Gifts for Newbie Kayakers?

[Daywalker]

Hey there, rivertypes. I'm a fan of the unfrozen water (though I prefer it frozen and falling from the sky) but I've always done my river travel in canoes. Recently, my parents (~60 years old) bought a few kayaks and have been using them a pretty decent amount. I would like to encourage this active behavious by providing them with anything that would help them enjoy it more. My mom owns a sit-in kayak and uses it for lake and river "touring" with a few friends. She likes the boat and the paddle she has and the only complaint I've heard is loading the kayak into/onto her RAV4. My dad has a sit-on-top and uses it for fishing on smaller rivers.

Is there any standard equipment that they might be missing or some upgrades that they might not think of? For a skier in a similar position I might recommend quality socks, goggles, gloves, lift ticket, maybe a helmet depending on the person, or a certificate to demo some good skis. What are some equivalent kayaking gifts? If it helps they're in Virginia and currently only paddling on the "nice" days.

[ski_adk]

If there is any chance that they might have to portage at all, get them a kayak carrier. It can strap onto the kayak while paddling and saves a lot of sweat and tears if there's a spot where one might need to portage.

[chrismo720]

get them whitewater boats, all 60 + year olds love chargeing class 4/5 and boofing 20 foot falls.....

[spindrift]

There are these gizmos called Hully Rollers that let someone prop one end of a boat up on the rear roof rack and then slide it up onto the car. Given your comments on loading boats onto the car, they might be of interest.

http://www.backcountry.com?asdf/stor...=hully+rollers

http://www.yakima.com/Product.aspx?id=48

Also consider getting them either really nice paddle jackets (not cheap) or the little folding cart wheels you can use to drag touring/rec boats around (similar to the ones under the canoe above). If they paddle in colder weather & splashy conditions, they might appreciate pogies as stocking stuffers. Also, if their sit-on-tops have hatches, think about small Bill's Bags, or similar dry bags. None of those hatches are 100% reliable or watertight - so those bags are great for keeping things dry when they really want to stay dry.

[Conundrum]

polarized sunglasses

[kayaktheworld]

A nice camera and a Pelican Case?

[jscreekin]

I second the polarized sunglasses, I've been amazed at what a difference they make for rafting, almost seems mandatory for rec boating.

[0BernhardFranz]

buy the best forget the rest:Palm river vest I bought that on ebay - go for ebay or so.
EPIRP or other location beacon
two way radio com 3 devices
thuraya phones in plastic bags
sid suit
maybe even a high ocean rescue vest that will keep head out of water
shark repeller if they go where predators lurk and some form of predator defense - grizzly, blue shark or what it is called that goes up 600 km depends on area
good maps
line to connect kajak kajaker paddle etc
powerful flotation bags
my ma is 64 and uses the wildwater raft DIESEL 75 as it is saver from capsizing
kajaksail
first aid kit
waterproof bags for anything
key flotation device
high quality paddle on ebay so you can afford it
bf

[dingbatoolpud]

It's tough to argue with the polarized glasses, but something that has made my trips nicer is a cheap-ass Garmin GPS unit.

Mine holds 8mb of maps (street-level detail for one geographic area) and allows the user a number of options:

1 - track your speed and distance traveled
2 - easily come back to your drop-in point (waypoint/bookmark)
3 - when used with mapping software, you can bookmark a stopping point and not miss it
4 - compass

Mine is the blue Garmin Vista (I think) and it's waterproof so I just clip it to my belt (GPS is on a string attached to me via one of those mini giveaway carabiniers) and sits on top of my spray skirt.

Other than that I would think the Pelican Case would be a good idea or a nice dry-bag (I have several, but prefer this one by Sea-to-Summit which is totally see-thru) to help keep their sandwiches, wallet and keys from getting soggy.

-DBTP