Ladies and surfskis

Dear all,

this is my first post, so I would like to start with a short introduction.

I am paddling in various kayaks since I am 10 or so. About 12 years ago my wife and me bought a double kayak, which we have been heavily using. Since last season also with our 3.5-year-old daughter, who appears to love it. Obviously, we have adapted our tours to go from playground to playground or other interesting places.

We are located in the South of Germany and paddling on the Rhein (the largest river in Germany) the Lake Constance, rivers, lakes in Switzerland, sea in North Germany, Italy, France,

I recently started to paddle with a surf ski (Fenn Elite SL). Mostly in the morning when everybody sleeps or to place our car at a final destination of a tour.

We are now expecting another child and it will be hard to fit them all into one kayak. So my wife will most likely go in a second kayak/surf ski.

And here is my question: What boat to buy here? I am going with an average speed of 7.5 to 8.5 km/h with our double Kayak, only paddling me. Using the Elite SL for my wife is something we might try, however, I am not entirely sure if this is the right boat on a family tour

Obviously, a second surf ski would be nice. However, is that really an option? To my experience, as soon as there are only small waves water will somehow find its way into the boat. Maybe ladies experienced with surfskis can comment if that could be an issue.

Getting a fast "normal" e.g. marathon kayak would be an alternative, I am concerned though with safety aspects when I would be going with my wife on open water.

Looking forward for your comments!

Greetings
Philipp

What is your concern with water getting into the boat? They are a sit on top that self drains. Skis are a wet ride by nature

Ladies and surfskis are no different to men and surfskis

What is your concern with water getting into the boat? They are a sit on top that self drains. Skis are a wet ride by nature

Ladies and surfskis are no different to men and surfskis

If you are going to be paddling with a small child or infant in your lap get something extremely stable. A capsize with a little one can be a very bad situation. Hypothermia happens fast to little children and you will likely have to abandon your boat to try to save your child. Trust me i made that mistake once when my daughter was 3 and I never went in that boat with her again. Have you considered an open canoe? All 4 of you will fit in it, you can throw all sorts of snacks and gear in it, the kids can move around much more. You all stay together. I think that is the perfect family boat. An open canadian style canoe made in kevlar weighs about 40 pounds, is a joy to paddle, and will stand up to way more abuse than any surfski. I attached a pic of me and my family in a recent 5 day camping trip in case you are unsure what sort of boat i am talking about. We had a ton of gear because we were canoeing to a new campsite every day and taking everything with us. Good luck finding the right boat for you family!

Zach

Is it safety that you worry about or something else specific to women? Safety issues are the same regardless of gender. Even small waves will dump water in cockpits. Even just one boat wake from a not-so-big boat. Male and female bodies get equally wet.

OR is the worry about poor water quality and urinary or vaginal infections? I remember reading a thread started by a female paddler who was fanatically phobic of getting her butt area wet in a kayak. After many replied that it was a wet sport, etc, I bluntly asked if she tended to get bacterial or yeast infections.

THAT was what she worried so much about in the waters she paddled!

IF that’s the case, then she can still wear a drysuit to keep all parts inside it from contacting dirty water. The drysuit is also more protection in case of longer immersion time in those chilly early-morning hours or cooler seasons.

Thank you for your replies!

Concerning the open canoe: We had access to a prospector 17. I don't like it for several reasons concerning capabilities in wind and waves and the overall feeling. That is not a desired option and not suitable for our purpose. We of course never travel with children on the lap. They are in own hatches. However that only works for three people per boat: Front hatch, middle hatch ( up to 1.2m) and rear hatch. So my wife needs to use another preferably fast boat so we can go all together. That's also good for safety, as we can help each other. A nice feature of this boat would be that we can also do surfski rides without kids. This is one of the reasons why I asked about a surfski.

No my concern is really concerning any infections specific to females. Is this an issue? I really don't know, we have not tried. The surfski would be used for longer day trips and not just 2h "sprints". It would be just bad to buy a surfski and then find out it's inherently not suitable. In this case we would simply get a fast sea Kayak or so and maybe later a second surfski or a double surfski.

Concerning the wetsuit: I think at conditions that allow wearing a wetsuit we cannot take kids with us. Either the wetsuit person will be cooked or children will freeze.

Greetings

Here is a thought. Drill a hole at the bottom of the seat straight down and epoxy a carbon fiber tube in place. A small diameter tube should be very minimal drag. Should not be hard to do in an afternoon. It should suck water out of the seat area once you are moving.

Optional, press in a rubber duckbill valve inside the tube like something like this. That will keep water from coming in while stopped.

www.minivalve.com/newsite/?option=com_mi...ve&lang=en&Itemid=40

weihnachtsmann - sounds like you already understand safety concerns very well. By fast kayak i was imagining more of a K1 which would not be a good idea. Consider one of the surfskis with hatches. Many of the plastic ones have hatches. Stellar and NK both make a more stable composite ski with hatches. You would have to check if there is actually room for you child. They would need to be pretty small.

I have never heard of genital or urinary infections being a risk of paddling. I am not sure that is a thing. Lots of women do paddling and other aquatic sports without problems.

My final thought is that at a leisurely all-day pace hull speed is not as important. The effect of hull speed gets larger and larger as speed increases. In surfskis all skis are roughly the same speed around 9 -10 km/hr. (The epic v5 and mini skis like that being an exception). Its after 11 and especially over 12 that the difference grows. At very low speeds the shorter slower boats are actually more efficient.

Dear all,

thank you very much for your replies and suggestions. Re-visiting the thread it appears to me that I should have waited a bit before posting, as my questions are still too unspecific to be answered.

Just some clarification, because I might have written this unclear: We are not going to put children on a surf ski (on open sea) or any dangerous conditions. We are cruising in kajak as attached to this mail, which is extremely stable. We only go in conditions that allow immediate "emergency" stops at the coast and pickup by car. We only go in conditions that are very far from what we can comfortably and safely handle.

The question was purely about a second kayak my wife will sit in, while I am with the kids in the big Kayak.
I believe we will simply try different options and find out what works best.

Greetings