1 ATLANTIC March/April 2011 Coastal Kayaker Volume 20, No. 1 Our Twentieth Season! Atlantic Coastal Kayaker • March/April 2011 1 RETAIL SALES LESSONS RENTALS GUIDED TRIPS BIRTHDAY PARTIES CUSTOM GROUP OUTINGS Spring Sale & Demo Weekend April 30 & May 1 Saturday 9am - 6pm Sunday 10am - 5pm our Y g dlin Pad re entu Adv s tart S here! Family Owned Since 1990 SWIFT CANOE & KAYAK DAGGER • ELIE • ESQUIF • HERITAGE • HOBIE • JACKSON LIQUID LOGIC • MAD RIVER • NATIVE • NECKY • OCEAN KAYAK OLD TOWN • P & H • PERCEPTION • PYRANHA VENTURE • WAVE SPORT • WILDERNESS SYSTEMS 41 Bridge Street (Route 179) PO Box 336 Collinsville, CT 06022 (860) 693-6977 www.cckstore.com expeditions, tours, rentals, canoe & kayak sales 8 VARNEY RD on-site manufacturing & repair FREEPORT, ME 207.865.0455 Lincoln, Boréal Design, Maelström, Kokatat- www.paddlelincoln.com 2 Atlantic Coastal Kayaker • March/April 2011 ATLANTIC Contents Coastal Kayaker ACK • Vol 20 No. 1 • March/April 2011 www.atlanticcoastalkayaker.com Atlantic Coastal Kayaker is published, March through December. We take Feature January and February off. Sanibel and Captiva: Paradise Saved .............11 Publisher/Editor Tamsin Venn Departments Contributors: Eddy Lines .....................................................4 Wane Horodowich Letters From You ...........................................5 David Manzo Steve North News & Notes ...............................................6 Sandy Robson Technique: Shoulder Safety ..............................8 Jerry Wylie Reinhard Zollitsch New Products ..............................................16 Places: Muscongus Bay, ME .............................17 Website www.atlanticcoastalkayaker.com Places: Boston, MA - Urban Kayak Adventure .....21 SOLO Atlantic Coastal Kayaker Book Review: ......................................24 PO Box 520 Calendar ......................................................26 Ipswich MA 01938 (978) 356-6112 (tel,fax) Klassifieds ...................................................27 [email protected] Layout David Eden [email protected] Business Office Lou Anne Maker [email protected] Deadline for all materials is the first of the month preceding the month of publication. Letters are welcome. Please direct to [email protected] On The Cover: Outfitter Brian Houston of Adventure Sea Kayak in the man- grove maze of Buck Key, Sanibel Island, FL. Photo by Tamsin Venn. Subscribers may go to our website atlanticcoastalkayaker.com, to see the full-color version of this issue! Email us at [email protected] or dweden@atlanticcoastalkayaker. com for the password. Atlantic Coastal Kayaker • March/April 2011 3 Eddy Lines This season marks the magazine’s 20th year joyable, easy reading monthly publication. into. We’ve got the saying power necessary of publication. The magazine began in May Who’s we? “We” are Tamsin Venn, avid to get this magazine afloat and underway, 1992 with Bob Hicks of Messing About in kayaker, professional journalist and editor, count on it. Boats. The cover was Tom Bergh of Maine author of the AMC guidebook Sea Kayak- The first edition had a book review of Island Kayak Co. paddling through the ing Along the New England Coast, who will Coastal Labrador by Tony Oppersdorf, an beautiful Deer Isle Archipelago. The for- edit our new magazine and BOB HICKS, interview with Trailkeeper Karen Stimp- mat was horizontal, to take advantage of the occasional kayaker (and tinkerer on kay- son and Director Kate Cronin of the Maine kayak’s view of the world, mostly on a flat aks), editor/publisher of Messing About in Island Trail Assn. In the article, we asked, plane of sea and sky and the horizon dotted Boats, biweekly small boating magazine “Does this mean that sea kayakers with with fir-studded islands. now in its ninth year, who will handle the their paddles flashing and their yellow hulls In April 1995, we bowed to economic publishing. glaring on pocket beaches, are overrunning constraints and flipped the magazine into a What’ll it be? You’re looking at it! This in- the Maine islands? vertical 8x10 format, which more printing troductory issue illustrates how we plan to Surprisingly, no, was the answer and presses were geared to, including Staples present news of interest to Atlantic coastal jist of the article. where we printed the magazine for awhile. kayakers. Other articles included T. Ole Phinn’s On the cover was Tom Bergh of the Maine Featuring What? Information on: Access trip through the Exumas in his kayak called Island Kayak Company paddling Lake Su- to the water – places to paddle – detailed Eeyore; a profile of Barry Buchanan who perior during the Great Lakes Symposium. trip guides – environmental issues concern- was building Caribou Kayaks (later taken In July 2000, we switched to a color ing kayakers – safety - instruction – navi- over by Current Designs); an exploration cover, having persuaded some major ad- gation –clubs- dealers- builders – make & of Vinalhaven, Maine by Tamsin Venn; an vertisers to run with us in color, including model reviews – whatever else we learn interview with Gay Atkinson who ran Ex- Perception, Dagger, and Harmony Paddles. about that will interest Atlantic coast kay- plorers at Sea out of Stonington, Maine; a The cover was a view of Antarctica, and akers. primer on safety and instruction by cold the issue highlighted Paddling Antarctica, Inspiration from: Well written and illus- water guru Chuck Sutherland; plus a list- “Man in Extreme Conditions,” by Tom trated articles on the above topics, plus the ing of clubs and retailers (of the ten stores Bergh, Stan Chladek, and Nigel Dennis. stories readers have to tell of their adven- in Massachusetts, six are still in business Our Atlantic Coast kayakers were tures and experiences paddling the Atlantic and Klepper American was then located in reaching out to farther shores and greater coast, Labrador to the Bahamas. Union Square in New York City). We man- risks and sharing their stories with us. Will it survive? This is always something aged to identify a mere 24 outfitters along Meanwhile, for our inaugural issue, people question about a new magazine. We the entire Atlantic Coast! That was when May 1992, here was our opening statement, know it will, the sport on our coast is grow- you traveled for hours to buy a kayak or at- page 2. ing and has a diversity that can support an tend a symposium. How Come? We felt it was time to bring interesting journal. And both of us are pro- Well, life in the kayaking world along INFORMATION and INSPIRATION to fessionals in publishing as well as kayak- the Atlantic Coast certainly has expanded in kayakers along our Atlantic Coast, in an en- ing nuts, so we know what we’re getting the past two decades, and I doubt many of us would have predicted the type of growth the sport has seen. It is a very different kayaking world now, but one thing remains CHARLES RIVER the same, the inspiration, renewal, and ad- CANOE & KAYAK venture we find every time we put our tiny PaddleBoston.com boats into the great ocean. (617) 965-5110 Who knows what the next 20 years will bring? Meanwhile Happy Birthday Atlantic Coastal Kayaker and a million thanks to all Newton Paddling Store who have contributed to its ongoing suc- Free Demos Every Day cess. Happy Paddling! 4 Atlantic Coastal Kayaker • March/April 2011 Letters From You Southern Waters The new holdable, analog, old-fashioned, around 240. My key interests are fresh water kayak- preferred, ACK arrived and it’s great, it’s Jay Babina ing on the lakes down in the Carolinas and back on my bedtime-reading pile, and being Branford, CT Virginia. Thanks for your recent article on read (it does NOT put me to sleep!) Good Charleston, S.C. (“A Break from the Bleak: stories. Good layout. Great to read about all Cold Water A Winter Trip to Charleston, S.C.,” ACK that paddling, but I’d like to be out paddling I just posted an essay on “Kayaking and November/December.) myself. Cold Water Immersion” (at www.tsunami- Charles Cummins Peter and Alicia Moore rangers.com). It centers on how to deal with Cobleskill, NY Ipswich, MA hypothermia. Please feel free to add your comments, cold stories, or questions at the Norwalk Islands Guide Updated Got my print copy of the ACK today. Love- “comments” button below the essay. Also, The guidebook, Kayaking In and Around ly cover plus a joy to hold. let others know about his post if you think the Norwalk Islands and the brand new It’s obvious I have a computer, which it might be useful for them to know about 2010 Trails of the Norwalk River Valley & I use regularly, and I read your last few is- cold shock and hypothermia. Vicinity trail maps are now available for sues that way. But it is a pleasure to look at Eric Soares purchase on-line at http://norwalkriver.org/ the print version, riffle through the pages, www.tsunamirangers.com docs.htm. The books are being sold for $10 glance at the ads, etc. each and the maps are available in paper for It’s worth the few extra dollars to get Kayaking in North Carolina $5 and outdoor quality for $8. The proceeds the print version! Thank you for listing the WNC kayaking benefit the Norwalk River Watershed Asso- Herb Stein site for our area. We are certified Instructors ciation. Washingtonville, NY with the ACA and have our own website The maps were produced by the NRWA now, www.WannaKayak.com. and printed with funds from a REI grant. It An old friend found its way to my door. Fern S. White includes trails of the region including Nor- What a pleasant surprise. I have to admit, I Etowah, NC walk, Wilton, Ridgefield, Weston and Red- didn’t read any of the PDF issues - maybe ding. quickly scanned over the first one. I’ll take Safety First The bookincludes color photos and a black and white, small issue over more The 11th Annual Bangor Paddle Smart good information on kayaking the Norwalk computer reading any day.