Kayaking and Canoeing

If you don’t feel like walking, you can always paddle. Depending on your need for thrills, you can take a calm canoe trip on a flat lake, or speed down rivers in your kayak.

The world of paddle sports can be broken down into a few major areas:

• Whitewater Kayaking
• Sea kayaking
• Whitewater Rafting
• Whitewater Canoeing
• Recreational Canoeing
• Recreational Kayaking

Canoes are open top boats that usually carry two people. There are solo canoes and canoes to carry more than two people, but two is the norm. Canoe paddles have a single blade and a handle on top.

Kayaks are closed top boats, with an opening in the deck for the paddler. Most kayaks accommodate one person, but there are also tandem kayaks. Kayakers wear a spray skirt, a piece of fabric (usually neoprene), to keep water from splashing into their boat. The spray skirt looks like a woman’s mini-skirt. It is tight around the paddlers waist and the bottom is pulled tight around the opening in the boat deck. Kayak paddles are double bladed. The kayaker holds the shaft of the paddle between the two blades.

• Canoe & Kayak Magazine
• http://www.paddling.net
• http://en.kayakwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page