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Navigating A Sea Kayak with (almost) Nothing

Adventure Otaku

1,436 views

Paddling in Maine can be challenging. So lets navigate with Know chart. No App. No Compass.

If you like this content you can support me by buying me a coffee, right here. https://ko-fi.com/adventureotaku

My most popular books are now available on the Ko-Fi shop. Including the 16 page Guides Way pdf's. https://ko-fi.com/adventureotaku/shop
My first Aid Kit content lists are here too! https://ko-fi.com/adventureotaku/shop

I offer free stroke consultation! Send me a video of you paddling with the camera in front of you, and I’ll send it back with notes! Brett@adventureotaku.com

For inquiries about private instruction (Kayaking/Navigation) email Brett@adventureotaku.com

Wanna see how I get a kayak on the roof of a Sprinter Van?
Loading a kayak on a van

The Gear I use:
By Clicking these links (and making a purchase) it sends a few pennies my way.
Yeti Loadout GoBox - https://rei.pxf.io/env1bX
Kayak - Delta Seventeen - https://www.deltakayaks.com/delta-17/
Paddle - Aquabound Tetra - https://rei.pxf.io/WOdzEJ
Paddle - Werner Camano - http://rei.pxf.io/raJG3D (But I use the all carbon version)
Paddle - Werner Kalliste - http://rei.pxf.io/Z6YX1z
PFD - Astral Greenjacket - https://rei.pxf.io/KB4PdA
Drysuit - Kokatat Gore-tex Meridian - https://bit.ly/3JkUoMH
Personal Locator Beacon - ACR Resqlink - http://rei.pxf.io/09Rm7N
Compass - Suunto M3D - http://rei.pxf.io/4GgJD3
Stove - MSR Whisperlite International - http://rei.pxf.io/K0yJme
Rescue Strobe - https://tinyurl.com/3n4a75mp
Garmin Instinct 3 - https://rei.pxf.io/L045Gj

This is the sun hoody I live my life in https://rei.pxf.io/3koRrK

If you are shopping at REI at all, you could help the channel by using this link to get there. http://rei.pxf.io/POmKER

These are the dry bags I use, these bags made by Zen Bivy are
The best I have ever used. You can get them here! https://alnk.to/c07BLPL
You can see a video about them here! Are These the New Premier Dry Bags? - Zen ...

I also use Sea to Summit Dry Bags https://rei.pxf.io/Pz4ANz

If you need help getting started paddling or backpacking, check out my books on Amazon and Apple Books. https://tinyurl.com/r79u9mnd
The Simple Guide to Kayak Camping - http://tinyurl.com/bdh55wb5
The Simple Guide to Kayaking - http://tinyurl.com/3kwmkcwr
GO! - the trip planning book -https://tinyurl.com/mrxa6vxy
The Simple Guide to Backpacking - https://tinyurl.com/mws2t92k
The Simple Guide to SUP - https://tinyurl.com/26y3m82d
The Adventure Journal - https://tinyurl.com/s8sefaw6
All my books for iPad - https://tinyurl.com/aya5pc3j

My Most Popular Videos:
Choosing a kayak - Length Matters - Understanding Kayak Stability
Choosing a kayak - Understanding rocker - Choosing a Kayak Understanding Rocker
REI Ends Experiences - REI Ends Experiences - What are the impacts?
Getting in and out of your kayak - Getting in and Out of your kayak
Tips for new (older) paddlers - Tips For New (Older) Paddlers
3 things no one teaches about kayaking - Three Things No One Teaches about Kayaking
KOA Campgrounds - Now I understand KOA campgrounds!

Kayaking Skills Videos
Packing your kayak - Packing for Kayak Camping and Expeditions
Edging your kayak - Edging your Kayak - For Better Control
Turning a long Kayak - Turning A Long Kayak*

Mastering the Forward Stroke - Mastering the Kayak Forward Stroke
Teaching the Forward Stroke - Kayak Instructor Life - Teaching the Forwa...

