…From nature tours to competitive sport or relaxation
Shereen Ali
Published:
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
There’s a special passion kayakers share, whether they paddle for pleasure, sport or simply to achieve a zen-like bliss out on the water.
Jahson Alemu, a tall, dreadlocked young man who is a marine biologist, has been kayaking for the past 20 years.
“My first introduction was through Sea Scouts,” he said in a short interview with the T&T Guardian at last Saturday’s Paddle for the Planet at the Kayak Centre in Chaguaramas, “and I’ve always been a water baby…If it involves water and a boat, we’ve done it at Sea Scouts. And I enjoy kayaking to this day.”
The petite young woman Keshia Theobalds, on the other hand, was tried kayaking for the very first time: “It’s something to do on a Saturday morning. My friends are into it a lot…I always wanted to try it, so I did, in a sit-on-top kayak. I kayaked for maybe like an hour, but it didn’t seem like an hour! It was more strenuous than I thought—I kept taking breaks. But I still enjoyed it a lot; it was really nice.”
“As a beginner, there’s no way you can capsize in a sit-on-top kayak; it’s a very safe model. You can even stand up in it,” commented Alemu.
The earliest kayaks
...just for men
People have paddled in canoes and kayaks for thousands of years—to hunt fish and seals, for transport, and even to practice burial rites. The Inuit, Yup’ik and Aleut peoples of the far north are said to have crafted the earliest kayaks for hunting trips in the sub-arctic.
These early, light kayak frames were fashioned from the bones of whales and pieces of wood, around which men stretched seal or caribou skins; boiled seal oil or caribou fat kept the boats waterproof.
Early native kayaks were a very personal craft, reports DC Hutchinson in The Complete Book of Sea Kayaking.
Each kayak would be built by the man who used it, closely fitting his size for maximum manoeuvrability; his wife would help sew the skins. And only men operated kayaks.
We’ve come a long way since then. By AD 900, kayaks were being used in Europe. Germans invented a revolutionary collapsible kayak in the 1800s—it could be carried in just two suitcases. Design refinements and new materials since the 1800s opened up kayaking to a wide range of recreational and sports practitioners of all ages, genders and backgrounds. In 1866, the Royal Canoe Club held its first regatta.
And in 1936, kayaking and canoeing started as competitive sports during the Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany.
Modern kayaks
Today, most modern canoes and kayaks are built from plastic; some more expensive units are built with fibreglass or carbon fibre and similar composites.
A few enthusiasts build wooden craft. Kayaks come in many styles to suit a person’s size, paddling type, and budget, and are more hydrodynamic and durable.
They are also very versatile, lending themselves to a variety of activities, from recreational paddling for leisurely relaxation, to adventurous river or sea tours, to camping trips or adrenalin-pumping kayak sports.
Both canoes and kayaks can be long, narrow, lightweight boats, pointed at both ends for speed or wide for stability. Kayak paddlers often sit with their legs in front of them (into the hollow hull for a sit-inside kayak), whereas in a canoe, paddlers sit or kneel. And while kayakers use double-bladed paddles, canoeists use single-bladed paddles.
Kayaking for recreation and sport
Merryl See Tai of The Kayak Centre said he’s been fascinated by kayaks since childhood. So when the opportunity arose to start a kayak business in T&T, he jumped at it, he said in an interview with the T&T Guardian.
Merryl See Tai has been president of the T&T Canoe/Kayak Federation (TTCKF) since 2008. He is a member of the Pan American Caribbean Canoe Confederation (COPAC) Paracanoe Development Commission, and has been operating the Kayak Centre in Williams Bay, Chaguaramas since 1993.
“As kayaking was virtually unknown here at that time, I researched as much as I could, from books mainly, and by the mid-1990s I began attending symposia and instructor training courses on sea kayaking in the USA,” he shared, explaining how he pursued his interest.
“Later, as the TTCKF was being formed, I got access to several International Canoe Federation coaching courses and certification in Flat Water Sprint and Slalom racing.”
See Tai loves to kayak himself—he’s explored some of T&T’s coastlines, rivers and swamps, has enjoyed white water kayaking in the Carolinas and Georgia, and has done some exploring in the Everglades in Florida. He said both Trinidad and Tobago have a wealth of varying and interesting coastlines to explore, along with our rivers and mangrove swamps.
“Kayaking is easy and relaxing on a recreational level, but it is very technically difficult and physically challenging if you wish to engage in serious competition,” said See Tai.
See Tai explained that river kayaking is a bit different from ocean kayaking:
“Our rivers tend to be calm and quiet, whereas the conditions at sea, especially on our more exposed coastlines, are sometimes quite challenging, with strong winds and currents.”
Youth kayaking
Kayaking is not only recreational but can also be used to teach some valuable skills, noted See Tai, as he referred to the Kayak Centre’s recent involvement with the Scotiabank Bright Future Programme, in partnership with the Scout Association. This programme is a youth enhancement project to help develop young boys. Fifty boys between the ages of seven and 11 from six primary schools got the chance to learn to kayak at the Kayak Centre over the past few months. In addition, they were taught life skills such as goal setting, teamwork, and reading improvement skills, and got the chance to enjoy field trips and weekly sessions with Scout leaders.
Kayaking for fitness
For those looking to keep fit, See Tai said: “Kayaking involves a very balanced core intensive action and so is excellent cross-training for one-sided sports like archery, shooting, racket sports and canoe type sports.”
As a form of exercise, kayaking's core action can help flatten and tone your abdominals, and can also offer a fantastic whole body workout, as proper technique involves the legs and some extreme torso rotation as well as the upper body. An added benefit is the aerobic exercise—you can pick up the pace and elevate your heart rate to see cardio benefits.
“Kayaking can be enjoyed on many levels,” said See Tai, “including recreational exploring, fitness activities, fishing and many types of local and international competition. Young athletes willing to invest the time and effort have opportunities to participate in regional and international competition.”
And for wildlife lovers, kayaking is an unparalleled way to be close to nature, to see river or coastal sights that few others get to see. It’s non-intrusive, non-polluting, and quiet, with no noisy engines to scare away wildlife. “It’s great for viewing birds and other wildlife,” said See Tai, “as it affords a silent approach.”
For one kayak enthusiast, Vaughn Young, the appeal of kayaking is really very simple. After last Saturday’s Paddle for the Planet event, he shared with the T&T Guardian that he’s been kayaking for about three years now: “It’s just fun—being outdoors, enjoying nature. I come every Saturday morning and take a paddle and a swim.”
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MORE INFO
T&T Canoe/Kayak Federation.
Email: trinikayak@gmail.com
Tel: 633-7871 or 680-6244
Address: The Kayak Centre, Williams Bay, Chaguaramas. Open daily 6:00am to 6:00 pm. $40/hr for rental of a single kayak. Many kayak styles, including sit-on-top single and tandem kayaks suitable for beginner and intermediate paddlers, a range of sit-inside kayaks, surf skis for open ocean racing, and Flat Water Sprint kayaks as used at Olympic competition. Beginners are shown kayak basics, with further instruction and coaching available by appointment.
P4P: www.paddlefortheplanet.org
lifestyle
Four participants return from their Paddle for the Planet kayak trip on Saturday in waters by the Kayak Centre in Williams Bay, Chaguaramas. PHOTO: JEFF MAYERS