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From: Chuck Holst <CHUCK_at_multitech.com>
subject: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 09:36:59 -0600
>>
2.  **Camping, etc.**  Again, we are immediately looking at some epitome
of long distance sea faring.  How many of you have really camped out of
your sea kayak.  I bet less than half.  The other half don't need all
that volume to put things into...they are day paddlers.  If you really
want to camp, use a canoe.  No sea kayak is as efficient at camping as a
canoe.  It will swallow up large Coleman coolers, habachis, small
kitchen sinks.
>>

Interesting comment by Ralph Diaz. I use a canoe in the Boundary Waters
because it is easier to portage, not because it holds more gear than my
sea kayak (more accurately, my wife's and my two medium-volume sea
kayaks). I don't use it on Lake Superior, because I believe a sea kayak
is safer in rough water than a canoe.

Also, I've wilderness-camped out of a medium volume kayak for over a
week at a time. Others, I know, have camped for longer. I'm curious,
though, about Ralph's assertion. How many of you have NOT camped out
of your kayak?

Chuck Holst  
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From: Rene Milo <rmilo_at_ibm.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 10:54:19 -0500
I have not, although it is a goal for this year.

Milo
Poughkeepsie, NY

-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Holst <CHUCK_at_multitech.com>
>             I'm curious,
>though, about Ralph's assertion. How many of you have NOT camped out
>of your kayak?



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From: Neil Somos <Neil.Somos_at_mailhost.bellhow.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 12:18:34 -0500 (EST)
I have yet to camp out of a kayak, but I am eager to.
Of course first I have to have a kayak to camp out of!
Although I have been kayaking since spring of 95 and have
taken several one or two day courses and done a total of about
fifteen-twenty day-trips (not counting kayaking on Hinckley Lake)
I have yet to have a real kayak of my own.  I've even been up
at the Great Lakes Sea Kayaking Symposium and loved it, but as
always did it by renting a boat.  (I don't count a milk-carton
Krazy Kraft race  Kayak as a real boat)

I've been slowly collecting gear such as sleeping bags, tents,
camp stove, water carrier, first aid kits, etc.  One way or another
I will eventually have a kayak of my own.  Worst case I will build
one myself.  I'll be 41 years old this April.  I've recently become
serious about my physical fitness and am taking various step aerobic
classes and did over 1000 miles bicycling last year.  Apart from the
joy of being able to go where you will in two dimensions on the
waters surface and the thrill of being so close to nature, my interest
in kayaking is in the aerobic upper body workout that it can provide.
Although I love sailing too, you are somewhat at the mercy of the
wind and there is not much physical fitness benefit from sailing
unless you happen to be sailing poorly!

On Friday March 19, World-Champion Paddler Verlen Kruger will be
speaking at the Happy Days Visitor Center of the Cuyahoga Valley
National Recreation Area.   
  http://www.nps.gov/cuva/lyc99.htm

I will do my best to be there.  If anyone has some questions they
would like to ask him, please let me know.  I will select 
some questions that I will ask when I get the chance.

I've read that Verlen Kruger lives in Lansing Michigan and that
he makes his own boats. 
  http://isd.ingham.k12.mi.us/~instech/explore.html

Apparently some of Verlen's adventures are chronicled in
"One Incredible Journey" by Clayton Klein, Verlen Kruger.
Wilderness Adventure Books; ISBN: 0961159650 and I believe
there was an article/interview about Verlen in last Februaries
Paddler Magazine.  I'd love to read that article.  I'll check
to see if my local library subscribes to Paddler magazine. 
I've already checked and there is no copy of "One Incredible Journey"
in the Cuyahoga County Public Library system.

Amazon has a listing for the book, but it seems it has to be 
special ordered and may be out of print.  I'll try to get a copy
but it is unclear if I could get it before the Lcyeum talk.

neal_at_bellhow.com
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From: Mel Grindol <grindol_at_my-dejanews.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 19:52:17 -0000
On Wed, 24 Feb 1999 09:36:59   Chuck Holst wrote:
>
>Interesting comment by Ralph Diaz. I use a canoe in the Boundary Waters
>because it is easier to portage, not because it holds more gear than my
>sea kayak

Exactly the reason my wife and I are taking an ACA canoe class in two weeks and will probably buy a canoe in a month or so.  For portageing in the BWCA.

>How many of you have NOT camped out of your kayak?

My wife and I have not because we have not had a chance to yet.  We just started paddling last summer.  But we fully plan to camp out of the kayaks this year or next.  Our tentative plans for the year include one canoe trip to the BWCA and one kayak trip.  The kayak trip will either be a series of day paddles from Seabrook Island/Charleston area.  If not that then we're leaning towards going to Ross lake for a week long trip.

Mel
---
There are three types of people, those who can count and those who can't.



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From: Andy Johnson <carljohn_at_hsc.usc.edu>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 12:14:50 -0800
I've camped out of my  Klepper, but not my Current Designs GT.

