Kayaking on Lakes - Everything You Need to Know

Ken Whiting with PaddleTV and in this video we're talking about kayaking on lakes. Now lakes are one of the best places to go kayaking but there are some things that you need to know in order to enjoy your time on the lakes but also to stay safe while paddling on them. One of the greatest things about paddling on lakes is that you don't have to deal with current like you have to deal with on rivers and current can be challenging and it creates hazards but lakes you do have to deal with the single biggest hazard of wind and wind can be a challenge for a couple of different reasons. For one, wind acts upon you and your boat and it makes it more challenging to control your kayak but secondly wind can generate some pretty significant waves and you need to know how to deal with those waves and we're going to talk about both of those things but before we dive into that we're going to start by setting some clear boundaries for safe paddling on lakes. Where did all these bugs just come from? Now if you're watching this you're obviously interested in paddling so I wanted to let you know about my other YouTube channel Ken Whiting Adventures. I will leave a link to that channel down below. That channel is all about bucket list paddling adventures and I use those adventures to also share tips along the way. I have included a link down below to a very appropriate lake paddling adventure in fact on the biggest lake in the world Lake Superior and so I hope you enjoy that one as well but let's dive right into some boundaries for lake paddling and we're going to start with the simple idea of always wearing a PFD when you're on the water. Essential for lake paddling as it is for any type of paddling. Your PFD should be looked at just like your seat belt in your vehicle. Just like a seat belt even if you're just doing a quick little trip down the street to the store. You really should put it on because you never know what can happen and a lot of times what happens is not in your control and you don't put that seat belt on thinking that something's going to happen and really worrying about something happening because 99.9% of the time you don't need to have that seat belt. It wouldn't it doesn't help you. You put it on for that 0.1% of the time where it can have a life-changing or life-saving impact. Same thing with PFD. You wear a PFD for that one time. One time in a thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, a million, whatever that it can change your life. Now when we talk about PFDs, a PFD is a personal flotation device. It's not a life jacket. I mean they're similar but what a life jacket is, a life jacket is designed to float an unconscious person with their head up. The way it does that is with a lot of big collar of flotation around the neck and then a lot of flotation on the front of the body to lift the chest up. A personal flotation device will not float an unconscious victim head up. It might. You might get lucky but that's not what it's designed for. It really is a swimming aid. It's designed to let you stay afloat in the water for a much longer time and to swim much further than you could without it. The reason you use a PFD and not a life jacket when kayaking, you don't have to, but the reason it's preferable is because by removing the bulkiness of a life jacket around your neck and around your shoulders, it's a lot more comfortable to paddle with a PFD. It's also a lot more comfortable to swim with a PFD. If a PFD, if that life preserver is more comfortable, you're less inclined to take it off and so always wear a PFD. I would highly recommend spending the extra money to get a paddling specific PFD so that you're comfortable when you're paddling and you don't feel the need to take it off. A good PFD, a good paddling PFD, you're hardly going to notice that you're wearing it. Now, the next big boundary for paddling on lakes is a simple rule to follow which is based on the idea that if you don't have a reliable kayak roll or the ability to confidently re-enter a kayak from the water, then you really have no choice. You have to stay close enough to shore so that you can comfortably swim to shore in the event of a capsize because that's really going to be your only option. You're going to have to swim to shore. If you can't get back into your kayak or or roll yourself upright, you've got to swim to shore. So, you have to stay close enough to shore to comfortably swim and that's one of the biggest reasons why taking a kayak course is so valuable is because all of a sudden, by learning the rescue skills and for some people, learning the kayak roll, you dramatically expand your kayaking horizons. You can explore so much more water, not to mention, you're going to raise your safety and your safety awareness tremendously for any type of paddling. Now, the next big boundary relates to the type of kayak that you're going to use on a lake. The rule is very simple. If you're going to travel further from shore, then you can comfortably swim or paddle on lakes that are big enough so that if the wind really picks up, they can get significant waves. Then, you need to use a kayak that has some type of flotation and there's really three types of flotation for a kayak. You can have inherent flotation, you can have flotation bags, or you can have bulkheads. Now, inherent flotation means the kayak just floats, whether it's upside down or right