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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving was celebrated in Canada on Monday, October 12th. While the American Thanksgiving is associated with a harvest celebration, Canadian Thanksgiving has an association with English navigator Martin Frobisher who, in 1578, held a ceremony to give thanks for a safe landing after a long voyage. Helping you to set out on kayaking adventures and come ashore safely has been our purpose for the past quarter century. This holiday season we wish you happy landings and thank you for the support you’ve given us with your interest in Sea Kayaker.
Feature
The articles in Sea Kayaker don't easily or often become obsolete. Many of our readers keep old issues handy to use as a reference when trying new skills. Our newer readers might not have acquired a collection of back issues, and the rest of us can always use a reminder, so we'll occasionally be featuring some of our previously published and posted articles in our monthly newsletter. There’s a wealth of good and ever-useful information in our back issues and online articles. We hope you'll take advantage of them.
Breath-Holding Drills for Kayakers
Most of the time we don’t give much thought to breathing. When we can’t breathe it’s hard to think about anything else. With any water-related activity, breath holding should be a standard practice. Kayaking is no exception. If you capsize you should be able to hold your breath for as long as you need to roll or wet exit and take care of any complications that might crop up. It’s fairly easy to hold your breath for 30 seconds while you’re here sitting at your computer. If you’re in your kayak and you’ve capsized, that 30-second mark may seem an eternity. With a bit of practice you can make yourself more comfortable while you’re underwater. That will help you extend the time you can stay submerged and allow you to focus on the tasks you need to do to get to the surface to breathe again. Roger Schumann has some drills that you can use to become a better marine mammal.
Sea Kayaker Store
Sea Kayaker Magazine -
December 2009 issue. Available Now!
- Island-hopping in Maine: Lobster Boats and Granite Shores
- Technique: A Sidelong Look at the Draw Family: A guide to going sideways. VIDEO!
- Kayak Reviews:
The XT-15 by Pakboats
Epsilon 200 by Boreal Design
- Windy Falklands Rescue: Two Coasties Rescued by Their Own
- And so much more!
Twenty
The retired number of former baseball players Frank Robinson and Lou Brock, and our offer this month for books in the Sea Kayaker store.
Take 20% off all books when you use the coupon code “skbooks”.
Peruse the Sea Kayaker Store for books on Boat Building, Safety & Skills, Introduction to Sea Kayaking and more!
Offer good through November 30, 2009 and limited to quantity on hand!
The holidays are just around the corner…
Gift ideas for $20 or less
Adventure DVDs
Adventure writer and photographer Jon Bowermaster’s DVDs $19.95
Birthplace of the Winds-Sea Kayaking Alaska Preview available!
Dangerous Archipelago- Sea Kayaking French Polynesia Preview available!
Around Tasmania Preview available!
Visit Sea Kayaker’s DVDs Adventure page for all of our Bowermaster titles.
Books
Sleeping Bag Yoga by Erin Widman $12.95
Building the Greenland Kayak by Christopher Cunningham $19.95 (Signed Copies!)
Sea Kayaking Rough Waters by Alex Matthews $19.95
Take 20% off these and all other books with coupon code “skbooks”.
2010 Kayaking Calendar $13.99
Note Cards
Watercolor note cards of kayaking scenes by Betsey McPhaden $6.95
Block print note cards by Shawna Franklin, artist and kayak instructor $11.95
Subscribe, Renew and Order Products online, by phone 206.789.9536; fax 206.781.1141 or mail to PO Box 17029, Seattle, WA 98127 (Email orders are not accepted).
From the Advertising Department
“I Saw the Ad in Sea Kayaker Magazine”
By Paul R. Riek
Advertising and Promotions Manager
I recently attended the Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival (held October 23 through November 1) in Fort Meyers Beach, Florida, and I was more than a little pleased with my experience there. My homecoming in Seattle found me kissed by the sun, excited about a new and very promising event, and most importantly, very flattered by a couple of our subscribers whom I met at the festival.
