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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
Re: Kids and Kayaking
Posted By: Shawn Baker In Response To: Kids and Kayaking (W. Lee Chamberlain III)
Date: Friday, 18 February 2000, at 11:44 a.m.
I do repairs for the local canoe shop. The owner, my friend, was a member of the 1980 Olympic canoe & kayak team. (You know, the one that stayed home due to the boycott of the Soviet-sponsored Olympic Games). Anyhow, he's still an avid racer, and he bought a WS Piccolo for his 8 year-old daughter. She's taken 3rd (in a field of 4, and a field of 5 racers) twice at the national marathon canoe races, racing against some older girls. His insight into it is that she can paddle whatever, whenever, whereever she wants, but he won't push her into it. Obviously, the whatever part is easy, as her father is a dealer and she has her pick of boat models to paddle, and he will take her paddling with him whenever she wants.
I don't plan to have kids, (I think the world is over-populated, so I don't want to contribute to it, but I don't discourage others from procreating, and I certainly am not against any of the humans already on our planet; but that's another subject entirely) but I work with the youth at our church--middle school through high school. Last year, we (middle school group) went to Flathead Lake, Montana, for a weekend retreat at our church's camp there. They have several Coleman and Grumman canoes there and I also brought my 2 wooden sea kayaks. I helped the kids into and out of the kayaks, and just turned them loose. All were wearing PFD's; I was too--even while on shore, to reinforce their image that PFD's are important. I also asked them to remain relatively close to shore. Many of my friends have tried kayaking with me, and those 11-14 year-olds picked up kayaking faster than a lot of 20-30 year-olds. Kids are amazing.
I think the key is to keep it fun, keep it light, don't paddle too far, too fast, and let them do something different if they tire of paddling.
Just another data point: my father is a very avid fisherman. When I was growing up, we never went on a trip to a river or lake, or a camping trip unless there was good fishing there. I hated having to sit still and be quiet. I don't enjoy fishing to this day. I don't think Dad consciously forced me to fish, but it was too much, too often, and too serious. However, I spent a lot of time farther down the shore (so as not to scare off the fish), wading, exploring, inner-tubing, skin diving, and swimming. As a consequence, I absolutely love the water (just not fishing) as an adult, probably because I was "allowed" to develop my interest in aquatic activities at my own pace. I still go camping with my parents. Dad still fishes, and I bring my kayak and go exploring.
> Some say that small children are to young to learn basic sea kayaking. To
> them I say it depends on the child and the type of kayak. My son Joshua is
> an avid sea kayaker at age 5. Last year when Josh was four he borrowed as
> he called it my "sea lion" 17'-2 and had some control problems.
> After Visiting a friend who sells kayaks Josh was outfitted with a Picolo
> by Wilderness systems and a Bending Branches Paddle. My son and I have
> spent a great deal of time paddling everything from the marsh at my
> research project to the middle James River in Virginia. I do not think
> that many of the kids are given the opportunity to paddle their own
> boats,that is a shame. I teach my students the basics of sea kayaking in
> order to work on the project and have found that my five year old paddler
> has some very uniques strokes for both bracing and turning. We have spent
> many happy hours in our boats and my son has opened sights that I suppose
> I took for granted. Would like to share similar experiences with others
> and compare notes , as I am thinking about putting together a guide for
> kids kayaking.
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