Now…
I never said tipping fear. I said teach your kids safety but not fear. A lot of us teach our students our fears. “Don’t stand in a canoe.” Standing is one of the easiest ways to scout a drop coming up. “Don’t move around or you’ll tip.” Canoes don’t tip…we do. I have never seen a canoe tip by itself. I have tipped a hell of a lot of boats.
Back in the 80’s Harry Roberts & I had two booths side by side…he had Sawyer & I have Wabash Valley Canoes. We were talking about teaching canoeing & at that time I was certified through the American Red Cross. We taught almost right away what to do if you tipped: canoe over can rescue, assisted side by side rescue & one canoe rescue. Harry said that by teaching that first the message we sent was that canoes are tippy. He said to teach our students how to paddle first, then braces, then rescues. I added to that: HAVE FUN. I have had two 16 year old girls in a class paddling a MRC Explorer stand up turn towards each other, stand up on the seat, stand up on the gunnels, and finally walk to the stems and stand there. It was awesome to see. We were at a beach and I hadn’t taught rescues yet. When I did, they preformed the best…very very comfortable in their canoe.
And, I agree about teaching wet exits if a sink is used. Canoes & sot don’t fall in that brackett.
Bad choice of title.
Didn’t disagree with your main point, just wanted to point out that I think it’s different with kayaks. I think there is fear of tipping and getting stuck in sinks. The kayaks we have for the kids are 12 and 14 feet long and 20" wide. They feel the boat when they get in and have tipped accidently. These kids have done remarkably well in two years and by not being afraid have been able to progress remarkably. I would have been concerned that the first unintentional capsize would have destroyed their confidence and desire if they hadn’t practied first.
As soon as they show interest
This rule seems to have held true for all of mine. If you force them into it when they aren’t interested it will likely ruin it. I have also found that you kayak with kids for a different reason than with adults. I have had to learn that my joy comes from watching the kids enjoy themselves because it isn’t the kind of kayaking I enjoy when I am with adults. Kids can have a ball in 3 feet of water rolling it over and climbing on it.
If you want a great boat for a great price look for a Wilderness Systems Picallo. It is a scaled down sea kayak instead of an adult boat that kids use. So many times the kids use small adult boats and the boat is too wide for them to paddle well. The Picallo works great for people up to about 130 pounds. You might also try a small sit on top. They really enjoy climbing all over them.
Totally Agree
about the right size equipment for kids when they’re ready/wanting to go off on their own. My youngest has an Umiak and my older kid is uses a Montauk or my Greenland S&G since he is my size. I just added a Mystic to the fleet, one as a more surf/rock boat but also in anticipation for the younger one. Thankfully, at least for now, my wife and older kid and I are all about the same size. We got rid of all the big boats (rec) and are using low to medium volume boats. Ditto for the white water boats.
The other thing that is important is the right size paddle. Shorter is better. They learn to paddle right next to the boat better and don’t go yawing all over the place with sweep like strokes. For awhile they were using my white water paddles. Last fall I got a customized smaller touring paddle from Onnopaddle. And, my wife is starting to use a GP.
sing
Don’t Wait Too Long
We did much the same with our kids as humpyy57, except we used a canoe and later a raft for extended trips on Western rivers. Today, my 21-year-old son paddles a C1 playboat and my 19-year-old daughter rows a cataraft.
On the other hand, I’ve met people who decided to wait until their kids became teenagers to introduce them to paddling but found the kids weren’t that interested anymore.
My Experience
We bought our neighbors Aquaterra Umiak ie. carolina 12. My eight year old kicks my butt in that thing. We’ve been out on shallow rivers and smaller lakes. I still want the family to take classes on strokes, bracing and rescues.
Kids & Kayaking
The trick is not to push it. Take them when they’re ready and make it fun. I started taking my daughter out in a canoe before she could walk, then short paddles sitting in the hatch of my kayak, then when she was about 9 I finally got her a Wilderness Systems Piccolo which is a great boat for kids. She’s not a real gung-ho outdoors type, but she likes short paddles and gets a realy confidence boost from paddling her own boat. She’s 12 now, and last summer we went out on the Hudson River across from NY City and she was awestruck, I think. http://home.earthlink.net/~taterka/NYPD.html
My younger kids were 8 and 12 when…
…THEIR FATHER (that would be me) got kayak mania. Son (12) paddled a little bit. But daughter just was not “strong enough” to be very interested in more than floating around rather than going anywhere.
Now son is 14 and can almost keep up with his aging father. He loves to poke around in the weeds and reeds looking for “stuff, living” BUT only after we paddle and sweat hard for 30-60 minutes. He started in a 9 foot rec boat; easily powers and controls any of our other boats up to and including the Dagger Cortez 16.5. He can handle a 230 cm paddle.
Daughter (10) still does not feel (or act) “strong enough” to paddle very far. But we enjoy easy puttering on our ponds. I always have a quick-release tow line on my waist so that I can pull her when she has “had it”, or the wind comes up. Towing is very easy. She likes our Loon 111; wide, stable, big cockpit and glides/tracks fairly well. She has an adjustable paddle that is “kid sized”. I just need to remember that she is NOT like her two older brothers (28 and 14), but like her older sister (24). They like to ski where there is a warm lodge for every 3 runs. My boys would follow me on a week long X-C into Yellowstone NP. So it is a problem mainly for DAD to tailor “kayak fathering” to each child!
Both are swimmers and ALWAYS have on a PFD; as I ALWAYS do too. We always check the weather and keep one eye on it.
SOT
Small sit-on-tops are very kid-friendly. No possibility of entrapment, and nothing to empty if it flips. In warm water, kids tend to treat them like pool toys and falling over becomes just another game. They’re also the safest way to start playing in waves at the beach.
The downside is that they tend to be slow, so don’t expect the kids to go very far or fast on them.
Mine were 5
Just be sure to have bow lines attached to their kayaks so when they get tired of paddling Dad or Mom can put them in tow. Keeps the Fun quotient up where it belongs.
sot was ok
but like the low center for my daugher with a sink. Also puts her closer to the water w/ paddle. he is 7 and love to kayak. took her down a decent river some light classII and she did great. Towed her about 3/4 of the way, but she wants to do it again.