How To Travel With Your Kayak: 5 Helpful Tips
Traveling and getting into the water with a kayak is an incredible experience. There’s nothing even close enough to the experience of boating alone in the sea in a kayak. It does not matter if your next kayak trip is for a couple of hours or a few days. The below tips will make your time out on the water even happier while traveling with your kayak.
Transportation of Kayaks
An essential kayaking tip is to devote an excellent and fitted set of kayak roof racks for your vehicle. It is to avoid any dangerous situation while traveling. With a proper kayak roof rack, you can fittingly secure it on the car’s roof and prevent any chances of the kayak flying off during the ride. The finest kayak roof rack setup is provided by the manufacturers who build racks to fit any car. These roof racks have exclusive classifications that make packing and unpacking, fastening the kayak a lot convenient and harmless.
Image source: Unsplash
Need for a Rudder
A rudder’s primary role is essentially to keep your kayak going straightforward. In particular, a rudder retains your kayak traveling straight. When you’re paddling in windy circumstances because your boat, as expected, wishes to turn into the wind, a rudder helps. It is known as weather cocking. The rudder counteracts your kayak’s wish to weathercock. If you don’t carry a rudder, you can find yourself caught up to keep your kayak going straight, mainly if the wind is in the opposite direction and you are traveling straight through it. So remember to have this in the kayak before you plunge into the water.
Putting kayak on the vehicle
You will need a few items to place the kayak on top of your car:
- Crossbars that run across the roof of your automobile for securing.
- Particular kayak rack structures that fasten to the crossbars and support the boat in J or V-shaped forms are most secure.
- Cam straps to swiftly and firmly hold the kayak down.
- Bow and stern lines to support the kayak kept length-wise on the car.
Image source: Unsplash
Use a trailer
Spending on a kayak trailer can be a decent option if you favor a technique that doesn’t include making more lasting alterations to your vehicle. The trailers are also good, but they need twice the place when traveling. You would also need to store them while you are not on the go. A trailer for kayaks can be the right choice compared to other means for moving a kayak. That is because they are convenient. Several trailers permit room for other objects besides the kayak, like motorbikes, paddles, cycles, and other items that you may wish to take for the trip.
Image source: Unsplash
Know your Boundaries
The second essential tip is to understand transparently and practically your limitations. Remember, you cannot take your kayak wherever you want and whenever you want. As a usual tip, look out for the following points:
- Suppose you can enter into the sea or lake that isn’t secure when you join the water. In case of a strong breeze or high current in the water, be cautious and close to the shore.
- Whether you travel far from the beach into the water, if you can swim back in case of any emergency. Since you will be in the sea or lake, be prepared to defend yourself from big fishes, snakes, birds, and health emergencies.
Kayaking is sometimes teamwork. There will be times when you might have to jump into the water for rescue purposes. Hence, always be prepared for such a situation in the water. One good thing you can do to know your boundaries better is an exercise in and outside your kayak in a smaller water-body before you ever want to do it in the sea or lakes.
Conclusion
Before you learn how to go on a trip with a kayak, you must know how to load and untie it from your vehicle. Getting in and out of a kayak can be delicate and fiddly, but traveling with one is certainly not. Hence, take all the necessary safety steps beforehand so that you can go ahead with the trip swiftly after a little exercise.
Reference
- https://www.rei.com/blog/paddle/10-kayak-hacks-and-tips
- https://www.ez-dock.com/blog/kayaking-for-beginners/
- https://www.travelfashiongirl.com/kayaking-checklist/
