According to the latest statistics, kayaking is one of the fastest growing outdoor sports activities in the United States today, with well over a million people already paddling and a great many more potential water loving outdoor enthusiasts looking to join the "kayaking club." Kayaking is especially attractive for people with families offering an easy way to get everyone together and also because it offers affordable equipment and instruction. Small children as young as four years old can easily and safely join in this fun family experience and learn a skill and fun hobby that can be enjoyed throughout an entire lifetime.
If you think you would like to give this a shot for your family the first thing you need to do is determine how many kayaks you will need. Even though there are four person kayaks offered by some manufacturers, in most cases you are better off splitting up into two groups and buy two, two-seaters instead. This way if you have a family of four you will have one parent and one child in each kayak. Be sure that the paddles are of the appropriate size for each person and also that you have the correct life jacket sizes for each person participating.
Now you will need to ascertain what each person's skill level is. For example if dad is highly skilled and mom is moderately skilled but none of the children have ever kayaked before the best idea may be to take a kayaking class for the entire family before you go out on any intense kayaking trips so that everyone knows how to do the basics.
If you are just now beginning to look into kayaking you may want to rent kayaks a few times first to see how everyone likes it before you go all out and spend a couple thousand dollars on kayaks and accessories. Depending upon where you live you can rent kayaks from $30 an hour to as much as a hundred an hour or more for guided tours. If your family falls in love with the sport you will be able to find kayaks under $500 for starters and you can pay as much as $9,000 for an extreme custom made one, although I can't imagine why you would need one that extreme.
The beauty of the family kayaking experience is that it helps to bring families together to focus on accomplishing common goals. This is a fun and healthy undertaking that is much better to do as a family than many other activities and even though it takes a little effort it is way better for you than just going out to the movies or something similarly sedentary.
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