side up or on its edge, it floats. These kayaks are kayaks like sit-on-top kayaks and inflatable kayaks that hold air inside of them. If your kayak doesn't hold air inside of them, then you need flotation bags or bulkheads. Now, bulkheads are the most common and best way to get flotation in your kayak and your kayak will either have bulkheads or won't. Higher-end kayaks designed for going offshore or for rough water paddling will have or they certainly should have bulkheads. What's a bulkhead? Well, bulkheads are simply walls inside the kayak that separate the kayak into different compartments and you usually have at least one bulkhead immediately behind the seat, which separates the whole back of the kayak into its own compartment, which is usually accessible by a hatch. The great thing there is that if you do capsize, only the cockpit and the front of the kayak is going to fill with water. The whole back of the kayak is going to be filled with air and that's going to make your kayak float much better. Makes it a lot easier to do re-entries from the water, to tow the boat, to drag the boat, to do whatever you need to deal with that capsized boat. Even better is a boat that has two bulkheads, one behind the seat but another one immediately in front of your feet that separates the front of the kayak into its own compartment. That way, if you do capsize, only the center cockpit area of the kayak is actually going to fill with water. The two ends of the kayak are going to hold air. Your kayak is going to float much better when it's swamped. It's going to make whatever type of rescue or tow that you're doing that much easier. Now, if your kayak doesn't have bulkheads or inherent flotation and you want to paddle further from shore than you comfortably swim or you're going out into a lake that can get significant waves if the wind starts blowing, then you need to have flotation bags in that kayak. Flotation bags are pretty self-explanatory. They're simply airbags that go inside your kayak so that your kayak will float and not as much water can come into your kayak. Now, another real consideration when it comes to the type of kayak you're using if you're going to be paddling further from shore than you can comfortably swim or paddling on a lake that's large enough to get significant waves if the wind really starts blowing is paddling a kayak that accommodates a skirt because using a skirt will prevent water from getting into your kayak when you're paddling in wavy conditions. So now let's talk about the effect of wind on you and your boat and how to deal with it. Wind really affects you in two ways. A wind will affect your speed of travel. If you're dealing with headwind it's going to slow you down. If you're dealing with a tailwind it's going to potentially speed you up as you get a push from behind. Now, if you deal with a wind from the side it's going to push your kayak sideways as well. The other thing that a side wind does, any type of side wind, is that it will cause your kayak to do something called weather cocking. Weather cocking means your kayak, if the wind's coming from the side, will naturally want to turn into the wind when you're paddling forward. Now, the reason your kayak weather cocks or turns into the wind when you're paddling forward is because when that wind hits your kayak it wants to push you sideways but the front of your kayak, as it's cutting through the water, is being pinned in place a lot more effectively by the oncoming water than the stern or the back of the kayak. That means it's not going to get pushed as quickly. They both get pushed but the back gets pushed faster. The effect of that is that the kayak is always turning into the wind. That's why kayaks come, or that's one of the big reasons that kayaks can come with either rudders or skegs. It's to mitigate the effect of wind. When you have a rudder or you drop a skeg in at the back of your kayak, all of a sudden that's holding your back, the stern of your kayak, more securely. Now, the back is being pushed at the same rate as the front of your kayak and your kayak will go straight. If you pull the rudder up or pull the skeg up, the back of your kayak can be pushed quicker and, once again, you'll start weather cocking. That's the impact that wind has on you and your boat. Not surprisingly, the stronger the wind is, the more of an impact it will have. As a general rule, I would say that if the wind is blowing 15 miles per hour, 25 kilometers per hour or more, it's generally not worth going paddling because it's just going to be too much work. Now, if you're in a sea kayak that's faster and deals better with wind, you might be able to go out in slightly stronger wind if you have the experience. But if you're in a recreational kayak that doesn't deal well with wind, you probably won't even want to go out in and this is only amplified by the fact that winds and strong winds create waves on lakes. And that's what we're going to talk about now is how to deal with the waves that you encounter on lakes. Now, depending on the size of the lake you're paddling on, you can get some pretty big waves on lakes. The fetch is what really dictates how big the waves can get and the fetch is the distance that the wind has to push on the lake. And so the longer the distance the wind has, the water distance the wind can push on the lake, the bigger the waves you can get. And so what that means is if you have a long and skinny