"I know this list has people in Israel, Germany, The Netherlands, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the UK, Finland and New Jersey. Other countries, too. So, please report what you would expect to happen if I showed up at your local kayak rental facility and asked to rent a kayak for the day." Bill: You can hire from 3 or 4 places here in Melbourne, Australia, one by the water, one by the water in summer. Anyone can hire anything, with not many questions asked as to experience or equipment. The renter operating off the beach in summer imposes an small area limit as to where you can paddle, as most of his business is SOT's to kids. But, if you ask nicely, and persuade him you are competent, he'll let you go anywhere for the day. In fact, my first sea kayak experience was renting a yellow plastic Skerray from him, and ignoring the area limit. Great fun, glad no drama. I have hired boats further North, in New South Wales. One hirer, from whom I had a lesson, imposed an area limit, confined sensibly to a lagoon/lake. Another, in Sydney, at The Spit, Mosman, also imposes an area limit in Middle Harbour. This doesn't necessarily stop problems. I was out on Sydney Harbour with my brother last January in his aluminium runabout, fishing. As we puttered towards the outer limits of the paddling area, I noticed something yellow in the water ahead. Drawing closer, it proved to be an Ocean Kayak SOT double, with two inexperienced paddlers in the water beside it. They had decided to try capsizing and getting back on board, but couldn't. We rafted up and helped them on. I could have been an interesting day for them, as they were about a kilometre from any shore, and a "southerly buster" came up soon after. Regards, Peter Treby. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Aug 02 2000 - 14:12:34 PDT
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