ROUGH WATER
R O UG H W A T ER R E VO L U T IO N
EXTREME KAYAKING IS COMING OF AGE
DAVID JOHNSTON LOOKS AT ITS TONGUE-STUD-AND-TATTOO ADOLESCENCE, AND THE INCREASINGLY MAINSTREAM DIRECTION IN WHICH IT’S HEADED.
F
OR MANY, sea kayaking is synonymous with quiet paddles into the sunset and multi-day trips on scenic coasts. Lovely, challenging even, but not exactly thrilling. That’s changing. Over the past five years, interest has exploded among a growing subset of paddlers in a more adrenalized
aspect of the sport: rough water sea kayaking. Sea kayaking in rough water isn’t new. Small pockets of paddlers have been taking long boats out to play in surf,
rock gardens and tidal races for over 25 years. When Stan Chladek founded the infamous Gales of November on Lake Superior in the mid ‘80s, the annual event drew up to 50 of the sport’s top paddlers, including Nigel Dennis and Dave Ide. Footage of early pioneers like Eric Soares and the Tsunami Rangers careening through impossibly narrow pas-
sages and exploding haystacks, along a cliffed-out coast pounded by 20-foot Pacific swell, is still hair-raising nearly three decades later.
www.adventurekayakmag.com 43
PHOTO: JOEL COOPER
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