It was already afternoon and we had yet to launch the boats. I had been duped—this wasn’t a paddling trip with friends! The strange thing is, I didn’t care. It was, after all, still a trip with friends.
Paddling can be many things to many people. Tripping with friends. Soaking up afternoon sunshine. Exploring new places and revisiting favorites. Sleeping under the stars. Living well outdoors. Fitness. Therapy. Adventure. Challenge. I noted this on Facebook after my trip and asked readers, why do you paddle?
Some cited the ability to get away from the urban clamor. “It gets me into the outdoors to explore nature,” shared Penny Swisher Hartlaub. “You can enjoy nature without really intruding on it,” wrote Mira Chambers Robins. “The nearly complete silence—I can ease up along the shore and watch turtles and ducks nesting,” agreed Garrett Martin.
For Rod Bailey, “It is the independence to do whatever I want on the water.”
Many echoed Farid Silman Winstanley, who replied, “Peace, freedom and sometimes adrenaline.” Denise Hexum confided, “It gives me peace—sometimes I run to the water.”
One of the last posts reads: “It’s my Zen!” My mind reaches back to an image of Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza raising his hands to the sky and yelling “Serenity now!” in a tone that was anything but serene. I look at the Zen author’s profile picture. She certainly looks relaxed.
Paddling has an alchemist’s transformative touch. Exercise and exposure to sunlight, both common ingredients in time on the water, stimulate production of serotonin, the happiness hormone. Increased physical fitness contributes to a host of health benefits too numerous to name.
Further, the act of discovery and exploration, and the challenge of developing new skills, can actually grow your brain. Acquiring a complex motor skill—like learning to roll a kayak—exercises our brains as well as our bodies, stimulating new neural growth and pathways and increasing cognitive function.
And, of course, there are the people we meet and the relationships we develop through our aquatic passions. “I kayak with a great group of people,” attested Shar McCoy Mallory on the Facebook poll.
Moving around the country has left me with friends scattered far and wide. Many I met through paddling, and most often it’s this activity that continues to bring us together. Even if we spend more time sharing stories around the campfire or lounging in the sunshine than we do making miles on the water.
This article first appeared in the December issue of Paddling Magazine.
