Sea Kayaking: A Manual for Long-Distance Touring

This is a great book! I read it as a beginner, and will hold onto it as a reference. Anyone who kayaks should know the info in this book. Written with enthusiasm for the sport, it is not at all a dry read.(Pun intended.)

I am not an avid reader, and I usually lose interest in a book and place it on the shelf mid way through if the author doesn't keep my interest. John Dowd had not only captivated my interest, but made it hard for me to put it down. Some of the best and informative information about Sea Kayaking that I have read yet. It should be a "Must Read" for any person involved in the sport of Sea Kayaking, beginner to novice. 5 Star Rating above all others!!!

Dowd has a way of sounding like your dad and the tone of the book is very relaxed and easy to follow. It claims to be pitched at intermediate kayakers starting out on expeditions yet basic skills like bracing, sculling and rolling are included. Even the most basic things that are left out are assumed by their absence and that keeps the book from being patronising in an overly wordy `beginners guide' type way. He gives a very informative overview of the sport and its locations from polar kayaking to the tropics. He also gives a reassuring overview of a sea kayak's `sea worthiness' (dependent on the paddler) explaining some hurricane force winds he has personally endured in a kayak. He also discusses at length the issue of kayaking alone and concludes that one can kayak safely alone, in fact he even suggests kayaking in numbers can give a false sense of security. Dowd discusses buying a kayak and refreshingly advises `keep in my mind your original image - how you saw yourself with your boat' which I found to be excellent advice. This book is a very good introduction to sea kayaking and an interesting read. It is also a bible-like source of information. As Paul Theroux said on the jacket "quiet simply the best book available on this wonderful sport"

There are a number of good books on kayak technique, but Dowd's is the bible of the sport, and with good reason. He's been kayaking for over thirty years, and he's done some of the most difficult voyages in kayaking history. He's specific in his recommendations, but open minded, too. He favors feathered paddles, but he understands the advantage of unfeatehred paddles, and allows how they may be superior in many conditions.Dowd's advice isn't based on theory, but on experience. He's not afraid to admit his own mistakes, and in this latest edition, he desribes how he's changed a lot of his opinons on the rescue techniques he's taught in the past. He's realistic, and realizes that not every kayaker is going to develop a bombproof roll or be able to perform the Borze's paddlefloat rescue; he endorses alternate techniques like he (somewhat contentious) Sea Wings.What it boils down to is this: Whatever other books you may own, whatever lessons you may have taken, whatever your level of experience- you need this book.

I first read his 1988 edition as I was just getting into sea kayaking. I have since built 3 singles and a triple and have done week-long trips in Prince William Sound, Puget Sound, Sea of Cortez, and New Zealand. So I'm now fairly experienced and yet still learn (relearn?) new information and techniques when I reread it.I especially appreciate Dowd's emphasis on self-rescues as opposed to assisted rescues. So many rescues that work in a pool with an unloaded boat are impossible in 38F water, 3-foot seas, with 150 pounds of gear in your touring kayak. And yet that is when you really need a solid rescue technique.His references to some of the epoch, historic and recent, long-distance expeditions are inspirational. When you're slogging 5 miles back to camp against a 15-knot wind, it helps to remember that people have paddled across the Atlantic and that your task is doable.Be safe, go see cool places, happy paddling. -David Thomas