Couple of advantages of carrying loaded kayaks: 1. I've seen some outfitters with larger groups use 4-inch wide webbing with handles on each end loop the webbing under some __huge__ double kayaks, maybe three or four people on each side, and carry fully-loaded yaks from water to above the tideline ... and back. Their system avoided the need to fully unpack the doubles. They just dealt out food, gear, etc., from the yaks as needed. Stuff not needed stayed in the yak. They saved at least an hour or so each day in this -- most of the clients were inexperienced, and might have taken a long time to pack those doubles without close supervision. 2. This was in the Charlottes, where the vertical range of the tides was huge -- in some places over 15 feet (!) -- so carrying gear from camp to the yak at low tide and loading it at the tideline would have been very time-consuming. And, over the half hour or more it might take, the tide could fall a foot or more. On a shallow-sloping beach, that could make for a mandatory carry (or, drag) of a couple hundred feet, anyway. These boats were FG, and the guides did not want them scratched severely by successive drags across barnacle-strewn beaches. Otherwise, I'm with Darwin Duane -- I pack near the tide line and drag to fit. My FG boats have scratched bottoms, 'cause my boats are for using, not looking at. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Feb 25 2003 - 11:11:21 PST
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