2 person kayak safety

My opinion is that for non-rollers, a good tandem kayak in skilled hands is safer than a single kayak and about equivalent or superior to two singles, in similarly capable hands.  There are many factors involved  including speed, ability to make headway in wind,  general stability and the opportunity of relief for an injured or disabled paddler.

But I don’t expect many to agree with me – there is a significant prejudice against tandem kayaks, probably because they are often associated with less skilled paddlers and families.

There is some discussion on the VictoriaBC subreddit about the wind storm they would have been caught in.

For those of you that have experience in gnarly sea state. If someone in single gets caught in such a wind storm with waves causing the vessel to capsize, could this hypothetical person “wait out” the wind storm by performing rolls to right themselves anytime they get caught and turned over by a wave?

Not considering stamina and endurance. If one could perform recovery rolls for 30 – 60 mins could they use that skill alone until the sea state returns to something more tame?

Wow, I definitely thought of our double as a very stable tank and have not practiced rescues in it. We typically go out in a “bomber and a fighter jet” formation with my husband paddling the 18’ double with our son in the front seat and I go in a single as support. I am really not sure if I would be able to flip over the loaded double alone while my husband hangs on to our son and kayak in rough seas. Obviously, we are very conservative when paddling with our kid. Need to practice this!

Would there be interest in a doubke kayak strokes and rescues course?

Peter

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.