
- 9,678
28
votes
Are longer kayaks faster than shorter ones?
The narrower the beam, the less paddling resistance the boat will have.
For any given weight capacity, the longer boat will have a narrower beam. (The widest part of the boat, where the paddler ...
- 768
27
votes
What is the difference between a Canoe and a Kayak?
The general answer is: A canoe is a boat designed or refitted to be paddled with a one sided paddle, usually while sitting on either a raised bench or one or both of your knees. A kayak is a boat ...
- 1,923
26
votes
Why are we moving in circles with a tandem kayak?
Common paddling problems
Most people are strongly right handed
You'll get more power on your stronger side
It's really common for the weaker hand to slip closer to the blade as a result of wanting to ...
- 8,004
19
votes
Can I use one helmet for both kayaking and skiing?
It's not recommended to use a kayak or "CE/EN 1385" helmet for skiing. However, you can use a skiing or "CE/EN 1077" helmet for kayaking.
The helmets are manufactured and tested for specific ...
- 23.5k
19
votes
Accepted
What safety equipment should I carry for sea-touring by kayak?
Here's what I normally take with me on these trips at the moment. I can
divide them into what's needed before, during and after an incident.
Avoiding trouble
clothing and food (including drink): as ...
- 4,662
18
votes
Volume of cargo area in a kayak
As noah says, there's no useful definition of an "average kayak". Different boats suit different purposes. You can't expect all of these boats to have similar capacity:
(Image from ...
- 4,662
16
votes
Accepted
Kayakers throwing their paddles when running waterfalls
The reasons for doing it include:
not breaking your paddles (this is the main one)
not breaking your face
it is (was) cool
it's fun
The last two are why it's being done in the linked video.
Re: ...
- 1,475
16
votes
Accepted
Can I use a Canoe Paddle with a Kayak?
Yes, but you might want to use a short paddle.
While the difference between a canoe and a kayak in practice is only the seat, and people do swap out kayak seats for canoe saddles in playboats, you'll ...
- 8,004
16
votes
What’s the best thing to wear on your hands when sea kayaking in very cold weather?
The best answer I’ve come up with so far is to combine neoprene paddling gloves such as those sold by NRS with an additional pair of waterproof or semi-waterproof mitten shells designed to be worn ...
- 3,486
16
votes
Why are we moving in circles with a tandem kayak?
Going in circles while in a paddled craft such as a kayak/canoe/raft means that there is more force being applied on one side than the other (this is also how you turn the craft).
If you notice that ...
- 69.2k
15
votes
Are longer kayaks faster than shorter ones?
As a general rule, yes
Consider a boat weighing 20kg, a paddler weighing 80kg.
You're now displacing 100litres of water, the way in which you displace that volume has a lot to do with how easily the ...
- 8,004
14
votes
Accepted
How to lock a kayak
Most solutions require threading one or two long lockable cables through some sort of “holes” in the kayak and onto the fixed rack. The locking cables can be elongated versions of standard bicycle ...
- 4,088
14
votes
What’s the best thing to wear on your hands when sea kayaking in very cold weather?
I haven't been paddling much for several years, but I used to go all winter with simple fleece gloves inside waterproof dishwashing rubber gloves. I tried a half dozen other alternatives, including ...
- 141
13
votes
Accepted
Can I use one helmet for both kayaking and skiing?
As the protection required in these activities differ, there are different standards for helmets: EN 1385 for kayaking and EN 1077 for skiing. There are of course even more norms for other helmets. So ...
- 21.7k
13
votes
Accepted
How do choices in design of a paddle-craft influence its handling characteristics?
Ay-yi-yi! This is a very broad question, a true answer to which would probably require a PhD in hydrodynamics or years of relevant engineering expertise. Note that the interplay between these design ...
- 4,179
12
votes
Accepted
Roof rack system suitable for both bicycle and kayak?
Kayaks can easily be strapped down to cross bars. Sometimes J bars or uprights are used to put the boats on their sides allowing more to fit without stacking them. Bike racks for roof bars are quite ...
- 26.1k
12
votes
Can I use one helmet for both kayaking and skiing?
There seem to be many widespread assumptions about helmet design, particularly regarding how well they handle multiple impacts. The poor availability of the relevant standards documents[0] does not ...
- 8,428
12
votes
White-water (slalom) kayak in calm waters (lake)?
Short answer: it will work fine (if it's a suitable size) if you've no other options but there are other types of kayak which better suit your needs.
Specifically: this is a slalom kayak, it's a ...
- 1,475
12
votes
How can I take my dog kayaking?
We're planning to take our dog kayaking in the not so distant future. We both have two Sit on Top Kayaks which easily leave him room to sit between my feet. If you can fit him in your cockpit in a sit ...
- 15.4k
12
votes
If you are kayaking on a lake when whitecaps start happening, what is the best direction to get off the lake?
Conditions in which you can handle the boat depend on the style of boat and the paddler
The range of what defines a "covered cockpit kayak" includes play boats from under 2 meters to over 5 ...
- 8,004
12
votes
Accepted
Is it likely to be my technique or my muscles that cause my arms and shoulders to ache so soon after I start kayaking?
Short of seeing a video of your technique, here is some general advice.
A very common but poor technique in the forward stroke is where you keep your torso relatively still and repeatedly push and ...
- 4,088
11
votes
Why should the heavier person sit in the back of a tandem kayak?
It's along the lines of @stijn's comment but worse: if the nose digs in, not only do you lose speed, but your control suffers (and not just because many steering strokes require water speed). In even ...
- 26.1k
10
votes
How to make my kayak Eskimo roll reliable in rough water?
Summary:
Develop muscle memory for the basic move through instruction and repetition, develop robustness against external water conditions, and address the internal panic response.
Develop muscle ...
- 3,486
10
votes
Volume of cargo area in a kayak
I think the problem with your question is defining what the "average" sit in kayak is. How do you average across the many types of sit in kayaks while still maintaining meaning to the number....
- 4,043
9
votes
Will a laser pointer work for pointing at whitewater?
Laser Pointers
I've spent years in whitewater and can somewhat appreciate your struggle with pointing and vague references to features. I've played with inexpensive laser pointers at night in camps ...
- 1,327
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible