Kayaks paddling with canoes

No, not I
I’m well aware of my limitations related to age and anatomical functioning. In rough water I would be useless for rescuing another person whether canoe or kayak.

To be honest
I have no idea who you are or what’s on your mind, but that’s okay. Carry on.

Planning
After reading your post it struck me that a trip should probably be planned around the less skilled paddler and the least seaworthy craft. And then you paddle at the speed of the slowest person. I guess I can live with that. Or if I can’t I’ll find that out on the first trip. I’m willing to try.



I have to say again that I am a low-key paddler, not a rough-water speed demon. I just want everyone to be safe.

safe yet fast canoe
Two clarifications to my earlier post, and then an answer to Waterbird’s question.



I am fairly fast among solo canoeists. It is true that, with a canoe and a kayak of about the same length and about the same stability (given the difference in seat height), and assuming that both paddlers are giving the same effort, the kayak will usually be faster.



Your decision to paddle with someone depends more on their skills and judgement than on their boat, but the boat does matter. I disagree with those who said that an open canoe can handle everything a kayak can handle. If steep, four-foot waves are dumping onto the bow of your boat, you need a deck, not a fabric cover (and a strong deck, too – not every kayak is strongly built).



As to what makes a safe yet fast canoe:



It sounds like speed isn’t a huge issue, so I recommend a boat between 28 and 31 inches wide for most people. A 32-inch-wide solo is probably for big guys. Under 27 inches is getting into race-boat territory. A wider boat (probably a tandem paddled solo) usually gives the wind a lot of surface area to push against.



Length doesn’t matter much. I would prefer not to go below 14 feet, except for a small and skilled paddler, but you would be surprised what a good 13-footer can handle.



No opinion on depth. Probably any boat chosen for an ambitious trip by an experienced canoeist will have a good depth. Deeper means more windage but also more dryness.



I wouldn’t take a flat-bottomed boat on a high-risk trip, but as to the differences among non-flat bottoms (shallow V’s, elliptical arches, and so on), no opinion.



No educated opinion on the sit-vs-kneel question. I kneel in rough water, but I have a boat made for kneeling. I have seen sitting canoeists take some impressive waves.



If you find out what model of boat your friends are paddling, you can post the model name here and get a gazillion opinions about it.



Flotation is important. I mean good-quality float bags secured with a “cage” of cord, not just cord through the grommet holes (which like to rip out at the worst possible moment). A pump is very useful, because…



Rescues can be done basically like a boat-over-boat rescue in a kayak. (Get perpendicular to one end of the capsized boat. Turn it upside down, then lift your end so water flows out and away from you. Flip it upright.) Because of the open top, the final flip scoops up some water that a decked boat doesn’t get, so you end up with more water in the boat, unless you have a second person who can lift that end.



A few canoeists can roll a canoe. I cannot. That’s one of the reasons I avoid high-risk paddling.



Don’t assume that practice with rescues on flat water gets you ready to do rescues on bouncy water. Even holding on to the capsized boat can be a challenge.



I don’t know what you mean by “ocean conditions,” since the ocean can hand you some really horrendous conditions, and of course it depends very much on the weather conditions on the day you paddle. Some conditions will overwhelm an open boat regardless of the paddler’s skill, and some (worse) conditions will overwhelm any kayak. Basically, I recommend you practice and paddle together, and then you assume that moderate conditions will present only slightly more risk to a canoeist than to a kayaker; heavy weather significantly disadvantages the canoeist.



You mentioned you are concerned about wind, which is valid. But some of us canoeists eat wind like it’s donuts. Just depends on the paddler.



Good luck with your decisions, and happy paddling!



Mark

speed
in my experience most kayakers want to paddle faster than solo canoers no matter what the individual speed potential is. i don’t know why,but it is almost always the case on mixed paddles. a different mindset maybe.

turtle

OK - I lacked a critical piece
If you are limited from rescuing a kayak, I agree a canoe could be more challenging in a full on capsize recovery. I didn’t have the bit that you couldn’t assist in rescuing a kayaker.



That said, if your friends have good float bags in their canoes, it doesn’t take so much rescuing to start with. A little stabilizing from you and a lot of bailing from them.

Good replies that cover …
most everything, except I would add one thing.



I’m surprised no one has mentioned the use of a kayak paddle in a canoe. As a canoeist, I avoid a kayak paddle (too wet), however when the wind and waves build, I’ll use a kayak paddle to provide morecontrol, maintenance of forward momentum and additional bracing ability.

You seem to want a race-style start?
When one does trips with both craft it’s often much easier to start at different times…and maybe take different routes…y/n?

anything to say about the topic?
Or are all your posts here just swipes at other forum members? If it helps, one tip is to ignore the OP’s name and just address the topic. Cover one eye if it helps. This was an honest question that deserves a sincere response.



There’s a forum for flaming other forum members, it’s called b&b. I know you’re familiar with it.

Maximum canoe width?
Can a kayak paddle be used with any canoe, or only with narrow canoes?




Unintentionally inflammatory question
I’m curious about this, really. Not intending to incite a riot.



I’ve noticed that kayakers and canoeists are very committed to their choice of craft and often can’t be budged to even try the other one.



