Ladies please!!!

Please try save my marriage. My dear wife has started paddling and we have a longish walk to the beach. I have tried to show her how to carry a ski on her shoulder but it just does not seem to work. She says she is not strong enough - her arms are too short - her shoulders are too bony.....

Is there a secret that you other ladies out there use to carry your boats that I can pass on. I don't mind carrying her boat for her but sometimes she needs to go paddling on her own and so she really needs to be able to do this.

Help!

You can get a small trolley on which you rest one side of the ski and wheel it along holding the other. Otherwise your wife might appreciate you hiring a much younger and more athletic (better looking) man to carry her ski for her... This may not, however, save your marriage.

Check these out www.kayaks.co.za/catalog.php?catPath=0_21_81

Or with a minor amount of skill you can construct your own far cheaper with PVC pipe and wheels obtained from the home center like I did. Cart can be locked to a tree at the launch area or some strap it to the boat and take it with them. I just hide it in the wooded area. Makes life easy.
Good luck!,
Ed

Nice idea about the trolley but the ground is too rough for that. So far a handsome young man seems the best idea - although it got me thinking, two pretty young girls could also make it work.....

You're going to have to cough up for a carbon boat for her, I fear. She might then be quicker on the water than you, and alas, this isn't good for your marriage either, unless you get one too, so that you can carry them both at the same time yourself . This is bound to impress her. Send the 2 hot female boat carriers my way once you get your carbon boats.

Seems that may be a solution but then she might get blown away with her boat when the wind picks up.

This brings up a different topic altogether - ladies' boats. I know a few of the SA girls have been complaining about having to cope with boats made for the 100kg+ dudes and have been asking for a boat more suitable for their 50 to 60kg frames. Well my dearest has joined in the chorus and I may well be forced to try my boat shaping skills in the near future if none of the major players come up with anything for this tiny segment of the market.

I'll ignore the jab about women being a 'tiny' segment of the market as I'm sure you meant just that we are 'tiny' in size as compared to big boofy blokes. Right?

I also cannot carry my boat on my shoulder as my shoulders aren't broad enough! What we women DO have that you men don't however is hips . . . I grab the footstraps with my left hand and balance my boat on my right hip, with my right arm wrapped around the boat. Works a treat.

There are definitely skis out there that work well for girls, I paddle a Custom Kayaks Mentor which is made for the sub-75 kilo market. I'm sure there are others too.

Unfortunately there are still not enough ladies paddling to justify the manufacturers tooling up for a specific ski for you. Maybe in 5 years.... anyway, we do the hip thing, its just not that great for longer carries, like 2 or 300m. My wife also has a Mentor btw and is eager to try my new Synergy when it arrives.

Seems like it really is a shoulders - arm thing. She is fine carrying a K1 on her shoulder.

We've got a 4 year old and a 6 month old child, both often carried on me or my wife's hip. I think I may have found a possible solution to both carrying our babies on the hip and women paddlers carrying their "baby". Check out the link to this product, a hip seat which has a strap to fit around the waist. I think it may solve your problem, xpat, with no carbon boat or extraneous boat carriers required. If your marriage is saved, you might want kids, so useful for that too... www.hippychick.com/index.cfm/children/Pr....List/category_id/65

And a great place to rest your beer after the paddle.... I think I have some ideas starting to form.

Hi, I have a hard time with my ski too so I cut the ends off an old round duffel bag (30" x 18") with a shoulder strap. I slide my ski into it and put the strap over my shoulder and I can carry it for long distances and hang onto my paddle too.

Cheers,
Ender

Huki makes a very small surfski for petite paddlers, not much bigger than a K1. It is called the S1 A. A " tiny " female friend of mine owns one and it is perfect for her. It surfs and carves great but is tippier than my S1 X Special. If you paddle a K1 you would have no problem with the stability. Check it out at www.huki.com

Kathleen

I was not a lady last time I checked, but one thing that can be tried is using a sling. This can attach to a tie point or be a loop passed through itself around the balance point of the hull. The sling can go over a shoulder (pads help) or be a tump line on the head and/or be used as a hand hold. The leash may be incorporated. If a cord does the job for a handhold, it can be kept in a pocket. Specially designed slings are available to carry windsurfers.