Commuting by canoe
I live at a lake with my company in sight just 2 km (~1.2 miles) away. To get to work I have to cross the city, which is not only expensive in terms of money, it also costs a lot of nerves. That's why I think I should go to work in a canoe. What do I need to learn to do that?
I thought about an inflatable one because I can easily carry it the few meters from shore to my workplace and I need to be able to ride a bus with it. One of my choices is the Sevylor® Pointer™ K1 Kayak - 1 person (YouTube).
Does this look like a smart idea to cross the lake of Zürich with it every day? Mostly it's a pretty easy lake without large waves or strong drift.
PS: I'm fine with a "may get wet" I just don't want to get soaked on a daily basis, Especially in winter.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/4276. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
To answer my own question.
I checked it with different dealers and experts, and all of them told that if I want to use it on regular basis, I should consider inflatables as toys. Also here in Switzerland it counts as flotation device and is not allowed more than 150 meters offshore. I bought myself a hardshell kayak for about 300$ more and next Monday I will paddle the first time to work. Let's see how this turns out.
UPDATE: It's been now 3 Weeks, my hands are a bit sore, i lost 2kg, and i'm feeling better than ever. I was lucky with the Weather so far except one little storm, which was pretty exciting and gave me a good adrenalinerush. I can store the Kajak at the shore, because pretty much everyone was so excited to hear that i'm commuting with it, that i even got a place for it with a roof for free. If it happens that you'd be able to commute by kajak, do it! It's the best anti-stress activity ever. It takes me around 5 minutes to get it in/out of the water and crossing the lake is another 15-20 minutes.
The equiment i use right now
- Paddlefloat for emergencies
- Waterpump for staying dry when a wave hits me
- 360° Flashlight for visibility
- Headlight for additional visibility when it's dark (sometimes i work until 10pm so it helps me get the kajak ready too
- Crewsaver Lifevest
- Werner Carbon paddles
- Wheels for easy carrying
- Splash protection (you'll definitely need that if you want your pants to stay dry)
- Lid for storing the kajak and keep it dry inside
- Security/Tow-line to prevent the kajak from floating away in case of emergency
- Drybag
Here's a Video of my morning (around 7:00 am): Kajak Lake Zürich (YouTube).
UPDATE 2: Bought a drysuit for winter, since the water got very cold and if i'd fall into it, i'd have less than 5minutes to get back in before having no more power left and drown.
UPDATE 3: After nearly a year of commuting by kajak i paddled from Zürich to Amsterdam, it took me 17 days to get there and i got some valuable experience out of this trip. For electricity i used 2 powerbanks in combination with a Solar Panel. Next time i go on a trip like that i'll look into buying new wheels for the boat, as you want the axis in the middle of the boat so you don't have to lift the whole weight of the packed boat. The Rhine is a wonderful River to travel on, allthough there's alot of traffic on it if you know how to handle it it's no problem at all. I'd never paddle the Rhine-Amsterdam Canal again because there are no places to get out, the waves can be lethal and the wind will tire you before you know it (it's the Netherlands which means the wind blows from the ocean inlands without being slowed down by forests or mountains). For more detailed questions write a Comment
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/4297. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads