Staying dry in a kayak

[Asta Tobiassen]

I see some great pictures taken from kayaks. I have always wanted to photograph from my kayak, but I have problems just keeping myself dry when paddling. How do you manage to protect your equipment? I have drip rings on my paddles, but there must be something wrong with my technique, because my arms are almost always soaked after an outing. :tinysmile_shy_t:
I would appreciate any suggestions!
Åsta

[Jim Neiger]

Keep your gear ready to go, but in a dry bag. Only remove it when you are still or nearly still in calm water and want to photograph something. When you are done photographing, put your gear back in the dry bag before moving on. I dumped a kayak once with my gear in a dry bag and had no damage. I lost an expensive fishing rig though.

[Bob Decker]

Kayaks are a wonderful way to photograph nature. No doubt about it. But water and expensive camera gear don't mix well. As suggested above a dry bag is the ticket. Until you get your technique down so you're not soaking yourself the geat should be in the bag anytime your moving. With time your technique will probably improve and you may become a bit more lax... of course that creates the possibility of a disaster.

Good luck and have fun.