The sport and a new water trail ride a wave of growth in Washington state

MomSeattle · Pets · SPI · MySeattlePix · My account

Local

US/World

Sports

Business

A&E

Life

Comics

Photos

Opinion

Blogs

Buy Ads

Jobs

Autos

Homes

Rentals

NWsource

Getaways

April 4, 1996

The sport and a new water trail ride a wave of growth in Washington state

By GREG JOHNSTON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A 10-knot southwesterly is punching baby whitecaps over the kayak's prow as you paddle north along Vashon Island, up Colvos Passage toward Point Vashon, boosted along by a stiff ebb tide.

Then you notice a riptide coming off the point, little standing waves popping up in a curved line.

For an inexperienced paddler, this pushes the edge of the comfort margin.

But you're right off shore and can see the gravelly shallows on your right. You power nervously into the rip, dipping the paddle right, left, right, left, right, left, spray sprinkling your face and lips with the salty taste of the sea.

The squirrelly current pushes the bow sharply to port and, momentarily alarmed, you counter with a power stroke on the left and a light stroke on the right. Instantly the kayak responds, and with a few more hard strokes you're gliding into calm water beyond the point.

A sea gull onshore is shaking its head, devouring a beach crab held in its beak. You see the orange blur of a starfish on the bottom rocks.

The adrenaline rush subsides.

You quit paddling and drift.

This is cool.

This is sea kayaking.

"Often, you'll look over at somebody and they'll have an ear-to-ear grin," says Doug Baum, co-owner of Vashon Island Kayak and host on the recent paddle.

"Most of the people I take out are delighted. They find it quiet, and being so close to the water, the smells and sounds, the whole activity is just everything they thought it would be and more."

Sea kayaking is a booming sport. Puget Sound, full of protected bays, inlets, islands, canals, points and passes, is a hotbed for it and one of the best places anywhere for its pursuit.

It is home to the 150-mile Cascadia Marine Trail, from Olympia to the San Juan Islands, one of the few such paddling paths in the nation. It also hosts one of the largest kayaking festivals in the nation, the annual West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in Port Townsend. Two national magazines, Sea Kayaker and Canoe and Kayak, are published in the Seattle area.

The sport is supported here by the Washington Water Trails Association (WWTA), an active group of 1,700, and serviced by a host of companies that teach kayaking and offer tours, as well as sell kayaks and equipment.

"We're trying to support the trail and the sport, but not really promote either," explains Carey Gerston, WWTA president who joined the recent paddle around the north end of Vashon Island.

There is no question about the need for that when you're out on the Sound paddling. You are actually sitting in the sea, bobbing and bouncing, paddling into the magical zone where land meets water, into tiny coves, under overhanging trees, dodging slightly submerged boulders, watching ducks and geese and gulls and, at low tide, the rich marine life on the bottom.

"Sea kayaking makes you adamantly environmental," Baum says while paddling up Colvos Passage as a large yacht cruises along nearby. "You're so intimate with the environment. You're right there and you see all the garbage and Styrofoam and," nodding toward the cruiser, "the fumes."

Adds Gerston: "When you get splashed in the face with dirty water, you don't like it."

The water trails association was formed in 1990 among a handful of local kayakers as the sport began to surge like a flood tide. At the same time, sites along shore where paddlers could pull out were rapidly dwindling due to development. The solution was to create a trail from the mucky mudflats of South Sound to the tide-washed border with British Columbia, marked by campsites reserved for human-powered craft every six to eight miles along its length.

"Part of the mystique of sea kayaking is being able to load up your boat and go out for a week or 10 days," says Baum, a WWTA member. "To do that, you have to have places to camp and that's why the trail is so important."

In January 1993, the Cascadia, with 20 sites, was declared Washington's first water trail by the state Parks and Recreation Commission. Shortly thereafter the National Park Service designated it a national recreation trail.

Today, there are 33 sites -- the goal is 200 -- and the group has plans to expand the trail into Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

"We're the second largest marine trail now after Maine's, and we did that in a matter of just three to four years," Gerston says. "It's come a long way very quickly. We want to continue that growth."

The trail is not only a fine place now for multiday, long-distance trips, but also an exceptional venue for day-tripping by neophyte paddle dippers.

On our recent trip we launched at Lisabeula Park, a trail site on the west shore of Vashon, and paddled about seven miles to the north tip of the island. Then we headed south, along the east shore, past the ferry landing about a mile to Wingehaven Park, another trail site, for lunch.

It became apparent early in the trip that there are facets to paddling beyond the intimacy it provides with this great inland sea.

The sheer repetitive physicality of it -- attempting to paddle with some semblance of efficiency and grace -- is a joy in a Zen sort of way. It is unusual for an aerobic activity in that it utilizes mostly the body above the waist.

"I kayak like most people run," says Baum, whose company offers guided trips and kayaking instruction. "You can sort of paddle along and watch the water go by, or you can really get into the aerobics of it."

The learning curve is relatively shallow for the actual activity. Once you get in a kayak, become accustomed to its somewhat tippy nature and gain a sense of balance, you can paddle right off.

That's good and bad, Baum says.

"People go, 'I can do this' and they can get into trouble," he says. "Things can happen with currents and wind so suddenly out there. Hypothermia is the greatest danger, and if you go in, the cold water can disable you in minutes."

A basic knowledge of tides, currents and navigation is mandatory.

"I encourage people to take classes at the Northwest Outdoor Center, from a company like ours, or anywhere," he says. "You'll find if safer and you'll get a lot of tips to make it more fun.

"I'm evangelical about it, and it's not a selfish interest. It's something I'd love to see more young people and old people get into. I think the world is better for more people finding this mode of transportation."

Getting started

http://www.viewit.com/wtr/TASK.html

To join Washington Water Trails, write 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., No. 305, Seattle, WA 98103-6900; 545-9161. Membership of $25 includes a guidebook to the Cascadia Marina Trail and newsletter.

You should also check out our list of essential gear for sea kayaking.

Other information sources

The Northwest Outdoor Center

Backpackers Supply and Tahoma Outdoor Pursuits, 472-4402.

Washington Water Trails and Puget Soundkeepers Alliance. 323-8333.