RE: [Paddlewise] Sea Kayaking for Kids

From: John Fereira <jaf30_at_cornell.edu>
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 11:43:46 -0500
At 09:55 AM 1/28/03 -0600, Joyce, Thomas F. wrote:
>I got an Umiak for our younger kids and it has worked great.


>   There are no bulkheads, so on trips you have to be a little more 
> careful to waterproof whatever goes into the Umiak.

Keeping things waterproof may be an issue but if it doesn't have bulkheads 
it should have floatbags.

There are a couple of other possibilities for kids kayaks.  EPI (Englehart 
Products, Inc.) has been building kayaks specifically for kids for years. 
Like the Umiak, the EpiSea is a scaled down versions of a "real" sea 
kayak.  Their web site is at: http://www.emc-epi.com/epi.html

Another option could be building a kit from Pygmy.  Their Golden Eye 10 
model is targeted for paddlers in the 5-10 year old range.  It would also 
make a great family project.  I'm thinking about building one with my 
nieces in a couple of years.

>Make sure to get a nice small paddle sized to the child.  My youngest 
>chose a small Greenland paddle I had lying around the boathouse and 
>refused even to use the Euro paddle that we got with the boat.

Werner makes a nice little kids paddle.  One of it's features is that it 
has a smiley face on each blade.  It's actually functional and not just a 
cute add on.  Even my 4 year old niece figured out how to hold the paddle 
when I told her to "keep the smiley faces smiling".


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Received on Tue Jan 28 2003 - 08:43:54 PST

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