Life Jacket Tips

Here are a few helpful tips when choosing and using a Life Jacket or Personal Flotation Device (PFD).

When the Water Beckons

So you might have been reading my blog and had an interest growing into what kayaking is and you may even want to try it out. But one of the things holding you back is you just don't know what you will need.

Food? 

Water? 

Tent? 

In the next couple paragraphs I will give you a brief list of what you might find helpful when going out on an afternoon of kayaking.

• First of all you will need the basics such as a kayak, life-vest, paddle, and comfortable clothing. These are the bare necessities to kayak. 

• When it comes to comfort and making your trip the best possible experience that it can be you want to provide a couple of other things past the basics. When kayaking you are almost constantly exposed to sun on a nice day so a pair of sunglasses is definitely a must and if you easily burn you will want to bring along that high SPF sunscreen. 

• Another side effect of the sun is that you sweat and lose quite a bit of water so you will most definitely want to bring water. Two of the easiest ways to carry water are Nalgene water bottles or a Camelback. These are both engineered with the outdoor enthusiast in mind so you will find them very helpful. 

• Since kayaking is exercise (although it is easy to forget since it is so much fun) you will want to restore the electrolytes that you burn with some quick and very healthy snacks. I have found that trail mix is a quick and easy snack to make but sometimes I splurge a little and buy some of the nice and very nutritious Clif Bars or Shot Blocks. They are not terribly expensive and they are great at replacing electrolytes and keeping you ready to paddle. 

•  Bringing extra clothes is almost second nature no matter what sport you are doing. Gloves are great if you are going to be paddling for an extend period of time. Also you might want to bring a change of dry clothes in case you might happen to tip over or your friends decide to have a water fight. 

• Lastly I would say bring a camera. If you have a waterproof one it helps but as long as you are careful you can bring just the regular old camera. A good security policy for your valuables is either an Otter Box or a watertight bag. Otter Boxes are amazing containers that are fully waterproof, almost indestructible, and they also float on water making them ideal for kayaking. They can run kinda pricy though which was I decided on a waterproof bag called a Dry bag that can hold most all your valuables and still keep them safe without the indestructible qualities or price. 

I hope this is helpful and hope to see you out on the water soon!

Photo Gallery

I thought I would add some pictures to show how awesome kayaking can be! These are photos of my family and I kayaking near Venice, FL two summers ago. Enjoy!