Growing popularity
The Outdoor Industry Foundation based its estimates from its 2005 survey on the
results of an annual telephone survey using scientific sampling. The foundation
interviewed 2,000 people over the age of 15 and gauged their participation in 22
outdoor activities.

An estimated 12.6 million people got into a kayak at least once last year. About
2 million of them kayak regularly.

In 1998, about 4.2 million people had kayaked, and about 400,000 did it
regularly.

Kayakers tend to be young. Roughly 31 percent are in the 16-to-24 age group.
About 20 percent are 25-to-34, 21 percent are 35-to-44, and 28 percent are 45 or
older.

More women are kayaking these days. About 45 percent of the total were female, a
5 percent increase from the foundation's 2004 survey.

The Associated Press