When you kayak in places that kayaks are not really meant to operate, you are at a risk of harm.
Risks of kayaking in cold water is one of the dangers that is involved when you kayak on a water body that is cold.
This is always accompanied with a lot of dangers to the kayak and the person in the kayak.
Some of the risk of kayaking includes kayak flipping over, contacting hypothermia, exposure to sun burn, dehydration, muscle strain and a lot more.
This makes the time you spend kayaking more of an enduring one instead of being fun filled.
But when you practice safe kayaking, such dangers will be reduced.
That is why you have to adapt safety measures that reduce the risk of kayaking on water.
Dangers Of Kayaking In The Ocean
1) Kayak Can Flip Over
Kayaking in the ocean is a bad idea when you are using a kayak.
This is due to the fact that you will be seeing larger vessels moving always.
The water volume that is displaced by large water vessels when moving is enough to make a kayak flip over.
In some of the worst case scenarios, the person in the kayak may drown if a life jacket was not worn.
Apart from coming in contact with displaced water from large ocean vessels, the water current in the ocean is always very fast.
In such a water current, it is not easy to keep your kayak in the direction you are heading if your kayak direction is an opposite of the ocean water current.
This will require more strength from you to move in the right direction that you want to.
At worst cases, your kayak may end up flipping over.
This is one of the risks of kayaking in the ocean.
2) You Can Contact Hypothermia
When you are kayaking on the ocean, one of the things you are going to experience is that the temperature is cold.
Putting yourself out in the cold for a long period of time is very dangerous.
This is because it can lead to a lot of health problems to the person in the kayak.
One of the health challenges that occurs when you kayak in the ocean is the development of hypothermia.
This leads to reduction of the temperature of the body.
As time goes on and the body temperature keeps reducing, some of the organs in the body will begin to fail.
After sometime, the person will die if help does not come speedily in order to take the person to a place that is a bit warm to help remove cold from the person’s body.
3) Exposure To Sun Burn
One of the things that you will observe from some people that kayak is the absence of a shade on their kayak.
This causes the direct contact of the rays of the sun on the body of the person in the kayak.
This is one of the dangers of kayaking in the ocean.
This occurs when you kayak on the ocean water without the use of a kayak canopy.
Due to the fact that some parts of the ocean is very far from the shores of the water, you will spend a lot of time in the sun.
This causes sun burn due to the amount of time you spend exposing your body to sun rays.
4) Dehydration
One of the things that occurs when you kayak is that you are going to make use of a lot of energy in order to paddle your kayak.
Due to the energy used, you will also lose water from your body in the form of sweat.
This causes dehydration in the body of the person in the kayak.
This is very bad if you do not have enough source of good water to rehydrate your body.
That is why it is very important to make sure that you carry some bottle water when you engage in a long distance kayaking.
But in carrying the water, you should make sure that the weight of the water does not impose too much weight that exceeds the weight capacity of the kayak.
5) Exposure To Lightening
Another dangers of kayaking in the ocean is that you are exposed to lightening.
Lightening that occurs when there is a heavy rainfall is very disastrous.
In most of the cases, it leads to electrocution when it occurs.
This is because it carries hundreds to thousands of voltage when it strikes.
Imagine depositing such amount of voltage into the body of someone in the kayak.
That will be instant death with a very slim to no chance of survival.
That is why you have to make sure that you avoid kayaking in the ocean.
The lightening effect is easily neutralized by larger ocean vessels.
This is made possible with the help of the sophisticated technological instruments that are in large boats and ships.
These instruments help in neutralizing the negative effect of lightening.
This makes it safe for ships to move on ocean water without much casualties.
But this is not the same thing when a kayak is involved.
This is because kayaks are not build for such dangerous water bodies hence they lack the necessary instruments to live up to some challenges like lightening.
6) Exposure To Turbulent Water Current
One of the things you will also be faced with when you are kayaking on the ocean water is that you will experience high level of turbulence in the movement of water.
