Customer Reviews

Sit-on-Top Kayaking : A Beginner's Guide

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I wish Tom Holtey's "Sit-On-Top Kayaking" had been in print when I started ocean kayaking at age 55, nearly ten years (and 4 or 5 kayaking books) ago. Today, I'm grateful that it IS available as a packable, readable reference that always reminds me of the basics that are so important to beginners and veteran kayakers alike. Don't get me wrong - the books then available were good - just overweight with procedures I simply couldn't apply. This book delivers what it says on the cover - A Beginner's Guide - with clarity and directness, thanks to Mr. Holtey's lean text and Mr. Altman's line drawings. After several years of increasingly challenging coastal paddles, I have found that it is indispensable.

A bit expensive for a manual type guide (minus one star). The larger than normal type and simple language makes this guide an easy read and a very useful one, especially for those who are new to the sport of kayaking. The chapters on safety, rescues and signals could be literal lifesavers and are essential reading for anyone entering the paddling experience (ok..so if it saves your life..it's worth the price). However, if you are already familiar with the paddling basics (strokes, safety, etc), there's nothing much new here, except for some specific information tailored to sit-on- top type kayaks. For those planning to paddle in the ocean, chapters on waves, tides and kayak surfing are useful and informative.

Tom Holtey has had several decades of experience in kayaking and it shows. The information in this unique book is an easy read, but by no means trivial. The obvious target is the beginner, but there are many details that the experienced kayaker will find useful. I have personally paddled with Mr. Holtey, and I can vouch that he knows his stuff, and practices what he preaches! If you are considering kayaking, there are other books on the subject are very detailed and you may want to purchase them. However, if you want a book that distills all of the information into a concise form that you will remember when you are out there in the awesome blue world that all kayakers know and love, then get this book.

As the title suggests the book is for a beginner, however I was disappointed with how basic the information was. I am new to Kayaking and had found that most of the information is available on the kayak vendor's web pages, which I had already read. On the plus side the book is well written and easy to read. I would only purchase the book if you are still deciding to purchase a Sit on top kayak versus a Sit in kayak.

I'm still a bit new to SOT kayaking and I found that this book offered some excellent information and suggestions - the checklists were very helpful when I began equipping my kayak. Really solid, basic information!

I read the book as an advanced beginner, and I still learned much from Mr. Holtey's excellent directions. It was like having a personal kayak instructor.

Spend the money on a good basic sea kayaking
book. There are some good ones out there, but
this is not one of them.

The title states "Basic" essentials, and that is really the case. I wanted some reference information to assist me in choosing a kayak that would suit me, that section had 2 pages of text (not counting pictures). Same with other equipment recommendations and techniques. You could get the same or greater amount of info by spending a few minutes on Wikipedia or the REI website. There no meat in this skimpy sandwich.

I found the presentation and format of this book provided a good, quick, and easy read. Simple diagrams and explanations address those questions you feel too dumb to ask but probably should ask.

It is a book I find myself coming back to re-reading items after I have tried them out on the water.

This is the book to buy for sit-on-top newbies.

There's some information within, but the format of the book is awful and it's poorly written. They chose the font so that it could take up the most space possible, a trick that isn't usually tried after failing to work in highschool. Even so, many of the chapters don't last more than a page and a half. You could compress the book into a handbook one quarter the size, and lose no readability. Also, the heading fonts are terrible and do more to obfuscate than help. The illustrations, however, are very good.

It reads like a children's book ("The paddle makes the kayak move"). There are a few checklists which are equally insipid (on the kayak checklist, the first thing you must remember to bring is...you guessed it...a kayak!). I bought this book because I had some specific questions, like, Should I get a kayak with a rudder? Two sentences were devoted to rudders, neither one of which answered my question. I feel cheated and insulted that I paid money for this. I've gotten more information casually surfing the web!