Where in Maine?
If you live in southern Maine you might want to check out our club, Southern Maine Sea Kayaking Network (http://www.smskn.org/). We try to schedule at least one club paddle each weekend. It’s an alternate option to paddling solo. Click on the Event & Message Boards link. We are starting to flesh out the paddles for the summer.
if you live near the midcoast
area—Penobscot Bay—MDI you can take a lesson or two from anynumber of sources—Mainebound at the University, Mainesport in Rockport, or any number of other commerical services–including Old Quarry, Castine Kayak, or several in Bar Harbor—also if you are in the Portland Area try Maine Island Kayak Company—and that will help you decide what kind of boat you want–for Clubs there are the MDI Paddlers, MOAC, and the Paddle and Chowder Society—all have websites(although MDI Paddlers is currently down will be back soon)
Just moved back to Maine
I guess I have to update my profile…My wife and I just moved back to Maine after stops in Alaska and Virginia. I grew up in central Maine and now live in Portland so southern and mid coast Maine are my closest paddling choices.
As an Adult can’t you answer
that yourself?
After all it’s your life and your ass on the line so who should be the best judge?
I started paddling alone but I paddle rivers so it isn’t much of a swim or walk. Lakes can be a 1/2 to a mile or so swim (which is fine for me). Going in open water is something else.
Be careful and just use good judgment.
Paddlin’ on
Richard
guess he can’t
answer the question himself—probably why he asked it here. 
There are some adults who have absolutly no experience with boats, paddles etc–and I suppose those are the people who need some training before going off on their own. Your answer was a good one GK—to it I would add if you have to ask that question then you probably shouldn’t go off on your own until you have enough training and/or experience to feel comfortable doing it. Once you do feel comfortable by all means paddle by your lonesome—just use some commonsense and try to stay out of situations where you might need help to be rescued—
Conversation at an outdoor show
Last year, after a demo of rescues and rolling in a pool. The person asking me the questions was, by the way, a long time canoeist who did overnight trips etc in the Adirondacks. Probably in her early 60’s, so not a digitally-impaired kid either.
Q: But why would you do that rolling thing?
A: To recover if I capsized.
Response: Oh. (short pause)
Q: Then why would you do that other thing, when you were kind of sideways?
A: That’s called sculling, and it is to help avoid capsizing.
Response: Oh.
From the look on her face, I doubt I had convinced her there was any purpose to either of these things.
If in Portland…
– Last Updated: Apr-23-08 11:02 AM EST –
You are blessed.
Nearest stop should be Maine Island Kayak, on Peak's Island just a bit of a walk from the ferry.
In mid-coast - Sea Cliff Kayaking out of Booth Bay. No more than a one hour drive.
The boats that you can get demo's on from these two places are NDK on Peak's Island, not sure if they are still carrying Valley but maybe, and the Sea Cliff folks are Team P&H. Both have web sites.
Both of these outfits can get you on the water in tours so that you can get a sense of what things are about, as well as teach skills.
Re the navigation part - absolutely critical - John Carmody at Sea Cliff is extremely highly regarded for teaching navigation in a way that is effective as well as fun. He has a sailboat background, and learned the ropes before everyone had a GPS device to save their butts.
The other place that you may want to stop in at is around Bath, Lincoln Kayaks, but I'm a bit fuzzy on its precise location. As far as I know they are all about selling boats, but I could be wrong. While I don't find their boats personally compelling, many do and the folks who run that are good people.
There is also a niche kayak maker in that area, I forget the name but it begins with S and they turn out a small number of kayaks each year tuned towards being about fast going forward. They are fine boats for the right use and well made, but I have been in skills sessions where someone had one of these boats and would go thumbs down on one for solo paddling in those waters. The outfitting is limited and they really are challenging for self-rescue.
Just remembered - if you end up further north, you may want to stop by to see Ray Wirth, Water Walker Kayaking out of Belfast. I know he also does tours further south like into the Muscle Ridge chain which is the southernmost portion of Penobscot Bay.
I mention the tour idea because, aside from the skills part, this may be an emjoyable and quick way to get a lay of the water after some years away.
Re the fog, to harp a bit, Three summers ago a couple of kayakers got socked in paddling Casco Bay. They wisely decided to do some emergency camping overnight on the nearest island, mostly a pile of rock, rather than risk trying to cross shipping lines and ferry routes into Portland. The rescue folks were called because the paddlers had filed a float plan with a relative, but couldn't do much themselves in the fog, and the paddlers' cell phones couldn't get much in the way of reception. They were able to paddle off the next morning and get somewhere that there was reception to let people know they were OK and on their way home. But if you looked at the charts for where they had to land, it was at the outer reaches of things but not really way far away from the landing by non-fog standards.
Lincoln Canoe and Kayak
is actually located on Main St. Freeport, ME. just south of LL Bean.
The designer is Sandy Martin.
I think that’s who Celia is talking about, perhaps. As far as I know, they are primarily into sales.
Hope this is helpful.
It’s Sandy
Wasn’t sure if they did stuff beyond sales. He’s respected as a really nice and honest guy.