5 articles
Canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding and packrafting: choosing a boat, planning a trip and paddling safely.
Gliding across a still loch at first light, drifting down a gentle river from one village to the next, unrolling a packraft from your rucksack to cross a lake: a paddle opens up another way of travelling. Here we help you choose your craft, from an open canoe or a kayak to an inflatable paddleboard or a packraft, according to what you want from it, your budget, the space you have to store it and how you plan to get it to the water.
Planning a trip starts with a route that suits you: distance, time on the water, where to get in and out, the stretches where you will have to carry the boat, and how to get back to the start. We explain how to read that information, load and balance your kit, keep the essentials dry and look after an inflatable. Our guides focus on calm water, from lakes and lochs to canals and gentle rivers, and point you to clubs and paddlesport centres to learn the strokes with proper instruction.
Water has its rules too: access to the bank, launching, sharing the water with anglers and other users, quiet seasons for wildlife, local bans and the licences required on some waterways. We take them from byelaws, regulations and the navigation authorities’ pages, dating each check and keeping what is banned, tolerated and allowed under conditions clearly apart. The picture is not the same in Scotland as in England and Wales. Before you set off, we point you to the official sources for weather and river levels.
The guides are written for families hiring a canoe for their first trip down a river as much as for regular paddlers who own a boat and want to kit it out or transport it better. To compare boats, we start from their spec sheets and the standards that apply to them, with sources cited, and when someone on the team has genuinely paddled one of them, it is their voice you are reading. Common mistakes get their place, such as forgetting the headwind when estimating the trip back. As for who sits in the bow and who is really steering, that debate remains open.
PaddlingRules and regulations
At sea in France, a paddleboard or kayak may not go more than 300 m from a shelter unless strict conditions are met. On English canals you need a licence; on Germany’s federal waterways, paddleboards are barred from locks. Here are the rules for France, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, each with its text and its date.
Arnaud Couderc··17 min
Roof bars, a bare roof, a trailer, a van or the boot: how to carry a kayak or paddleboard, strap it down, work out roof load and mark what overhangs.
Nolwenn Bastide··13 min
Length, width, thickness, volume, maximum load, construction, PSI: what each figure on an inflatable paddleboard means, and what the spec sheet leaves out.
Nolwenn Bastide··13 min
Open canoe or kayak for a beginner: single or double paddle, position, room for gear, family outings, hire and the kit French law makes providers supply.
Nolwenn Bastide··10 min
Two days down a French river by canoe: picking a calm route, booking your bivouac, loading the boat, what to do if you capsize. The Ardèche as an example.
Nolwenn Bastide··7 min
Français (France)
English (UK)
English (US)
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