Just thought I’d pass on this suggestion. I carry a 12" stake to tie off on when there’s no vegetation around. Having seen wind blow a kayak off the beach and into the water I find it a good habit to always secure my boat.
Touche`
Good idea! Simple, but one that makes sense.
Thanks!
MI. Nana
or you could…
have you tried tying the boat off to a buried paddle…if you dig down 6 inches or so (and you can scoop out 6 inches along paddle length real quick if you use the blade as a shovel!) that’d probably be enough…especially if you take the feather outta the blade and bury it flat…whaddya think?
also, if you put your skirt on and tie off the tunnel, you not only keep wind from “catching” in the cockpit, but you keep sand and bugs and whatever from being blown in…and if the wind were to pull the boat off the beach (don’t you guys have gear in there? how hard is it blowing?) at least if someone finds it on the water and the skirt is on the boat and tied off, they’ll figure out what happened and not launch a search for a missing paddler…you’d hope.
That’s what
I use my cockpit cover for and I don’t have to tie anything off 
Skirt or Cockpit cover,
the idea about not launching a search is a really good point…leave the indication that the boat was unoccupied at the time to began drifting.
No Search
– Last Updated: Jan-24-06 9:05 AM EST –
is a bad thing if you are stranded on some little piece of land you decided to stop at for lunch. Especially if you're out of cell range. In that case, I'd want someone looking for me.
Pahs…
…I am always gratified to see a post from you that is insightful and useful…you often stir the pot, and you are entitled; it’s just nice to every once in a while see a post that’s paddling related/uncontroversial.
a stuff sack
becomes a sand bar/rock bag anchor reallly quickly…buried or not works quite well!
I have foound that those plastic grocery
bags, doubled and filled with sand/dirt work very well. Especially if buried.
well…
– Last Updated: Jan-24-06 2:54 PM EST –
if folks were to find that boat with the cockpit cover on, it's a reasonable assumption that someone lost it but that they didn't lose it while they were in it on the water - so they can reasonably surmise that no one is lost at sea...the condition in which they find it (with a covered, closed cockpit) narrows down where to search.
without having the cockpit covered it gives anyone finding the drifting boat no clue about the situation and they almost HAVE to assume that they have a body in the water.
my 2 centavos
Folding anchor
I carry folding anchors on my boats, they are great. I do a lot of fishing from my yak, and may want to stick around a productive reef or other structure, or sometimes we’ll pull up to an island, and if we want to explore we just dig the anchor into the island to keep our boats put. It’s especially nice because some of the islands around us have beaches covered mostly with oyster shells, so we can leave the boat floating and wade it, not scratching up the hull.
Lost and found paddlers.
When I paddle, there’s a copy of my float plan on the refrigerator at home, and another copy in the map case on the boat deck. That should make it easier for anyone to know who to look for, where to look, and who to notify, whether I’m in the boat or not.