Into the Wild
Equipping the Larger Paddler by Wes Boyd
Until fairly recently, the opportunities for larger kayakers -- weighing, say, 250 pounds and up -- have been limited due to the lack of boats and gear adequately sized for them. While the "extra-large" kayakers still don't have the selection that's available to their smaller brethren, manufacturers and dealers have started to take notice that it's a growing market. Even so, adequately equipping and training the larger kayaker can have its challenges.
I'm one of those large sized guys. When I first got back into kayaking, after years away from it, I was nearly a hundred pounds larger than I'd been before. There wasn't much gear available for the big guy -- it seemed like all the neat boats and great gear were designed for people half my 300-pound weight, and I was left out in the cold.
Over a period of time, with lots of searching around and trying things out, I discovered that while the situation was bleak, it wasn't impossible. It's been a slow learning process, but I've found out, at least partly from other people that have the same problems, that kayaking is something perfectly reasonable for the bigger person.