Tips for the outdoors:
Ten tips for Sea kayakers - 10 Tips for Sea Kayakers
Ten more! - 10 MORE kayaking tips!
The Ten Essentials - The Ten Essentials For Kayaking and Beyond

#outdoors #outdoorfun #outdoorgear #kayaking #safety #kayaksafety #outdoorsafety #kayak #paddler #paddleinstructor #seakayak #kayak #kayaker #kayaking #outdoors #outdoorlife #outdoorfun #outdoorgear #adventure #backpacking #backpack #backpacker #outdooreducation #outdoorgear

12 Comments

@kevinharding2099 2 months ago

Maine is the best - my home waters. I have never gotten “lost” while paddling, but I usually stay close to shore, have a chart, have a compass, and a phone. Calculating time and distance when paddling in strong tides and currents is much more complicated and experience helps a great deal. Tide charts can be deceiving if you paddle up an estuary or river where the times can be quite different. Sometimes when you are looking for an island you have to remember the sort of “disappear” against a coast line without landmarks.

@beingaware8542 2 months ago

Great video!!

@Simon_W74 2 months ago

We have fun and games on the North Norfolk Coast (UK) going through the creeks, we have had some paddles where you have had to get out and pull your boat through the mud as the tidal range is enough to drain them of water at points. When you are at low tide you are well down so can't see where you are, but as long as you know the area it is fine, but some do come a cropper when they don't, luckily nothing bad has happened that we have heard of for a lot of years. Not something I would go off on my own to do, I know the area well enough from land, but not the many water ways that form in the salt marshes.
I am hoping to get back out there next year. it would be really nice if we have a really high Spring tide so I can paddle down the Quayside road and through the car park again as it is always good fun. Another paddler and I ended up on the Local BBC online news paddling across the car park. As the Car park Attendant took or picture, if he had been a bit quicker he would have got us coming down the road, That was my first big paddle with the club.

@philanderson3687 2 months ago

I got called the bug man on one paddle because the bugs love me. No one else was bothered. I had a cloud of them around my head. The Reversing Falls in Cobscook is a pretty well known training spot near there for ACA aspirants. It's on my list to do next time a capable group heads up there.

@carlcollins8017 2 months ago

We paddle often on the Bay of Fundy ,and tide changes the look of islands ,shoreline ,looks so different every time depending on tide heights,even looking back gets confusing,stay safe !

@stevenjohnson9714 2 months ago

I got to go offshore fishing past lookout shoals with my brother in law two years ago. He kept testing my dead reckoning skills and asking where we were and how to get back to Beaufort inlet from where we were at. If you are paying attention to time of day, and buoys and what the shoals look like, shackleford island etc. it was doable. when it was time to head back or before he made course corrections he’d ask me roughly where to turn and where we were. Fortunately I passed the test! Stop paying attention however… it all just looks like water out there.

@Outside-w-Kelly 2 months ago

Great timing I'm going to Lake Jocassee S.C. to search for the waterfalls this weekend using a map and inreach. No tides just a lot of bigger boats.

@nasydjo66 2 months ago

👍🖐

@Hairygrump73 2 months ago

Having only ever experienced the west coast of BC, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California, its weird seeing coastal paddling that looks flat like northern Alberta!

@cricketcorneroutdoors 2 months ago (edited)

Beautiful paddle and awesome video! I’m glad you’re having (had?) a good trip. And closer to home, so less gas money.

I got to paddle on Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota a couple of weeks ago, and I stuck with a simple there and back along the shoreline in areas I’d seen from land at the state park where I was staying. Lake of the Woods straddles the U.S. and Canada, and it’s massive. (Side note: Would be a fun place to sea kayak, though moreso on the north and northeast up in Canada.)

Anyway, it was fairly calm the morning I paddled, and at one point I stopped to mess around with something in my bag. When I looked up, I realized a current had pulled me away from shore. It was a bit unnerving as that’s not something I deal with on the small urban lakes I normally paddle. So I would find the situation you were in way too much at my skill level. Fun to watch you do it as you have the skills, though!

@NickSchade 2 months ago

Two books related to this adventure that I highly recommend:
- The Lost Art of Finding Your Way, By John Edward Huth
- How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea, by Tristan Gooley

Huth is a Harvard professor and a sea kayaker who paddles in Maine. He has a lot of good things to think about for doing seat-of-the-pants navigating without a chart and compass.
Gooley has several books in the how-to genre including one on navigation, but reading water is particularly useful for sea kayaking

@Kayaking_to_escape_family 2 months ago

I love the way your in a dry suit and I'm putting sunblock on in a spray tan booth. Its been too hot to paddle after 8am for weeks here. Anyway you got this vid all wrong, you missed the stalking wife asking you to do jobs on the camp site and get out the boat. Kids following along the shore for crying for money for junk. Its hard to get lost no matter how hard you try !!!