Good points David.  An excellent video for the beginning sea kayaker is Kent
Ford's Performance Sea Kayaking. Aforementioned shops in earlier post should
have it in stock.  Instruction is also a good idea.

Max
-----Original Message-----
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@IBM.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Thursday, March 30, 2000 8:17 AM
Subject: A word about kayaks, was: Re: Kayak Transport on a Westy

>At 09:42 3/30/2000, Anthony L. Mourkas wrote:
>>with canoes but I must admit to being a totally ignorant first time kayak
>
>Tony, *be careful* -- it's easy to get in over your head with kayaks.  Also
>easy to get run down b/c they're very hard to see from another vessel.  If
>possible have kayak in high-contrast color (pref white), white paddle,
>bright high-reflective clothing.  And stay away from the mouth of the
>Kennebec until you seriously know what you're doing, it's treacherous
water.
>
>I was cruising past there in Scamp some years ago when two kayakers were
>overdue -- the man was found by helo that night, the woman died and was
>recovered a day or two later.  We were likely within a mile of them at some
>point. The Maine Island Trail Association (URL below) has a kayak safety
>booklet that includes an analysis of that accident.  I commend [the
>booklet] to you highly.  But the two standout points were that they had
>unwittingly gone beyond their experience; and that drift analysis showed
>that the man (saved) and the woman (died) were only maybe a few hundred
>feet apart when he was recovered -- he had a white boat and maybe light
>clothing, she had a dark blue boat.  Another standout as I recall was that
>kayakers who got in trouble and survived very typically thought everything
>was just fine until they were suddenly in dire straits.
>
>It's a great sport, and a few people die every year...
>
>http://www.mita.org/
>http://www.destinationmaine.com/kayak/perils.htm
>
>david
>
>David Beierl - Providence, RI
>  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
>'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
>'85 GL "Poor Relation"