Hi, to give a short answer: You need to carry a Canadian Coast Guard/Department of Transportation approved PFD of appropriate size on board! Visitors can use PFD's approved by authorities of their home country. don't ask me how long you can stay with visitor status. End of short answer. Therefore if you have a approved black (or whatever color) PFD, you are OK, a signal orange, not approved one can earn you a ticket (200$?)....They may not approve all colors and features, but than it's an not approved pfd, so you don't have to worry about those details. Good news is that now more and more brand stuff (Lotus Design, Kokatat etc.) gets Canadian approves. A couple of years ago it was a problem to find a Canadian approved pfd suitable for kayaking. So far I have never pulled over by the Coasties to check the label of my pfd if it is approved or not, they came close a couple of times but changed course when the noticed that I was wearing a pfd. Other stuff required for kayakers on Canadian waters: approved pfd, sound signal device (horn, pea less whistle), 15 m floating heaving line (throw bag is OK), manual bailer (hand pump, scoop with a minimum size), waterproof flashlight if operating in poor visibility. Spare paddle, paddle float, flares, radio, compass are not required by law. That's it Ulli Ulli Hoeger Dept. Physiology and Biophysics Dalhousie University Halifax, B3H 4H7 Nova Scotia, Canada Phone: INT 902 494 2673 Fax: INT 902 494 1685 Phone 2: 902 497 4045 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:29 PDT