A beginner in decent aerobic shape (works out a few times a week) should expect to kayak about 2 miles per hour. Over a 3 hour trip they will go about 5-6 miles round trip. Most commercial trips will tell you how far and how long the trip is and typically set the pace for beginners.
I always thought that there was some imaginary line that novice kayakers needed to stay behind in order to stay safe. While this is somewhat true, it actually seems that time is more important than distance in many cases.
If you’re anything like me, then you don’t have very developed rowing muscles. At least not at first, anyway.
A solid idea might be to go only a relatively short ways away from shore and then travel laterally to get some good practice in. Think of the way a driver might do laps around a racetrack but in water.
If you ever feel like your muscles are giving out, then you shouldn’t have too much difficulty reorienting your kayak and heading back to shore. Otherwise, though, you’ll be able to get plenty of practice in and slowly move further and further out into the water.
Those who are starting to get really good at kayaking and want to push themselves might want to take breaks over the course of a day to give themselves the opportunity to really go further than they might have in the past. Stop every once in a while and take a moment to inspect your boat.
You might want to pull ashore or take a few moments to fish. Once you’re ready, you’ll probably be refreshed enough to keep going, especially if you’re in a river moving up or downstream.
How Many Miles Can a Beginner Kayak in Slow River Current?
Most beginners will take 30 minutes to paddle a mile in calm slow river conditions. It will take longer going upstream and shorter going back downstream but the average is 30 minutes.
To some degree, the amount of length even a rank beginner could travel is unlimited if they’re going the direction that the river is flowing! A slow river could pull someone’s kayak indefinitely, which might be relaxing but it isn’t much in the way of exercise.
You could get a fairly good workout paddling against the grain and you’ll probably be able to travel for quite some time if the river isn’t too wide. Since you’ll always be able to pull ashore safely regardless of how much distance you travel, a slow river provides you plenty of lateral space to get some practice in.
Different weather and geological conditions can cause a river’s flow to pick up over time, so you might start to notice that the current is getting faster. If this happens, then chances are good that your arms would tire more quickly than they would if there were no change in speed.
Keep an eye out for changing conditions and even sudden gusts of wind, since these can really wreak havoc on the flow of rivers. You’ll also want to occasionally glance down at the riverbed.
If the current is slow enough, then you should have plenty of time to check for rocks and other obstructions under the water that could have damaged the bottom of your kayak. These would usually come at you too quickly to take action, but you’re afforded the chance here to prevent this from ever becoming a problem in the first place.
How Many Miles Can a Beginner Kayak on the Ocean?
In calm conditions a beginner can go 3-6 miles in 2-3 hours on the ocean. If conditions are windy or the seas are rough expect to skip kayaking that day or go only 1-3 miles.
There’s an old rule of thumb that says a beginner should never go out further than they trust they can row again to get back to shore. While the prevailing direction of tides is toward the shore, you don’t ever want to rely on forces of nature to get you out of a bad situation.
Considering that there is a real risk of being swept away if you’re on a particularly active area of ocean territory, you’ll want to be a little more conservative on the ocean than you might be with another body of water. The good news is that I’ve read reports from a number of pelagic fishers that say that ocean fishing near the shore isn’t bad at all, so you probably won’t have to go out anywhere near as far as you might think you do.
Those who are recreational boaters might want to follow the same sort of rule that they would if they were on fresh or brackish water and restrict the amount of time they allow themselves to be in their boats. If you’re going this route, then it’s probably a good idea to be more restrictive than you would otherwise to prevent anything unfortunate from happening.
You might find that it’s really helpful to go out with a more experienced buddy. Chances are that someone in your circle of friends would be more than happy to have a partner for this kind of thing anyway, and you’ll probably feel much safer if you have someone else there with you to see you through the day.
Are Inflatable Kayaks Slower for a Beginner?
Inflatable kayaks are slower than traditional hard-shell boats no matter how advanced you are or how fast you can paddle! They’re not anywhere near as hydrodynamically designed as harder shell ones.
That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad, however. You’ll find a lot of people debating this issue back and forth online. Like anything else, there are those who love them and those who belittle them even if they don’t spend much time boating themselves!
Inflatable kayaks are sometimes easier for beginners to learn on because of the reduced speeds, and they’re of course easier to transport because you can deflate them. That being said, they might end up taking more force to move.
Over time, this could become a pain but there’s also a chance that it can help you build your rowing muscles, which will come in handy if you later graduate to a full-sized hard shell kayak or any other kind of rowboat.
Unless you’re going to be in potentially dangerous waters, which you shouldn’t be as a beginner anyway, you might say that the best kayak to have is the one you’re going to use. If you’re going to use a hard shell or inflatable kayak more often, then go with it and you’ll eventually get used to the speed either way.