Unlike some water bodies where the speed of the water is slow, that is not the same thing that occur in the ocean water.
The ocean water has a higher speed of water movement.
This makes it unsafe for a kayak to be around on such dangerous water body.
Any mistake can result in the kayak flipping over.
In cases that are worse, the person inside the kayak may drown.
7) Attack From Carnivorous Sea Animals
Have you ever seen a large sea animal on shallow waters?
The answer is no.
This is because shallow waters cannot contain large sea animals.
But when it comes to the ocean that is very large and deep, you will find them in abundance.
This includes the less harmful ones to the ones that are very dangerous.
Some of the dangerous creatures in the ocean are carnivorous.
This makes them attack humans when they see them in the water.
When you are paddling your kayak on an ocean, you might turn to a meal for the dangerous animals in the ocean.
This is one of the dangers of kayaking in the ocean that you have to avoid if you love your live.
Risks Of Kayaking Alone
1) Muscle Strain
Kayaking as a group is always filled with a lot of fun.
It is always a great moment to remember especially when you are kayaking across a long distance.
In such a long distance kayaking, a two person kayak is always a better choice to make use of.
This will reduce the stress of only one person paddling the kayak.
If one person is the only one paddling the kayak along a long stretch of distance, fatigue is bound to set in.
This is mostly felt in the hand.
This is because the hand is what will do most of the work when you are kayaking,
At such an instance, it will lead to muscle strain.
But muscle strain is reduced while kayaking if you are two people in the kayak.
That is one of the risk of kayaking alone that you will face.
2) You May Drown
When kayaking, there might be some casualties that might be encountered.
This could be cases of a kayak flipping over.
In such a time, if there is no help available to rescue the person, a worse thing might occur.
This could lead to the person in the kayak drowning in the water if there was no life jacket worn.
But when you kayak in a group or close to other kayakers, this type of problem will not result in major damages.
This is because other people around will easily come to your rescue.
But when you kayak alone, you may not receive a helping hand early and this could lead to drowning if you are without a life jack or inexperienced with swimming.
3) You May Get Lost
In every year, there is always a record that shows that one or two persons were never seen again after they went with their kayak into deep waters.
This is likely a case in which they got drowned without anybody noticing.
That is why it always important not to go into the deep and turbulent parts of the water alone.
If any casualty develops, you will have nobody to rescue you.
But when people are around you will be easily rescued without missing.
Risks Of Kayaking In Cold Water
1) You Can Contact Hypothermia
Kayaking in the cold is very dangerous when you are not properly kitted with the right gears.
This gets worse when you kayak for a long period of time in a place that is very cold.
At such time, the cold will find way into your body and this is very bad for your health.
This causes a health issue that is called hypothermia when the cold is very severe.
If help does not come early, you could lose your life as the cold will damage most of the vital organs In your body.
This is one of the dangers of kayaking in cold water that you should make sure that you avoid.
2) You May Experience Muscle Strain
When you kayak on a water that is cold, you will feel some muscle strain some of the times.
This reduces the efficiency of the person in the kayak a lot of times when this occurs.
That is why you must make sure that you protect yourself by wearing a thick clothe anytime you are kayaking in cold places.
3) You Experience Cold Shock
When the water is very cold, one of the things you are going to experience when you dip your hand into such a water is that you will experience a cold shock.
When you kayak in a water that is very cold, you might also experience a cold shock too.
This occurs when you dip your hand into the cold water.
Conclusion
Kayaking is great and is one of the most enjoyable sports I participate in when I am not playing tennis during my leisure time.
You could have the same passion for kayaking too.
What you have to do is to make sure that you are safety conscious anytime you kayak.
That is why you have to avoid the dangers and risks of kayaking in the cold, ocean or risk of kayaking alone.
Further Reading
How To Reduce Risks Of Kayaking