sea kayak touring
by john ramwell
The older hands among you will remember the first edition of this manual, first published in 1976. I am gratified that at the time it went to four editions and sold in its' thousands as I only originally wrote it to help me with the theory side of the British Canoe Union (BCU) Advanced Sea and Open Water Proficiency Test; there not being any similar publication available at the time. It worked in that I gained the BCU award I was seeking and hopefully it also went on to assist others, not only gain BCU awards, if like me they were 'chasing paper', but also to gain a better understanding of the sea, the skills required and the associated knowledge that must come with the territory if we are to approach our chosen activity with some professionalism. Sea kayaking has not always been so readily accepted by other authorities. It was considered foolhardy by some to take a flimsy craft on the open sea. Only by taking a professional approach and working to educate ourselves and others did we finally manage to persuade such as H.M. Coastguard that we wanted to carry on a kayaking tradition that was thousands of years old whilst turning it into a recreational activity.
All our efforts paid off and memories of officials telling us to get off the water and stop putting emergency services at risk have long faded.
I have often been asked, "why the title, 'SEA KAYAK TOURING"'. I have no fancy answer. Perhaps it was because I wanted to embrace all aspects of sea kayaking to include expeditioning and all that this entails. Ultimately sea kayaking is about taking off over the horizon to explore new coastlines, embark on long open water crossings; it is about touring and touring is about journeying, exploring, discovering. There are now many books on sea kayaking. Some covering only aspects of our sport such as navigation, camp cooking, weather, etc. This one sets out to be fairly inclusive hence I have called it a manual. It can be read straight through or used as a reference. Of course it cannot be complete. For example books have been written on kayak design and construction, both early and contemporary. If you really want to know more about such as weather and meteorology than can appear in this manual, then you are going to have to do some more reading of other specialist books. I hope my book will give you a fair overview of sea kayaking, sufficient to get you paddling and to encourage you to dig deeper into the allied subjects.
Interspersed throughout the informative stuff are anecdotes which hopefully bring in a little interest whilst illustrating the points being made. Many of the stories are from my own experience following over thirty five years in canoe sport. Some are about friends and fellow paddlers. Either way I hope you agree that they help to add something. You will find these anecdotes as well as little poetic excerpts written in italic.
Finally to thank a few friends who have suggested amendments to the original manuscript. Raymond Rowe, Frank Goodman, Keith Maslen, Alan Byde, Duncan Winning, OBE. Drs Martin & Sue Spurling. To these people I am very grateful for their valued advice, which in the main I have taken. Of course the final responsibility for the accuracy of the contents is entirely mine.
Most of all I would like to thank Jenny, my wife, who has let me have the best of both worlds, - a home and a time consuming interest. Today, over thirty years on since my first edition was published I still paddle at every opportunity.
I am now retired from full time work and have therefore been able to complete this volume started over ten years ago. It has been great fun writing it. It will be a special bonus if it ever reaches the book shelves. I hope you find it useful.
John J. Ramwell 5th Edition 2007