Three Sea Kayaking Safety and Comfort Tips

It’s not uncommon for kayakers to develop heel pain or to find that their feet fall asleep while paddling.

To prevent the former, use contact cement to install a thinsulate pad inside your kayak where your heels contact the bottom of the kayak. The extra 1/8″ or 1/4″ of padding is often enough to cushion your heels.

The prevent the latter, get more radical: remove your kayak’s stock seat and replace it with one you hand carve from a block of closed cell foam. Reduce high spots on the seat that press against your sciatic nerve, and be sure that the front of the seat is higher than the back, to tilt your pelvic slightly.

Stay Safe While at Sea and in Remote Areas

The surest way to remain safe while sea kayaking remote places is to rent an EPIRB, or an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.

Cost is about $50 a week. The units are efficient, well-built and sturdy. Push its transmit button and the National Ocean Service, with whom EPIRB registration is free, receive notice that you’re in trouble, and where.

Alternatively, buy a SPOT beacon, which allows you to send unlimited text messages and emails, via satellite, to friends and family notifying them that you are OK or in need of help. Like an EPIRB, the SPOT beacon includes your latitude and longitude.

Seakayaking: Eat Fresh Fish at Sea

The easiest way to ensure you eat well on a sea kayaking trip is to catch your own fish.

Doing so is easy: buy 50 yards or so of dacron fishing line, wrap it around a small wooden block, and buy a basic trolling lure made from plastic, wood or metal.

While you’re at sea, troll the lure fifteen feet or so off the stern of the kayak after fastening the wooden block to your foredeck rigging.

You’re almost sure to catch fish: a sea kayak’s average speed of 3.5 knots is just the right speed for trolling for most saltwater pelagic species.