Click here to read more
More Info
Welcome New Club: Latino Kayakers of America
Join us in welcoming Latino Kayakers of America in Vails Gate, NY to Sea Kayaker magazine’s website listing of clubs.
This summer Alicio Valle and his sons discussed ways to share kayaking, hiking and camping adventures with the Hispanic community and decided to form a club. Some of their goals are to improve member kayaking skills with instruction from ACA certified kayak instructors, provide a safe environment when kayaking, camping and hiking and welcome all cultures to join and share in the fun of paddling. Learn more at: www.latinokayakersofamerica.com
What’s Cooking?!
If you’re like me, it’s easy to get in a rut when planning meals for trips by just taking the easy way and doing the same old menu. But it doesn’t have to be that way! There are many simple, great tasting recipes that will give your trip that added flair. With minimal effort your menu and recipes can expand. To help, we’ll occasionally be featuring a recipe and the story related to it from the new book: Meals and Memories: A Celebration of Food on the Trail.
If you have a favorite trip recipe or cooking tip you’d like to share, send it to sknewsletter@seakayakermag.com.
Gnocchi in Bathurst Inlet
We were kayaking on the west side of Bathurst Inlet in Nunavut in early July. The ice was just breaking up in Portage Bay. We were prepared to paddle along close to shore where the water was open, but the winds of a huge thunder and lightning storm broke up most of the ice. It was unusual to have thunder this far north. The Inuit of the eastern Arctic have a saying when they hear thunder: “Someone must be breaking some eggs out on the land.” It was quite a storm that night. The sky darkened late in the evening and the wind blew warm air from the south. We sat outside drinking hot tea and watching the weather move around us. We packed our equipment beneath a small tarp and placed rocks on the tarp’s edges. I fell asleep listening to the wind and distant thunder.
When we awoke the next morning, the bay was littered with broken ice pans. Seals were resting on some of the larger ones. We spent that day paddling in the light rain around the ice. In preparation for this particular trip I had a nylon skirt sewn along the bottom of the tent fly and around the entire tent. We would place rocks on the skirts to keep our tent in place during the windy periods. The Inuit used the same method to weigh down the edges of their caribou and sealskin tents. Every campsite we selected had age-old tent rings. We simply set up our tent within the ring and moved the rocks onto the nylon skirting. At the end of that camp we rolled the rocks back into their original places.
This was a very remote trip for us and we didn’t see another kayaker the entire time. We had renewed our basic first aid training in advance and rented a satellite telephone for our travel in the Arctic. We found ourselves selecting camp sites at the mouths of rivers and along gravel beds. Every where we went we saw signs of Inuit people who had travelled these areas. While hiking high up on the ridges we saw strategically placed rocks appearing to locate quartz seams. Rock storage cairns, old grave sites, and inukshuks were prevalent. The use of inukshuks along a low ridge appeared to be designed to move or herd caribou into a location for easier hunting. In this wide open land, we felt the presence of the people of the Kitikmeot.
There was sunshine around the clock and we often prayed for winds to keep the mosquitoes to a minimum. Even with bug hats and jackets, we were forced many times to eat our food while walking along a beach or gravel bar. There were at least four dinners on that two week trip where we escaped to our tent to seek some refuge from the bugs. At times like those, a quick hot meal —emphasis on the ‘quick’—is welcomed by those preparing dinner.
Gnocchi with Basil Pesto Sauce
This is an easy and substantial meal. Packages of freeze-dried Gnocchi are available at large grocery stores or Italian focused retail outlets.
Freeze-dried gnocchi (1 package serves two people)
Container of basil pasta sauce (these are available in a number of flavors and must be kept cool)
Grated Parmesan cheese
Place these tender potato dumplings in boiling water and cook until they rise to the surface. Drain and top with pasta sauce for a filling and tasty meal. You may wish to sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the Gnocchi.
This story and recipe are an excerpt from Meals and Memories: A Celebration of Food on the Trail by Bill Stinson. The book is available through Trafford Publishing and Mountain Equipment Coop, or for the best service contact Bill at stinsonwj@hotmail.com.
Sea Kayaker magazine, independently owned and operated since 1984
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