YOUR BEST YEAR EVER
JANUARY BUILD YOUR
OWN KAYAK
“It’s a real high to build a boat, put it in the water and paddle away,” says Dan Jones, a veteran builder who lent us the Pygmy Murrelet reviewed on page 52. Kits are available to suit every design pref-
erence; all you need is time and a warm workshop. Start your project after the holidays—planning to begin earlier can lead to procrastination or, even worse, cut into time on the water. Start too late and your hot new ride won’t be ready for spring—count on two or three months if you’re only working on it evenings and weekends. Once you slip into your gleaming labor of love, how- ever, you may be hooked: Jones is already planning his 12th home-build. Accelerate your project with a weeklong workshop. Try Maine’s Wooden Boat School, Port Townsend’s Pygmy Kay- aks or Peterborough, Ontario’s Bear Mountain Boats.
www.thewoodenboatschool.com/boatbuilding.php www.pygmyboats.com/boat-building-classes.html www.bearmountainboats.com/workshops
APRIL SAIL DOWN
UNDER
With over 25,000 kilometers of coastline from tropical Queensland to the storm-tossed Great South- ern Ocean, Australia is a magnet for surfers, sailors and kayakers
february
JULY FIND AN
ICEBERG
Every spring, bergs calved from the 15,000-year-old glaciers of western Greenland drift south on the Labrador current into Newfoundland’s
famous Iceberg Alley. Kayaking the wild coast of the Rock in early summer will let you catch the tail end of the iceberg season and—if you are lucky—some pre- cious sunny days. In the long summer sunlight, each iceberg—from intimate Toblerones to superstore-sized monoliths—glows with a thousand subtle shades of turquoise and sky blue. For icy encounters on the West Coast, head to Alaska’s easily accessible Mendenhall Lake in Tongass National Forest or venture into Prince William Sound to encounter icebergs birthed by the tide- water glaciers of the immense Chugach range.
www.nfkayak.com |
www.sea-quest-kayak.com 60 PADDLING THIS MONTH || March 2013
alike. Paddle the white sand beaches of the Whitsun- day Islands at the heart of the Great Barrier Reef—one of the Seven Wonders of the natural world—to get up close and personal with sea turtles, manta rays and whales. Take advantage of Tasmania’s location in the notoriously windy Roaring 40s and try your hand at the classic Tassie Rig for some wild kayak sailing, Aussie- style. Across the Tasman Sea, Kiwis love to sail almost as much as their neighbors. Fill your sheet on the sun- kissed waters of New Zealand’s Abel Tasman coast.
www.saltydog.com.au |
www.roaring40skayaking.com. au |
www.abeltasmankayaks.co.nz
AUGUST DISCOVER THE
BIRTHPLACE OF THE KAYAK
Voyage past the Arctic Circle to start your journey in Pond Inlet on Baffin Island or the Scoresbysund fiord system in Greenland. Pad- dling these harsh waters during the brief ice-free season will give you a deep appreciation for the
resourcefulness and courage of the people who dared hunt whales from their small skin crafts. On your trip, you’ll share this wild land with narwhals, musk oxen, arctic fox and polar bear—to say nothing of the plentiful and deli- cious Arctic char.
www.blackfeather.com
PHOTO: GARY LUHM
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