[Paddlewise] The High Cost of Kayaking

The other day I was talking with a friend about how inexpensive a hobby
kayaking is. Then I stopped and listened to myself. I had just bought an
Olympus waterproof camera specifically for kayaking (along with a super-tiny
8-gb chip to record videos) and a set of kayak racks for the Kia Optimus (I
also have racks for the pickup truck and my wife's SUV). Nearly $500 for
stuff for kayaking. And then it hit me....

Kayaking might be a cheap activity but all the doodads that go along with it
can cost a mint.

I have two handheld GPS units I use for kayaking. One is a Garmin Colorado
with built-in charts for all USA waters. The other one is a relatively
inexpensive GPS72 (also by Garmin) I use for tracking my workout paddles.
Cost: $450.

Paddles. When I started kayaking we used wood paddles for the most part; or
even paddles with plastic blades and aluminum shafts. We never gave a
thought to super light or stiffness or bent shaft. I now have a Lightning
paddle, a wing paddle, a stow-away paddle, and a GP. Worse yet, most of my
paddles perished in my shop fire back in February of 2009. I actually used
to have even MORE paddles. Even by finding them on craigslist I probably
have $400 in paddles. I bet you have more into paddles than that.

Apparel. Ok, so jeans and tee-shirts along with hiking boots or tennies are
no longer in style for a "good" paddler. I have two drytops, a drysuit and a
farmer john in my closet. Plus a pile of poly clothing including a
full-length poly union suit for under the drysuit. And a couple more items
in merino wool. Add in two or three pairs of bootees, poly or merino socks,
a "secret material" shirt by NRS, and cold water head protection. I haven't
kept track of how much I spent because some of it was bought in the NRS
"bargain loft" in Moscos, Idaho but I'm guessing an easy $1k in apparel.

Camping Gear. I have one tent for car camping and another tent for kayak
camping. This applies to sleeping bags, cooking equipment, shoes, tarps,
camping cots versus just a rollup mattress. Tents are not cheap (ok the car
camping tent was cheap) and a lot of my friends have a handfull.

Accessories: drybags of various sizes and shapes including one for my iphone
and one for the FRS radio units we often use to talk from boat-to-boat. Deck
mounted compass. Charts and chart books. Paddle floats. Hand-operated pumps.
Water proof LED flashlights and/or headlamps. Another $300 or $400, easy.

PFDs. I just bought my second Kokatat SeaO2 PFD for $200. I only paid $100
for the first one but it burned up in the shop fire. Plus a stack of PFDs
that I thought I'd like more than I really did. Oh... and add one for the
PFD I bought when the first Kokatat burned up; I figured I could live
without a $200 PFD. I was wrong.

Vehicle. Will anyone who bought a car or truck specifically because it made
a better vehicle for carrying kayaks or paddling in general please raise
their hands. Yeah..... I thought so. How about a camper because sleeping on
the ground in a tent lost its luster after age 40? A kayak trailer because
all the kids now have kayaks? Or, a muthah-ship?

House. Who has bought a house specifically because it was well located for
kayaking? Or on the water? Or close to an easy launch site? Or in an area
where you have a bunch of kayak pals? Yeah... more than one of you raised
their hands on this one.

Now I'll be the first to admit that a lot of this stuff can be put to use in
ways other than paddling. You can go hiking with a lot of the same camping
gear you'd take for kayaking. You can use a GPS for geo-caching. Poly
clothing does double-duty in the winter for cross-country skiing. You have
to own a car of some type so it might just as well be one suitable to
carrying kayaks, too. And as for the house.... well, you have to live
somewhere and everyone loves that view.

And I'm ignoring the costs involved in actually going kayaking. Campsite
fees, gasoline, ferry charges. I figure that we'd go on vacation somewhere
and we might actually be saving money in this regard over, say....
Disneyland. You? Maybe not so much.

So kayaking isn't looking like the cheap hobby I thought it was. You may
have noticed that I haven't even counted the price of the kayaks. In the
1970s I owned an aluminum canoe and a Folbot. I still own the aluminum
canoe. But my yard is littered with kayaks of various shapes, sizes and
materials. But the costs of the boats themselves is pretty variable
depending upon design, construction, materials, and whether you bought it
new, used or built it yourself. You can't paddle without a boat (or board,
nowadays) so that cost is a given.

Besides, as it turns out, the boat may be the cheapest part of the equation.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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