It took designers a while to figure out that small and large paddlers will have vastly different experiences paddling the same boat. “It used to be that if you were in the middle of the curve you got a boat that fit really well,” says Day. “But if you were on either end you got something that wasn’t fun to paddle.”

Day attributes the advent of different-sized whitewater kayaks to a similar, more recent trend in sea kayaks. Rather than simply lifting or low- ering the deck as they’d done in the past, sea kayak designers are now building entirely different boats for small-, medium- and large-sized paddlers. “We change the boat in all dimensions with the idea of preserving the same performance,” says Day. “We do it right from the outset. The kayak might have the same name, but it came from a different mold.”

The British Empire

All segments of the sea kayaking market are now drawing on the original ideas of Frank Goodman, Derek Hutchinson and other visionaries – features like bulkheads, rubber hatch covers, permiter decklines, recessed fittings and toggles, day hatches and gracefully upswept bows. It was a sign that the trend had become pervasive when many manufacturers began dropping the term “British-style” to describe their skeg boats, and an unspoken testament to the acumen of the early sea kayakers on the other side of the pond.

“These are useful features,” says Greseth, “they look good and are functional. Brit boats are just cool.”

More Surf Ski

Fresh after setting a new speed record for circumnavigating Ireland in 25 days last spring with Cornwall, U.K.’s Jeff Allen, London, U.K.-based sea kayaker Harry Whelan couldn’t say enough about his Rockpool Taran. With an elongated keel line, foot-controlled rudder and plumb, high-volume bow the Tarans far more surf ski than typical British sea kayak; Whelan called it “the biggest change in U.K. sea kayaking.”

Surf ski-shaped sea kayaks already received wide-reaching recognition when Freya Hoffmeister paddled an Epic 18X in her record-setting 2010 Race Around Australia, another low-profile, rudder-controlled boat designed by Olympic racer Greg Barton. Whelan and Allen further demonstrated the rough water pedigree of these long, slender sea kayaks by pushing their limits in strong headwinds, monstrous seas and powerful tidal rips. All the while they maintained a pace that was at least 1.5 knots faster than a traditional expedition sea kayak. “It meant we could paddle about 12 more miles per day,” says Whelan. “On an expedition, that’s significant.” 

Greenland Kayaking Goes Mainstream

Turk: We left the Eureka weather station on day 24 with 50 days of food and 300 miles to our next cache, near Ward Hunt Island. Knowledgeable explor- ers had warned us that the ice on the northwest corner of Ellesmere might be very rough and that we might be slowed to traveling a few miles or even a few hundred yards a day. If the ice turned out to be that rough, we would have starved before reaching our food drums. Why did you continue on with me in the face of such uncertainty and potentially dire consequences?

Boomer: This was my biggest concern of the whole expedition. The environment was so harsh and unpredictable that rescue options were few and far between. Even if we could make it to one of the few viable landing strips, there was no guarantee that the weather would allow a plane to reach us.

So unless we were extraordinarily lucky, we might have had to wait a week or more for an aircraft. If we were starving or injured, that might be too long.

Paradoxically, this risk factor is the main reason I joined you on this expedition. I found myself going through the same mental process that I go through before paddling over a huge un-run waterfall. Identify the dangers and decide if I can hit the line that will lead to a clean drop. The major difference is that kayaking waterfalls lasts only a few seconds. On this expedition the nervous uncertain feeling was a nagging daily emotion.

The unknown, difficult nature of the North Coast kept the expedition exciting and fun. No day was monotonous. We skied to exhaustion every day, knowing that if we met or exceeded our 15-miles-per-day average, we would be saving food, time and energy for the possibility of rough ice and slow travel ahead.

As it turned out, we exceeded our expectations and made great time getting to our food cache near Ward Hunt. Actually, I think the traveling became a lot tougher later.

We could worry all day about the “what ifs.” Adventure is about accepting the challenge to go into the unknown. 

Karl Andersson, a BCU coach, assessor and 5-star paddler, notes that removing equipment often increases diligence and safety.

“When students show me their trip plan, I also inspect their kit,” Anderson says. “I then take away some of their kit and ask them if their plan stays the same. The students become nervous. They compensate for the missing kit with an improved launch list, formal assessment of group skills and crux points for plan reassessment. In other words, what the plan should have been all along.”

And there’s the built-in paradox. Tom Vanderbilt, who studies risk behavior at New York University, says,“When a situation feels dangerous to you, it’s probably more safe than you know; when a situation feels safe, that is precisely when you should be on guard.”

Neil Schulman writes, photographs and paddles from Portland, Oregon, where running out of coffee is considered an unacceptable level of risk. 

This article first appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Adventure Kayak’s print and digital editions here.

Most recently, I tied my boat to the roof and drove two hours for a hastily planned, packed-on-my-lunch-break overnight. On a forgotten coast less than a day’s drive from two of the country’s most populous cities, I watched the sun set and rise over open water. After just 24 hours with my kayak and the coast, I felt infinitely satisfied. Like Dorothy in the Land of Oz, I had been transported to a secret, magical kingdom.

I’m learning that even a brief trip is more rewarding than throwing a tantrum at what might be if not for the constraints of time, money, career obligations and family responsibilities. With a pair of lucky red shoes, a paddle and a fresh perspective on my own backyard, I can transcend these realities.

So be inspired by the achievements of Turk, Boomer, Starkell and others—I know I am. But don’t discount the adventures close to home, the ones you can do on the weekend, after work, or even on a loosely enforced lunch hour. Dreaming is important, but so is paddling.

Virginia Marshall is Adventure Kayak’s senior editor and a fan of old movies. 

This article first appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Adventure Kayak’s print and digital editions here.