Canoeing Safety Tips and Information

Im going on a trip to Miami in the next couple of weeks and I can’t find any place that has somewhat cheap prices for renting a kayak for only a couple of hours of course the only places i can find that lets you rent for the whole day for just 30 dollars is 5 hours away from Miami/ Key Largo/ key biscayne PLEASE HELP ME!

http://www.bluemoonmiami.com rents kayaks in Oleta State park in N. Miami

http://www.atlanticcoastkayak.com/ rents Kayaks on weekends in Ft. Lauderdale

Supposedly kayaks can be rented at Crandon Park nature center south of Miami, but I can’t get a phone or web listing for the rentals.

And you can rent kayaks at Flamingo in the National Park. Go to http://www.nps.gov/EVER/index.htm for National Park info.

please?

I believe its called kayakification

if you’re a beginner you might want to rent a few different kayaks to see what you’re most comfortable with.

on the day of the St Patricks Day parade?

i realy dont know

Honey, just the name alone will bring up hundreds if not thousands of photo’s by that name. Just imagine someone giving a name to a photo of a kayaker they saw. But you have thousand other photographers doing the same. Finding one website that has that one photo is near to impossible.

Put them on top of the camper or in the camper.

depends on the truck but a roof rack should work.

I was thinking about buying an inflatable kayak/canoe for messing around on the lake and in the bay. Are they OK for such a thing? I live in Rhode Island, I don’t know if that info is helpful. Thanks.

It depends. There are $100 inflatables (like Sevylor) all the way up to $2,500 (Feathercraft Java). Cheap inflatable "kayaks" are not much more than rafts, slow and tedious to paddle and don’t track well. The cheap boats are not safe to take in the ocean or strong currents so they limit your options. Some people love their somewhat inexpensive inflatables and I have to admit that models like the $400 Advanced Elements kayaks do look like they are well designed and built. Except for some top end models, no inflatable will perform like a hardshell or skin-on-frame type boat.

If you can, you should try to paddle a variety of boats and see how they feel before spending your money. See if a local kayak outfitters shop has any "demo days" where they provide a variety of boats on the water for potential buyers to try out. You should experience how the performance of an inflatable feels to you, compared to other types of boats to see if it is acceptable for what you want to do.

Of you do decide to buy an inexpensive inflatable, make sure you buy a good paddle (this will likely cost you over $100). Having a competent, lightweight (fiberglass shaft, not metal) paddle that is long enough (at least 240 cm) will have as great or more of an impact on your enjoyment of paddling as the boat itself will.

Hi,
I’m asking this here as I’m pretty sure most of you have sport racks on your cars to carry your skis/snowboards, etc.I’m on the verge of buying a sportrack for my car, and will definitely get one for winter sports. Does anyone know if there is something that can be added to be able to tie a kayak to it as well in the summer? Or does a kayak entail a new sort of sport rack?

Thanks. All help appreciated!

Some can be modified to carry a canoe or a kayak. Check with the retail vendor of the brand you are considering. Have fun, be sure to learn the eskimo roll. I see lots of the kayaks on the sport racks around Seattle and Yakima.

Which one would be easiest to be carried about 250′ to the river’s edge by one person?

Kayaks are easiest for one person to carry in most cases. I have 4 kayaks, ranging from 32 pounds (a wood-framed, nylon skin boat) to a 62 pound plastic boat, but even though I am an average sized woman, I can carry any one of them balanced on one shoulder that far or longer to the water. I also have a small collapsible two wheeled cart that I can use to roll the larger boats.

I’ve portaged a canoe solo before and it’s kind of a bear unless it’s a short and really expensive fiberglass boat.

Rowboats are a pain to carry because they are so wide — I have never hauled one alone and would probably not even try. Though the latest issue of "Wooden Boats" magazine I just saw on the newstand has full instructions inside for building a cool little wooden rowboat/dorry with a built in recessed tire so you can wheel it down to the shore just like a wheelbarrow. Looks like it would be pretty slow to paddle, however.