My Sea Kayaking Pages
 

Low tide in Prince William Sound, Alaska
One of my favorite kayaking photos that I've taken

What started out as a fascination has become my main pasttime. It is a highly addictive activity that allows you to decompress and appreciate simplicity. You can make it as easy or as difficult as you choose, and unlike facilites for other activities, the ocean will always be there. There is an unexplainable euphoria that you get from paddling an 18 foot long by 21 inch wide boat that is more an extension of your body than a vessel in the open ocean. Or anywhere else you decide to take it, for that matter.
 

 
Me playing in a crack in the cliffs, Ft Wetherill, Jamestown, RI
Somewhere in there under my torso is a 19 foot kayak......
Photo by Doug Downey

I paddle a Current Designs Caribou (The model before they put a skeg in it) and a Betsie Bay Recluse, which are hard-chine Greenland style kayaks (OK, lets be respectful to the Inuit here -- their spelling is "qajaq"). Absolutely beautiful boats, and they handle every bit as good as they look. I also use Greenland paddles, which I make myself. I like ancient designs best. As a friend of mine said: "The Inuit have been using these for 6,000 years -- they gotta know something the rest of us don't". I look at it similarly -- anything with 6,000 years of research and development has to be good. Choice of boats and paddles is a highly personal matter -- what I like, you may hate. You have to try a wide range of both to see what's best for you. Never never never settle for the first thing you try.

I also do some canoeing and whitewater kayaking when I'm in the mood to. The skills from one can make you better at the other two, if you approach it the right way.

I paddle mostly between midcoast Maine and New York City, and have also paddled in Alaska, both coasts of Canada, and the Gulf of Mexico.  I hear good things about New Zealand, Iceland, and Greenland too..........