thelifeaquatic LOW IMPACT AND HIGH ADVENTURE, KAYAKING HAS BECOME ONE OF THE HOTTEST WOMEN S SPORTS BY CAROLYN COCKEY, MLS PHOTOGRAPHS BY LONNA TUCKER

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1 thelifeaquatic LOW IMPACT AND HIGH ADVENTURE, KAYAKING HAS BECOME ONE OF THE HOTTEST WOMEN S SPORTS BY CAROLYN COCKEY, MLS PHOTOGRAPHS BY LONNA TUCKER

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3 that I would end up breathlessly in love with kayaking. We launched at Long Pond in Acadia National Park. As we slipped across glassy green waters, the craft felt uncommonly stable under my body. I swished from side to side and remained upright! As I relaxed, I began to notice submerged boulders staring up at me from below. Small fish swam around the hull. A loon s lonely call pierced the air and I realized that I was actually down, within, becoming one with the water and all of its mysteries. ii ll never forget my first time. Kayaking that is. I was in the home of one of the oldest names in boating, Old Town Canoe and Kayak, in Old Town, Maine. Around me sat racks of every type and color of kayak imaginable, from white-water ripping, wicked-short snubbies to elegant, glassy sea-hugging hulls. As a self-admitted claustrophobic, the thought of slipping my body into that tiny cockpit, encasing my legs under a thick rubber skirt and bobbing upside down in the icy Atlantic made me incredibly anxious. The whole thing seemed unfathomable, if not plain stupid. Yet here I was, sitting on the showroom floor, moving from hull to hull, until I found what seemed like a perfect fit. Later that afternoon, with my kayak snuggled alongside my husband s on top of our Jetta, I tried to calm my fears by focusing on my passion for boating, sailing, and offshore fishing. I didn t know then A WOMAN-DOMINATED SPORT Kayaking is dominated by women. While men seem to get all of the glory for shooting the white water, most kayaking in North America is done by women in crushing and calm waters alike. After all, at its heart, kayaking is all about finesse, where technique trumps testosterone and brute force will get you little more than sore shoulders and arms at day s end. When it comes to paddling, women hold a physiological advantage over men. We have a better sense of balance due to the fact that we carry our center of gravity in our hips. Our smaller upper bodies are the perfect mast for keeping a kayak balanced and upright, as compared to our bulkier, hairier friends. And because kayaking focuses on the proper rotation of your torso, a woman with good technique can actually out-paddle a brawny man using his biceps alone. I ve had 65-year-old women who have, over the course of the day, kicked the asses of 35-year-old guys who work out regularly, laughs Grant Thompson, expedition director at Salem, Oregon s Tofino Expeditions. Kayaking is very much a cadence sport and so real muscle mass doesn t get you any big advantages over the long run. To be perfectly frank, in my more than 106 EVERY woman

