So I'm curious about how many readers and posters there are now on this forum.

Where are you and how often do you paddle?

you first

cheers

Bill

I'm just a retired guy who paddles about 3, or 4 times a week.

Almost all of this material can be gleaned from my previous posts, but here it is together in one place: Like Magooch, I'm a retired guy, but unlike him, I paddle once a week on average, two-thirds of the time solo. It's an hour and a half trip to anyplace I like to kayak, and with gas what it is, it's $15+ there and back. Been paddling for about 24 years, strictly tidewater/saltwater. My main boat is a custom CLC Patuxent 17 built from plans (their hull, my deck and cockpit) and painted with red and yellow enamel. My winter/cold water boat is my beamy old 1984 Dirigo 17 that I paddle whenever it becomes drysuit season. Both boats are rudder-equipped, which I use for salt-marsh channels and for long crossings with awkward wind directions. I use euro paddles, but often with a quick Inuit cadence to vary back and forth. Always carry the nautical chart wherever we're going (and am usually the only one in a group of up to a dozen paddlers who has a chart). I determine when and where to launch and paddle strictly on the basis of experience, wind, and tide, and keep well within my known limits.

My main observation of too many "sea kayakers" is that they do not fully apppreciate that they are, first and foremost, MARINERS--marine boaters--and need to recognize that they are out there in marine conditions utilizing the simplest, most primitive, most basic equipment: their kayak, their paddle, and themselves. No motor, no sail, no crew, no lifeboat, certainly no place to hide from the wind, so they had better have all the tools and the knowledge and the judgment that they're going to need out here in the boat with them. And, finally, sea kayaking is the best thing to do all day I've ever found.

OK, I split my year between Prescott, Arizona and Bahia de Kino, Sonora.

I paddle a variety of boats as an instructor with Prescott College, my current favorite is the Seaward Chilco - I own a CLC Chesapeake 17 made by a friend.

We are blessed with several interesting lakes in the Prescott area. I drive about 6 miles to the nearest. I'm looking into a trailer to pull a boat behind my bike.

From Bahia de Kino the Midriff Islands stretch across the Sea of Cortez and the paddling around "Mexico's Galapagos" is exciting.

I'm eager to help others explore the Midriffs.

Hey,

My name is Martin, I live in Chile. I work as a corporate slave in a software company. I am also a Sk Instructor and guide for a local trip operator www.kayakaustralis.com, and founder of a local club www.ecodeporte.cl/kayak.

I have 3 plastic kayaks, Eskia from Necky, Specter 15 from Dagger and Magellan from Dagger. I paddle anything from 5 inches deep. Local ponds, up to class II rivers, fiords and open sea.

Also like mountaineering, backpacking, geocaching, orienteering, off-piste ski and aikido.

Regards,

M

I have been sea kayaking for about 10 years and found it to be the only outdoor sport that I have really sought to expand my skills beyond the novice level, and am hopelessly addicted. I have a growing fleet: Prijon Seayak, P & H Expedition Quest, a Liquid Logic Scooter for playing in ocean surf, and a rowing scull for a workout. Hope to have an NDK Romany by the end of the year. I purchased my home solely because it is on a tidal creek in NJ USA, and can paddle from my backyard whenever I want.

When not on my creek, I like to join others in my paddling association either on Delaware Bay or the east coast of NJ. I head South for a winter paddling vacation every year.

I earned my Basic Coastal Kayaking Instructor certification last year through the ACA and tought my first class last week. I so thoroughly enjoyed watching other folks light up with enthusiasm as they begain their kayaking paths.

Like Strange Magic, I feel we are mariners. It is just as fun learning about navigation and weather and reading charts as it is building the physical skills one needs for sea kayaking.

Sorry for the long-windedness. As you can see, I am extremely into this sport! Steve

Hi, I started paddling a canoe as a child growing up in Minnesota. 40 some years later and several locations since I am still paddling and sailing. I have been paddling a kayak that I built about 8 years ago, it is still a beautiful boat (CLC westriver). Four years ago for my own interest I took the courses and exams to get my masters captains license. Yes, I strongly agree when we are out there we are mariners.
When not kayaking or sailing, I am probably at work. For me that is a Professor of physics and Mathematics at local college. This gives me lots of free time for my personal life :-)

I'm an inexperienced kayaker. Just moved to Florida in July and bought a couple plastic kayaks (Liquid Logic and Necky) so the missus and I can do some playing on a nearby river. Building a Pygmy Osprey Std in the garage.

