New Game!!

Greg, I have almost zero kayaking skills but have been thinking about learning. Balance in no problem and I was in shape a long time ago. Not in bad shape just not in the 20 mile hump a day shape the I was once in.

Susan took kayak classes and did several day trip on the S.F. bay in the late 90's. and talks about it all the time. Camping and living out side is nothing new to me. Lots of time in the serrias for fun and then in the desert of southern Cal for the Corps. As we have moved on to boats I have not seen much of my very low low low price camping gear in a while.

Sounds like I have to get educated on the use of a paddle and then invest in some top end camping gear before looking into a trip like this. Do you have any pictures? what is the weather like other then cold? is it a wet camp? or is there any chance of getting dry? sorry for a lot of questions but i find it very interesting.
 
It would be good to know the model so you could check the width vs. length and design details and whether it has a rudder or skeg but yes, any servicable basic boat can be a great starter boat. It needs to be at least 14ft long and roughly 23+in wide to have a chance at good initial stability and self rescue plus storage for gear. Bad initial stability can be a good thing but not for a beginner. If you have the model name, look it up on the manufacturer website and here for user reviews and basic specs.

http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/


It is cold out but with the right gear it is easy to stay warm in paddling wear and the camping is actually a bit more cushy that backpacking. We each carry a two person tent, plenty of warm, dry clothes, and we have a big cooking tarp and real large cookware plus at least two stoves because the eating is taken quite seriously on these cold trips. The whole trip is refrigerated so keeping real food is easy. Pancakes start each morning often with eggs, sausage, or bacon and dinners are usually a three hour buffet of rice/chowder, steak, roasted veggies, lingcod, seabass, and whichever shellfish we collected that afternoon. Some of the islands are so riddled with crab, mussles, clams, and oysters, that you can collect them all without a single tool or trap in a matter of minutes. If you get hungry around the campfire later in the night, you can click on the headlamp and have a couple of fresh oysters roasting on the fire in 30 seconds. Really.

The above link is also a good resource for other paddling information.

Here is a neat site with paddling tutorials and no, you really don't need to be rolling your sea kayak.

http://www.kayakpaddling.net/

I have lots of pics but I clean out our web albums at the start of each calendar year so there is not much to see right now. I will email something soon.
 
It is cold out but with the right gear it is easy to stay
warm in paddling wear and the camping is actually a bit more cushy that backpacking. We each carry a two person tent, plenty of warm, dry clothes, and we have a big cooking tarp and real large cookware plus at least two stoves because the eating is taken quite seriously on these cold trips. The whole trip is refrigerated so keeping real food is easy. Pancakes start each morning often with eggs, sausage, or bacon and dinners are usually a three hour buffet of rice/chowder, steak, roasted veggies, lingcod, seabass, and whichever shellfish we collected that afternoon. Some of the islands are so riddled with crab, mussles, clams, and oysters, that you can collect them all without a single tool or trap in a matter of minutes. If you get hungry around the campfire later in the night, you can click on the headlamp and have a couple of fresh oysters roasting on the fire in 30 seconds. Really
Click to expand...

Oh I thought you were roughing it!! :lol: My last back pack trip was- sleeping bag, 5 potatoes, a small cooking pot, two pairs of socks, two shirts, canteen,flint steel kit, a 22 rifle and a fishing rod. that was for 5 days by myself. I guess there is more room in a kayak then I thought.
 
I started very light and simple after coming from land experience but over time have learned to use that kayak space very well. A typical 17ft boat has about the same storage volume as 3 large internal frame backpacking packs. In fact, some boats I wouldn't take offshore, have enough for real folding chairs and small coolers.

I luxuriate with pie, brownies, and cold beer and skip the chair which is what logs are for.
 
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