Now that you have all of your gear, you’re ready to get in your boat. The first thing that you’ll want to do is make sure the boat “fits”. The main way to adjust the boat is via the foot pedals. Ideally, you want to be snugly in your kayak as you are paddling, yet, you still want to be able to exit the boat should the need arise. The best way to get into your boat (to check the fit) is to sit on the deck of the boat with your butt behind the cockpit. Then hold yourself steady with your hands as you lift your legs and slide them into the cockpit. It may feel a little difficult at first, but it will feel more natural soon. Once you are in, you want to figure out if your foot pedals are properly positioned. Your pedals should be close enough to you to lightly hold your knees up against the thigh brace, and you should be able to apply more pressure to the braces by pressing down with your toes. You may need to move them towards you or away from you depending on where they are set. To move the pedals, you need to be out of the boat. To get out, you need to place your hands on the deck/sides of the boat by your side, and lift your butt out and push up and back with your hands. This should pull your body mostly out of the boat.
Once you get your pedals set to the proper depth, we need to start talking about getting in and out of the boat the right way. First things first, we need to do an equipment check. At this time, we want to make sure that our helmet is properly buckled, and our PFD is on tightly. Now we can get into the boat. Pretending to be on the water, we want to get into our boat as we did just before. Next we want to secure our skirt. To do this we first reach behind us, and place the back of our skirt around the lip of the cockpit (coaming). Then we grab the skirt by its handle and stretch it over the front of the coaming. Finally we make sure that the entire skirt edge is secured around the entire coaming. Finally, and most importantly, we want to make sure that the grab loop of our skirt is on the outside of the cockpit. (Otherwise it’s a little more difficult to get out.)
Now that we are in our boats we need to know what to do in case you flip over. (Eventually, this won’t be a big deal, but for now we need to know what to do.) When you flip in moving water. The first thing that you want to do is relax and bend forward in your kayak. This will protect your face and body from slamming into any rocks (hey, you bought the helmet…you might as well use it.) Next, to do a “wet exit”, reach in front of you and grab the loop on top of your skirt. Pull it towards you. Now, just put your hands on the deck of your kayak, and push yourself up and back. NOTE: When in the water, try to stay bent forward during this whole process, also note that when in the water, the water will lubricate your exit, so it may appear harder on dry land, but don’t worry. **Here I like to practice a couple of emergency wet exits on dry land so that you get comfortable with this action.