In this video I take you through how to kayak dive 101. I offer tips tricks and suggestions which you can adapt to suit your needs and your kayak design and ...

Closed Captions (CC):
Hey people of the interwebs it is Q and

this time we're not going on a scuba

diving adventure, we're going on a kayak

diving adventure. In this video I'm gonna

show you what you need to go kayak

diving, how you load your kayak up and

also how to get your gear off the kayak

when you get to your dive spot and how

to get your gear back into the kayak

after you've finished diving.

Obviously there are a couple of

essential items you're going to need, the

first thing is a kayak. I personally use

a two seater kayak, I sit in the back and

paddle and steer and have my dive gear

secured into the front seat section.

The second most important thing you're gonna need is a car with a roof rack, so

thatyou can transport your kayak from home to whichever dive site you're going to.

You may also need the assistance of a friend to help you put the kayak onto the roof.

But with my setup I actually have my

kayak slung from the rafters of my

garage and a pulley system set up that I

put together using an old boat trailer

winch, so I can quite easily put the

kayak onto the car and take it off again

single-handedly. Obviously once the kayak

is on the roof rack you need to secure

it with some straps. I use a rhino rack

and it came with its own straps and

these straps I really like, because the

metal buckle is actually encased or

surrounded by a very thick rubber so

when you're throwing the straps over the

kayak from one side of the car to the

other, the metal buckle is not going to

bang into one of your car windows and

potentially break it.

These nice rubberized ones just bounce. Whatever you do don't take any half measures,

make sure you put two straps on and make sure everything is neat and tidy and very

firmly secured. Here you can see the

metal buckle and the rubber that

surrounds it. Make sure it's really firm

and these particular straps also come

with this great little velcro tie-down,

which you can use to secure the loose

ends so they don't flap around in the

wind when you're driving along.

When you're happy the kayak is secured and you've got everything else loaded into

the back of the car you can quite

happily drive off to your dive destination.

if you're following the usual scuba diving rules you will of course

be diving with a buddy, so once

you do get to the dive spot you can help

each other and get the kayaks off the

car and take them straight down to the

water line.It's much easier to carry an

unladen kayak to the water line than it

is to load it up at the car and then try

and struggle with all that weight

getting it to the water line. Attached to

the side of the kayak, to the right of the

seat, you can see a black bag and in there is my kayak anchor which is also attached

to a short length of chain and then I've got 50 meters of rope in there as well.

Next comes the fun part, which is getting

all your gear from the back of the car

and to the kayak and making sure

everything is firmly secured into place.

I have a set sequential way that I do

this every time and that way I'm never

gonna miss something. I start off with my

flag, my paddle and my integrated weight

pouches. Normally when you go diving you

would have one of the divers carrying a

dive flag which floats along with you on

the surface, but when you are kayak

diving all you need is for each kayak to

be equipped with a dive flag so that other watercraft can see there are divers

down below and if they know what the

rules are they have to stay at least 50

meters away from the dive flag. The

golden rule of kayak diving is to make

sure that every piece of equipment is

firmly attached to the kayak and I mean

absolutely everything. You might think

you're the bee's knees at kayaking but

once you've got all that dive gear and

the extra weight in there, things really

change if you've got some waves on the

surface and it's quite easy for one of

these things to roll over and if they do

roll over and you haven't got something

secured you're going to lose it and you

don't want to lose expensive dive

equipment. The straps I use are made out

of a bungee type material, but mine

are getting a little bit long in the

tooth now and should be replaced shortly.

I make sure that those are out of the

way before I place my tank and BC and

regs into the front seating area and I

always place my tank so that the valve

is closest to me. Next I pop my

integrated weights into place. Now if you

don't use integrated weight pouches and

you're still using a dive weight belt

then you would put that around your

waist once you've loaded all your gear,

you're in your wetsuit and you are ready

to set off.

So with the BCD and tank in place, we

take our bungee cords and pass them

through the d-rings of the BCD and then

attach them firmly to the kayak. At this

point you can turn on your air because

you're going to need to inflate your BCD

so that it firmly locks it into place

underneath the bungee cords. Next I bring

my mask and snorkel and fins and I'm

pretty lucky in the design of this kayak,

in that I have this handy little well,

that's just behind where I sit and it's

also got these buckles so I can securely

fasten those things into place and

they're not going to go anywhere.

Obviously things won't be the same with

a different design kayak and you'll have

to improvise as best as you can,

but the prime objective is to make sure

that everything is firmly and safely

tied down.