I'm a 43 year old ex-commercial diver who has had to make a career change due to injuries but my arms are still fine I can paddle like a madman.
I do ocean paddling because I grew up on the water and I feel it's my element, it's not too expensive, I live near some of the planets best paddling areas (except the tropics, how nice it must be to have exposure times in excess of 20 minutes at 9C) and it allows me to combine my other passtimes of ham radio and photography.
I feel a more intimate connection with the sea the smaller the boat I'm in. When I'm camped along the Inside Passage, boiling coffee grounds in a metal cup with a blowtorch, waiting for exactly the right conditions to cross QC Straight and the Sun Princess steams by so close I can hear the PA system telling the passengers to go to "B" deck for shuffleboard --- I don't envy them. I wouldn't trade places with them for the world. They might as well live in a hotel near the ocean and look out the window towards the water.
I also like to make overly long, rambling posts on a variety of webforums and paddle a Necky Alsek, poly-hulled fat 14'er.

Cyberhun I understand what you mean, I grew up on the west coast working on my family's fishing boats, I now reisde in TN . And we do have a few big lakes and I make it to the ocean about twice a year. I see a lot of big cruisers and house boats on the lake and often wonder what is the point of leaving the house if you are going to be on a house boat.

I have always been an open canoeist of every style (wilderness, w/w, ballet, poling), but as a tradesman I have kept more fit than all of my old paddling buddies so no one wants to grunt it out with portaging with me anymore. 50 is harder on some people than others. Oddly enough, I started to study karate with one of my boys when he was younger and when I graded for black belt I wrote an essay on my comparison of teaching and practicing canoeing and karate. I thought it was very good, but I just receive some very strange looks. Go figure... to me they are both Zen things. I am neither military, competitive or aggressive.
I met the husband of a friend of my wife's 7 yrs ago and he was like my long lost twin. Different career path but same outdoor experience except a number of years in Vancouver where he began seakayaking. He has a feathercraft K2 and we now live for Georgian Bay off shore (my beloved canoe area).
I just bought a C.D. Caribou and look forward to obsessing about technique and learning to surf and play. I am also building a light folder for interior paddling so it will be easier to carry.
I was a naval officer so I love the nautical aspect of navigation. (hey, I worked as a commercial diver too!) I don't get much time to paddle, yet it is my life (don't tell my wife I said that!)

NW NJ kayaker, Dagger Specter 15.5 and Prijon Kodiak (customized a lil bit) for touring, Prijon Yukon, LL Remix 79, and Jackson Superhero for rivers (yes, they are all different). Thinking about maybe getting rid of one of the touring boats and getting a Romany Excel or the CD Infinity ( depending on my mood of the week). Paddle about 80-90 days a year, and think of myself as an enthusiastic beginner.

I started paddling last summer...I own a Prijon Seayak. I just bought a wetsuit so I'm back paddling a small reservoir right by my house (I hadn't been in my boat since it got cold). I took 1 sea kayak surf class (it was in charleston) and fell in love. It was literally the most fun i've ever had. The same flat water over and over again was pretty fun before that...but now I crave excitement. I'm just south of Atlanta, a long way from the sea, so I watch sea kayak videos and sit in the .5 foot wind waves that a gale MAY generate over the few hundred yards of fetch in my local lake and pretend.

I plan on getting a whitewater boat sometime so I can A. find some excitement a little closer and B. attend the roll practice put on by the whitewater club around here.

I'm a fairly new paddler but have taken some classes to help speed up my skills. Rolling classes start soon and I plan on spending a good portion of this year working on a solid roll among other things. I now have an Eddyline Nighthawk 16 as well as a WS Tsunami 125 and hope to add a QCC in the next few years. Here in NW Jersey I have plenty of lakes and rivers to play in but will soon be adding some coastal paddling.

Cheers,

Gary