Bob Maselek

Doug,

Facinating topic. I suspect it will receive many comments.

As you know, last season was my first time kayaking. I participated in my first CAM trip on May 5 2011. It was a great learning experience for me. It did help me realize that I needed more paddling skills, so I began the BCU and ACA structured programs. It also taught me that the CAM model by design tends to have trip leaders and participants with varying degrees of skill and that requires each participant to have a high degree of self responsibility. That variation within the group further taught me the need for seamanship skills and solid decision making skills. I discovered the need for solo trips and trips where I would be one of the senior members in order to force the skills to be embedded in my actions. So during the June, July and August period, I needed to step back from the CAM model until I felt ready to return. By September I had the basic skill structure in place and enjoyed several CAM trips in September/October and hope to enjoy many more in 2012.

In essence, CAM can help a beginner move into the novice and intermediate levels quickly, if they do not mind the unpredictable nature of the design. However, it is clearly not for everyone!

Warren

Hi: I am a 100% beginner planning to learn as much as I can this season about sea kayaking. Also at the same time I want to build a good beginner kayak (but also one that I will not outgrow too fast). My goal is to build a boat from plans that I can be comfortable in and learn with. I am 6'1" and 190 lbs. Current choices are Chesapeake 17, Great Auk (my first choice so far), and GoldenEye from Pygmy boats. Are there other good options? All advice is welcomed. Thanks/ Bob

Doug: I am a new 100% beginner. What is the best pool session for me in Haverhill, MA? I would need to borrow a boat but do have a good PFD. Never have done a wet exit, but want to learn. THanks for your help./ Bob

Lorrie-- Thank you and all the others for the great advice. I am so very impressed with the responses that I have received to my original question. This is a great group of people.

I will do what you suggest. And one of the few advantages of getting "old" is that I get 15% off the rental fee.

See you on the water somewhere.// Bob

Welcome Bob!

For starters, I would recommend winter reading - books that instruct on kayaking but also books that show how people who love to kayak use them for expeditions. I just lent two of my favorite books out to one of my students.

- Gordon Brown's - "Sea Kayaking"

- Chris Duff - "On Celtic Tides"

Secondly, I am an instructor and encourage newbies to take instruction early rather than later. A good instructor or a good mentor can help you develop a path or plan and both should help to shorten the learning curve and allow you to meet your goals earlier.

Attending a pool session w/o a boat isn't as productive as with a boat. Some instructional programs will provide a boat for you to learn in. Seems like a few people here will provide a boat for you to use for the session which is EXTREMELY generous as it is a lot of work to bring an extra boat/pfd/paddle for someone you don't know to a pool session. As an instructor, I charge for that! (I offer pool session and also instruction at them but my instruction slots are already full, so I am not soliciting!)

As for what boat to buy, ONLY buy a boat that will suit your intended purpose which is expeditioning on open ocean. You need a boat with 2 hatches, preferably 3. Boat must have full perimeter decklines. You boat should be a minimum of 16'. Nobody here can really recommend a boat for you without knowing your height and weight AND your degree of athleticism. With those things in mind, you can probably get a good recommendation and you could probably even buy a boat without ever having paddled one. Downside there is that if you are not very athletic, you may find a more stable boat will suit initially and over time you may find that the stable boat you initially chose is not suitable long term.

Charles River has a great rental program for beginners which allows you to use any boat of their fleet for the whole season. That will definitely allow you to try a great number of boats initially to make a more informed decision. I don't know all the ins/outs of their program but do know a few people in NSPN began in this program and it worked well for them.

I think that just buying a boat would make it much easier to get started though. With that you can go anywhere to join in the skill session and to take instruction and attend day trips with NSPN.

Min. investment to get started:

boat, paddle, pfd, safety accessories (read the lists on nspn),clothing, rack for your car. Some things are available used.

Definitely plan to attend the Saturday workshop that John Huth is doing on Jan 29 - wind/waves/weather. Matter of fact, attend ANY workshops that NSPN offers this winter. Hopefully someone will put together a Navigation Workshop as that will get you started there too. If you see a navigation course offered by John Carmody of Sea Cliff Kayakers, definitely take it. He is really good at teaching navigation. Sorta good book on navigation is "Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation" by David Burch. It is good but is DRY and BORING. About time someone wrote a better book on it...

In the meantime, get a few good books (others can suggest their favorites too!) and get started.

Offer up your height/weight/athleticism and people will make some boat suggestions. Perhaps even have a few to sell you used! (I have two up for sale myself!)

Suz

Dear Suz: I will bite --Thanks for the answers/ What boats do you have for sale?. I am 6 foot+ and about 190 lbs and as you know a complete beginner.// bob

Bob Maselek new member

Please add me to Portsmouth -March 13 and Haverhill April 2. I will have a PFD of my own. Should I buy a paddle??// Thanks/ Bob

Excellent advice-is is appreciated -- THANKS to you all// Bob

I would like to attend- I am a new (andjust paid up) member.

I will bring a case or two of water bottles for the group.

THANKS/ Bob Maselek

Dear folks: Remember when you first started kayaking? I just joined and paid my dues. I am a complete novice with basically no knowledge of anything I need to know. I am reading a lot of kayaking books, but need to know how to start:

1-should I sign up for outdoor Charles River kayak lessons as soon as I can? Or, are there other lessons I should take?

2-what model boat (beginner??) should I start looking to buy?

3-should I attend NSPN pool sessions?

4-is it OK to ask if someone from NSPN would mentor me (just some advice once in a while)?

I am retired with some time on my hands and a desire to ultimately paddle around the Maine Island trail area. I am the type that wants to learn to do this properly so I have some fun and can be safe at the same time. I want to learn all the sea kayaking skills both mental and physical.

So, how do I start?/ THANKS IN ADVANCE// Bob