FYI -- I posted this on the social calendar, but moderator Scott has moved it to the Commercial Calendar. I'm not exactly sure how to find the Commercial Calendar either, so this move didn't exactly make things easy. I found the move very disappointing, but I'm not going to lose any time or energy debating it further. More importantly though, I want to make it clear to you all that I have no financial interest in the planned event. I started a thread simply to share sea kayaking experiences and after getting so much interest from people who wanted to try, I spent hours trying to organize an event and sort out the logistics. If you all had sea kayaks, I'd simply say "meet me at the lake at 10 -- we'll paddle, then go on a bike ride, then have bratwurst." Since this sport requires a bit of gear that few people have, it wasn't so simple and I did my best to find a way to organize gear rental. Since gear is typically rented from a for-profit business, and I couldn't find any non-profit or free gear provider, the calender entry has been deemed commercial. Whatever.
Anyway, point is that I'd love to spend June 13th kayaking, biking, running, and/or BBQing with you and my only profit will be good times with friends. If I can find a link to the commercial calendar entry, I'll post it to make things a little less of a pain.
I posted a link to it a few posts up. I have also PM'd the mods and said that I think its ridiculous that they put this event in commercial.
In my book it was a very bad call by Scott. It does nothing to encourage people to organise events which are actually for the good of the forum and its members.
There is a great guy at uster who also does sea kayaking tours on the the lake of zürich or greifensee. he also sells sea kayaks. sorry i do not know him personally but have only heard good things about him. he also does fullmoon tours.
Reminder: The EF Sea Kayaking Intro day is this Saturday, June 13th. All the details are on the Calendar. If you RSVP'd earlier, please revisit the calendar and re-RSVP. I was overzealous in my calendar-updating to provide all the details and somehow managed to wipe out the original 25 'yes' RSVPs! Would love to see you all at the event - should be great fun!
Is there somewhere near Burkliplatz to lock your kayak up during the day? I live in Kusnacht and would love to paddle in to Zurich to work, but I don't have any leads on where to store the boat (and paddle, PFD, etc) during the workday.
I am wondering how the season went? Did you go regularly with people from English Forum? You seemed to drum up lots of interest.
I am really interested in trying it out and don't know how to get started. Did any regular groups start to form? Did anyone find a good place near the lake to rent Kayaks? The englishforum seemed like a hard place to centralize information .... did you come across any other groups or websites?
Hi, I have just read through all the posts on this topic. I am dead keen to get myself a kayak and get out on the lake. I have just moved to Au and work in Pfaffikon SZ so could even paddle to work.
I appreciate this is now September but did anything happen with this? I'd love to join a little club and learn to do it properly and meet some new people in the process.
I may be missing something, so apologies(!) but I am really keen to get a kayack and get out on the lake of Zurich.
I live in Au (Wadenswil) and think that the nearest place to buy one is in Stafa. However, the thread about sea kayacking seems to have gone dead.
Does anyone have any advice on this? Id like to know if that is indeed the best place to buy one (compared to where I live of course), do I need a licence of some sort, and where can it be moored (if I cant carry it to and from the house every time). Also, is anyone else wanting to go out and paddle about?
Hi Paul -- my apologies for the delay in response. We actually had a great event in June, with many people kayaking for the first time and others enjoying a return to the water. The turnout was so large that we split it into two sessions and had an excellent BBQ to end the day. I'll offer to organize a 2010 event as well, likely for next June. As the logistics are a bit complicated unless people have their own kayaks, we didn't see any follow-on clubs or activities occurring. Only a few of us (that I know of) own sea kayaks and I don't believe that anyone purchased or built one over the summer. I'm actually planning to build a kayak as a winter project. I'll try next year also to organize a few more paddle events for those who have their own kayaks (perhaps driving to some other lakes in the country).
Kuster Sport in Schmerikon is a good place to rent or buy kayaks and not too far of a drive from Au. (I'm not affiliated with them -- this shop just happens to be where I bought my kayak and one of the closer stores from Zurich. Good selection and service as well.). There are other shops -- which I think are mentioned earlier in the thread. What I haven't found is a rental show really close to the city (as in, right on the lakefront from Zuri).
If you get a kayak, let me know. I'm still paddling to work occasionally (while the daylight remains) and I could always try to meet you out on the water.
No license required, but there are some guidelines as well as common sense to apply while sharing the water, especially on busy evenings in the summer. First, on licensing ...
As for paddling rules, I've heard varying comments about restrictions, such as "you must stay within 300 meters of shore", "you must stay within 200 meters of shore unless you have a PFD on", "you can go wherever you want, except keep your distance from protected areas, marked by yellow buoys." I'm still looking for an official source that clearly explains the rules, at least for Kanton Zurich. When I find it, I'll post it. If anyone else knows of a source, please share it.
From experience I can say that I always wear a PFD; most of the time when I paddle I'm 300 meters off shore for a good part of the trip; if I'm out in middle of the lake or in the entrance/exit path for any of the ferries to various villages, I stay hyper aware and quickly adjust course when something large is motoring my way; I've paddled at night (although carefully, w/lots of lights, and close to shore); I give protected areas a wide berth; and I've seen the water Police numerous times while out and have never been stopped or talked to. I also carry a paddle buoy, bilge pump, and tow rope.
This is a very tough nut to crack. I've yet to hear of anyone finding a solution to store their kayak at a facility on Lake Zurich. There are rowing clubs all along the lake and even a Canoe/Kayak Club on a canal just off of Brandschenkestrasse, but anyone I know who has tried to score storage space for a sea kayak at any of these places has struck out. I'd love to hear from someone who has solved this. I keep mine at my flat and either drive it to the water or roll it to the lake on little folding cart that I can stow in the rear hatch when I'm paddling.
I built one over the summer ! And used it to paddle on lago maggiore and our own zurisee. I will have to try to sell it soon though as I will not have my van anymore early next year, will not be able to transport it anymore . But I am now building a collapsable kayak out of aluminium tube over the winter .
I am thinking about putting one of those childrens bicycle flags on my kayak. Maybe you've seen them, a very long 2 meter thin flexible stick with a triangular orange flag at the top...
I have found several Swiss rowing clubs and kayak/canoe clubs that were willing to store one of my boats, for a nominal fee. For hte convenience of riverside storage, I finally decided to pay a full membership to one club. That works out that I am paying about 3 CHF a week for storage. I don't mind that.
My other boat is a feathercraft K1, which I use for long distance touring and for lake paddles. I paddled Lake KOnstanz from Bregenz to Konstanz one day and have done a fewtrips d own to Shaffhausen. I will be back there for the annual eisfahrt ( sp?) if not before - a great winter paddling day from KOnstanz to near Singen hot meals available at both start and finish)
I live in Basel, would be happy to meet up with other Basel based paddlers ( either lake, river or Huningue w/w canel trips), and am also interested in taking my boat up to Zurich, or any other Swiss lake to do day trips with others ( and/or weekend trips next summer)
Query: Is kayak polo played regularly anywhere in Switzerland, or close to, in neighbouring countries?
I've seen them play it in Zurich, on the Schanzengraben by Selnaubrucke. Use these coordinates in Google maps, with Street view you can even see the little goals
HAve you seen the flexisticks that have a 360 degree light on top? Kayak specific nes can be bought with a kitset to add a screw-in bit to the boat, so the pole can be screwed in and out. A flag can also be added to that. IN NZ people use a 2 coloured flag as, apparenlty tests were done and it was found that the two coloured ones have the best visibility under various conditions. From memory they were orange/white. The light can also be bought seperately from the stick - I bought mine in Montreal last winter for 9.95 CAN.