kayaking for people with a disability

Advice
#1

i am looking for advice and feed back on suggested kayaks for a wheelchir user. i had a carolina which was great, but unfourtunitly was stolen. i am now looking at a Charleston. stability is my biggest concern, just wondering how the Charleston compares to the Carolina.



Colm

#2

try contacting the
ACA under kayaking w/disabilities . They have instructor programs an lessons an probably have some boat ideas.

M

#3

Another Possible Source…
for information is Disabled Adventurers - lots of great ideas, and absolutely wonderful people…



http://www.disabledadventurers.com/

#4

Also look on this website
www.sit-on-topkayaking.com in the forums for disabled paddlers.



I’ve helped with disabilities learn to surf in kayaks and waveskis, SOTs are a great way to go if you have some help to get on and off the kayak. We have an organization here in San Diego that helps disabled veterans get into kayaking, there may be similar near you.

#5

I put my brother with
Down’s syndrome on my Manta Ray 14 (a SOT model) in the pool a couple of weeks ago. He has physical limitations and doesn’t instinctively balance well in situations like that. He had a ball with me just pushing him around.



I put him in on the bank and just slid him into the water. Then I did a bear hug and pulled him off into the pool when he was ready to get off.



I think a wide SOT model would be ideal, probably 12 to 14 foot depending on his weight.



jim

#6

Charleston vs Carolina
I’m familiar with the Carolina, but I’ve never heard of a Charleston. Who makes it?



If I was a wheel chair user and I liked a Carolina I might opt for a Walden Passage. They are plentiful used and they are very stable and use a skeg instead of a rudder so you don’t need to worry about foot peddles. They are not a sit on top so no one will see your disability while you paddle.





Every disabled paddler I’ve seen used a sit in side instead of a sit on top, but I don’t know why.

#7

what the programs will help you with
Helped me immensely, I mean massively. Even though I am an educator and have a fair background in learning from disabled (or as they might say of me, temporarily able bodied), that it takes a person about a year of learning from a program and disable folks to actually see, feel, and know their world enough to assist them in their self determination to do what they want to be able to accomplish.



This humbled me mightily. And it really enhanced my own life too.