[Redouane Fakir]

After 4 painful deaths at sea in one week, time for a reminder about double-kayak caution: They’re certainly great for introducing beginners to the sport, as they give great feeling of stability in calm seas. But, there’s a big but’ here: they may not always be the safest in rough conditions of chop, wind, current, etc. Much less manoeuvrability, requirement of double-specific rescue techniques (ever tried emptying a swamped overturned giant double?) etc, compared to single kayaks. Good news however: Things can be made to work just fine (there’s a catch): The summery of requisites for safety in double kayaks is, you guessed it, training and practice that are specific to double kayaks. (Oh no, more work? More sport!) One of the interesting differences compared to single kayaks is that the two paddlers of the heroic crew must keep their strokes and manoeuvres *tightly coordinated* especially when negotiating a wave or a wind gust, otherwise the whole double show can go unstable and actually become less safe than the humble lonely single yak.