Humour me as I know nothing about paddling.

I'm moving to Chch and am living a few 100m form the estuary/sea so thought I might get into a little paddling. I really know nothing about kayaks so would love some basic advice/recommendations for what I should look out for. Don't want to spend a fortune so will be looking second hand.

Any other hot tips, clubs or paddling course that might be worth a look.

Chur chur.

check for holes

finally found a way to combine your love of rubber clothing and exercise eh!!

buy a surfboard instead

Screw surfing and kayaking.... that takes physical exertion, get a WINDSURFER! I've got one and take it out there sometimes, most fun you can have with your wetsuit on. (No pun intended)

watch out for floating hookers

Nick_K wrote:Humour me as I know nothing about paddling.

I'm moving to Chch and am living a few 100m form the estuary/sea so thought I might get into a little paddling. I really know nothing about kayaks so would love some basic advice/recommendations for what I should look out for. Don't want to spend a fortune so will be looking second hand.

Any other hot tips, clubs or paddling course that might be worth a look.

Chur chur.

you gonna be paddling with another or solo missions nick?
a canoe can be much more versatile as you can load em up with stuff and pals.

This thread is already getting shitter than I envisaged. I'm off to find a multisport website they're not cocks like you guys.

wuffy wrote:Screw surfing and kayaking.... that takes physical exertion, get a WINDSURFER! I've got one and take it out there sometimes, most fun you can have with your wetsuit on. (No pun intended)

he could go the whole hog and buy a kite surfer!!! looks like an exciting way to kill yourself

anyway, if Nick is that close to sumner he's also close to some of the best sport climbing on the port hills, so he should ignore that silly wet stuff (people have drowned in it you know!) and take up climbing

Nick_K wrote:Humour me as I know nothing about paddling.

I'm moving to Chch and am living a few 100m form the estuary/sea so thought I might get into a little paddling. I really know nothing about kayaks so would love some basic advice/recommendations for what I should look out for. Don't want to spend a fortune so will be looking second hand.

Any other hot tips, clubs or paddling course that might be worth a look.

Chur chur.

For the Poo Pond (Estuary) you'll probably want a basic plastic sea kayak. I wouldn't get a sit on top as you'll grow out of it too quick being an outdoors buy already.

You want something like: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255007755.htm buy em both. and sell one. or
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255239159.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255239888.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255523672.htm is also nice though glass rather than plastic so requires a bit more care.

Hope you hooked up a new job through a reputable medical recruitment agency!

Nick_K wrote: I'm off to find a multisport website they're not cocks like you guys.

Bit of an oxymoron there

cauld wrote:

Nick_K wrote:Humour me as I know nothing about paddling.

I'm moving to Chch and am living a few 100m form the estuary/sea so thought I might get into a little paddling. I really know nothing about kayaks so would love some basic advice/recommendations for what I should look out for. Don't want to spend a fortune so will be looking second hand.

Any other hot tips, clubs or paddling course that might be worth a look.

Chur chur.

For the Poo Pond (Estuary) you'll probably want a basic plastic sea kayak. I wouldn't get a sit on top as you'll grow out of it too quick being an outdoors buy already.

You want something like: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255007755.htm buy em both. and sell one. or
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255239159.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255239888.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Kayaks-canoes/Kayaks/Sea-kayaks/auction-255523672.htm is also nice though glass rather than plastic so requires a bit more care.

Hope you hooked up a new job through a reputable medical recruitment agency!

OMG a sensible answer on vorb WTF. Probably a silly question but you take a sea kayak down a non technical river? At a push could you do the (hypothetically of course) coast to coast in it.

Chch is a real job but am working for a very reputable locum company down in Invervegas at the moment.

disoriented wrote:

Nick_K wrote: I'm off to find a multisport website they're not cocks like you guys.

Bit of an oxymoron there

You roadies are the worst

I used to do a bit of whitewater paddling: still got all the gear, still got no idea. I am averaging one trip every two years at present so take what I say with a grain of salt, and Im not really up with the current tech, but, here goes:

can you paddle at all? if not you might want to do a skills course with the whitewater canoe club. that will teach you the basic strokes and give you some decent grounding. Sure, the techniques are slightly different but basic training = good. I think a decent plastic sea kayak would be ideal as well. they actually go quite well.

http://www.whitewater.org.nz/

http://www.rivers.org.nz


You might think "why would I do a whitewater course?" the answer is if shit happens (weather change, waves on beach you want to land on, crosswind blah blah) then you need boat control, and boat control in moving water works for any boat. there might be a sea kayak club with specialized instruction: rock on into Canoe and Outdoor world (Pilgrim Place, by Hoyts) or Topsport (Ferry Road) and ask them. Budget some money for decent kit: a paddle jacket and skirt and a bouyancy aid, and a decent paddle. Carbon blade paddles are cheapish now. Most sea kayakers dont wear helmets. You will need good sunglsses, sunscreen and a hat with a wide brim that ties on.

I will ask my mate if he still has his Tasman Express: that would be perfect. Oh, and its possible to roll a loaded sea kayak (though not combat rolling, just for practise) so learning that skill is totally worthwhile too.

I will put the word round a few mates who still paddle, and soon you'll be surfing the 8 footers one handed.....

What do you envisage being able to do in your kayak Nick? Where would you like to go?

If you want to try a "play boat" I have one sitting in my back yard you could borrow for a while. Fun for surfing down the wave out at Sumner.

If you want something you can blat about in, and head out around scarborough heads/ taylors mistake then I would be looking at the sea kayak options that Cauld suggests. They would also be fine for having a float down some rivers or paddling across lakes.

If you want something super quick, then go talk to the multisporters. I have owned a number of these boats and can give you some more pointers if you were keen to go down this path.

You may want to beg/borrow/steal a boat for a while until you sort out what sort of paddling you are after. The Arawa Canoe Club are very active, and have boats (K1 and Multisport) that you can borrow etc. They also run beginner technique coaching (mostly aimed at multisport/K1) and run a number of training sessions and races. http://www.arawacanoeclub.org.nz/

There are a number of "Grade 2" certificate courses around as well. Many of them are basically to get multisporters a grade 2 cert specifically for Coast to Coast. There are other paddling courses (White Water etc) run through people like Top Sport. The Canterbury Uni are also very good if you want to get into White Water paddling.

Nick_K wrote:
OMG a sensible answer on vorb WTF. Probably a silly question but you take a sea kayak down a non technical river? At a push could you do the (hypothetically of course) coast to coast in it.

Chch is a real job but am working for a very reputable locum company down in Invervegas at the moment.

Yes you could C2C a sea kayak, and many people have done so before. Actually a lot safer than most of the multisport boats especially if it is a plastic sea kayak!!