A lot of times, I hear people ask is kayaking dangerous for non swimmers?
Kayaking is not dangerous for people that cannot swim when you follow the safety rules of kayaking safely.
But it is always an added advantage to know how to swim when you kayak.
This will help handle casualties easily on the water if any occurs.
If you want to kayak and do not know how to swim, you have to make sure that you kayak with the right safety precautions.
This includes using a life jacket, kayaking close to the shores, not drinking high alcoholic drinks when kayaking.
These safety precautions will help someone who cannot swim to have a safe and enjoyable time when kayaking without casualties.
What Makes Kayaking Dangerous For Non Swimmers
1) Kayaking Without a Life Jacket
As a person who does not know how to swim, one of the most important things you have to pay attention to is your level of safety when on the water.
One of the ways of attaining safety when you are on the water is by making use of a personal floatation device.
An example of a personal floatation device is the life jacket.
It should be worn at all times when you are on the water body as a person who does not know how to swim.
If there is no life jacket around where you want to kayak, you have to stay away from kayaking on the water.
Some people may be stubborn and make use of the kayak without a life jacket when they do not know how to swim.
This is very dangerous and is one of the things that makes kayaking dangerous for non swimmers.
It should be avoided at all cost to help ensure the safety of a non swimmers when kayaking.
2) Kayaking Far From The Shores Of The Water
When you are someone who does not know how to swim, you have to be extra cautious on some of the places on the water you kayak on.
This is because you have to avoid water bodies with turbulent waves.
Such turbulent waves is experienced as you go deep into the water body.
That is why it is important for you to kayak close to the shores of the water body if you are a non swimmer.
This will keep you visible to other people around the water body.
If any casualty shows up, it will be very easy for you to be rescued by the people around.
But when you kayak far from the shores of the water, the level of damage you sustain might be huge as people may not quickly see you.
That is why you have to make sure that you are not too far from the shores of the water body when you kayak without much experience in swimming.
3) Kayaking Alone In Deep Water
When asked questions like is kayaking dangerous for non swimmers, one of the things that comes to my mind is a non swimmer that kayaks alone in deep waters.
Such is very dangerous and should be avoided.
This is because in the deep water, the nature of wave turbulence that you will be exposed to is very bad.
As a result of this, your kayak will be unstable while on the water body.
At worse cases as always seen, the kayak may flip over.
This puts the person in the kayak into the water.
If it is someone that knows how to swim, it might not be a problem to swim to the position of the displaced kayak.
But it is a serious problem for someone that is kayaking and does not know how to swim.
This puts the person in a high level of danger and may lead to easy drowning if there was no life jacket worn.
That is why it is not advisable for non swimmers to kayak into the deep parts of any water body alone.
4) Kayaking With a Faulty Kayak
Kayaking with a kayak that is faulty is like going on a suicide journey if you are someone that does not know how to swim.
That is why you have to make sure that you examine your kayak well before putting it on the water to kayak.
If you do not, you may be risking your life with a faulty kayak.
That is why it is very important to make sure that you do not engage in activities that destroy your kayak.
This includes activities like dragging your kayak on a hard surface.
This destroys your kayak and makes it less safe for kayaking.
5) Kayaking With a Bare Body
Kayaking is a great water sport that is very enjoyable.
In some of the times when you kayak, the weather might be very sunny.
This makes the kayaking scene very hot to some people.
Some might pull off their clothes and even pull off their life jacket too while kayaking.
As a person with limited knowledge on how to swim, you should not pull off your life jacket from your body when kayaking due to heat.
This exposes you to a high degree of risk.
As a non swimmers that is kayaking, your life jacket should always be on your body anytime you are kayaking or close to water bodies.
This helps in increasing your survival rate in case any casualty sets in.
6) Turbulent Weather Condition
Another thing that makes kayaking dangerous for people who cannot swim is when they encounter turbulent weather condition while they are kayaking.
This can be thunder or lightening.
It could be a heavy storm that puts the kayak in a very unstable position.
At such an instance, the kayak will easily flip over.
This separates the person in the kayak from the kayak.
This is always a deadly experience for someone who is a non swimmer.
This is because it will be difficult for the person to swim to the position in which the kayak has been displaced to.
This leaves the person stranded in the water till help and rescue shows up.
If the rescue team does not come early, the person may drown.
That is why it is very bad for a person who cannot swim to kayak far from the shores of the water alone when the weather condition is bad.
7) Attack From Wild Sea Animals
One of the things that some kayakers experience when they kayak in deep and large water bodies like the sea or the ocean is usually an attack from wild animals in the water.
Some of the animals found in water bodies that are large and wide are usually carnivorous animals.
An example of such includes a shark.
When they sense that a human is closely, they know that a meal is close.
In order to have a taste of the human as a meal, they attack the vessel that the human stays in.
Sailors experience this a lot of times but large ships are more superior for such an attack.
But when it comes to a kayak, the chance of survival is very slim.
Just a little push from the shark will cause the kayak to flip over.
At such point, the shark can easily eat the vulnerable person.
That is why it is a very bad idea for a person who cannot swim or an inexperienced swimmer to kayak in a large water body filled with dangerous and carnivorous sea animals.
This is one of the reasons why questions like is kayaking dangerous for non swimmers when others see some of the casualties a non swimmer faces when kayaking.
To avoid these casualties, you have to be safety conscious when you kayak.
Further Reading