Just wondering what the average distance one could kayak in day, or rather
eight hour period? Nothing too intense and under normal weather conditions.
With hiking it's about 10 miles, biking is about 40 miles. Is kayaking
somewhere in between?

My friends and I were thinking of kayaking on Lake Champlaign in Vermont this
summer and part of the plan would be to kayak up to some of the norther islands
that allow for camping. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how far south we
have to be to provide a good day's journey, though nothing that would wipe out
inexperienced, yet fit, 32 year olds.


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On 18 Jun 2004 15:42:10 GMT, rap (Lord Nerd on
High) posted:

Just wondering what the average distance one could kayak in day, or rather
eight hour period? Nothing too intense and under normal weather conditions.
With hiking it's about 10 miles, biking is about 40 miles. Is kayaking
somewhere in between?

My friends and I were thinking of kayaking on Lake Champlaign in Vermont this
summer and part of the plan would be to kayak up to some of the norther islands
that allow for camping. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how far south we
have to be to provide a good day's journey, though nothing that would wipe out
inexperienced, yet fit, 32 year olds.

I have no idea if I'm representative or not, but paddling one leg up
the Ohio River, and taking it fairly easy on the leg back, I can
easily do over twenty miles in five or so hours. I've gone 25 miles
in six hours, again, half against the current, and half with.

Mike Soja

That's good to hear. I think if we left from where the kayaks are stored (most
preferable) then it would be about a 30 mile trip to the campsite.


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Lord Nerd on High wrote in
:

Just wondering what the average distance one could kayak in day,
or rather eight hour period? Nothing too intense and under normal
weather conditions. With hiking it's about 10 miles, biking is
about 40 miles. Is kayaking somewhere in between?


Using a GPS to five us an indication of speed, two of us measured our
average speed over a 30 minute stretch of "lazy" paddling on
fla****er (no noticable wind or current). We were sitting at a steady
6-odd kph (roughly 3.6 mph). It didn't take much effort to boost that
speed up to 7 or 8 kph (4.5 - 5 mph).

You will want to factor in pee breaks, lunch, and (depending on how
comfortable your seats are) rest breaks. I'd guess that 30 miles
would take anywhere from 8 hours to longer. A full day.

HTH,
--
Darryl

Just wondering what the average distance one could kayak in day, or rather
eight hour period?


When "sea kayaking," if I am paddling alone at a comfortable speed I find
that I generally do about 4 knots per hour. I can pretty much sustain this
speed all day long. I am a fairly competent paddler who prefers relatively fast
boats. So I would guess that you should be able to do 3 to 3.5, if not 4 knots
per hour, multiplied by however long you feel you can paddle in a day.
This said, you must also factor in wind and currents. Also, the more people
you add to the group, generally the slower the group will travel. Not to
mention sight seeing along the way will also slow you down. There really are no
hard a fast numbers, but these are, in my experiance, the ball park figures.

Scott
So.Cal.

"Ki Ayker" wrote...

When "sea kayaking," if I am paddling alone at a comfortable speed I
find
that I generally do about 4 knots per hour. I can pretty much sustain this
speed all day long. I am a fairly competent paddler who prefers relatively
fast
boats. So I would guess that you should be able to do 3 to 3.5, if not 4
knots
per hour, multiplied by however long you feel you can paddle in a day.

Let's see... That's 4 knots at the end of the first hour, 8 knots at the
end of the second hour. . . and 32 knots at the end of an 8-hour day.
That's one mighty fast kayak!

OTOH, you might have meant "4 knots" or "4 nautical miles per hour"... ;-)

"MikeSoja" wrote in message
...
On 18 Jun 2004 15:42:10 GMT, rap (Lord Nerd on
High) posted:

Just wondering what the average distance one could kayak in day, or
rather
eight hour period? Nothing too intense and under normal weather
conditions.
With hiking it's about 10 miles, biking is about 40 miles. Is kayaking
somewhere in between?

