By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Transportation.
It’s amazing how much stuff can be transported in a sea kayak! When setting out on a kayak expedition, there’s no need to leave the creature comforts at home. Compared to a multiday backpacking or bicycle trip, a sea kayak expedition is a positively luxurious experience
… until each morning, when all that stuff has to be fitted back into the kayaks
We put off the packing as long as we possibly can and stand around drinking coffee
It’s such a relief to have the last bag in the boat, to snap on the sprayskirt and push off into new waters…
(Photos from our 2011 Albany to New York trip and our 2012 Long Island circumnavigation)
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Wow! That is a lot of stuff in your kayak. Did someone yell, “Man overboard!”?
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You are not seeing even half of the stuff in these photos. The Red Heron (a Feathercraft Heron folding kayak) has a payload (including the paddler) of 405 lbs (185 kg), and I think we might even have exceeded that…
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I never realized you can pack that much stuff on a kayak! Wow!
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Wow indeed! We can, but as Vlad says, sometimes we wish we hadn’t… Next trip, we’re taking a lot less….!
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It’s amazing you can fit it all in. I like the shot of the gentle sunrise and the man drinking coffee. What a lovely way to start a day.
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Hey! Despite my “manly” physique, I’m a grrrl. :-)
And yes, fresh hot coffee is one of the joys of paddling… although I’ll admit we use Starbucks’ Via (powdered that tastes almost like the real thing, and has plenty of caffeine).
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Takes some serious packing… Two handsome Transportations!
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We like to think so… :-)
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I love the idea of starting a morning with coffee on the beach :-) what a great place to wake up in :-)
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Yes … after an anxious evening, wondering if the rising tide would leave us any dry spot to camp on… ;-)
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The lats image says a lot about your day.
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Indeed, that was just the beginning of a great day :-)
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Super photos, but that last one, WHOA! Love the sun on the water.
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Yes, my favorite too… it really does convey what it felt like that morning on the water, going through Shinnecock Inlet out into the open Atlantic…
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I have a Delta 17 and when we were packing for our trip this summer I was able to take everyone else’s overflow with room to spare. AND nothing on the deck. We even joked about fitting one of those folding bikes inside the back hatch:)
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I know paddlers who have taken folding bikes along, albeit on deck. The problem is that, if the wheels are big enough to be useful, they don’t fit through the hatch openings—even though, once past the hatches, they could fit inside the boat…
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That made me smile :) Procrastination happens even in the things we love to do :)
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Well, that was potentially going to be a difficult day, if things went wrong. (In the event, it wasn’t difficult at all.) So there was also some element of the feeling of, when falling off the Empire State Building and passing the 29th floor, “so far so good”! :-)
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What fantastic photos – makes me want to be there. I am amazed at your comment about the folding bike in a kayak – that would be double transportation!
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For some neat double transportation, see here:
(Neither the kayak nor the bike is sturdy enough for my taste, but clearly it can be done…)
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There is something about seeing that picture of the deck of the kayak on the water that is so right. It is such an immediately recognizable image—much like how a child’s simple line drawing of a cottage with a smoking chimney means “home”.
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Yes, and I look at it for hours at a time :-)
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I always knew it had to be a lot of work but we LOVE your pictures!
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The paddling and taking pictures isn’t what’s work, it’s the bits on land… Thanks!! :-)
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I’ve always had a kayak, and two loads of gear.
Or a canoe and two loads of gear.
A truck and two loads…
A house, and to much stuff!
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Isn’t that how it always is… :-)
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wow you get a lot in that kayak. You must be very organized and good at packing!
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Actually, on our last big trip, the Long Island circumnavigation, we brought too much stuff and we weren’t organized at all, to begin with, so that half the time we couldn’t find what we wanted without unpacking the whole boat. By the time we figured out the optimal organization, the trip was over…
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Wow – I need to take a few notes on your packing….my last overnight kayak adventure was not so well organized. Hoping for a big one next year…will need to be better organized, that is for sure.
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There are definitely things to do and things not to do… maybe there’s a future post there? :-)
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I have thoroughly enjoyed and been inspired by your blog this past year so may wish you both a Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year
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Thanks so much, Scott! And the same to you!! :-)
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Wow, you really take your color with you! I love the shot of Johna with the kayaks, all neutrals of sand and sky, and then the riotous color of the boats and belongings.
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Yes, they make paddling gear only in primary colors, it seems ;-)
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It’s impressive when you can combine a little information with great photos – not one or the other, or one taking the back seat. Blown up, the third picture is really terrific. thanks!
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That might have been our favorite morning on the trip… :-)
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Wow … Certainly i had no idea what you need to pack :)
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We didn’t really either, until we found out the hard way… although overpacking is certainly preferable to underpacking!
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