How to make yourself visible to swimmers while kayak fishing?

angelaclarksons

Hello! Angela here,

As a kayak fishing and SUP boarding enthusiast, I often find myself sharing the water with long-distance swimmers. I'm curious about how I can best coexist with marathon swimmers while enjoying my water sports.

Do you have any tips for someone like me who's out on the water but not swimming?
I'd love to hear your insights on how non-swimmers can be good "citizens of the water".

curly

So nice to hear that someone is looking out for us swimmers. Fortunately for you, you are in a kayak or SUP and so you aren't going too fast. You will probably see a swimmer long before a collision could occur. If you are near the swimmer you can always give them a friendly wave.

I guess the nicest thing you could do is realize that a swimmer may not necessarily see you because they are sighting infrequently. I'm pretty guilty of that. I'll be swimming along and decide to take a quick look and there's a guy on a SUP right in front of me. So if you see a swimmer on a particular line, give way to avoid a collision.

The fact that you asked this question already shows you are a good citizen of the water.

LakeBagger

Thanks for asking, @angelaclarksons! I bet you already do this, but bright colors are helpful. I’ve noticed that sometimes people and boats blend in to the surrounding shoreline and aren’t especially visible to me through my often fogged goggles.

Any suggestions for swimmers, from the SUP and kayak fishing perspective? I’m always trying to give people fishing a wide berth, so as to not disrupt their experience.

analittlesana

Thank you for asking and joining us here. You are definitely an awesome citizen of the water. If you see swimmers out of the water or taking a break, I would definitely say hi. Knowing that a kayaker was looking out for me in that way would give me such a moral boost.