How late in the season can you still go kayaking?

Love it. Forecast calls for temps in the low 30s Christmas Eve and Day. If they hold for December 26, I’d love to get my 14-foot boat on a local river. With all the snow we’ve had, would be enchanting.

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@daggermat Looks about right:

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No fishermen, no tubers, no yard sales.

As a friend once remarked creeking some snow melt one day “if you’re out now, you must be competent”.

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Actually, we often do come across some fisherfolk on our February AuSable overnight. Fly Fishers are about as nuts as us winter paddlers.

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My wife says “if you are going out now you must be crazy!” :wink:

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If there are waves to paddle surf, I am game. There ain’t such a thing as “late” in the season when it comes to surfing:

sing

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So much less people. So more mellow, tranquil and beautiful:

sing

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Very inspiring. Just curious, why do you opt for a wetsuit over dry suit in winter temps?

No ice on water I go. Thin ice in canal I still go. That is my Solstice by Current Designs. My winter go to boat. kokatat suit is great with some other gear very comfortable.

Lessee. The combined water ( 38) and air (-7) temp now is 31 in the ocean. You can bounce your yak off the freshwater lakes. They do make good sleds for snowmobiles.

My drysuit makes me look short, dumpy and dorky. My wetsuit makes me look sleek, athletic and younger (even tho it doesn’t make me look taller… Oh well…).

Personal preference, vanity and the fact that I can afford to. :sunglasses: :+1:

Glad you felt something from the video. If the water is still “soft”, you have the gear, the skills and/or competent partners, go for it and enjoy. There isn’t really a non-paddling season for those on the coast.

sing

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:+1::+1:

Paris and I paddled out to Portage Glacier yesterday and I went out for a sunrise paddle in Resurrection Bay. This lack of snow is disturbing.

Wow. That is a lot of brown showing in the landscape for this time of year…

sing

Yeah… I am being cheeky. :crazy_face: Just don’t want to reprise the annual winter discussion/debate about drysuits vs. wetsuits. My opinion has been amply shared in past threads on this topic.

sing

Its all relative, lol. Many of the wimps down here in So Cal have stopped paddling or surfing on the colder days, and by colder I mean at worst upper 40’s. Im plenty toasty in a 3/2 wetsuit. IMO anything that doesnt explicitly require a drysuit isnt that cold. Back in CT and Mass I would paddle any day the water was liquid on LIS and paddle the rivers as soon as boat crushing ice flows passed. As long as you have the right gear, its all the same.

My paddling season in CO used to be limited by ice formation and/or reluctance to wear gloves.

Since AIS became an official problem, administrative closure to boating—and the attendant budgetary limits—have greatly reduced the possible paddling season. No more grabbing a nice day after the chinooks have warmed the air but before the howling cold front slams in. No more serendipitous early starts in early March or late ends in mid to late December.

Now it’s roughly April 1 or April 15 to October 31 or November 15, IF the access is not closed earlier due to snow. There are two very small reservoirs that allow hand-powered boats all year, but the water levels there are so low late season that they’re not worth the trouble.

It’s not going to happen this winter, but I think starting next year I’ll make an annual cold-season pilgrimage to warmer paddling locations.
Even two weeks would be a nice break…an ice break.

Objective fact: paddling this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere anywhere not in the tropics really is considered an extreme sport. If you disagree with this statement, look it up. Unless you’re on the Gulf Coast or Southern California or enjoying the lakes of Oklahoma or Texas etc, somewhere warm(er).

My take: if you die paddling this time of year you deserve a Darwin award. The truth is that there are SO many activities that won’t kill you if something goes wrong there is no reason not to put your kayaks away until the Spring.

The real truth is that we’re not supposed to be on the water. A good kayak, reasonable temperatures and maybe a dry suit when water temps are somewhat above freezing or better (>40) makes it easy to forget how out of place we are out there. Until there’s fog, conditions change and the wind kicks up or a squall complete with lightning shows up then you realize how ill adapted we are to survive out there and our contraptions to bridge the gap only go so far.

This time of year there’s a much stronger reminder even when conditions are perfect. I don’t think that little voice inside of you that screams TERROR regarding your boneheaded idea to go towards the water in the cold should be ignored. If you don’t have that voice inside you should do polar bears on January 1st and jump in the water naked wherever it may not be frozen to remind you as to why it’s a bad idea to go out there, dry suit or not.

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First of all: I consider sea kayaking an extreme sport year round.

Anyway, I think you need to point us to your source of objective facts regarding extreme sports, before we can look anything up.

And then you need to explain to us, why the opinions of that source can be considered objective. To me the definition of extreme sports sounds very subjective, no matter the source.

Regarding your end statement: I sometimes jump in the water in speedos while the water is partly frozen. I don’t know what it is supposed to teach me about staying away from winter kayaking.

I do “extreme” living because life is gonna kill me. The “real truth” is that none of us is going to get around dying. For some, that realization really sucks.

sing