Am I required to have a whistle in my kayak?

I recently bought a kayak, and I know I have to have a PFD when paddling, but am I legally required to have a whistle or some other noisemaker? If I can blow a whistle, why not just yell at the top of my lungs? Can I use a kazoo instead of a whistle?

I’m not sure where you are from, but in California, a PFD, yes. Whistles and kazoos, no. The whistles that kayakers use are very very loud (to the point of being quite painful). When you are paddling in whitewater or loud rushing water, you cannot hear the shouts of another person even a short distance away. Rapids can be very loud and create an awful lot of background noise. The whistles used for signaling can be heard at a much greater distance than the shouts of a human voice. It might be fun to bring a kazoo along though, just make sure you don’t get that little paper dealy on the inside wet. That make for a heck of a bummer there Chet.

Happy boating.

Alpha Centauri 14 Kayak – Wet Exit & Entry Self rescue With An Inflateable PFD

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