sea kayaking

Origins

Sea kayaking has been a hobbyist activity for hundreds of years now, with its roots dated to the primitive years, it’s been developing for quite some time. For hunting, general fitness or even exploration, the crafts used have been long proven to be a reliable and formidable form of transport on open water. Some have even taken this to the extreme circumnavigating whole countries or even continents in these small vessels.

Sea kayaking has been around in various form for an estimated four thousand years, with its origins dated back to the Northern Inuit’s and Eskimos, specifically Alaska, Greenland, and Northern Canada. The original use for these primitive versions of what we now know as sea kayaks was for hunting. Specifically, ocean-based mammals like seals and walrus’ that were rich in resource but extremely difficult to pursue from mainland. This made sea kayaks critical to the survival of these indigenous peoples. More recently, these craft have been primarily used for recreational type activities, yet a select few have utilized these craft for long voyages across extreme environments pushing the boundaries of the sport to the limit. Some iconic voyages include Oskar Speck’ expedition from Germany to Australia from 1932-1939 Taking his canvas kayak to new and unseen levels of difficulty. This voyage is perhaps most famous due to the fact that after his 7-year voyage, he was welcomed into Australia by multiple police officer congratulating him on his achievement whilst simultaneously detaining him as outside of his knowledge, Germany was back to war times making him a citizen of a country in which they were actively at war with. Other famous expeditions include circumnavigations of Australia by athletes like Freya Hoffmeister, the United Kingdom from adventurists like Paul Caffyn and Nigel Dennis.