Andy

At 09:36 AM 2/24/99 -0600, Chuck Holst wrote:
>
>>>
>2.  **Camping, etc.**  Again, we are immediately looking at some epitome
>of long distance sea faring.  How many of you have really camped out of
>your sea kayak.  I bet less than half.  The other half don't need all
>that volume to put things into...they are day paddlers.  If you really
>want to camp, use a canoe.  No sea kayak is as efficient at camping as a
>canoe.  It will swallow up large Coleman coolers, habachis, small
>kitchen sinks.
>>>
>
>Interesting comment by Ralph Diaz. I use a canoe in the Boundary Waters
>because it is easier to portage, not because it holds more gear than my
>sea kayak (more accurately, my wife's and my two medium-volume sea
>kayaks). I don't use it on Lake Superior, because I believe a sea kayak
>is safer in rough water than a canoe.
>
>Also, I've wilderness-camped out of a medium volume kayak for over a
>week at a time. Others, I know, have camped for longer. I'm curious,
>though, about Ralph's assertion. How many of you have NOT camped out
>of your kayak?
>
>Chuck Holst  
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> 
C. Anderson Johnson, Ph.D.
Professor of Preventive Medicine and Director
Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research
University of Southern California
1540 Alcazar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Phone 	323-442-2622
Fax		323-442-2601

IPR Web Site: http://www.usc.edu/go/ipr/


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From: R. Walker <rww_at_mailbox.neosoft.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 14:41:46 -0600
> How many of you have NOT camped out
> of your kayak?

I have not done this as of yet..  Doesn't mean I won't, its just 
something that will come after I have completed my list of 
technicaly day "tricks".   I do already have a few kayak 
camping destinations cooking in my mind.  Mostly river
stuff though....   

Richard Walker
Houston, TX
http://www.neosoft.com/~rww/kayak_log.html
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From: Dave Kruger <dkruger_at_pacifier.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 16:45:54 -0800
Ralph Diaz wrote:

> 2.  **Camping, etc.**  Again, we are immediately looking at some epitome
> of long distance sea faring.  How many of you have really camped out of
> your sea kayak.  I bet less than half.  The other half don't need all
> that volume to put things into...they are day paddlers.  If you really
> want to camp, use a canoe.  No sea kayak is as efficient at camping as a
> canoe.  It will swallow up large Coleman coolers, habachis, small
> kitchen sinks.

Well, I'll take Ralph's bait -- even though I can tell he is trolling! <g>

I spent almost six weeks (two week-long excursions and two 2-week-long
trips) last year camping out of my sea kayak.  I had fresh food almost
every day on those trips -- cabbage, apples, carrots, onions, and spuds
keep for a long time in our climate out here, even in summer.  I cooked
over campfires on one of the trips (not my choice -- the others were
committed to that), lounged in my Crazy Creek chair on sunny banks, fished
for rockfish and ling cod, and generally had a wonderfully laid-back time. 
For the record, the two two-week-long trips were in the Charlottes, and the
others were in Oregon, one on Owyhee Lake, near the Idaho border.

Like others who regularly camp out of a sea kayak, I have a couple decades
of prior experience backpacking, so the luxury of having an enormous hole
(read:  sea kayak) that can accept really heavy stuff and carry it from
place to place makes camping out of a sea kayak seem like the height of
luxury!

I suspect Ralph's "style" of camping is a relic from campervan days, or the
old canvas wall tent.

The "style" of camping a sea kayak can handle is, like someone else said,
more like what can be done from a minivan loaded with four kids and a dog!

It is the coolest kind of fun I have.

I should add, as was mentioned by someone from one of the Portland, OR,
outfitters who also uses the same beaches I use, that the Pacific Northwest
has a plethora of cool places to kayak-camp.  I suspect Ralph has been
"walking the dog" in Central Park too much, and the roller bladers and
power-walkers have warped his perspective!

More seriously, I see maybe half to two-thirds of the sea kayakers around
here as regular campers, and the rest as not.  Different strokes.  Ralph is
probably correct, if we took as our sample the folks on the list.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR


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From: wildwater <wildoats_at_ionet.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 20:45:48 -0600
> snip
>
> Like others who regularly camp out of a sea kayak, I have a couple decades
> of prior experience backpacking, so the luxury of having an enormous hole
> (read:  sea kayak) that can accept really heavy stuff and carry it from
> place to place makes camping out of a sea kayak seem like the height of
> luxury!

I camp out of my sea kayak fairly frequently.  I find I have plenty of room for
lots of little luxuries and usually have room to spare.  Now there sometimes are
people standing around watching me load and unload in awe...  My dog Happy and I
do quite nicely. I even have a little soft cooler I carry along that works quite
well if I keep it out of the sun and wet.  I carry Happy's grooming supplies
too!  Oh yes, and a bottle of sherry for after dinner...  :-)  Compared to a
bicycle, a kayak seems like a luxury liner..

Alice

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From: <dianem_at_pacificcoast.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 00:23:36 -0800
Dave wrote:

>Like others who regularly camp out of a sea kayak, I have a couple decades
>of prior experience backpacking, so the luxury of having an enormous hole
>(read:  sea kayak) that can accept really heavy stuff and carry it from
>place to place makes camping out of a sea kayak seem like the height of
>luxury!
>
>It is the coolest kind of fun I have.
>
>--
>Dave Kruger
>Astoria, OR
>
>

My longest kayak camping trip was for 10 days, and that was with a
companion who was paddling a Wind Dancer, the much appreciated "cargo
barge". He carried a lot of the stuff. But I can get a surprising amount
into my skinny Arluk, and I never need all the  stuff I want to take,
anyway.

Diane


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From: jeff pritts <tito_at_midwest.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayak camping
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 08:50:42 -0600 (CST)
Don't have a kayak as yet but this is the main purpose I'm getting one. I've
done a fair amount of motorcycle touring/camping over the years and I expect
to be able to carry plenty of stuff to make me quite comfortable.  I plan to
tour on the midwest rivers and I'm looking forward to the more remote
campsites and quiet. 


Jeff Pritts - Decatur, Il  
tito_at_midwest.net                            
COG #2190  HSTA #7752                                  
Black 92 Concours  "SR-71" (for sale)            
Kayaker Wannabe

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