Just before setting off I always stow

the paddle with one end underneath the

BCD. A final check before we set off to

make sure that we've got everything we

need and everything is secured, because

you don't want to be paddling out fifty

or hundred or two hundred meters and then get to the dive spot and find you've

forgotten something. When you do reach

your dive spot the first thing is to

drop anchor and make sure you get a good

solid connection with something down

below, then stow your paddle and swing

your legs over the side. Then I reach

around behind the seat and the first

thing I want to do is put my mask on,

remembering of course that you will be

out in the open ocean so there will be

waves to contend with. The reason we

put our mask and fins on first is

because if we do happen to fall

overboard or get knocked overboard then

we are able to see and also maneuver

ourselves in the water. With those items

equipped it's a quick bum shuffle up to

the front end of the kayak and now you

can see why I have the tank valve facing

towards the seat, because if I need to

switch the air on or off I can quite

easily reach it. Unhook the bungee cords

from one of the anchor points on the

kayak and pass them back through the

d-rings on the BCD.

Grab hold of the bungee cord that's

attached to the kayak on the side that

your legs are dangling over and secure

the loose end to the d-ring on the BCD,

this will act as a tether for when you

throw the BCD and the tank overboard,

because if there's any current on the

surface your BCD will be long gone by

the time you've got yourself in the

water and you're chasing after it. Always

tether your BCD to the kayak and always

remember to fully inflate the BCD before

you throw it overboard.

Once the BCD is in the water it's time

to throw yourself in after it. Now it's

time to cast your mind back to the hazy

memory of your open water course, because

if you were taught correctly, one of the

things you should have learned was how

to remove and replace your equipment on

the surface. There are various methods of

doing this and it doesn't have to be

textbook, it just has to be comfortable

and easy. But what I do is open the

buckle, open the cummerbund, make sure all

the hoses are out of the way and put one

arm in first, followed by the second arm.

With that done, do up the cummerbund, do

up all your buckles and tighten your

shoulder straps. You may find it a little

bit awkward or difficult at first,

especially if there's some current on

the surface or waves, but practice really

does make perfect. Once you've got

everything set up just right it's time

to untether from the kayak and drop

below the surface. What we usually do is

gather at the anchor line and head down

as a group, because one of the things

that you want to do when you hit the

deck is to just ensure that your anchor

is firmly attached at the bottom. You

want that kayak to be exactly where you

left it when you finish your dive. A

really useful dive course to have if you

are kayak diving is navigation because

you're gonna use the anchor point as your

fixed point and you're going to swim

around and navigate back to that fixed

point at the end of the dive. One of the

other pieces of equipment that I'm going

to be purchasing shortly for kayak

diving, is a very powerful strobe which

I'll attach to the anchor line around

about 3 or 4 metres above the anchor.

So assuming you've had a great dive and

you've managed to navigate your way back

to your kayak, once you hit the surface

it's pretty much a reverse procedure,

with a couple of little additions. Once

you've fully inflated your BCD, the first

thing to do is to tether yourself back to

the kayak by attaching the bungee cord

to the d-ring on your BCD. The second

step is to get rid of that lead weight.

Now I use integrated weight pouches, so I

pop those out individually and

immediately put them inside the hull of

the kayak. If you're using a weight belt

it's the same procedure, immediately put

it inside the hull of the kayak and

secure that hatch. Now it's back to your

open water training course where you

remove your gear on the surface and

because your BCD is tethered to the

kayak you can quite happily just leave

it be while you're attempting to get

yourself back into the kayak. I generally

come from the opposite side to which the

BCD and tank are tethered because it

will act as a counterbalancing weight,

however in this video example I can't do

that. Launch yourself up onto your belly,

with your belly button around about the

midsection of the kayak and then just

roll over and you'll be sitting in the

right position. Now as you remove each

piece of gear remember it has to be

tethered, don't leave it for a second,

because if some freak wave comes and

knocks you over or rolls the kayak

you're going to lose that expensive dive

equipment. Again I have a sequence that I

follow, so the mask and snorkel comes off

first, followed by my fins.

At this point you can quite happily

leave your paddle floating on the

surface of the water because it is

tethered to the kayak and it gives you

more room to maneuver. Another quick bum shuffle up to the front end and you're

ready to bring your BC and tank back on

board. Do up the cummerbund, make sure

all your hoses are safely and securely

inside and do up the buckle.. Now because

we removed our integrated weight pouches

there's a lot less weight that we have

to drag on board. Again it's all about

practice and technique and I use my foot

to give myself some extra leverage to

get the BC and tank on board. Once it's

back into position,

grab the other bungee cord and pass it

through the d-ring of the BCD and

securely attach it to the kayak.

Again fully inflate the BCD for the same

reasons we did it the first time around.

A final bum shuffle back into the seat,

retrieve your anchor, grab your paddle

and head for home.

If you found this video helpful and

you'd like to see some more, please

subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you

have any comments or questions about

this video or suggestions for other

videos I can do, please leave them in the

comments section, as soon as I see those

I'll get back to you. Thanks for watching

and take it easy.