4 Paddling: the basics 1. In kayaking, the arms actually stage the paddle (that is, hold the paddle steady) while your torso rotates it in a motion that resembles a side-to-side figure-eight. Begin by sitting upright, with your feet resting on the footbraces, knees slightly bent. 2. Hold the paddle directly in front of you, chest high. Your arms should be shoulder width apart, with your elbows 90-degrees to your body. Center the paddle by keeping equal shaft between your hands and each blade; using drip rings near the blades will keep water from running up the shaft and onto your arms as you rotate. 3. Dip one end of your paddle into the water near your toes by rotating toward that side and pushing off against the footbrace with the opposite leg. Pull the paddle alongside the boat toward your hip and begin your rotation toward the opposite side. Repeat this figure-eight motion as you rotate through the opposite side. This is the basic forward stroke. 20 years of experience, I have found that women overall have better endurance than men do. This can be quite crushing to the male ego. When we teach kayaking to couples, we often separate them because the male tries to compete with the female by muscling more, when we re trying to teach finesse, says Eric Bader, president of the Boulder Outdoor Center in Boulder, Colorado, which offers classes and equipment in both white water and recreational kayaking. When you re kayaking properly, you should use your whole body. Women are more in tune with using their entire body to generate power. When we teach both women and men, women move their boat more efficiently. While some women are ready to run the rapids, most kayakers of both sexes are out there paddling on the ocean, a river, or a wilderness pond. And they aren t that young when they start: One out of every three kayakers are between ages 31 and 50 when they go out for the first time, according to Canoe & Kayak magazine, which covers new product and gear reviews for the paddlehappy set at CanoeKayak.com. Sea, touring, and recreational kayaks make up 82% of all the boats now in motion, with white water kayakers representing only about 2% of the sport. KAYAKING AS THERAPY Many women are drawn to kayaking as a form of meditation, says Laila Ghattas, artist, Gestalt therapist, and founder of Aziza Healing Adventures in Ontario, Canada. You re so close to the water and the shore, and it s so quiet. It s just you and your boat that you can propel, and there s something that s sensually invigorating about sitting so low and in such close contact with the water. Ghattas has been including kayaking in her therapeutic retreats since 2001, and has been paddling since she was a child. For Ghattas, close contact with nature is both enlightening and healing. One woman from Nova Scotia found the large waves very scary, Ghattas recalls. She was in a double kayak with a woman who she had never met before, and she found that she was doing most of the work. As we later talked about her feelings, it came to her as an epiphany that the double-kayak was a perfect metaphor for her life: She carried so many burdens and took so much on. She has since returned for four or five more retreats and is learning to speak up and get her own needs met without carrying the burdens of others at the same time, Ghattas shared. Every woman should be in a kayak at least once in her life!

5 All Kinds of Kayaks There is a kayak designed for just about every aquatic environment, and no single kayak can do everything. Choosing the right one for you means first deciding how you intend to use your boat. WHITE WATER These are short, highly maneuverable boats meant to help you paddle quickly through boiling water. While they re extremely agile, they re also very easy to flip. You ll need expert lessons and some good advice before buying this boat. There s even a rodeo kayak in this class meant for performing tricks and competing in white water events. (Typically 6-9 feet) SEA The longest of the breed, sea kayaks can reach 17-plus feet in length. They are often made of the most expensive and lightest hulls, including wood, fiberglass, and Kevlar. Length gives stability in ocean waves, but you have to balance speed against tippyness to find what suits your paddling style the more narrow the boat, the more prone it is to roll. A rudder can help you track, or stay on course, in the ocean. (typically 16 feet or longer) TOURING This is a versatile kayak that gives you trackability to stay on course with its longer length, but also comes with a wider hull for greater stability. You may sacrifice speed, but you gain it back in storage and options that let you plan overnight trips. You may or may not have a rudder as standard on this boat. The touring kayak can be difficult to maneuver in a small pond or lake. (typically feet) RECREATIONAL This is the most versatile of the kayaks, although you give something up across the board for ease of use, stability, and versatility. You ll find these boats in abundance near lakes, rivers, and ponds, and most paddlers can set forth with little more than a short workshop on basic paddling skills and still feel like a pro. (typically feet) SIT-ON-TOP This is a new class of kayaks where the exhilaration of surfing meets the stability of kayaking. You sit on top on a molded kayak to ride through the surf. This is a great choice for people who are afraid of being enclosed in a boat. They also have the greatest splash factor as you re totally exposed to the water, wind and waves. (typically 8-15 feet) For breast cancer survivors in particular, kayaking can be a way to reconnect with an altered body image and cope with the feelings of powerlessness that surviving cancer can sometimes bring, says Colleen Cannon, president and founder of Women s Quest adventure retreats in Boulder, Colorado. You get really empowered just having the rack on your car, Cannon exclaims. Kayaks are so light; you can lift them up and down easily yet they provide a very vigorous workout for your upper body and stomach. Returning to physical activity after breast cancer surgery can be daunting. I find that breast cancer survivors are a little nervous, and kayaking is an easier way to get them back into physical activity. It becomes so empowering to their own body image and body perception, and they re gaining strength while having fun, says Cannon, who often shepherds groups of midlife women to retreats in Hawaii. For women, it has become cool to kayak, Cannon declares. Now women have something to do as we enter midlife, as our knees are going and our backs are aching and we can t run or hike like we used to do. Kayaking is low-impact yet it s a great workout. BENEFITS OF KAYAKING Kayaking can in fact help trim your waistline. As you use your core to rotate the paddle, you burn about 400 calories an hour, going about 5 miles per hour. This means a typical two- to four-hour-long morning paddle burns up to 1,600 calories all before lunch! In addition to strengthening your core, jump starting your cardiovascular system, and focusing your mind, the rhythmic motion of paddling is a proven stress-reducer. While medical research is somewhat limited as to the health benefits of kayaking, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have documented the exercise benefits in terms of both blood pressure reduction and improved heart rate performance through kayaking. They have concluded that recreational kayaking is an acceptable form of physical activity to replace more traditional forms of exercise. Make no mistake, kayaking is a workout. A good tour stroke will primarily use the mid-section muscles, including your abs, your obliques, and your lower back. Not only will it strengthen those muscles while making you look good when you re wearing your swimsuit, but with proper technique, you should be able to tour and paddle for long hours without fatigue, says veteran instructor Robert Wolfe, owner of PHOTOS COURTESY OF NECKY, OLD TOWN, AND OCEAN KAYAK 108 EVERYwoman

