The Kayaking Popularity Explosion

More like a "Plague"
Bah!



FE

geezer paddlers may be one factor

– Last Updated: Jun-28-13 12:17 PM EST –

Another notable phenomenon relating to the popularity of both canoes and kayaks is the remarkable number of folks over 55 who are avid paddlers. This was underscored about a year or so ago right on this forum when somebody took a survey of regular posters' ages (though I'm sure it was skewed by the fact that us old farts may be more voluble than our younger cohorts.)

I first noticed this trend when I moved back to Western PA 10 years ago after living in the Great Lakes for 8 years (during which absence I had gotten into kayak touring). As I re-established contact with my old outdoor play buddies from the outing club I had belonged to since 1972, I was surprised at first to find that so many of them, who had previously had widely diverse passions (rock climbing, windsurfing, spelunking, mountain biking, backpacking, whitewater paddling, ice climbing, etc.), seemed to have switched to kayak touring as their primary or only sport.

Then I ran into my old friend Bruce, who had been the super jock-of-all-trades in everything from dirt bike racing to extreme rock climbing. After first being shocked to hear that both he and his wife (another super athlete and top notch climber) pretty much only did dragon boating and kayak touring any more, I had a sudden epiphany and began to laugh. "Bruce" I said " you know what this is -- sea kayaking is the last adventure sport we decrepit geezers can still do that looks way cool but doesn't beat us up too much." He thought a moment, then laughed and agreed completely.

It would not surprise me that a component in the surge of higher end performance sea kayaks and canoes comes from us empty nest Boomers who now have the money and spare time to pursue paddle sports with gusto.

So, are the touring kayak and the high end canoe becoming the "Hover-round" carts of the waterways?

Why? Price and the double blade.
With the exception of a few states that border Canada, such as Minnesota, northern New York and Maine, there is no doubt that kayaks strongly outsell canoes. That has been going on, increasingly, for 30 years.



Anyone who was in a paddling store 30 years ago would have seen an inventory of hulls about 15:1 of canoes to kayaks. Go in the same store today and it will be 20:1 in favor of kayaks.



SOTs rule in many of the warm waters of the AmSouth, and rec kayaks are everywhere. Touring kayaks are being displaced almost as much as canoes by recs and SOTs.



To me, the reasons are simple: the price of cheap plastic kayaks and the mind numbing simplicity of the double blade.



A newbie who uses a double blade can go reasonably straight with five minutes of practice. That same newbie will go in frustrating circles with a single blade, and likely has no interest in six months or more of instruction and practice to become competent in the single blade art.



I see more and more SUPs in the stores than five years ago, but frankly I never see them on the lakes and rivers I paddle on. Maybe more of them are on the ocean. (I never saw many windsurfing boards during that phase either.)

Is the technique that simple - uh no

– Last Updated: Jun-28-13 7:49 PM EST –

"""the mind numbing simplicity of the double blade""
- Then why do so many screw it up and never learn it properly?

Kerchunk, kerchunk, kerchunk
Going straight with a double blade is so simple that a five year old or an 85 year old can do it in five minutes.



Weak old ladies in Pungos pass by my impotent single stick all over America these days, with disdain and a contemptuous boat wake. Of course they can’t edge their boat or do 35 Inuit rolls, but who cares about those irrelevancies in the great plastic REC-SOT revolution.



A plague on the plague, I say. Impotently.

Lots of factors…
Having read everything above, I agree with most of it, but there are other reasons as well. In the Ozarks where I live, kayaks have nearly replaced canoes as the craft of choice for people wanting to buy their own, and the liveries are steadily renting more and more kayaks and fewer and fewer canoes. Part of it is the “fad” factor. Kayaks have been the fad for a decade or more now. Part of it, a big part, is that kayaks are solo craft, while rental canoes are always tandem craft. People have found that they really like to be in a boat by themselves in a group of other people in boats by themselves. Part of it is the ease at which you can paddle one downstream with the double blade, without any kind of esoteric techniques. Part of it is that solo rec kayaks are less difficult for the river dorks to keep upright on Ozark streams.



