10 Bad Decisions Every Kayaker Should Avoid

Ken Whiting with PaddleTV with another paddling tip. And in this video, I am talking about 10 ways that you can make your paddling trips safer. And let's dive right into it. Now, the first tip isn't something that actually makes your paddling trip safer because it's something you should be doing. And that's wearing a PFD whenever you're paddling. It's like a seatbelt in your vehicle. You should just be wearing it at all times, even though sometimes the local regulations say that you just have to have a PFD with you when you're on the water. But what good does that do you? It's like saying you need to have a seatbelt in your vehicle. Well, it's not gonna help you when you need it and you never know when you're gonna need it. And that's why you wear a seatbelt. That's why you wear a PFD because accidents can happen. The second way you can make your paddling trips safer is by taking a kayak rescue course. Kayak rescue courses are offered all over the places. You can even do it in the wintertime in pool sessions. Not only do they make you safer, they make the people you're paddling with safer. And one of the key things that you're going to learn in there that can really change things for you is you'll learn how to get back into your kayak from the water. And by doing that, a couple of things happen. First of all, you're gonna be a lot more comfortable and confident on the water because you know if something were to happen and you capsize and end up in the water, you know how to get back into the kayak from the water. A lot of confidence comes from that. But on top of that, not being able to get into your kayak from the water is gonna prevent you from experiencing a lot of different types of paddling because one of the biggest rules that everyone should follow is that if you can't get back into your kayak from the water, then you need to stay close enough to shore that you can always swim there comfortably if something were to happen and you capsize because what else are you gonna do? If you can't get back in your kayak, you only have a choice. Yeah, you're gonna have to swim to shore. Once you can comfortably, confidently get back in your kayak from the water, a whole new world of possibilities opens up to you and you can start exploring bigger bodies of water, further from shore, and much more. Now, the third way to dramatically improve your safety on the water is by having reliable communication devices. And there's two real types of communication devices that you need. One is to communicate within your group on the water. And then the second one is to communicate outside of your group with the outside world when you need help. Cell phones can be a good tool as long as you know that you're going to have cell service. And as long as you make sure your cell phone is charged. It's also a good idea to have a cell phone that is waterproof so that you're not gonna break your communication device. Another great communication device for within a group is a VHF radio. A VHF radio is a great way to communicate amongst yourselves as a group, especially in windy conditions or when you're on a river maybe where there's white water and it's too loud to hear each other. A VHF radio will also let you pick up weather reports, which is really cool. And it can, depending on where you are, it can let you communicate with the outside world as long as they're within reach of your VHF signal. The more reliable way of communicating with the outside world is a satellite communication device. Something that connects to the satellite network no matter where you are in the world, whether there's a cell signal or not. And it lets you call for help if you need it. A satellite communication device like the Zodio here, the other thing it does is it lets you pick up weather reports and it lets you communicate with people that wanna know how you're doing. And so when I go on multi-day trips, I bring this so that I can communicate daily with my family and let them know that all is well. But if I really need the help, if I need to call in for help, I can use this to call out an SOS. Now the fourth way to dramatically improve your safety on the water is by learning the kayak roll. I get that the kayak roll isn't for everybody. Some people, their body just won't let them do it. Maybe you've got really bad shoulders or a really bad back or maybe you just have zero interest in learning the roll, flipping upside down and trying to get back up. It just doesn't interest you at all. That's fine. But a surprising number of people can learn the kayak roll. And the kayak roll is one of the best ways to level up your safety because staying in your kayak is the safest place to be. If you were to capsize unexpectedly, being able to roll the kayak upright and stay in the kayak is way safer than wet exiting the kayak and doing a re-entry into the kayak. On top of that, learning the kayak roll will dramatically raise your confidence and your comfort on the water and in rough conditions. Sorry for the quick interruption, but I wanted to take a quick moment to thank the sponsor of this video. Sponsors are the ones who allow me to spend the amount of time that I do on creating this type of content. And the sponsor of this video is Hurricane Kayaks. If you don't know Hurricane Kayaks, they make quality recreational sit-on-top and sit-inside kayaks. And they do it by thermoforming, which reduces the weight of the kayaks by around 20% compared to standard roll-to-molded plastic kayaks. And the other thing it does is it makes the kayak stiffer and smoother and so they glide beautifully through the water, which is appropriate for Hurricane because they really pride themselves on making kayaks that aren't just really stable, but are fun to paddle too. And those two things don't always go together. And it's one of the reasons I gave the Hurricane Prima 125 Sport a Paddle TV Award just recently for being one of the best products that I've tested in that year. To see if they have any products that are right for you, I've reviewed four of their kayaks over the past four years. I'll leave links in the description box down below to those full review videos so you can check them out and see if any of their kayaks are the right fit for you. Thank you, Hurricane Kayaks. Let's get right back to the video. So the next thing that can make your paddling trip safer is bringing an emergency kit on every trip you take. This in particular applies to day trips because when you're on a multi-day trip, you typically have all the gear you need. But on a day trip, you might be inclined to go paddling with virtually nothing. Nothing that you don't expect to need. But that's when problems can arise. If you head out on the