safety questions

As some of you may know, I am new to the idea of kayaking and plan to order my new yak soon, and generally, I am incredibly excited.  Most anytime I see a body of water, I have this urge to want to be out there moving across it, feeling the spray, getting off the shore, and having that personal time away from the crowds and normal life.  Other times....I get concerned I will be eaten, lost, drown, or struck by lightning.  I plan to fish lakes, mostly urban, for at least a year. 

I have been reading the "Safety First" section, and frankly, it is putting me off getting into the sport a bit.  I am pretty happy with life, and am not into adrenaline sports, like sky diving or mountain climbing.  I like safety, I like situations where common sense and preparation can prevail, I like to know what I am doing is sensible.  If a freak occurrence takes place, sure I will fight it out, but I try to use my smarts, planning, strategy, and preparedness to avoid the nasty unexpected as much as possible.  "Luck favors the prepared."

However, as said, the "Safety First" section of the site has me a little spooked.  Is this really such a crazy dangerous sport where people often die and yaks are abandoned at sea?  How much of these horror stories are "user error" and how many are "freak accidents" and how many are just the reality of the sport?

I know for sure no water sport is ever 100% safe, even for the veteran, but there are levels in most sports, there are expected outcomes.  Some of the store owners who also guide have told me they rarely if ever see a guide customer capsize, even if inexperienced.  Then I read here someone talking about a "certain position" just turning around in the yak that is guaranteed to tip you over into the drink....yikes.  On the one hand I get this warm and fuzzy that they are fairly stable platforms, others seem to paint them as death traps. 

I would also like to fish and photograph on lakes year round Jan-Dec - is this possible, or is yak'king only a summer sport?  Stories of hypothermia have me a bit freaked out.  I am happy to invest in any and all safety clothes, such as wet/dry suits etc. 

Again, I don't plan to sea yak for over a year, but I am also not what some would call the "swimmer type."  I am dense, muscular, spent years playing rugby, I don't float well.  I also don't consider myself a swimmer, never was a guy at school in swim meets etc, as in NEVER.  I can get in my local pool and swim about, I can do my thing and be fairly acrobatic in the water, but if I was in swimming trunks and someone said swim a mile, well I couldn't.  I imagine in a PFD with the flotation, I have the strength to swim for a long time - is this a misconception?

Anyways, looking for some pro opinions on whether being into kayaks means being a pro swimmer and if it is really as scary for lake fishing as the safety first section makes it out to be (I realize it is mostly stories of sea yak'ing).

Let me know thoughts.

Cheers.

I think your concerns about safety will compel you to make good choices about gear, knowledge and preparation. Given that, it's a very safe sport. Really.

Safety is  huge subject, so I'll let you discover all you can through reading. But rest assured that all here will be happy to answer questions and help with the learning curve. Take it incrementally.

You'll be fine.

You will probably have to try it out some and see how it feels.

Some kayaks are more "stable" than others. They tend to be wider and slower. Speed isn't necessarily the goal in itself, but it is an indicator as to how much energy you will spend going from A to B.

People usually fall out of their Yak because they get their center of gravity hanging out too far to one side ... so, generally speaking, you want your head inside the outline of the Yak.  That isn't to say boat wakes and waves aren't an issue. But, mostly, it has to do with fighting fish, puking, grabbing at gear (or something), just forgetting  .... any action that leans you over the edge of your boat.

There haven't been many shark attacks, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be concerned. You can avoid times and places to improve your odds, but you have to assume they are there. I'm more afraid of seals for some reason ... I guess because I see them swimming by all the time and I've heard of them "hopping on".

I may be corrected, but as far as I can tell, most boating deaths involve a lack of PFDs or proper clothing. When I very first looked into the sport I researched Sit-In-Kayaks fearing that people would get hung up in the water and drown. What I discovered was, regardless of the vessel, hypothermia killed most by a wide margin.

In my most humble opinion, if you are going to do mountain lakes in Dec/Jan, you should have a dry suit. Even then stupid stuff can be dangerous. A couple weeks ago I practiced self rescue (getting back in your boat) and discovered I hadn't pulled the fly zipper on my dry suit completely closed (just by < 1/4"). It was only cold in the controlled circumstance I was practicing in. In a cold mountain lake it could have been much worse. Now people see an old guy at the boat ramp in a yellow suit making jerking motions at his crotch  -- better safe than sorry.

