Category Archives: Kayaking

Weekly Photo Challenge: Green

Posted on November 16, 2012 by | 76 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Green.

Kayaking around New York Harbor, we see quite a few green sights…

A second “Green” post is here.

76 Comments

Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography

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Nantucket Red

Posted on October 28, 2012 by | 10 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photo by Vladimir Brezina

New York is an iconic place to paddle.

But sometimes it’s good to remember there are many other iconic places. Our friend Adam recently fell in love with Nantucket after spending a week there with his sweetie—a love that even extended to haberdashery.  In a recent chat, we discussed “Nantucket Reds“, the trademark New England chinos.

With that conversation fresh in mind, imagine our surprise at seeing this at the start of our  paddle out to the Gowanus Canal on Saturday…

We hope to paddle there some day….

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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Travel Theme: Couples, Take Two

Posted on October 25, 2012 by | 43 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Couples.

Ah, the romance of shared travel by kayak! And what better to ensure that shared togetherness than a double kayak?

Soon arguments break out, and loud words carry over the water, to the secret amusement of other paddlers.

“Shouldn’t you be steering more to the left?”

“I know where I am going!”

“I thought we agreed to stop on that beach over there!?”

The couple have trouble paddling at the same rate and synchronizing their strokes…

and both feel that they are doing all the work

until they both just put down their paddles in frustration

No wonder double kayaks are known as “divorce boats”!

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The last photo features another prominent couple in the background. And a couple of other “Couples” are here and here…

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

Posted on October 19, 2012 by | 84 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Silhouette.

Wait, didn’t we already do that theme just a little while ago? Yes, back in August. But that was not the Daily Post’s challenge—it was Ailsa’s challenge on Where’s my backpack?, ahead of the game as usual… (Ailsa herself posted some fantastic silhouettes that you should definitely check out!)

In any case, here are some more silhouettes, or near-silhouettes. A hard-edged one in the late-afternoon sun…

and others softened as the sunlight filters through early-morning fog…

More photos from that trip are here. A second interpretation of “Silhouette” is here.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Big

Posted on October 12, 2012 by | 74 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Big.

It’s big…

… but it always amazes me how tiny it appears when we turn the corner and see it across the harbor, against the immensity of the sea and sky. There it is, just to the left of the sunlit section of the city ahead…

It’s a matter of perspective.

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography

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Kayak Camping in the Hudson River Islands State Park

Posted on October 10, 2012 by | 97 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

I had hoped to post this last spring, in time for the 2012 camping season. But it’s not too late! The fall, with its spectacular foliage colors, is here—to my mind, the best time of the year to go camping at this spot… and in fact, Johna and I have plans to head up there for a couple of days soon to see the show!

The length of the Hudson River between Albany and New York City offers a number of kayak camping spots. But none is so attractive as the Hudson River Islands State Park, about 20 miles south of Albany and several miles north of the town of Hudson.

I’ve paddled and camped there many times in every season over the past decade, and I never fail to stop there on through trips down the river. In this complex of islands, back bays, and creeks, rich in plant and animal life, there is always something new to see. And most of the year, except during the peak season in the summer, chances are that you’ll have it all to yourself. Although it’s quite accessible, it feels secluded, remote, almost wild…

Continue reading →

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Posted in Kayaking, Nature

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Paddling down the Hudson at Sunset…

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | 37 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

On Saturday, I was in the right place at the right time. A little rain shower gave way to a golden sunset over New Jersey, with golden reflections in Manhattan…

(At home afterwards, I stitched together a panorama in Photoshop. If I’d thought of it at the time, I would have made sure to take all the matching photos for it. Oh, well…)

… and then the World Trade Center tower glittering ahead in the purple dusk and the moon overhead…

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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Long Island Kayak Circumnavigation: Day 10—Homeward Bound!

Posted on September 11, 2012 by | 45 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

<— Previous: Day 9

Sunken Meadow State Park to Pier 40, Manhattan
44 nautical miles (51 land miles)

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(click on photos to expand them—they look a lot better when they’re BIGGER!)

Continue reading →

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Long Island Kayak Circumnavigation: Day 9—High Water Beach

Posted on September 10, 2012 by | 34 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

<— Previous: Day 8

Roanoke Point to Sunken Meadow State Park
28 nautical miles (32 land miles)

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(click on photos to expand them—they look a lot better when they’re BIGGER!)

Continue reading →

34 Comments

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far, Take Two

Posted on September 9, 2012 by | 48 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Near and Far.

I’ve already posted one response to this challenge—three of my annual photos of a round-Manhattan swimmer next to my kayak with the Empire State Building in the distance.

A similar photo-op occurs in our kayaking trips through New York Harbor. We often paddle from Manhattan down to the Lower Bay for the day. As we return in the evening, we pass through the Verrazano Narrows and turn the corner into the Upper Bay. And there suddenly, across the entire Upper Bay, we see the ramparts of Manhattan in the evening sun. They are imposing, but still far, far away…

Swimmers, too, get to see that sight sometimes…

For more on “Paddling to Manhattan Island”, see here; for more on swimming there, see here and here.

48 Comments

Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography

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