Chris Scott - Inflatable Kayaking: A Beginners Guide: Buying, Learning & Exploring

Young or old, just about everyone gets paddling: the marvel of gliding effortlessly across the water, marked only by the gentle splish-splosh of your paddle slapping the surface. But not everyone has the space to store, the means to transport or the strength to carry a solid plastic hardshell kayak or canoe. An inflatable kayak (or IK), on the other hand, slips into a backpack or boot of a car, inflates in minutes and is more resilient than most think. And its easier to paddle than an inflatable SUP board.

For years I enjoyed days out in rental hardshells, none of which Id ever consider owning. Then, while rafting Idahos Salmon River, I came across proper IKs. These were not flimsy vinyl pool toys an image that stigmatises IKs to this day. The Hypalon NRS kayak which carried my flailing limbs back down the Salmons Grade 3 rapids the following day was as tough and durable as the whitewater rafts running alongside. It was a revelation. As a lifelong outdoors and wilderness enthusiast and writer, Id discovered a whole new way to enjoy and explore the hitherto ignored blue bits on a map. Inflatable Kayaking: A Beginners Guide is the guidebook I could have used back then.

Paddling is an exhilarating and low-impact way of enjoying the outdoors. Its now a booming industry: one of the many life-enhancing recreational activities weve come to value more since the coronavirus outbreak of 2020. Inflatable kayaking delivers the same health and wellbeing benefits as walking or cycling and, as youll read, you can make it as relaxing or intrepid as you like. When your trip is over, you roll your boat up and chuck it in the car, or catch a train or even a plane home.

I hope the suggestions, knowledge, tips and safety advice in this guidebook will provide you with many enjoyable days out on our rivers, lakes and coasts.

Chris Scott

inflatablekayaksandpackrafts.com

In the UK the word canoeing is widely used to describe kayaking, but these are different boats. Traditionally, a kayak is a long, slim boat powered by a solo paddler using a two-bladed paddle. It sits low in the water to dodge the wind and gain stability, and a deck helps seal the paddler in so waves wont swamp the boat.

Canoes are slower, wider load-carrying boats native to Canadian rivers. Paddlers sit on benches working single-bladed paddles. Canoes are undecked and arent suited to sea conditions, nor can a sea kayak manage rapids or bulky loads.

Inflatable kayaks blur this distinction by usually being open like a Canadian canoe but paddled kayak-style. For first-timers this is a big attraction: getting in is easy even from deep water and steering with a kayak paddle is easier to master. Fears of entrapment are reduced and its more agreeable to be sat in the fresh air, not sealed in a plastic tube. For these reasons IKs were popular river rentals in Europe and North America before heavy, plastic Sit-on-Tops (SoTs) and SUP boards came on the scene.

Since the 1960s boom in recreational paddling, canoes have looked pretty much the same, but IKs and hardshell kayaks have evolved and specialised: short, agile whitewater playboats; easy-to-use SoTs; do-it-all river, lake and coast tourers; sleek expedition sea kayaks and longer tandems. As elsewhere, technology has made materials stronger, lighter, more durable and cheaper, but at the extreme ends of the activity, be it gnarly whitewater or big sea crossings, hardshell sea kayaks have the edge, while a good IK can easily match the technical abilities of a Canadian canoe, except payload.

IKs range from just 2.4m (8) playboats up to tandems or sea kayaks exceeding 5 metres (16). Boats with a longer waterline are faster, track better and are more spacious. An IK of over 3.6 metres (12) has room for a second adult.

Nothing is more off-putting than a tippy boat, but because each side of a tubed IK is some 20-30cm (8-12) in diameter, IKs are wide and stable which reassures beginners. You can get used to some tippiness and a kayak that initially feels wobbly may not actually roll over. Some boxy, full drop-stitch (FD-S) IKs suffer from this and on any IK, thigh braces can help.

Because of their family-friendly profile, some recreational IKs (particularly US brands) go all out to avoid tippiness which makes them slower.