Kayak Diving

Introduction

Sounds funny doesn't it? What do diving and kayaks have in common? Well not much on the surface, except that a kayak does offer a convenient way of travelling to dive sites that might otherwise not be possible or feasible by boat. For those divers who have never tried a kayak it does offer a very maneuverable and stable way of getting over the water. It's also surprisingly comfortable. The problem is that it requires some hard work paddling the thing and some skill in getting in and out of your dive gear while perched on a slim kayak.

Using Kayaks

Many divers will not have used a kayak before. So the first step is to try one without worrying about the diving part of it. Two of us (Ray and Richard) took two kayaks out for a spin from Fort Bovisand on a calm July evening. Ray is an experienced kayacker. Richard had never used one in his life. We kitted up in membrane dry suits and took the kayaks down to the water's edge. Ray gave the necessary instructions which largely amounted to how to hold the paddle and how to get into the kayak. There is a definite technique to this that involves leaning over the body of the kayak, grasping one of the straps with your right hand and then pulling the kayak underneath you. Suddenly you're into the cockpit of the kayak. You sit in the seat and then adjust the side straps over your knees. This helps to stabilise you in the kayak, although at first it seems quite strange. Then you start paddling. In the calm harbour this was incredibly easy. The kayak is very stable and controllable.  

After a little practice we ventured out of the harbour and went down towards Rennie's Rocks - about a mile southward. It was very pleasant and quiet. It was also surprisingly fast. Before long and with little physical effort we were going great guns. It was a lovely evening with lots of boats out on the water. The navy was around (Thursdays seems to be their training day). A dive boat passed us on its way to an evening dive off the Mewstone. We rounded Rennies's Rocks and headed back hugging the shore line. We were able to get into bays, and admire the good vis. We tried getting out of the kayak for a snorkel. This was easy to do but the importance of securely tethering the kayak now became apparent. The kayak is a very stable above-water platform. You don't want to lose it. The easiest way is to anchor one kayak and tie to other to it. Great care has to taken as to the best way of doing this. We paddled back to Bovisand and landed the kayaks back into the harbour. It had been a lovely evening.

Diving with a kayak

Two days later we repeated the exercise but this time with dive gear. In the stern of a dive kayak is a place where you can stow your cylinder and stab jacket. They are fixed in place by bungy straps and also a tether is fixed between the cylinder and the kayak. The tether is extremely important. It is a piece of strong rope with eyelets on both ends. It ensures that the dive kit is always attached to the kayak. We placed our fins, mask, snorkel and weight belt in the depression between our legs. Again, this kit was tethered. 

Off we went. Again the stability and maneuverability of the kayak was obvious. However, as we went out of the shelter of the harbour we were aware that it wasn't as calm as before. We went around the headland but after a while it was obvious that we weren't going to have an easy time. So we headed back around the headland and selected a sheltered site and anchored one of the kayaks. Then we tethered the other one to it. 

Then came the fun bit. First of all we put on our fins, mask and snorkel. Then the weight belt. Our dry suits had enough buoyancy so we slipped off the kayak into the sea.  We deployed our tanks by filling the stabs with air and then rolled them off the back of the kayak. We slipped into them while they were still tethered. We unhitched from the kayaks and we were off. We went down the anchor chain into about 10m. We attached a reel to the anchor and then went off for our dive on a compass bearing. Soon the reel had completely unwound. We left it on the sea bed and continued on our dive. We went up the channel and had lots to look at. Fish, reef and even some wreckage that we had no idea was there. Then we altered direction and navigated back to our reel. We couldn't find it. OK, so our navigation had somehow fouled up. We surfaced and saw our kayaks some 20ms away - still securely anchored.  We snorkelled over to our kayaks, went back down to the anchor line and found that our reel had been reeled up by persons unknown and left attached to the anchor.  Bastards. We ascended back to the kayaks and prepared to reel our gear back in. This was not as difficult as we thought. First of all, we tethered our stabs to the kayak. Then we got out of them and slid the cylinders back onto the rear section. In sheltered water we were able to stow the gear with little problem. Then off came the weight belt which was also stowed into the kayak. Getting into the kayak by grabbing one of the straps and pulling the kayak underneath ourselves aided by a bit of fin power was now easy. We paddled back into harbour, having done a dive that we wouldn't have done as a shore or RIB dive.

Conclusions

There's a lot to be said for diving with a kayak. This web site will give you a very enthusiastic introduction. However, the following points probably apply.

• Calm conditions are important. It's no fun paddling a kayak in a hefty wind.
• Anchoring the kayak is vital. One of the advantages of the kayak is that it provides a stable above-water platform with which you can sort out your dive plan. You must be able to return to it easily.
• Although paddling a kayak is remarkably easy and comfortable, the physical effort of paddling may contribute to post dive DCI problems if you're using it for deep diving (25 metres or more). It's probably best used for relatively shallow dives.
• It certainly encourages diving places that you wouldn't do with a RIB.
• It's fun - especially on a calm day.

 

 

Addendum

In September 2001 we repeated the experience at a different site. After a short refamiliarisation exercise in the kayaks around Thurlestone Rock we went touring the shores of South Devon. We found the Louis Sheid wreck, anchored the kayaks and had an excellent dive on the wreck. On ascent it was surprisingly easy to re-enter the kayaks and carry on exploring the shoreline. 

This is an exciting and fun way to find new dive sites.

Visit Kayakman

Richard Knights - September 2001