The regulations in France regarding coastal paddling are pretty
restrictive -not sure about rivers and canals.
To venture more than 300m offshore (beachtoy zone) requires very
specific boat features most commercial seakayaks will not match without
modification -but I think non-nationals are under certain circumstances
not required to fulfil all of them-. Way more mandatory equipment is
needed than here in North America. Some of the equipment (like a VHF
radio or flares) requires a license and a certified operator. So much
to cross large open bodies of water in France in a kayak (requires a
group of 3 kayaks if I remember correctly).

You may want to investigate those issues before heading out. See what is
required, what you are allowed to do, and what kind of documents you may
need to get around some of the regulations. French authorities can be as
mean as the ones in the US if they think you don't play by the rules (or
whatever other reason), and most of them speak only french in that case.

A German seakayaking organization had a lot of those issues addressed
(www.salzwasserunion.de) , but most of their information is in German
only. As far as I understood you are OK if you have official (made out
by whom?) documentation that your boat and your gear go conform with the
legal requirements of your country of residence. Those documents should
be in French as well, otherwise... (see end of last paragraph).

UH

Galen Wilkerson wrote:

Hi,

I'm interested in figuring out what the best gear would be for a
kayaking trip like this:

Fly to france, paddle on canals/rivers (not whitewater) and down to
the mediterranean, then bounce along the coast or out to islands in
the med. etc.

I'm looking into a folbot with sail kit, but of course wonder if the
mast can made to fold and also be brought as luggage, etc. etc. I
wouldn't want to have to paddle across large open bodies of water.
Also, it might be nice to be able to portage, so some kind of wheel
kit could be useful, and I would probably bring a large daypack for
hiking excursions, etc. etc.

Of course, this is just one of many places I would want to go with
this kind of setup.

Just trying to get an idea. So many places to go, so little time.
Interested in feasibility, cost, etc.

G