This&That Tour Operators Buoyed by


New PFD Standards Keyholes not required on guided trips, in future by Ryan Stuart


Rare is the kayaker who hasn’t been correct- ed by a paddling partner for using slop- py terminology.


“It’s not a lifejacket, it’s a PFD,” the pedants will say, pointing out the technical details that distin- guish the two types of buoy- ancy aids.


Until now, they might have had a point (albeit an annoying one), but upcoming changes to federal laws will soon blur the differences between PFDs and lifejackets.


At the moment, any operation that charges a fee to take people in a boat is required to use lifejackets. Most guided kayaking companies were therefore breaking the law by using PFDs instead of bulky lifejackets. A commit- tee which includes Transport Canada, user groups and manufacturers is finishing a review of standards that will make some PFDs acceptable for commercial use by 2006.


BOOK REVIEWS In the Wake


of the Jomon BY JON TURK


Following in what he believes to be the wake of the ancient Jomon people, Jon Turk chron- icles a 4,800-kilometre kayak voyage from


Japan to Alaska. Familiar claims about it being the longest, fastest or first expe- dition of its kind are refreshingly absent. In fact, Turk hopes he isn’t the first to paddle the route. He’s doing it to prove it’s possible and thus lend credibility to an anthropological hypothesis that Stone Age Caucasoids migrated to the Americas more than 10,000 years ago by paddling from Japan. Readers quickly get the feeling that this rationale tells only half the story. Scholarly interest alone doesn’t seem capable of pushing Turk and his compan- ions along the severe Siberian coast. Perhaps anthropology is just a noble (and interesting) cover for Turk’s other pursuit: adventure. Turk is an experienced science writer and rarely bores readers with accounts of the weather or his diet. Instead, he ruminates on evolutionary biology and his belief that a predisposition to adventure in some humans (in the form of an adven- ture gene) has played an important role in the evolution of our species. One gets the feeling Turk is talking about himself as much as the Jomon when he argues the historical importance of “the marginally insane dreamer who saw the map of a journey in a gray whale’s eye and followed his vision to the ends of the earth.” $24.95 US, McGraw-Hill, www.books.mcgraw-hill.com


— Reviewed by IM


To set the record straight, life- jackets have to be red, yellow or orange, provide 21 pounds of buoyancy and must initiate a righting tendency if the wearer is face down in the


water. PFDs, on the other hand, may come in all subtle shades and are only required to pro- vide 15 pounds of buoyancy. “The standard is very prescribed in how a lifejacket may be built,” says John Murray


from Transport Canada. “They tend to limit movement and flexibility.” “We’re changing the standards to say, ‘Build them however you want as long as they perform a certain way,’” Murray says. “Higher-end PFDs will probably be recog- nized as meeting lifejacket standards.” This should bring some relief to operators.


More importantly, from now on you’ll be able to tell nitpicking paddling partners they don’t know their blowhole from their keyhole.


Flotsam&Jetsam


CONFLUENCE BUYS WATERMARK One paddlesport giant swallowed another. This May when Confluence (based in North Carolina and owner of Wilderness Systems, Wave Sport, Mad River Canoe and Voyageur accessories) bought the boat division of WaterMark (which includes Dagger, Perception and Mainstream kayaks as well as Harmony accessories and AT paddles). Confluence and the WaterMark paddlesports division will continue to operate separately until the end of August.


LITTLE FOLDING KAYAK COMPANY FOLDED The Little Folding Kayak Company, former Canadian dealers of Folbot and Klepper kayaks, packed up and closed shop in May. Folbot is now without a dealer in Canada, but cus- tomers can contact the company directly at www.folbot.com.


WET NEOPRENE SAFE AT LAST


Seaward has introduced a cockpit cover that turns your kayak into a vault. The fibreglass covers lock down on your cockpit rim and come in all Seaward colours for the aesthet- ically-conscious paranoid. Seaward claims that when locked in place they provide a secure place to stow your gear when away from your kayak to hike, explore or swim in a high- crime area.


ONE STROKE AT A TIME


How far would you paddle for a loved one? John Latecki has already paddled more than 4,900 kilometres for his sister, Julie McAfee, who has multiple sclerosis. In his bid to raise awareness of the disease, the 27-year-old Latecki plans to break the long-distance record for a kayak trip and paddle 48,280 kilometres. If he’s successful his trip will take three years and lead him through every one of the lower 48 states. His longest portage will be 97 kilometres between the Yellowstone and Green rivers in Wyoming. A bigger chal- lenge might be finding a place to dock in New York, his ulti- mate destination.


Paddling


Niagara BY JAMIE BINGHAM


While most paddlers go to lengths to escape populat- ed areas, Jamie Bingham thinks it’s better to spend time in a kayak rather than a car. His 47- page guidebook details 15 different day trips around the Niagara region. The book’s pocket-size water-repelling pages make it convenient to bring with you as you paddle semi-urban style. Bingham provides directions to access points and information on the area’s plant and animal life, tourist attrac- tions, historical facts and possible hazards that only an experienced paddler of the area would know. He equips you with the information you need to plan a season’s worth of trips. The production isn’t flashy, but the black and white photos are enough to convince you to slip the book in your pocket and grab a paddle. $11.95 Cdn. www.outdoorsoriented.com. — Reviewed by Rebecca Meagher


WERNER AWARDED FERRULE PATENT


Paddlers who can’t make up their mind about just what amount of feather angle they like in their touring paddle will be glad to know Werner has been awarded a patent that lets paddlers adjust the feather angle by increments of 15 degrees through a full 180-degree range. Not for those par- alyzed by choice.


NOT ON MY BACK DECK Maine paddlers narrowly escaped having to pay an annual registration fee for each of their canoes and kayaks. A pro- posal that would have required $10 registration stickers to be applied to all canoes and kayaks used on Maine waters was intended to make up for a budget shortfall at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. However, after vocal opposition from the paddling community the plan to register and charge non-motorized watercraft was removed from the final budget.


KAYAKER SAVES ONE LIFE, WATCHES ANOTHER SLIP AWAY An unidentified kayaker paddled out into the 4-degree (Celsius) waters of Great South Bay near New York in early evening on April 4 when he heard cries of help from two men who had paddled a canoe a few hundred metres out from shore and capsized. He grabbed hold of one victim, but the other man, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt, slipped under the surface. The kayaker managed to hold onto the first victim until help arrived.


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