Kayaking, Canoeing & Rafting

Being a scoutmaster has its challenges but I love it. Both of my boys are members of the troop and it means that I get to spend extra time with them doing all the great outdoorsy stuff that we all love and the latest thing with the scouts is kayaking, canoeing and rafting. We were donated some money by a local philanthropist who had an interest in kayaking, canoeing and rafting on the proviso that we spent it on bringing kayaking, canoeing and rafting to the boys.

We thought that was a pretty good deal and the only reason that we had never taken them kayaking, canoeing and rafting was the expense so it was the perfect opportunity to add kayaking, canoeing and rafting to the things that were available for the scouts to participate in.

But first we had to buy our own equipment for kayaking, canoeing and rafting from the generous donation and that was left up to Bob and I who had a little knowledge about kayaking, canoeing and rafting. The first thing we did was put a list of the things that we needed for kayaking, canoeing and rafting to make sure that we didn’t miss anything out, this is what we came up with:

The kayaking, canoeing and rafting essentials

1. Kayaking, canoeing and rafting Waterproof Dry Bags 5L: These are essential to help keep the scouts things dry. Not just if there s rain or bad weather but I imagine there will be a few mishaps when they end up in the river after all they are learning and there is nothing worse than having no dry clothes after spending a day wet – not to mention wet food;

2. Neoprene Booties/gloves for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: These not only protect hands and feet but they give extra grip when kayaking, canoeing and rafting for long periods of time. Some of the scouts who were pretty keen elected to buy their own and we bought a few different sizes for the other scouts to wear if they wanted to;

3. Super capacity bilge sponge for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: The super capacity bilge sponge holds up to 23 oz of water without leaking which is over 15 times its weight. It can be used for maintenance and bailing and is machine washable – of and the scouts can use them to wash the boats as well;

4. Paddles/oars for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: We wouldn’t get very far without these. We bought some for each boat that we purchased plus an extra one of each in case of breakage or getting lost in the water. We bought good quality oars and paddles in the hope that it will be a long time before we need to buy replacement ones;

5. Inflatable boats for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: We debated what type of boats we should buy and there were compelling reasons for both fiberglass and inflatable. We eventually went with the inflatable because we have limited storage space at the scout hall, they are easier to transport and we were advised that they were more flexible and better for beginners;

6. Two-way radios for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: We bought a small two-way radio for each boat in case we got separated on the river and we needed to contact each other in places where mobile phones would not necessarily work. We also reasoned with these that they would be handy when camping and hiking – very useful pieces of safety equipment;

7. Life vests for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: We had already talked to the scouts about this and the rule was made that no person was allowed when kayaking, canoeing and rafting to be on the water and in a boat without a life vest that included adults accompanying the trip. Safety was our number one concern;

8. Air compressor for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: We bought a heavy duty compressor to blow up the boats to save us time and energy that could be used on kayaking, canoeing and rafting. The plan was that a car and crew would go ahead of everyone and blow up the boats ready for when everybody else arrived – we would take it in turns in providing this support role. This crew would also carry a radio and patches in case of any issues along the way;

9. First Aid Kit for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: We hate to 5think of anything going wrong especially where our kids are involved but to me what is worse than someone getting hurt is not being prepared to be able to fix it. So we bought a few first aid kits to spread out amongst the boats just in case;

10. DVD/books for kayaking, canoeing and rafting: The scouts are all about teaching and providing kids with important skills in life and as none of us were experts on kayaking, canoeing and rafting we bought a DVD and a couple of books for the kids to look at on safety, things to look out for that kind of thing. We even held a night where we invited the parents as well and we all watched the DVD together before we went kayaking, canoeing and rafting.

Once we had all of our equipment for kayaking, canoeing and rafting we set out on the first of many fun days spent on the local river exploring and having fun.