At the same time, anglers suddenly “discovered” kayaks, and kayaks became extremely popular with anglers. The reasons for this is that most anglers’ only experience in canoes was in tandem canoes, and the solo kayak was so much better for the independent angler than a tandem canoe that required a partner and always seemed “tippy”. I still argue on fishing boards all the time with people who say, “I’ve paddled canoes before, but I wouldn’t have anything but a kayak.” When I ask them which canoes they have paddled, it’s almost always a tandem canoe. Well, duh…of course you’ll find a kayak to be a superior solo fishing craft when all you’ve paddled are tandem canoes!



Sometimes you can trace the suddenly increased popularity of something to one particular thing. Especially a popular movie. Whitewater canoeing got a significant boost in popularity from the movie “Deliverance”. Fly fishing exploded after “A River Runs Through It” came out. I wonder if there was something like that which boosted the popularity of kayaks.

Explosion is over
Around here (RI) I’d say it peaked five years ago, and is on the downslide now. Five years ago we would get 50 people in rec boats to sign up for a flatwater training class, and do it 2 or 3 times in the summer. This year not a single person signed up for the class. Still plenty of boats out on the water, but it’s not growing like it was.

Canoeing is more difficult to
learn the basics about. Then the learning curve flattens and you can make progress quite quickly.



The shape of the curve is less steep for beginning kayakers but it takes a lot of water time and work to learn to double blade really well.

Isn’t that true of every hobby?

– Last Updated: Jun-30-13 9:33 PM EST –

Can you name a single activity that's done for recreation for which it is not true that a few people learn to do it very well, but the majority only dabble? Paddling is like that. What's fortunate for the dabblers in every hobby is that their low level of exposure to overly sensitive experts means that they seldom hear this vile drivel directed at them (granted, it wasn't as vile this time as it has been in many of your previous posts. I'm just going with your overall average).

Most don’t care about efficiency.
Most aren’t paddling in situations where it matters that much.

when and where you go

– Last Updated: Jun-30-13 3:28 PM EST –

makes a huge difference. I paddled the upper New in wv yesterday, Saturday at 11:00 am. The peak time to be out. Commercial outfitters were putting on "fleets" of duckies and a few rafts as well. "Private" boaters in open canoes, kayaks, sots, duckies, and even a couple of rec kayaks on an overnight trip. I doubt many folks on this message board can say that duckies are the boat they most frequently encounter? So the "popular" boat changes with the environment and the user's experience level. Do that same trip during the week, and the boats are more sophisticated- ww play boats almost exclusively. Do it in Jan. and I'm pretty much guaranteed that the most popular boat is whatever I and my buds choose to paddle that day since we rarely encounter anyone else that time of year. The harsher the environment, the more specific and sophisticated the boat design.

In my environment SUPs are pretty much limited to park and play. While they may excel at surfing it takes a ton of skill to paddle them successfully down whitewater and requires a high level of fitness. In other words, be prepared to swim a lot.
Belly yaks and river boards have a limited appeal as well since their fitness demands are high even though they are designed for a ww environment.

A new trend is emerging where I live. People are using cheap (made with vinyl bladders) small catarafts, or minis, designed for float fishing on class II and III whitewater. That's becoming popular here on the upper new and greenbrier rivers in wv. Probably a local niche thing even though the boats weren't originally designed or marketed for whitewater. I look for the manufacturers to figure this out and make more durable versions designed specifically for whitewater that aren't cost prohibitive.



Yes to a degree

– Last Updated: Jun-30-13 5:49 PM EST –

I match that profile to a degree, and I am really enjoying the freedom sea kayaking and light weight canoeing and camping allow me as I age. Kids are on their own, reduction in bills, more free time, etc. I still backpack (light weight), but can see the writing on the wall. So hooray paddling!

