Launching Your Kayak

June-July 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Michael Pardy

Low freeboard makes climbing in and out fairly easy.
Swim grids on modern boats work well.Photo by Laurie MacBride.

Motherships can create launching problems similar to fixed or floating docks. It can be a real stretch to enter or exit your kayak, depending on the freeboard of the mothership or the height of the dock.

The necessary techniques are related and require some upper body strength and flexibility. If either of these are a problem, you may have to consider creating a platform lower to the water.

Since mothership paddlers will sometimes launch from a dock when they're tied up, the techniques below are doubly relevant.

FLOATING DOCK (or low freeboard)

  1. Place your kayak in the water and your paddle near the edge of dock.

  2. Sit on the dock with legs down into kayak cockpit and your feet in front of the seat, is possible.

  3. Place both hands on the dock toward the front of the kayak and keep them there!

  4. Stand up in the kayak with your hands and weight on the dock. Be sure to keep your hands and weight there.

  5. Lower yourself into the kayak by straightening your leg closest to the dock and sliding it into the cockpit. Still keep your hands on the dock. If the dock is high, you will be hanging from your arms. One knee will be bent out of the cockpit and you will be sitting on your bum.

  6. Slide your other leg into the kayak.

  7. In this position, you are now sitting and can let go of the dock. Retrieve your paddle and off you go.

This technique works well for docks up to two feet high off the water. It also works better with large kayak cockpits. Narrower cockpits will require you to slide both legs in at once in step 5. The trick is to keep your weight on the dock to balance yourself and your kayak. Be sure to keep your hands on the dock until your legs are in the kayak

FIXED DOCKS (or higher freeboard)

For higher, fixed docks, the technique is similar, but you will have to hang from your hands and ultimately release them beforeyou are all the way in. In this situation, you may consider rigging a paddlefloat outrigger (as in the standard paddlefloat rescue) to give yourself a measure of stability. Sponsons will also give you the same (or more) stability, but watch out for barnacles and other encrusting marine life on the dock which might puncture them.

A final option is to perfect a 'seal launch' off the dock. If the dock is wooden and doesn't have any protruding metal parts, you can simply place your kayak parallel to the edge of the dock, get in, put your skirt on, and hop your kayak off into the water. This works quite well on docks up to about five feet. Higher than that, and you are better off placing your kayak perpendicular and overhanging the edge before going in. In either situation, you should have excellent bracing skills, be able to roll, and should wear a helmet. It's also much safer with a paddling buddy on hand.

© Michael Pardy is Director and Lead Trainer, Sea Kayak Instruction & Leadership Systems Ltd. skils@shaw.ca, 250-382-3083.

Editor's Note: Boaters with high freeboard and no swim grid can also hang a temporary platform over the side. A broad plank supported by two ropes will do nicely. Or a ship's boarding ladder might be feasible. In any case, once you've developed a system which suits you and your boat, it's a piece of cake in calm conditions.