(Cumberland Island; 3/19/11) Cumberland Island, Georgia, is the premiere sea-kayaking destination in the Southeast. Last February, I looked forward to catching my first glimpses of the feral horses on Cumberland Island. The area is not only a birdwatcher’s hotspot, but an important location for the nesting of three species of endangered sea turtles. Just offshore, it is one of…
Category: Paddle/Hike/Play
Navigating Bermuda and Cumberland Island: Intrigue, Flux, and Current
The British overseas island of Bermuda is a group of low-forming volcanoes in the Atlantic Ocean, near the western edge of the Sargasso Sea. It is the northernmost point of the Bermuda Triangle where, according to legend, a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared under supposedly unexplained or mysterious circumstances. Our family enjoyed a…
World Kayak Hometown Throwdown: Two Brothers, Three Floyds, Five Guys
By Mary Fairchild (Ryan M. Duffy, Adrian Oritz; Flickr Pictures here..) This past weekend my husband and I traveled to South Bend, Indiana for a little business and… whitewater. I took my first whitewater class in January with the Chicago Whitewater Association. Recently, a note on the club’s message board, “Paddle, Party, and Play,” announced that there was a World Kayak…
Kayaking Chicago’s Shores: Look at Me, What I do is Fun
By Mary Fairchild (Hether Hoffmann posing for photography students at Montrose Beach) Instead of top paddlers saying, look at me, I am the future, I am cool, pay me. They’ll be saying, Look at me, what I do is fun, and I will share my experiences with you and help you learn to do what I…
Boat Registration in Illinois: What’s Whitewater Got to do With It?
(Chicago Whitewater Association “Intro to Whitewater” at Harper College, February 2011 with Bob Menard; picture by Heidi Haas.) When it comes to non-motorized boats, only Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, Iowa (boats over 15′), Minnesota (boats over 9′), and Pennsylvania require registration fees. After non-motorized boat users complained in droves, the registration fees in Alaska were eventually dropped from…
Geneva Kayak Center and Yorkville: Catching Waves and Whitewater in the Midwest
By Mary Fairchild Menominee River, Piers Gorge, Spring of 2010; CFS 3000. The Fox River Valley in Yorkville, Illinois, is expected to attract paddlers from throughout the Midwest as well as become an area for paddling instructors as a year-round teaching environment at the first whitewater park in the area. Ryan Rushton, L4 longboat training on the Menominee…