Product Details

• Actors: John C. Davis, Randy Carlson
• Directors: Kent Ford
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• DVD Release Date: January 1, 1996
• Run Time: 59 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0966056930
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,191 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Booklist

This scenic and informative program will whet the appetite.

Product Description

Kayaking offers a world of opportunity. Whatever your ability, its a magical way to get to some amazing places. To enjoy it, you'll need the basics, the building blocks for performance paddling. Join the experts as they explain the important elements of paddling strokes and safety.

See paddling skills demonstrated and learn the essence of paddling efficiently so you'll tire less on your next trip. See how to recover from a capsize, and unlock the secrets of the eskimo roll. Hear the experts talk about navigation, big crossings, and dealing with wind and weather.

All this information is presented in a lively, watchable manner. Features the Pacific Northwest coast and TASK sea kayak symposium, North shore of Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands, Southern California coast, the Channel Islands and big surf, Maine, and a top secret high mountain lake.

Appearances and/ or assistance from: Ken Fink - Navigation Guru, Shelly Johnson - Paddlesport Instructor and consultant, Greg Barton - Olympic Gold medalist, Ocean Kayak paddler, Wayne Horodowich - Chairman of Task Instructor Exchange, Eric Soares & Jim Kakuk - Tsunami Rangers extreme sea kayak club, Randy Carlson - Univ. Minnesota National Kayak Institute director.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for any sea kayaker, August 18, 2000

By 

Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Performance Sea Kayaking (DVD)

Whether you're a begining paddler or someone who's been paddling for a few years, you'll be able to get something out of this tape. It features a number of well-known West Coast sea kayak instructors demonstrating paddling strokes, braces, rolls, and other techniques, all shown in a way that clearly illustrates what a properly done stroke or roll should look like. It also has good advice on trip planning, dealing with current and tides, and many other details.

I bought this tape based on a review in Sewa Kayaker magazing that couldn't praise it highly enough. I wasn't disappointed. After four years of paddling, this tape showed me what I needed to know to move my bracing and recovery strokes up to the next level.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, but not much more to offer, August 2, 2004

By 

Svend (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Performance Sea Kayaking (DVD)

This video is only useful as an additional instruction aid for absolute beginners to Kayaking. If you take a beginning strokes and safety course, which you should, then you'll already learn most of the information on this video. The video has so much material to cover, that it skims over each topic fairly quickly. Most all of the skills on the video are better taught by an instructor in person.

The video covers efficient and relaxed stroke techniques, wet exits, self and assisted rescues, cold-water safety, eskimo rolls, tides and currents, chart reading and navigation, and signaling for help.

This would be a useful video to own for those who are interested in the sport, but have only rented a few times, or for those who want to expose others to trying the sport.

A minor complaint of mine is that the video seems to have been filmed quite a while ago, complete with mullets and 80's-style haircuts and clothing. The self rescues section assumes that you don't have deck bungies to the rear of the cockpit, which most all kayaks come equipped with now.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful. I've watched it repeatedly, November 8, 2001

By 

Stefan T. Wennik "stw" (Mass. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Performance Sea Kayaking (DVD)

There aren't a whole lot of sea kayak videos out there to choose from, so there's not a lot to compare this to. However, I do highly recommend this video. It covers a lot of ground (or water, if you prefer); and it does it in a very helpful way. It covers the basics and even some more advanced topics. It's important to note that you can't really learn any of these techniques by watching a video. You can only do that by getting out on the water and paddling. However, good videos like these help you when you're out there by clueing you in to the kinds of techniques you should be learning; and helping you to visualize the motions as you're practicing them.