Tips for staying safe on the water while kayaking in miami

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The extended holiday weekend could have provided some paddlers the opportunity to get on the water for the very first time this season. Others venturing out might never have paddled a river before. Here are some tips for safe kayaking in miami.

Things to wear:

"Never, ever wear any cotton clothes. Wear all of the watertight material which wicks dry... You'll freeze to death. It is possible to get hypothermia on a 60-degree day wearing cotton clothes... you have to wear wet suit material – the wickable, breathing stuff. That's most important."

Ditch the jewelry:

"The water is cold, it makes your fingers shrink, you're going to eliminate wedding rings... Do not wear earrings that are going to get caught to a life jacket. If you want to lose your Rolex in the river, then that's your deal."

Protect your skin:

"Put sunscreen on all exposed areas, especially on the tops of the ears and your nose. Put some lip balm on your lips because you are about the river and the wind blows and your lips are going to get dry."

Protect your toes:

"Do not go barefoot. Wear a fine wet suit booty or a type of shoe that has obtained a sole osoul so that you're not walking on glass or sharp stones around the bottom of the river. And something which won't come off from the sand and here you're walking around with a shoe and another's buried in the mud."

Never go it alone:

"It seems romantic to paddle independently in nature, but you're at a serious risk. Someone could get injured or get stung by a bee and go into anaphylactic shock... For flatwater paddling I state at least two individuals and for whitewater a minimum of three"

Water, no alcohol:

"Alcohol and whitewater or canoeing do not mix. But you want to have plenty of water on the river."

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