Who is this 'naked' kayaker?
Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm Nena (Nay-nuh), and I am completely in love with kayaking. If you had asked me when I was 8-years-old, I would have told you I was never going kayaking again. At 14 I owned Big Purple (the same color as everything else I was buying at the time!) and was working as a cashier at the kayaking shop, where I spent 9 incredible summers working and paddling with customers and fellow employees who shared the same passion for kayaking as me. The most addicting aspect of kayaking is the range of interesting people I meet who are equally excited about paddling. Throw ten random kayakers together and 5 minutes later everyone has made 9 new friends. It's true! I've seen it happen countless times!
Today I'm approximately 90% converted to Greenland kayaking (see this post if you're curious as to what that means), and I'm trying to learn new rolls/strokes as often as possible. In 2011 I paddled on each of the Finger Lakes, and I'm pondering what my next goal will be. Suggestions appreciated!
- It's fun!
- I have a terrible memory. Normally I just take lots of pictures. All too often, however, kayaking pictures look the same and blend together over time. Here I can string them together with words and describe the experiences that couldn't be captured through a lens.
- Resource for other paddling enthusiasts. I hope to make my posts accessible and useful for future trip planning by adding a tab that organizes trips by location and assigning keywords to the bottom of each post (such as paddling distance). In addition to reporting events, I try to pass on useful things I've learned along the way (about kayaking and otherwise).
- Keep family and friends in the loop.
- Motivation to explore new places. Last but not least, it encourages me to
dragtake myself and my kayaking buddies to new (and sometimes faraway) places so we can experience different paddling conditions and scenery.
Why is it called the Naked Kayaker?
Fortunately (or unfortunately), the reason is not as exciting as you might think. Once upon a time (in the summer of 2004), I spent a great deal of time on Canandaigua Lake at my friends', Lauren and Alex Helmer, lake house. We often paddled around on their sit-on-top kayaks. One day, as I paddled ahead, my hair and the kayak seat covered the ties on the back of my bathing suit (I was being unsafe and not wearing a PFD), making it look like I was kayaking naked. I was awarded the nickname nakedkayaker on the spot, and it stuck.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Thanks for reading :)
Nena