Photo: Rob Lyon

Equipping the Open Kayak Journey
The open kayak is the ideal coastal tourer. Self-rescue is a snap and the larger boats are big enough to haul the sink. While the typical open kayak is wider and more stable than a conventional style boat, touring models in production and on the drawing boards these days have a slimmer, longer waterline and a commensurately satisfying scoot. These babies are truly the Macintosh of kayaks, way user friendly and embodying most of the better features of a conventional kayak without the nagging liabilities.

Most open kayaks are made from rotomolded polyethelene. Plastic is easy on the wallet, has decent performance characteristics, and is a good choice for rocky ocean beaches, but plastic is only a medium for expression. Roto-molding is subject to expertise. Take a good look at a plastic boat before you shell out hard earned money. Study seams for a clean joint and look down the hull for wowing or unevenness. Rudders are optional with most open kayaks and recommended for long distance ocean touring.

Recommended Open Kayaks: I would recommend the following boats for open coastal paddling. If you are planning a long trip and would like to get in touch with me I'd be happy to talk about them with you in more detail.

Tarpon 160, by Wilderness Systems, Poly (wildernesssystems.com)
Revenge, by Seda Kayaks, glass or Kevlar (sedakayak.com)
Expedition, by Cobra, poly (cobrakayaks.com)
Tsunami Starship, by Tsunami, Kevlar (TsunamiRangers.com)
Fusion, by PaddleYak (www.seakayak.co.za)

At Sea
Paddling the northern oceans in a small boat with your street clothes on is about as smart as eating beans a couple hours before a date. Dress for the water in case you find yourself there, and, of course, to stay comfortable on deck. Wet suit or dry suit, your choice; price differential is large, but either will both do the job of protecting you in a hostile environment.

Both Kokatat and NRS are true water sport companies with the kind of employees that love what they're about...playing in water. Kokatat makes dry suits and PFDs non - pareil, while NRS does their own wet suits and carries the best of the rest in their sumptuous catalog (nrsweb.com and kokatat.com)

Aquawear: Kokatat Gore-Tex XCR TecTOUR Anorak with Gore-Tex, Whirlpool Bib, a nice combination of quality garments. Wet suit choice would be an NRS Farmer John with their affordable Na Pali Parka.

For a one piece unit you can't beat Kokatat's bomber Durasuit, a regular Aquaman getup-- flat out the best suit going. Cheap they're not; serious investment for serious adventure they most certainly are.

PFD: Kokatat MisFit--short and slim, adequately tricked out, will not interfere with paddling, or their new Eureka model with less bells and whistles. Both dependable vests.

Paddles: Generally speaking, you will want a mite longer paddle than usual with this style of boat. Wood paddles are durable and has a nice, organic feel. Sawyer recently introduced the new G3, with adjustable blade length. Perfect for making just the right adjustment for different paddlers and differing boat designs, or buy a second set of blades for different paddling situations. 3 piece make-up breaks down small (www.sawyerpaddlesandoars.com).

Big Spoon makes a pure all graphite paddle as light as a feather. My primary paddle (www.bigspoons.com).

Sail: a good down wind sail for long distance touring is a near must. With our open kayak there are no worries about a catastrophic flip associated with conventional boats. Primex makes a good quality rig requiring no drilling or gluing to deck: info@roleez.com. Voyageur has a less adaptable, but larger surface area spinnaker in its line (voyageur-gear.com), and Spirit Sail makes a unique model that mounts on deck with no lines whatsoever (spiritsails.com).

Water purifier: the Swiss made pocket filter by Katadyn is the most reliable and field serviceable I am aware of, with self-cleaning ceramic filter (katadyn.com).

Dry bags: use your dry bags as back-up flotation. By packing your gear in air-tight bags you're boat will float if it develops a leak. Watershed flat out makes the best (navy seals use them). You pay a little more but you a get a great bag, dry gear and insurance (drybags.com).

Boots: Hard to beat Chotas QuickLace Mukluks for both on board and on shore application. Neoprene upper and comfortable fit. Doesn't hurt that they're stylish too. For optimum traction on slippery rocks and best protection overall a wading boot with felt soles like fishermen use is the ticket. Simms makes the best wading boots in the galaxy and their 'guide' model is the best of the best (simmsfishing.com).

Radio: Icom's tiny, powerful, water tight IC-MIV is a very good choice for a VHF transceiver. Kenwood's Freetalk XL is a reliable, long range 2 way radio and the only unit that survived our marine journey clipped to our PFDs!

