The prep work to go kayaking took more of a toll on me then the actual event. To save money, I bought a set of cross bars for my wife's Ford Sport Trac that was half the price of the real Ford parts, saved $80. The Ford ones, claim they could be installed in 5 minutes a piece. The set I bought, I spent 2 1/2 hours on a ladder, in the sun, fighting parts that just weren't designed perfect, and I do mean fight. Lovely "Made in China" substitute. Then, I had to install the Malone Twin Kayak Roof Carrier to the crossbars, at least that worked as described, but took more time. Then had to prep the new kayaks, and added paddle supports, mooring rope, adjusted the foot rests, etc. More time.
Then we had to load them for the first time. They only weigh 38 lbs empty, but that's too much weight for my wife, and she struggled to help get them that high on the mount on the roof, way higher than a car roof. Plus had to deal with figuring out how to hook up a total of 7 different straps.
Finally on our way, only took 10 minutes to get to the landing on Saluda Lake. The boat ramp was lined up like a busy airport, so we parked, and carried the boats one at a time to the water, then another trip back to get the rest of the gear. It was about a 300' walk each trip.
Got my wife in hers, and pushed her off. Got in mine, and thought I had it deep enough off the landing. Like a fool, I was paddling away for about 30 seconds and getting no where. I was thinking, this is going to be much harder than I realized. I wasn't moving. Finally a voice behind me said, "Would you like a push?". Dumb me, once I sat inside, my weight was pushing it down too hard on the concrete, instead of the water.
So off we go. The paddling part I found easy, not taxing at all. But from the moment I hit the water, it was much more unstable than I had imagined. It was like, how do you ever keep these things from flipping? But got use to some of that in a few minutes, so down the lake we started to go. Since we were new at this, I strongly advised that we stay close to the shore in case something bad happened.
I should add, though it was warm and pretty out, pretty good wind coming from the east was making the narrow lake choppy, 3"-6" waves, and there were so many jet skis and motor boats, there was a constant barrage of wake waves, so it was hardly a smooth surface.
about 1/3rd of a mile from the landing, as I was making a gentle right hand turn to get closer still to the shore, blam, with no warning, I suddenly flipped to the left, was instantly in the water, and the kayak filled with water, but stayed afloat. Of course I had a good life jacket on, even though I am an excellent swimmer. In hind sight, I think a large wake wave hit me from the right as I was making the turn and caught me off guard.
Had no problem swimming the 30-40 feet to shore, but the lake is overfilled from months of rain, and my feet couldn't hit bottom until I was less than a yard from shore, and finally found some slippery rocks to stand on.
The hard part was swimming with one arm, and holding onto the water filled kayak with the other, felt like it weighed a ton. Managed to turn boat parallel to the shore, and with great effort, flipped it over on the yard, and most of the water came out. It was difficult to get back into it after that, and my back was killing me.
I did manage, and slowly made it back to the landing without further incident. Fortunately the landing was empty, so I drove the truck down and we threw them on the bed, and drove to the parking lot to reload them on the carrier.
Then the short drive home, taking them back off the roof, and back in the shed with the other gear. By the time I got back in the house, I was white with pain, and ended up taking a 3 hour nap.
Despite this, I still enjoyed the kayaking part. Next time, I wouldn't be doing any of the setup work first, and we found out after the fact, that we can simply tie the kayaks in the bed, sticking out perhaps 3-4' with her bed extender out, not even have to bother with the roof set-up. That would be more useful if we were going far, or if we wanted to take the kayaks camping with our travel trailer attached.
So next time, it might take 5 minutes to load up, 10 minutes to the lake, and 5 minutes to be in the water. The stability part, I believe will take practice and some skill.
But I survived, even with an unscheduled flip over, and lived to tell the story. The very next day (today) on the same lake, 3 people had to be rescued from a sinking boat. They had to hang in tree branches as their boat sunk. So trust me, as a lifetime boater, I take all the safety stuff seriously.
David