Your PFD and wetsuit/drysuit will make you more buoyant ... that is really not an issue. Always wearing your PFD and being dressed for immersion is.

This just goes on and on. Like TaulPaul said, take it incrementally, ask questions, read ... you'll be fine ... from one relative newb to another.

Ben

my son is a gymnast so has very little body fat.  In a pool he sinks like a stone unless swimming like mad.  In a wetsuit, he floats like a cork.  With a PFD on the wetsuit, even better.  Properly outfitted, swimming like an olympian is not required.  However on the water, it makes sense to be able to swim well as a general rule.

I never played rugby, but watched it a bit and quite frankly that looks way more dangerous than fishing from a yak.  My guess is that if you start in freshwater, get good equipment you will grow into this thing to your comfort level. If or When ready for the salt, you may want to look into a class at Monterey Bay Kayaks (MBK) taught by Aaron.  He is a great guy and can get you started in the right direction.

Thanks again for the advice.  My plan was to focus on urban lakes with close shoreline at first, then move into larger bodies of water, such as reservoirs, while giving myself time to get a feel for various climate changes.  Then about a year in look for some opportunities for close to shoreline ocean fishing on the yak, then go from there as I feel the calling.   

Spend an afternoon in calm warm water learning to fall off, and get back on. It aint hard.

Buy a good pfd, and some proper clothing, so you are dressed for immersion.

Get yourself a VHF radio, and hook up with some other boaters so you have some backup.

Check the weather report carefully, and don't paddle on rough days.

Now you've taken all that risk, and shrunk it by a factor of ten.

Easy, right?

Will this keep you from driving???
http://cad.chp.ca.gov/

Didn't think so. Don't let a few crazy reports keep you from trying it out.
Lots of great safety info here. If you read the posts you will find that a micro percentage of them have anything bad to report. And the 'exciting' reports always gets posted whereas many not so exciting reports never make it on the site.
Take your time. Taking a beginners kayaking and safety class will put any anxiety in check too.

Interesting... I've never thought of the safety preaching being a deterrant, but I guess that what it really starts to sound like.  Safety is always up to you and the choices you make, and there are many people that have difference of opinion on those choices.  But rest assured, no one is trying to discourage anyone from joining the sport.  They are more just trying to make sure that the importance of proper gear and learning the ropes before you jump head first into the "crazy" world of kayak fishing.  Your absolutly right, you should start with what you are most comfortable with.  You have to learn how to be as comfortable in your yak as you are in your car.  So when you need something you can just reach behind you and grab it, or pull it out of your hatch, or remember to put in your drain plug before launch.  All these actions take some learning and practicing as well as just being balanced and centerned in your kayak.  Once you feel "comfortable" on your yak, you will be ready to do just about anything from photography, fishing, diving, touring, surfing, hunting, etc from your kayak. 

I'll probably jinx myself by saying it, but I've been out hundreds of times, mostly Carmel and Monterey Bays, and never accidently capsized in my Prowler 15.  In fact, it was hard to force my kayak to capsize when I wanted to test my equipment and re-entry techniques.  I'm 6'3", 200lbs, kind of a high center of gravity.    I do watch the weather carefully,  and don't let my well-laid plans force me to go out if conditions at the launch are a lot worse than expected, and if I start to feel uncomfortable when I'm away from shore, I start heading in.  I don't think it's very much fun to fish in those conditions anyway. And I don't do very many surf landings, where the chances of capsizing are greatest.  As others have said, you're most likely to capsize when you get single-minded about things because you're grabbling for a rod that drops, or puking, or are twisted around in the seat looking into your tackle box, etc.  And I can see that if you are pretty inexperienced with being on the water, you might not realize when you should start feeling uncomfortable.  So being cautious and a little anxious at first is a sign of good sense, don't fight the feeling, it'll keep you safer than the bold rookies.  However, it does make it a lot more fun if you're pretty confidant you wouldn't panic if you did get tipped into the drink.