Still in the Charleston area of SC you see many more younger ages out and paddling than O.F. So I don't see the boomer geezer factor as driving the markets as much as just contributing to them.

Market seems to be vibrant here
I come across lots of first time paddlers, all in rec boats, often with paddles much too long and sans PFD’s.



Always nice to come across paddlers with nice gear. Ran into Chris_H yesterday in his Tracer 165 (nice looking boat) using a CF greenland paddle. Later I ran into Robin (“webmaster” for the Jersey Paddler)paddling a solo plus. The other 95% paddling yesterday were in rec boats.

cracked me up
"Odd sidebar: a single friend of mine who has been an obsessive dater through the personal ads for about 10 years has commented that 8 out of 10 personal ads he reads list “kayaking” as a hobby. But when he asks women he dates about their paddling experience, most confess they have “rented a few times” or “have not kayaked yet but think I would like to.”"



Cracks me up the things women list that they like to do when trying to get a date! Oh how their likes can quickly become their dislikes. I got lucky and found a lady who later told me I had her at Kayak!

Seriously, DUUJ, this thread belonged
on the Paddlers Place Discussion Forum.



Not that it’s very interesting.



An SUP fan on SOTP (UK) asked, what is there that one can do with a canoe that one can’t do with a stand up paddleboard?



Immediately the answer came back, you can load a canoe with enough gear and food for weeks in the wilderness. You can load it with your family, your dog, and your picnic stuff. For that matter, you can pole it upstream, and you can keep standing and use a SUP paddle.



As for recreational kayaks, they are good for quick learning and easy use, but for anything serious, they kind of suck. I have an old ww kayak that is more comfortable, carries as much, is faster on lakes, and runs serious whitewater, and it puts rec kayaks totally in the shade. But, it does require more skill. Don’t wanta hafta mess with that skill.



I’ve been on rivers and lakes since 1960, and I’ve never had any difficulty whatsoever understanding market trends and fads in personal paddlecraft.

They’re More Accessible
Being located in the prime locations of Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, and West Marine. Some in the $299 - $499 price range and selling side by side $699 SUPs. And that includes paddle too! At Sam’s, you can pick up a nifty Body Glove PFD for under $40 down the aisle.

Landlubbers with Zero Help

– Last Updated: Jul-02-13 8:03 PM EST –

Unfortunately people get Zero help, advice, etc. when
buying from those big box locations and end up paddling right
after a rainstorm because - "water levels are up, dude".
They start at zero and most progress little because
"they don't know, exactly what they don't know"
But don't dare call them dumb, because it was cheap on sale.

Buying from a kayak shop can make a world of difference
that lasts a lifetime and enhances the buyers experience.

I'm just waiting for the Sams Club scuba gear
and Costco underwater welding kit to go on sale.

TV
Some years ago there were several commercials that included images of kayaks. Mostly old men with prostate problems. I suppose they added to the popularity explosion.



(gosh… do ya think???)

Cheap Boats
I’ll admit I am part of the new wave. We bought cheap SOT’s for our kids for a beach vacation at the local box store. My wife is small enough and went for a ride on one. When she came back she said she wanted one too.



Fortunately we found this place and received advice on further boat purchases. We are lifers now with a stack of boats and gear in the garage and the cars now in the driveway.

more popular
The place I’ve bought my yaks from now has a group called WOW…Women On the Water. They have classes and are helping the women build their skills. The classes seem to fill up quickly. I did a float with them and it consisted of a group of women with different skill levels. Hopefully I’m not insulting anyone by saying this but I’m pretty sure most of the women were in my age range (53). I also feel like maybe its more popular because its hard not to share how relaxing it is. I’ve took several on their first kayak float…thats all it takes is one time and they’re hooked. How can you not enjoy getting out in nature, on water, away from everything? Most people seem to be unsettled and floating is so relaxing. After your initial expense of boat, paddle, pfd, all you have to spend is gas to get to your float point.