SCENE
CALM-MUTE. PHOTO: JAIME SHARP
The secret to a stress-free commute is to slow down RUSH HOUR
SHRILL AND INSISTENT, the
alarm announces the arrival of an- other workday. Five out of every seven mornings, the to-do list be- gins before we even leave the drive- way: fix a cup of coffee and break- fast, listen to the morning news, tune out the traffic report for a dis- tant city. The fast-talking reporter fires off tips with staccato efficien- cy—which routes are moving slow- ly, where to expect construction, how to avoid the inevitable caffeine- fueled collisions.
I turn off the radio and cheerfully pull on my spray skirt. The only traffic I’ll encounter on my com- mute is porpoises and seals. Paddling is one of the oldest forms of transportation, yet it is easy to forget its functionality. For most modern kayakers, time on the water is far more than a straightfor- ward passage from A to B. It’s a shift
in perspective. Time moves differ- ently. Light behaves in new ways. Water is a unique medium and there is something both liberating and re- laxing about it. I often sigh as soon as I push away from shore. When I feel my body no longer supported by my legs, cradled in the cockpit of my kayak, I’m immediately immersed in the effect that shift in medium has on my whole being. For the kayaker who lives and works near riverbank or coastline, there
is no better release than
taking your daily commute to the water. It may start as a novel con- cept—an impress-your-colleagues- once-or-twice stunt—but repetition soon becomes routine. At first, I agonize over the extra time it takes to paddle six miles (roughly one hour and 20 minutes, depending on fog, tides and wind)
versus driving 12 miles of pavement (around 20 minutes, barring traffic jams). Still, I make it a weekly habit. In the winter months, when the sun shuttles below the horizon earlier, I compromise, paddling in and taking the bus home.
The secret to becoming a suc- cessful kayak commuter is this: it has nothing to do with speed and efficiency. Save those priorities for when you walk through the office doors. Sure, it takes longer than driving, but this is one of the rea- sons we paddle: to slow down and experience the world around us with the awe it deserves.
Paddle commuting restores san- ity and satiates an unquantifiable side, perhaps my better half. I arrive at work with a happy body and I land at home feeling relaxed and free of any stress that may linger from the office. Sometimes, in lieu of a
DIGITAL EXTRA: Click here to watch a short video of Laura's commute 24 | ADVENTURE KAYAK
grocery store, I stop and pick fresh mussels on the return paddle. The rhythmic dance of the pad- dle dipping on either side of the kayak creates ephemeral eddies of water and low-angled light. Mind at ease, pacified by reflections of trees and clouds, time fades into an abstract construction of an overly linear society. A surfacing porpoise breaks the meditative silence, a re- minder of the rich, near-forgotten realm below.
To paddle is to travel along a tran- sitional line between two worlds. More than simply a healthy way to commute—carbon-free and good cardio—it’s a new way of see- ing. Could there be a finer path to creativity and contentment in the workplace than the path of the commuter’s paddle?
Laura Prendergast parks her pad-
dle at Pygmy Boats, located on the water in Port Townsend, WA.
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