6 SeaWolfe Kayak Instruction & Training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Savvy guides and tour operators have noticed the trend among paddlers to also practice yoga, which is why the tour operators at Tofino are now offering asanas alongside their boat trips. We did some market research last year and found that 95% of our existing client base practiced yoga in one way, shape or form, which speaks to the type of people we get on these trips, Thompson says, while swearing that all of the guides and even some of the cats in his offices at Tofino ritually practice yoga for its many physical and mental benefits. From a health and training perspective, yoga is great. On these trips, you re in the boat for a long period of time, so we stretch before we get into the boats and when we get out, and it makes a big difference in how you feel overall. Kayaking and yoga in the wilderness is a rich and profound experience. GETTING OFF THE GRID From paddling through glacial ice arches in Alaska to easing across long stretches of the Great Lakes, kayaking is a sport that can be done anyway you want to. You are your only competition. Even in a group, kaying comes down to you, your boat and paddle, and the water. What s the first thing a smart woman should do to start kayaking? Take a first lesson, experts agree, before you ever slip on a PDF (personal flotation device) or buy a boat. Sure, you can teach yourself to paddle, but why reinvent the wheel? The real joy comes from mastering the proper form and feeling your body effortlessly propel your craft. For this (and for helping you get over the universal fear of flipping over) a class can be a true time-saver. The class should include as many of the maneuvering strokes and all of the stabilizing strokes possible, Wolfe advises. Maneuvering strokes give you control of the boat in the face of winds and waves, and when you get into white water waves and surfing conditions, stabilizing strokes keep you upright. If it s a good class, it s simple to extend your technique to then include the kayak roll, as again it s about finesse and not power. From a wet exit (basically bailing out as the kayak flips) to the famed Eskimo roll, any woman can become a daughter of Neptune, Wolfe challenges. Once you ve done it one time, you realize you have the skills and you ll never fear it again. And then you re embraced by the feeling that this is really no different than swimming, only the new suit your wearing your kayak will take you farther and faster and into places that you could never go with just your body alone, he says. Happy paddling Thanks to Saguaro Lake Ranch, Arizona, for providing the location and kayaks used in these photos. Learn YourCraft Because noone knows what you mean by that rubber thingy... HULL DECK HATCH COCKPIT COAMING SEAT TIE DOWN STRAPS DECK BOW STERN GRAB HANDLE COCKPIT DECK HATCH GRAB HANDLE 109