Kayaking

[Woah]

Not me 
 
Just got back from whitewater kayaking on the lehigh river in Pennsylvania. it was all around a great experience even though it was a terrential downpour, which the kayak geeks were overly excited that htte river would be flooded. i learned some new tricks and hope to go back pretty soon! anyone else share an interest in the adventerous sport? or just enjoy flatwater kayaking?

[Ed]

Erm, I just posted this over at the canoeing thread in Interests, but I'm doing L2 coach training and I'm a keen whitewater kayaker!

[Karla]

I went on a package holiday in Turkey and did some sedate sea kayaking which was fun (also did paragliding, canyoning and mountain biking and white water rafting).

Stuart and I plan to take it up properly next year if we get to stay in Scotland so we can kayak into more remote places, wild camp and spend longer outside being naked. Hopefully days on end.

The problem we face though is that we only drive a small Nissan Micra so we would probably have to go for an inflatable kayak.

[Dave]

I went kayaking for the first time last week.  It was amazing, and I loved it.   

[Ed]

The problem we face though is that we only drive a small Nissan Micra so we would probably have to go for an inflatable kayak.

Karla, I promise you that you can get four proper plastic boats on the roofrack of a Micra. At least an old one, anyway! Seen it done easily with a Sunny as well!

[Karla]

The problem we face though is that we only drive a small Nissan Micra so we would probably have to go for an inflatable kayak.

Karla, I promise you that you can get four proper plastic boats on the roofrack of a Micra. At least an old one, anyway! Seen it done easily with a Sunny as well!

Yay!

Just relayed this post to Stuart. He googled an image of an old Micra (which we have) and then dropped the bomb shell ...

"Where do we keep it when it's not on the roof rack?"

Still ... good news! Just got to find somewhere bigger to live now.

[Ed]

Have you ever seen those bike racks which are like two sets of hooks on two linked pulleys? You screw them into the ceiling, hook on the handlebars/seat/frame/whatever and hoist the bike up to the ceiling? Well, you can use them for kayaks up to 20 kilos (that's any kayak you're gonna buy today apart from huge touring boats/sea kayaks) - I do it in my garage at home. You could even have them in your living room on the ceiling if you didn't mind the sight and had a high enough ceiling :P Or you can store them on their ends if they're small enough, which'll take up about a metre square of floorspace if you're careful! There're always ways of storing boats :P

[brandon]

I think it should be illegal to carry kayaks on tiny cars like a Nissan Micra unless you're driving under 40 km/hr. If you get a gust of wind, it can seriously impair the handling, risking not only your life but the safety of others using the highway.

I have never gone white water kayaking, just ocean kayaking. I had to wear a wetsuit which made it rather unpleasant. I remember that my arms were very sore and my bladder was about to burst when we finally got back to land.

[Ed]

I think it should be illegal to carry kayaks on tiny cars like a Nissan Micra unless you're driving under 40 km/hr. If you get a gust of wind, it can seriously impair the handling, risking not only your life but the safety of others using the highway.

You'd actually be surprised. Because they're so small they really don't get hit by wind that badly. You get far more roll out of people carriers than you do with small cars.

[Stuart]

I think it should be illegal to carry kayaks on tiny cars like a Nissan Micra unless you're driving under 40 km/hr. If you get a gust of wind, it can seriously impair the handling, risking not only your life but the safety of others using the highway.

A gust? That's ok, the wind is usually a consistent 50mph or so around here...