Anyone into a sport that involves alot of gear?

hey there

Im massivly into my white water kayaking. And when i go traverling around the world i know that i am going to see all these rivers that i will just be itching to paddle! 

But i cant really strap my kayak and all my gear onto back pack. So if anyone is into white water kayaking (or another sport that involves quite a bit of gear), how did you solve this problem of padderling whilst on your travels. Im guessing in some countrys it would be easy to hire gear, but i cant see it being easy in all countrys.

cheers

lucas

I snowboard, and that requires quite a lot of bulky equipment and clothing, and the equipment you hire is often fairly crappy! I might do a day here and there if I was going nearby a resort worth visiting - when I went to Vancouver a couple of years back I spent a couple of days in Whistler as it’s one of the world’s uber-resorts (I wasn’t overly impressed, but that’s an entirely different matter :lol: )...

I wouldn’t expect to be doing a lot of snowboarding when I go away travelling though - travelling for me is going away and doing something different to normal, so I can’t really help I suppose :lol:  Is there any way you can pick a really amazing place to do your kayaking, have your stuff sent out (possibly choosing somewhere with a reliable postal system :lol: ) do your kayaking in that one amazing place, send your stuff home and then carry on your way. Although I would expect ina very good place you could hire decent equipment?

sorry - waffle-itis this evening!

this isnt alot of help because you dont have that many items.. When I go on holiday diving i take all of my stuff apart from weights and cylinders (altho some people do)

What i intend to do while back packing is take a few of my items such as my dive computer.

I am mainly replying to this post because I have just sold my liquid logic remix and i am sooooooooooooo unhappy about it :( lol

Hi Lucas,
I’m into my white water kayaking too, but found that I rarely managed to go kayaking while travelling.  Where are you planning to go?  Plenty of friends have gone out to NZ or North America and bought a boat.  They then have either sold it or shipped it back (mainly depending how skint they are and how much plastic is left on the bottom).  I managed to borrow kit from friends while I was there and join them for a spot of paddling.

I did manage to get an offer of being a support boat for a rafting company in Laos, but not knowing the size of the river or the competence of the local kayakers/rafters I wasn’t too keen in such a remote place.  There’s also loads of kayak support on the Zambezi and White Nile in Africa.

The biggest problem for kayaking (and many other sports) is not only finding decent kit but also finding decent companions you can trust.  I think your best bet is to head to a rafting area and try and hook up with some fellow paddlers.

Yo.

I’ve managed to find a fair few decent companies to use or hire from while in various places around the world. Even in Laos I’ve used a decent company a couple of times, although on one occasion the guide who came with us was nothing like as experienced as he alluded to and we ended up going down some dicey stretches between Vang Vieng and Vientiane and also up near Phonsavan I wouldn’t have otherwise bothered with, given the remote surroundings. Really good equipment though, all considering.

I’ve just bought a sea kayak out here in Oz. I’d not done much sea kayaking ‘til I went over to the Perhentians for the first time in about 2002, but since then I’ve really got into it. Me and another English guy ended up taking groups around the Perhentians in return for lodgings with one of the old resorts on the big island there a few years ago, and it was really good, in lieu of doing some decent river kayaking.

But if it’s rivers you want, then New Zealand has got some good spots, but my favourite by far is the Franklin River in Tassie. There’s some stretches of Tassie rivers that have never been kayaked, and they’re really nasty. Depends what you want, but Tassie has got easily the most diverse offering that I’ve ever come across. You can do tours over several days, ending in the sea. Coastal kayaking there is great too. And the gear you can hire over there is very good. If you’re interested I can send you some links by PM.

Two to get you started:

http://www.forestrytas.com.au/visiting/canoeing
http://www.tas.canoe.org.au/default.asp?Page=6174&MenuID=General_information/497/0/

I never managed to paddle there but I hear the best paddling in NZ is heli-kayaking (jump in a helicopter up into the mountains and then paddle back) out of Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island.

Hey, sorry havnt replyed for a while, been rather busy. (with either working :( or padderling :D )

Iv orginaly thought the same thing, just heading to the rafting venues and seeing who and what i can blag. Im planning on just following my nose reli, just heading east towards Russia, then south towards auz and new zealand then east again to america, mainly over land most of trip. Im missing out Africa as iv already done Uganda and Kenya, and also plan to go back there in the future with my boat!

Iv fuly excepted that im no way going to be able to take my boat, paddles or gear with me.

Helly kayaking is one of the things that i have on my list of things to do for my kayaking career! Along with the white nile, zambezi and niagara gorge!