Closed Captions (CC):
Hey people of the interwebs it is Q and

this time we're not going on a scuba

diving adventure, we're going on a kayak

diving adventure. In this video I'm gonna

show you what you need to go kayak

diving, how you load your kayak up and

also how to get your gear off the kayak

when you get to your dive spot and how

to get your gear back into the kayak

after you've finished diving.

Obviously there are a couple of

essential items you're going to need, the

first thing is a kayak. I personally use

a two seater kayak, I sit in the back and

paddle and steer and have my dive gear

secured into the front seat section.

The second most important thing you're gonna need is a car with a roof rack, so

thatyou can transport your kayak from home to whichever dive site you're going to.

You may also need the assistance of a friend to help you put the kayak onto the roof.

But with my setup I actually have my

kayak slung from the rafters of my

garage and a pulley system set up that I

put together using an old boat trailer

winch, so I can quite easily put the

kayak onto the car and take it off again

single-handedly. Obviously once the kayak

is on the roof rack you need to secure

it with some straps. I use a rhino rack

and it came with its own straps and

these straps I really like, because the

metal buckle is actually encased or

surrounded by a very thick rubber so

when you're throwing the straps over the

kayak from one side of the car to the

other, the metal buckle is not going to

bang into one of your car windows and

potentially break it.

These nice rubberized ones just bounce. Whatever you do don't take any half measures,

make sure you put two straps on and make sure everything is neat and tidy and very

firmly secured. Here you can see the

metal buckle and the rubber that

surrounds it. Make sure it's really firm

and these particular straps also come

with this great little velcro tie-down,

which you can use to secure the loose

ends so they don't flap around in the

wind when you're driving along.

When you're happy the kayak is secured and you've got everything else loaded into

the back of the car you can quite

happily drive off to your dive destination.

if you're following the usual scuba diving rules you will of course

be diving with a buddy, so once

you do get to the dive spot you can help

each other and get the kayaks off the

car and take them straight down to the

water line.It's much easier to carry an

unladen kayak to the water line than it

is to load it up at the car and then try

and struggle with all that weight

getting it to the water line. Attached to

the side of the kayak, to the right of the

seat, you can see a black bag and in there is my kayak anchor which is also attached

to a short length of chain and then I've got 50 meters of rope in there as well.

Next comes the fun part, which is getting

all your gear from the back of the car

and to the kayak and making sure

everything is firmly secured into place.

I have a set sequential way that I do

this every time and that way I'm never

gonna miss something. I start off with my

flag, my paddle and my integrated weight

pouches. Normally when you go diving you

would have one of the divers carrying a

dive flag which floats along with you on

the surface, but when you are kayak

diving all you need is for each kayak to

be equipped with a dive flag so that other watercraft can see there are divers

down below and if they know what the

rules are they have to stay at least 50

meters away from the dive flag. The

golden rule of kayak diving is to make

sure that every piece of equipment is

firmly attached to the kayak and I mean

absolutely everything. You might think

you're the bee's knees at kayaking but

once you've got all that dive gear and

the extra weight in there, things really

change if you've got some waves on the

surface and it's quite easy for one of

these things to roll over and if they do

roll over and you haven't got something

secured you're going to lose it and you

don't want to lose expensive dive

equipment. The straps I use are made out

of a bungee type material, but mine

are getting a little bit long in the

tooth now and should be replaced shortly.

I make sure that those are out of the

way before I place my tank and BC and

regs into the front seating area and I

always place my tank so that the valve

is closest to me. Next I pop my

integrated weights into place. Now if you

don't use integrated weight pouches and

you're still using a dive weight belt

then you would put that around your

waist once you've loaded all your gear,

you're in your wetsuit and you are ready

to set off.

So with the BCD and tank in place, we

take our bungee cords and pass them

through the d-rings of the BCD and then

attach them firmly to the kayak. At this

point you can turn on your air because

you're going to need to inflate your BCD

so that it firmly locks it into place

underneath the bungee cords. Next I bring

my mask and snorkel and fins and I'm

pretty lucky in the design of this kayak,

in that I have this handy little well,

that's just behind where I sit and it's

also got these buckles so I can securely

fasten those things into place and

they're not going to go anywhere.

Obviously things won't be the same with

a different design kayak and you'll have

to improvise as best as you can,

but the prime objective is to make sure

that everything is firmly and safely

tied down.

