Sea Kayaking and River Kayaking: 5 Differences

When I mentioned earlier that I thought it’d be boring, I didn’t take into account that sea kayaking requires a certain level of fitness.

It’s exercise, especially against the wind! My core was definitely feeling the strain by the end of the trip – not to mention my arms. Any kayaker that has done paddling on both rivers and on open water will agree with me that sea kayaking is more of an endurance sport.

With sea kayaking, you are often on the water for longer and you also need to actually paddle to keep going forward, with the wind not always being in your favour. On the calm stretches of river in between the rapids, river kayakers become some kind of boat/sloth hybrid. Paddles up and heads back, it’s easy to literally go with the flow of the river.

A couple of hours of active sea paddling is much more rewarding, and I foolishly thought that I may come back a bit slimmer, more muscled, modelesque even – but the delicious Wilderness food provided, made sure that didn’t happen.

The seeming impossibility of turning a sea kayak quickly brings me to edging.

A large part of turning and directing your kayak is your weight distribution in the kayak. By distributing your weight differently you can sit your kayak on a different edge of its own hull. Edging, if done right, will assist you in turning your kayak in a new direction.

Now when you’re river kayaking, this is straightforward enough as leaning into the direction that you want to go generally turns your kayak in that direction. With sea kayaking, this appeared to be a bit more random. My instructor Zoe told me to lift the knee in my kayak that was on the side of where I wanted to turn to, edging away from my desired direction. I think any river kayaker will struggle with this, as it is the exact opposite of what you’re used to doing! Edging becomes second nature and consciously changing that is hard. This added to my uselessness at turning a sea kayak.

Elliott Davidson using edges on the river Moriston (photo by Murray Gauld)

However, it must be noted that many sea kayakers will tell you that leaning into your turn will also work. A little research revealed that the accompanying paddle stroke, type of sea kayak and the speed that you are going before you initiate the turn have a lot to do with it as well.

Now I realise that I have spent quite some time describing the practical variations between sea and river kayaking, ignoring the fact that they take place in completely different settings and function accordingly.

On a river, you get to see some really beautiful places like gorges, waterfalls and amazing geological features shaped by the river. However, whilst you’re crashing your way down a rapid trying to focus on staying upright, you have relatively little time to enjoy the scenery. Sea kayaking allows you to absorb the area that you’re paddling in.

The first thing that I noticed was just how varied and interesting the coast is from the water. Sea kayaking is a great way to go exploring, paddling gives you access to places many other people just can’t reach or even know about. Discover secret bays and beaches for lovely private picnics. Admire the steep cliffs of jutting headlands and their residential birdlife otherwise hidden from the human eye. Enter an almost alien world as you navigate your way through patches of thick seaweed and past rocks covered in mussel clusters. If you are lucky you will also get the chance to get up close and personal with seals who are very interested in sea kayakers and will pop by to investigate.

If you’re still not sure you’re ready to brave the waters alone, why not try one of our sea kayaking trips led by our expert guides. Certainly, our Introduction to Sea Kayaking tour is the best option for learning the ropes with like-minded adventurers. We work hard to get the right guides so that they provide the support needed while bringing the landscape and culture to life too, check out our sea kayaking reviews here.