Rack: Thule makes a pretty cool gear transport system for kayakers. Stash your dry bags in the Playpen basket, your kayaks in one of several style carriers like the Hull-a-Port, and your paddles alongside in the handy Mastholder (www.thule.com).

Utility Knife/Safety Knife: Clips on vest and opens with push of a button, stainless blade coated to prevent rust: Blackout #1550 by Kershaw

Kayak Cart: Two models I can recommend. Paddleboy's heavy duty model for a fully loaded expedition boat (paddleboy.com), and Roleez--their yeoman cart, with go anywhere and terrain sensitive Balloon Wheels (very sweet) has hauled more than a few kayaks on and off ferries in faraway places. It now offers a Wide Load option bar as well, perfect for the open kayak (roleez.com).

Accessories: Surf to Summit specializes in kayak seats, thigh brace straps and the like...what I use (surftosummit.com).

Ashore
Dependable shelter, on a long ocean kayak excursion, is just as critical as paddling the right boat. We are, after all, ashore more than asea. We tried custom tarps and the world's slickest hammock on this last expedition, but during heavy weather a conventional tent was the most effective shelter, far and away. When you want womb (and believe me, sometimes you will out here), you won't get it from a drafty tarp set up. You will from Hennesey Hammock's cool Expedition 2.5 however, but you can't do much more in it than practice invitro for your next incarnation. A sweet, well made, solo shelter though (henneseyhammock.com).

I discovered something new in tent designs recently. Hilleberg, a leading Swedish tent manufacturer, makes a shelter that is ideal for kayak touring. The Keron 4GT is a four person tent with the weight of the average three, and the fabric is roughly six times stronger than standard domestic tent fabrics. For hunkering through an extended stretch of bad weather, the vestibules are the largest I've ever seen. Pitching this baby is a fly first concept, keeping the inner tent dry in bad weather. I like is how the fly comes completely down to the ground too...no short sheeting here In the northwest, in particular, the outer coast is subject to hurricane force winds, driving sand, and monsoon rains. Not only is a dependable shelter a practical necessity, but a spiritual one. The exquisite experience of sanctuary, when you are sitting high and dry and comfy in your tent with a book and a cup of tea as the sea booms at your door, is, frankly, one of the reasons I go there (hilleberg.com).

Pad/Chair: This may seem too incidental to mention to some of you, but au contraire says this intrepid comfort hound. Therma-Rest has the market by the balls of course, and their 'chair kit' has accompanied every journey of mine. To sit up, to read, meditate or just to sit around a crackling fire each night, it is more than handy (cascadedesign.com). Then there's Paco Pad. For the thickest, toughest pad on the market, these are the guys: Jack's Plastic Welding. While some of the models are so thick, so meaty you could paddle it instead of the boat, they make a model or two that'll fit in the boat (jpwinc.com).

Lighting is critical on the beach at night, for cooking a late meal and reading in the tent. Headlamps are handiest of all and you can go long burn (LED) or bright (halogen). Personally, I like the torchlight of PrincetonTecs Halogen Vor Tec when we're dealing with a curious black bear, or relocating our tents at midnight. Lithium batteries give longest burn time.

For hand held, have a look at the Surefire executive series. Again, lithiuum powered, but a technical wonder the size of a cigar that produces a clean beam comparable to a 6 d cell flashlight, and it's waterproof! Surefire has decided to make lithium as affordable as alkaline: $1.25 each in a quantity of 15 (surefire.com).

Apre paddle footwear: Uggs--lush, Aussie sheepskin boots, steeped in natural lanolin and pure tonic for faux amphibian flippers (uggaustralia.com).

A special thanks for support from:
The North Face
Kokatat
Vans
Cascade Design
Pelican
Aire
Wilderness Systems
Seda
Cobra
Heritage Kayaks
Princeton Tec
Martin Guitar
Gramicci
K.C. International
Savinelli
MSR
Chaco Sandals
Thousand Mile
Surf to Summitt
Manzella

Contact Info:
BC Parks- Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks: 800-663-7867
Coast Guard North of Brooks Peninsula 604-339-1053, or 604-339-3687
Coast Guard South of Brooks Peninsula: 604-726-7312, or 604-727-7716
Victoria Search and Rescue: 800-567-5111
RCMP--Fair Harbour and areas east: 604-956-4441
RCMP--Area west of Fair Harbour: 604-934-6363

by Rob Lyon

Editor's Note: This article appears courtesy of Canoe & Kayak Magazine where it first published in the July 2003 issue. www.canoekayak.com