weight in kayak

My fellow and I are begginers. We have a Ocean Kayak, Cabo, it seems very shakey or we are. I was wondering, he weighs over a hundred pounds more than me, does this make a difference in handling? If so, is there something we can do to stabilize it with alternative weight. It is a sit on top. I have a 7 year old granddaughter that loves the water, how stable a boat is this to take her out with us. I know most of it depends on how good we are with the boat.

Cabo is a stable boat.
How much does he weigh?

Could be an issue if he weighs more than 250 lbs. Most likely it takes some practice paddling. You might want to take a class.



A couple of hints. If the boat feels tippy loosen your hips and relax, let the boat do it’s thing. Use your paddle on the water to brace. Don’t let go of the paddle and grab the sides of the boat.



Unless you are both overweight you can paddle with a small child in the cabo. It can safely hold 500 -600lbs.




weight in Kayak
My weight is 135, he is 6’3" though, I was wondering when paddling on still water such as a lake, is it best to skim the water with the paddle or go deep if just cruising around?

weight in Kayak
My weight is 135, he is 6’3" though, I was wondering when paddling on still water such as a lake, is it best to skim the water with the paddle or go deep if just cruising around?

Paddling -Some Links

– Last Updated: Jul-06-08 11:36 AM EST –

When you paddle you get the most power by putting the paddle well into the water. There are two basic styles. One style uses a more horizontal stroke and the other stroke is closer to vertical. Lots of people start out using the horizontal stroke with long paddles. I did that too but quickly learned that shorter paddles work better, and for going places and paddling through rough water and waves a high angle stroke works better.

To keep the kayak from tipping over you can skim the blade of the paddle flat on the water. This is called a brace, and there are lots of variations. Learn the low brace first.

Here is a link to the section of PNET called guidelines... Strokes for Kayaks ... if you look over to the right the main link has a little yellow box and a blue check mark.

http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showCategory.html?category=16

Read about how to do all the forward strokes and braces.

Also see if you can get a hold of a basic sea kayaking instructional video. I don't really own any so I can't suggest a good one. Finally see if you can take a kayaking introduction class. It will greatly increase your enjoyment and safety.

For sit on top kayaks there is a webpage run mostly out of love of SOTs by Tom and Athena Holtey called www.sit-on-topkayaking.com ... folks there will be much more knowledgable about the Cabo.

Lots of videos on youtube on forward stroke all of them have some issues that I looked at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyujcYMIqV0&feature=related

This one is not terrible .... but you don't need to keep watching your paddle once you get the idea of torso rotation ... and there are things you can do to improve technique wise that he does not discuss.