Just before setting off I always stow

the paddle with one end underneath the

BCD. A final check before we set off to

make sure that we've got everything we

need and everything is secured, because

you don't want to be paddling out fifty

or hundred or two hundred meters and then get to the dive spot and find you've

forgotten something. When you do reach

your dive spot the first thing is to

drop anchor and make sure you get a good

solid connection with something down

below, then stow your paddle and swing

your legs over the side. Then I reach

around behind the seat and the first

thing I want to do is put my mask on,

remembering of course that you will be

out in the open ocean so there will be

waves to contend with. The reason we

put our mask and fins on first is

because if we do happen to fall

overboard or get knocked overboard then

we are able to see and also maneuver

ourselves in the water. With those items

equipped it's a quick bum shuffle up to

the front end of the kayak and now you

can see why I have the tank valve facing

towards the seat, because if I need to

switch the air on or off I can quite

easily reach it. Unhook the bungee cords

from one of the anchor points on the

kayak and pass them back through the

d-rings on the BCD.

Grab hold of the bungee cord that's

attached to the kayak on the side that

your legs are dangling over and secure

the loose end to the d-ring on the BCD,

this will act as a tether for when you

throw the BCD and the tank overboard,

because if there's any current on the

surface your BCD will be long gone by

the time you've got yourself in the

water and you're chasing after it. Always

tether your BCD to the kayak and always

remember to fully inflate the BCD before

you throw it overboard.

Once the BCD is in the water it's time

to throw yourself in after it. Now it's

time to cast your mind back to the hazy

memory of your open water course, because

if you were taught correctly, one of the

things you should have learned was how

to remove and replace your equipment on

the surface. There are various methods of

doing this and it doesn't have to be

textbook, it just has to be comfortable

and easy. But what I do is open the

buckle, open the cummerbund, make sure all

the hoses are out of the way and put one

arm in first, followed by the second arm.

With that done, do up the cummerbund, do

up all your buckles and tighten your

shoulder straps. You may find it a little

bit awkward or difficult at first,

especially if there's some current on

the surface or waves, but practice really

does make perfect. Once you've got

everything set up just right it's time

to untether from the kayak and drop

below the surface. What we usually do is

gather at the anchor line and head down

as a group, because one of the things

that you want to do when you hit the

deck is to just ensure that your anchor

is firmly attached at the bottom. You

want that kayak to be exactly where you

left it when you finish your dive. A

really useful dive course to have if you

are kayak diving is navigation because

you're gonna use the anchor point as your

fixed point and you're going to swim

around and navigate back to that fixed

point at the end of the dive. One of the

other pieces of equipment that I'm going

to be purchasing shortly for kayak

diving, is a very powerful strobe which

I'll attach to the anchor line around

about 3 or 4 metres above the anchor.

So assuming you've had a great dive and

you've managed to navigate your way back

to your kayak, once you hit the surface

it's pretty much a reverse procedure,

with a couple of little additions. Once

you've fully inflated your BCD, the first

thing to do is to tether yourself back to

the kayak by attaching the bungee cord

to the d-ring on your BCD. The second

step is to get rid of that lead weight.

Now I use integrated weight pouches, so I

pop those out individually and

immediately put them inside the hull of

the kayak. If you're using a weight belt

it's the same procedure, immediately put

it inside the hull of the kayak and

secure that hatch. Now it's back to your

open water training course where you

remove your gear on the surface and

because your BCD is tethered to the

kayak you can quite happily just leave

it be while you're attempting to get

yourself back into the kayak. I generally

come from the opposite side to which the

BCD and tank are tethered because it

will act as a counterbalancing weight,

however in this video example I can't do

that. Launch yourself up onto your belly,

with your belly button around about the

midsection of the kayak and then just

roll over and you'll be sitting in the

right position. Now as you remove each

piece of gear remember it has to be

tethered, don't leave it for a second,

because if some freak wave comes and

knocks you over or rolls the kayak

you're going to lose that expensive dive

equipment. Again I have a sequence that I

follow, so the mask and snorkel comes off

first, followed by my fins.

At this point you can quite happily

leave your paddle floating on the

surface of the water because it is

tethered to the kayak and it gives you

more room to maneuver. Another quick bum shuffle up to the front end and you're

ready to bring your BC and tank back on

board. Do up the cummerbund, make sure

all your hoses are safely and securely

inside and do up the buckle.. Now because

we removed our integrated weight pouches

there's a lot less weight that we have

to drag on board. Again it's all about

practice and technique and I use my foot

to give myself some extra leverage to

get the BC and tank on board. Once it's

back into position,

grab the other bungee cord and pass it

through the d-ring of the BCD and

securely attach it to the kayak.

Again fully inflate the BCD for the same

reasons we did it the first time around.

A final bum shuffle back into the seat,

retrieve your anchor, grab your paddle

and head for home.

If you found this video helpful and

you'd like to see some more, please

subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you

have any comments or questions about

this video or suggestions for other

videos I can do, please leave them in the

comments section, as soon as I see those

I'll get back to you. Thanks for watching

and take it easy.