My friends and I were thinking of kayaking on Lake Champlaign in Vermont
this
summer and part of the plan would be to kayak up to some of the norther
islands
that allow for camping. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how far
south we
have to be to provide a good day's journey, though nothing that would
wipe out
inexperienced, yet fit, 32 year olds.

I have no idea if I'm representative or not, but paddling one leg up
the Ohio River, and taking it fairly easy on the leg back, I can
easily do over twenty miles in five or so hours. I've gone 25 miles
in six hours, again, half against the current, and half with.

Mike Soja

I'm extremely impressed with that. I recently kayaked around Manhattan, the
tide with us the whole way.. I believe the trip was just under 30 miles.
The 40 or so of us did it in just under 9 hours including a pair of 45
minute breaks.

Depends on the kayak and the paddler. A good number to plan around for 20,
or 25 for an 8 hour period, a bit less if you're not in a touring kinda
kayak or are a weak paddler. With a decent boat it's easy to sustain about
3.5, maybe 4, mph for a long period of time.

Jon

"Lord Nerd on High" wrote in message
...
Just wondering what the average distance one could kayak in day, or rather
eight hour period? Nothing too intense and under normal weather
conditions.
With hiking it's about 10 miles, biking is about 40 miles. Is kayaking
somewhere in between?

My friends and I were thinking of kayaking on Lake Champlaign in Vermont
this
summer and part of the plan would be to kayak up to some of the norther
islands
that allow for camping. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how far
south we
have to be to provide a good day's journey, though nothing that would wipe
out
inexperienced, yet fit, 32 year olds.


==
remove the crap to email

Jon C wrote:

I guess I'm just trying to figure out how far
south we
have to be to provide a good day's journey, though nothing that would
wipe out
inexperienced, yet fit, 32 year olds.

I have no idea if I'm representative or not, but paddling one leg up
the Ohio River, and taking it fairly easy on the leg back, I can
easily do over twenty miles in five or so hours. I've gone 25 miles
in six hours, again, half against the current, and half with.

I'm extremely impressed with that. I recently kayaked around Manhattan, the
tide with us the whole way.. I believe the trip was just under 30 miles.
The 40 or so of us did it in just under 9 hours including a pair of 45
minute breaks.

Yes, I used to regularly run that trip for the MH Canoe Club starting in
NJ at Liberty State Park and going counter-clockwise around Manhattan.
AIRC, the actual distance was about 32 miles but the effective
'flat-water' distance was only a little over 20 miles due to the aiding
effect of the tide and the Hudson current.

I'd urge the original poster to be rather conservative in planning his
trip. The distances and speeds cited by most posters so far are
certainly believable, but seem on the high side for a pair of paddlers
who are inexperienced at kayaking - especially if there's the
possibility of significant headwinds.
The kayak/canoe trip around Manhattan was certainly more strenuous than
a typical 10 mile hike or 40 mile bike ride that the OP gave for
comparisons.

On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 04:28:56 GMT, "Jon C"
posted:

"MikeSoja" wrote in message
.. .

I have no idea if I'm representative or not, but paddling one leg up
the Ohio River, and taking it fairly easy on the leg back, I can
easily do over twenty miles in five or so hours. I've gone 25 miles
in six hours, again, half against the current, and half with.

I'm extremely impressed with that. I recently kayaked around Manhattan, the
tide with us the whole way.. I believe the trip was just under 30 miles.
The 40 or so of us did it in just under 9 hours including a pair of 45
minute breaks.

I do work pretty hard going upstream. There's no percentage in
drifting backward, so I keep it moving.

I do 80% of my paddling on rivers, almost always first against the
current, and then back. Invariably it takes me about the same
amount of time each direction, mostly because I tend to drift on the
way back, trying to sneak up on birds and other wildlife. The 25
mile trip I mentioned above, the upstream leg took me 2 hours and 55
minutes, while the downstream took me 3 hours and five minutes. If
I had to guess the speed of the Ohio River in summer I'd say
somewhere between two and three mph. With all the rain this Spring,
there have been a lot of days when it's been running too fast for me
to fool with.

Mike Soja