lake, the wind's coming from the side. Well, the fetch, the wind's only acting on a very small pushing across a very small part of that lake. You're not going to get very big waves. But that same lake, if the wind's coming right down the middle of the lake, the long way, the fetch is great and you can get some very big waves on that lake. And so lake shape, lake size, direction of the wind all play roles in the size of the waves that you can get. Some lakes, like the Great Lakes, or the Great Lakes are massive lakes, they act almost like seas. But even large lakes, you have to expect that if the wind starts blowing, you're going to get sizable waves. And so how do you deal with those? Well, the first way to deal with paddling in significant waves is to take a sea kayaking course. Because these are real conditions that you're dealing with. They're hazardous because they can definitely capsize you and swimming in waves in rough conditions is extremely difficult. If you want to paddle in these types of conditions, I can't stress enough how important, how much of value you'll get out of taking a sea kayaking course. That being said, headwinds are difficult to paddle into and it's hard to paddle into the wind. But at the same time, paddling into the waves that headwinds create is one of the easiest types of rough water paddling you can do because you see the waves coming in. You have lots of time to prepare yourself for those waves coming in. And when you hit waves straight on, it's a lot more stable. It's just a lot easier to deal with, even if those waves get so big that they actually start breaking and you have to punch through those waves. Hitting them straight on is the safest way to break through a wave. It's the side waves. Waves are coming in from any type of side angle and or from behind you that are much more challenging to deal with. And there's no real rule or specific technique for dealing with waves that are coming in from the side or from behind you. You just need to stay aware of them. Keep your eyes on those waves so you're not surprised by one that's building up and and breaking on you. You need to stay loose in the hips. That's probably the most important thing is allowing your boat to roll, to go with the flow, while you keep your head and upper body centered over the kayak. And the only way you can do that is by staying relaxed and loose, in particular in the hips, so that your lower body and your upper body can work independently but cooperatively with each other to keep your head centered over your kayak, regardless of the angle that your kayak's on. Now, as appealing as the idea of a tailwind is to speed you along in the direction that you're going, if you're dealing with waves, tailwinds can be the trickiest conditions to deal with because you don't see the waves coming from behind. You do have to look behind you. You want to keep your eyes on those waves as much as possible so that you don't get surprised. But you have to look where you're going too and so inevitably you're going to be reacting to the waves that are hitting your kayak. I experienced this to a really high degree on my last big trip on Lake Superior. I had a beautiful tailwind when I was doing a pretty major crossing but it created these big, big waves that were constantly rolling in from behind and I was on edge the whole time. It was a very nerve-wracking paddle simply because I didn't see these waves rolling in. As much as I looked back, I was constantly reacting and it was hard to stay loose at the hips and just go with the flow. Now that full crossing is something you can watch on my other channel, Ken Wedding Adventures, so check that one out. While wind is the biggest issue when you're paddling on lakes, there are other couple of hazards to be aware of. First one being lightning. Thunderstorms and lightning. You just can't mess around with lightning. At the first signs of lightning in the area, get off the lake. Thunderstorms roll through very quickly. Let it pass and the lightning go away before you pop back on the water. The other big hazard on lakes can be powerboat traffic. Some lakes have enormous amounts of powerboat traffic. If you're paddling on a lake like that, you have to accept the fact that you are slower, not nearly as maneuverable. You're not going to be able to get out of the way of powerboat traffic and so you need to avoid the high traffic areas. Wear bright colors so that you're visible and just don't expect that powerboaters always see you. So there you have it, a thorough breakdown of what you need to know for paddling on lakes. Lakes are great places to paddle but don't forget that the bigger the lakes are, the bigger the potential hazards are. So if you're going to be paddling on bigger lakes, take a sea kayaking course or a kayak rescue course and arm yourself with some safety knowledge and some skills that will let you deal with the situations that could pop up. And more importantly, it'll open up a whole new world of paddling opportunities for you. Thanks for watching. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you have, give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to PaddleTV if you haven't already and make sure to check out my other channel, Ken Whiting Adventures, because I got a lot of videos coming up, adventure videos on that channel, as well as a lot more paddling tips and gear reviews coming out on this channel. I'll see you soon.