26 miles on Raystown lake (PA) in 4 hours and 20 minutes with 2 pit stops. But my average paddle on most outings is at least 12 miles. 18 foot kayak using a wing paddle. Have gone further, but didn’t pay attention to time.
Not sure if I missed what the OP is paddling? 10 foot 14 foot 17 plus long kayak? I do 20 miles with loaded kayak BUT my kayak was long and narrow like my now sold QCC 700x or my new Pace Tour. I wouldn’t want to try it in say a Pungo.
@dc9mm said:
Not sure if I missed what the OP is paddling? 10 foot 14 foot 17 plus long kayak? I do 20 miles with loaded kayak BUT my kayak was long and narrow like my now sold QCC 700x or my new Pace Tour. I wouldn’t want to try it in say a Pungo.
I agree. Although the Pungo is nice for what it is, it’s not designed for speed.
At the start of the first 10 miles you are starting fresh.
At the start of mile 11 you are already down 10 miles on energy.
Maybe you could do the first 10 miles twice.
@dc9mm said:
Not sure if I missed what the OP is paddling? 10 foot 14 foot 17 plus long kayak? I do 20 miles with loaded kayak BUT my kayak was long and narrow like my now sold QCC 700x or my new Pace Tour. I wouldn’t want to try it in say a Pungo.
Not a Pungo. From his 8/11 post:
“For reference, I have a Tempest 170 and a Greenland paddle. I keep a storm paddle on the deck for emergencies and for fun.”
Go do it and report the trip. Then we’ll know if it is twice the effort.
Just a little from my own experience: I have found that if for some reason I haven’t paddled in a week, or so, it might take at least five miles to work out the kinks. I might be feeling it in an arm, or a shoulder for awhile and have even had thoughts of shortening the day to take it easy on myself. Yesterday as an example, I hadn’t paddled, or done anything very strenuous in several days and when I started out, my left arm was protesting. From past experience I didn’t give it a lot of thought and just kept going, but tried to keep the effort moderate. The mileage on the first leg was reduced, because of wind and current being against me. But by the time I had reached my turn around point (about 6 mi), my left arm was good to go and the return trip was all pleasure.
My point is that if one is contemplating a longer distance paddle than usual, they might not want to rest up too many days before hitting it. I seem to do best with no more than 3 days between paddles.
For my longer distances, I generally try to plan to have wind and current–at least one–to assist on the return route–since all of my trips start and end at the launch site. This strategy only works about half the time and some of my most memorable paddles have been when the elements were dead set against me having an easy trip back.
Remember your rescue skills will diminish with fatigue if your really pushing at the end.