water, conditions change. Let's say the wind gets really strong or a storm blows in, something that makes conditions dangerous. If you don't have equipment on hand that will let you comfortably survive an unexpected night in the wilderness, you might feel inclined to paddle through some nasty conditions that are beyond your level or really just shouldn't be out in. And that's when rescue situations arise, very dangerous situations arise. You need an emergency kit, which is simply a dry bag that holds the essentials to make an unexpected night at camp in the wilderness reasonably comfortable. A possibility, something that you're willing to do instead of pushing through nasty conditions. And that would include things like some food and water, warmth, so warm layers, some kind of a shelter, maybe just a tarp, maybe a little tent or bivy, maybe a lighter and some fire starter, anything that would make an unexpected night out a real option. And that brings us to the sixth way to dramatically improve your safety on the water. And that's by leaving a float plan. And that's something that too few people actually do. A float plan, what is it? Well, it's simply, it's communicating to someone who isn't on the water with you what your plan is when you go paddling so that if you don't return, they know where to either go looking themselves or to send a search party to find you. The type of float plan you leave really depends on the type of trip it is. If you're just going out for a quick little paddle, not very far, just in front of maybe your home in protected waters, just let somebody know that you're going out there. If you're planning to paddle a bigger distance, maybe into some more exposed water where, hey, if the wind or weather change problems could arise, you could get big waves or you could get stuck out there, then you need to leave more information. You need to leave a specific plan for that person at home saying this is where I'm planning to go. And hey, this is how long I expect it to take. Don't send out the search party for at least a few hours after that. But if I'm not home by this time, you might need to look for help. This is also where a good, reliable communication device comes in. Because if you're the person out there and you don't want a search party sent out for you, you need to be able to communicate that back to the person at home. And if you don't have cell service, you better have another way to get hold of them, like a satellite communicator. For more involved trips, multi-day trips, the flow plan should be that much more complete and detailed. There's no such thing as too much information when it comes to a flow plan. There is only not enough information, but leave a flow plan. The next way to level up your safety on the water is with something like this. Good paddling footwear. Good paddling footwear is designed, most importantly, to protect your feet when you're walking on uneven terrain and when your feet are wet. Bare feet are no good. Flip-flops are terrible. Best things are things like water shoes designed with grippy rubber for even on wet rocks. Same with booties, with good grip. Booties will keep your feet warm. If it's hot out, it'll keep them maybe too warm. A water shoe will keep your feet cooler, but it'll drain the water. Your feet will be very comfortable. You'll have great grip. And all of these water shoes are very flexible, so they fit into any kayak. And don't force your ankles into weird positions because the soles are too stiff. Get a good pair of water shoes and avoid doing damage off the water. Next up, let's talk about group dynamics. When you've got a group of paddlers, whether it's a group of two or a group of 10, the paddling plan, the plan you set out for the day, and the decisions that you make throughout the day have to consider the weakest paddler in that group because they are most likely going to be the point of failure. They're the ones who are gonna be the first to capsize if you go into conditions that are too rough. They are the ones that are likely gonna tire out the quickest if you're choosing too ambitious of a trip. They're the ones who aren't going to know what to do when certain scenarios arise. You have to plan your trips around the weakest paddlers in the group. And that will change the type of trip that you have ahead of you. And so if you want a specific type of trip, make sure you choose a specific type of paddler, someone with the experience to be able to handle that type of trip. Otherwise, you have to be okay with lowering your expectations to the level of the weakest paddler in the group. Now, the ninth way to make your trips more safe is to ensure your kayak has flotation in it. There's a few different ways your kayak can have flotation in it. It can have flotation bags, which are just big airbags that go in the front and back of the kayak, or it can have bulkheads, which are walls inside the kayak that separate the kayak into different compartments. So if you were to capsize and swim, only the center area of the kayak would fill with water. Now, some kayaks have inherent flotation, like sit-on-top kayaks or inflatable kayaks. They're filled with air, and so they're gonna float anyway. The value of flotation in a kayak, and the reason it makes your trip safer is because if you do capsize, it's much easier to deal with that kayak, whether it's you dealing with that kayak, swimming it to shore, or whether it's a friend of yours having to do an on-water rescue with you. And if you do that, once you're back in the kayak, it's a lot easier to empty that kayak or pump that water out using a bilge pump. Now, the last way to stay safe on a trip that we're going to talk about is always being open and ready to adopt a plan B. And this goes back to actually the emergency kit example that I gave earlier. Bringing along an emergency kit gives you the plan B option of spending an unexpected night out in the wilderness. Without it, you might not feel like you have a plan B. And there's lots of things that can force a plan B. It could be a storm coming in. It could be winds picking up. It could be people getting extremely tired. Maybe there's an injury. Who knows what? You can't get too attached to the plan when you're on a paddling trip. You have to be willing to adopt a plan B when necessary. And that pretty much does it. 10 ways to make your paddling trips safer. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you did, give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to Paddle TV if you haven't already, or check out my other channel, Ken Whiting Adventures, for some real paddling adventures. And otherwise, stay tuned because I got a lot more paddling tips, gear reviews, and paddling adventures coming your way.