For camping on large lakes, why would someone choose a SOLO canoe over a kayak? Easy of entry and exit has been mentioned, and I’m assuming also gear capacity.



For me the easier paddling, better handling in wind and waves, and dry storage of a kayak outweigh those two advantages of a canoe. I thought about getting a canoe last year for ease of entry, but I was shocked at how hard a canoe is to paddle compared to a kayak and I dropped the idea after the first try.

I would think
at some point you might find it difficult to find a long enough paddle and if you did it would be unwieldy.

I’ve paddled kayaks
I even own one, but I’m trying to sell it because I find it difficult to sit in akayak for long periods. Having my hips/butt higher than my feet is much more comfortable.

There’s a lid for every pot
One former frequent poster here was devoted to double-blading a canoe, and his paddles were either 8 or 9 feet long, I forget which. I wouldn’t care for the extra effort needed to produce the same push from the blade when the blade is that much farther away from one’s body (after all, the hand position is about the same for any double-blade paddle, so the longer it gets, the farther you end up on the opposite side of “mechanical advantage”, in terms of input force versus output force), but this person said he liked the amount of steering correction he could get when applying power that far from center, so like everything else, you weigh the trade-offs make your choice. I started out double-blading a solo canoe because my rate of learning to be efficient with a single was too slow to suit me. Unlike the long-paddle lovers, I used a 230-cm paddle and a much shorter and rather vertical stroke (I haven’t used a double in years though). There seems to be quite a range of variation as far as “what works” simply because “what works” is defined by the individual.

I own & paddle canoes & kayaks
depending on my mood and the circumstances. I do happen to own more solo canoes than kayaks. I finally got a kayak that fits me the way I like.

I suppose there are many reasons, …

– Last Updated: Mar-22-13 10:02 PM EST –

... not all of which will "make sense" to every person. I'm not all that spiritual of a person but I do understand the oft-quoted statement, "canoes have soul." At any distance, kayaks tend to look like windup toys to me, but when traditional canoes are paddled by traditional method (no sit-and-switch), a lot of time nothing about even a single canoe stroke is predictable, let alone a sequence of strokes. It's at the far opposite extreme from repetitive-stroke, muscle-memory kayak paddling. If Harley riders stuck with their brand all through the 70s when their longevity and reliability was at rock bottom, it can't be too hard to understand why someone would take their canoe out on waters that might be more efficiently traveled by kayak.

I understand the desire to have a sleeker, more effortless craft for bigger lakes and such, especially when it's windy. No doubt that's one big reason so many people paddle both kinds of boats. My first choice for bigger water and windy conditions is a double-ended rowboat, and maybe I'd be more interested in sometimes using a kayak if I didn't already like rowing so darn much.

Your comment about kayaks having the "advantage" of keeping gear dry is one I've seen several times in the last few months. Normally it's newbie kayakers who say it, so I might point out that all I've ever used are open boats (canoes and rowboats) and I've never had any of my gear get wet. Even with a big load of gear, if it's organized into four or five big stuff sacks, dropping it all into a canoe pack and sealing the liner takes about a minute, and getting it out is that easy too. The time it takes to put the pack in the boat is so quick it doesn't even count. Ease of gear-handling and dry storage aren't mutually exclusive things. Besides, those expensive, lightweight and slick-surface (nylon?) dry bags are especially popular with kayakers because they don't stick to everything they come into tight contact with while being crammed into hatches or yanked out. If serious kayakers are putting all their stuff in dry bags before stuffing it into the boat, what are they doing that's different from open boaters (besides using a greater number of expensive dry bags instead of two or three vinyl ones or even just a plastic liner in a canoe pack)?

I’d love to have …
a rowboat, e.g guideboat, rangley, for the sounds here in NC. It would open up some nice beach camping.

Not in the finances right now, but hopefully in the near future.

Agree

– Last Updated: Mar-22-13 10:58 PM EST –

I've tried various length kayak paddle and even had Patrick from ONNO make me a carbon paddle extension to use in my solo canoe. In all my experiments the ZRE bent shaft made most progress with less effort. Speed? Can't make faster speed in my solo canoe compared to my touring kayak. In a long trip (over 10 miles) can keep a 3 mph in standard 10-15 knot winds coastal paddling.

BTW always paddle in mixed group kayakers in SOT and touring kayaks. They might or not move faster we always end up at same campsite enjoy the trip.

Depends
I paddle the everglades of Florida. There are coastal paddle trips that favor a touring kayak or a decked canoe. In the large backcountry lakes and rivers the canoe makes sense. No where to land and small sites difficult to access from a kayak,



Point is, you must use the craft that best suits your paddling area. I started with kayaks and find a solo canoe best suits my needs.

Wet
Everything about the kayaks I own is wet. Anything that isn’t in a dry bag will be damp at the very least(this is the experience I’ve had on every paddle I’ve done where the water wasn’t flat and I wasn’t screwing around). Sure, the boat has “seals,” but the seals all seem to breathe at least a little.



Part of this issue about co-mingling the boats seems to be missing an important point. Is there really a need for the boats to stick together? Yeah, I can imagine scenarios where there would be, but in this specific instance, as long as the daily route is the same, how much support do the various boats need and how close should they be to offer whatever support is required?



Rick