fitness paddling: exercise, train, race by kayak & canoe

When I arrived in Tampa Bay for my first WaterTribe Everglades Challenge (March 2004), I was an admitted sea kayak snob. You know the type, "you’re not a real sea kayaker unless your boat is longer than 16 ft, British, fiberglass, skeged, and you aspire to climb the BCU star system in paddling". I had read a recommendation from Chief (head of WaterTribe) to use kayaks with rudders in the Challenges; I figured I'd show him, if you really know how to sea kayak you don't need a rudder.

With my much-loved Nigel Dennis Explorer, a "real sea kayak", I was surprised and somewhat humored by the variety of boats intending to participate in this race. I remember thinking Wizard's Rob Royed 13' x 28" boat looked a bit like a bathtub, being so short and wide. I got quite a kick out of Pelican's sit-on-top with a pedal apparatus. I couldn't imagine pedaling a sit-on-top for 300 miles in the ocean. There were a large variety of well-known sea kayaks, plastic, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and some beautiful wooden kayaks. Almost all had rudders except KneadingWater's Nordkapp (another "real sea kayak").

There were also a number of boats called Kruger Canoes registered, these looked so big I could only think of a barge, and worse, people were paddling them with a single blade paddle. What was up with that, that's not "real paddling"?

The winner that year was GreyBeard and Ridgerunner in one of those Kruger barges. SharkChow was 2nd in his ruddered Current Designs Solstice. Both came in a few hours over 3 days. Another couple of Kruger boats (Chief and Manitou Cruiser's) finished in less than 4 days. Wizard's bathtub finished a few hours over 4 days, and Pelican pedaled in at 7 days. I finished last with an elapsed time of 8 days. I sure showed them.

SandyBottom successfully completed the 1200 mile challenge around Florida with the Dreamcatcher in 29.5 days and posted several articles about that journey in her blog SandyBottom's Sea Kayaking and Kruger Paddling Adventures. However, not so far ago she was still a "real sea kayaker."