The Quiet Kayak Catches On

Mention kayaking within earshot of people who have experienced it and you'll see a certain look come over their faces, subtle changes in posture. Their brows unfurrow, their voices grow calm, and their eyes seem to hold a little of the same light that glints off the water when the sun's low in the sky and the shadows are long across the kayak's bow.

"It isn't a sport thing. It's an escape," Jay Damuck said, extolling the virtues of kayaking before a morning paddle in the waters off Shelter Island recently.

In an era when people seem to be plugged in, on line, and on duty more than ever, it's no wonder a sport that offers an escape from daily pressures is becoming so popular.

"I've had people call me up and tell me they're going to drop their therapist," Mark Terry, an Amagansett-based kayak tour operator, said. If that isn't a testament to the merits of kayaking, what is?

New Perspective

Mr. Terry started East Coast Adventure Tour Company last year, and Mr. Damuck opened Shelter Island Kayak three years ago. Both were drawn to the business for the same reasons their clients now seek them out - a touch of adventure, a dose of tranquillity, and a unique way of seeing for yourself the treasures of the area's wetland waterways.

"It gives you a different perspective on the area when you see it from the water," said Mike Bottini, a planner with the Group for the South Fork. Mr. Bottini has navigated the waters of the South Fork by kayak for years. When the Group sponsors a canoe trip, Mr. Bottini guides the canoers in his kayak, which is easier to maneuver.

Invented by the Inuits, the narrow vessels were originally constructed of wood and stretched animal skins. These days many of the newest ones are made of molded plastic, but a high-end kayak can be made of fiberglass, wood, or even canvas on a wood frame.

There are sea kayaks, which are long and fast, but more prone to tipping, and river kayaks, which are shorter, more stable, and very maneuverable. "In a river kayak every paddle stroke can change your direction," explained Diana Dreeben of the Riverhead company Peconic Paddler.

"It appeals to me because it's such an ancient and basic thing," Mr. Damuck said. "There's so much technology - answering machines, faxes, a computer ignition system in my car. This is just a paddle and a piece of plastic."

Another of the big selling points of kayaks is that they can carry a paddler into just three inches of water or through the roiling ocean waves that are usually the domain of board surfers alone. That opens up to paddlers not only the wonders of the ocean, bays, and harbors, but also narrow mosquito ditches, slow-moving creeks, and hidden ponds.

One With Nature

Provided the kayakers don't litter, the sport has little or no impact on the environment, which appeals to conservationists. And, while a little bit of knowledge, some basic skills, and common sense are required, amateur calm-water kayaking does not require months of training or Herculean strength.

Explorer types can bob along over clustered clam beds, scurrying crabs, and red beard sponge, paddle near shorebird nesting sites without disturbing the birds, and try to keep up with the dragonflies darting off the water.

Enthusiasts say that in a kayak they feel a part of the wetland world rather than an intruder in it.

Some, however, are hard put to leave the trappings of a fast-paced life on shore. "We've had a few people bring their cellular phones with them," Luke Svanberg said, as he paddled leisurely along in Cedar Point Park, pausing to point out a school of alewives flapping at the water's surface.

Growing Demand

Mr. Svanberg leads kayak tours for his brother Lars's company, Main Beach Surf and Sport in Wainscott, teaching tour participants the basic rules of the waters, and guiding them through an introduction to wetland ecology.

When Lars Svanberg heard The Star was doing a story on kayaking, he said, "It's about time you woke up over there." He was one of the pioneers of kayak tours and rentals on the South Fork and has watched a dramatic rise in the sport over the past couple of years.

Peconic Paddler, which opened in Riverhead 12 years ago, was the first big kayaking operation on the East End.

Since then an increasing number of entrepreneurs have opened tour companies and rental businesses on the East End to meet the growing demand and take advantage of a lucrative market. The boom is evident not only by the kayak trailers parked at some of the more popular paddling spots, but by the number of cars and trucks driving around with one of the lightweight vessels tethered to the roof.

Where They Go

Main Beach's tours focus on Alewife Brook and Pond and Georgica Pond, which offer two very different views of local wetlands. While Alewife Brook is surrounded by parkland, Georgica Pond is surrounded by private property. There is just one public access point to Georgica Pond, near the corner of Wainscott Stone Road and Montauk Highway, so what people see from the water may be the only view they get of the pond.

Accabonac Harbor in Springs, with its classic salt marsh, is a particularly prized spot for kayaking, and almost every evening, while the weather holds, a line of paddlers or the lone kayaker can be seen around Tick Island. "Accabonac has a lot of history, too," Mr. Bottini said. "Almost every rock and point has a name."

Northwest Creek in East Hampton, also bordered by parkland, is another good place. Many make their way to Napeague Harbor, where they can paddle along the shore and disembark to explore Hicks Island.

Rougher Waters

Mr. Terry often delivers kayaks for children's parties at Fresh Pond in Amagansett. Mr. Damuck likes Coecles Harbor and Congdon's Creek, off Shelter Island, and Mr. Bottini recommends Sebonac Creek in North Sea.

James Greenbaum, a Montauk attorney who took up kayaking this summer, suggests Fort Pond, Fort Pond Bay, and Lake Montauk as good spots out east, but also raves about paddling on the ocean.

"That's for people who are really into it," he said. As a surfer first, he found kayaking to be a good alternative sport in a bad year for surfing, as this one has been. "A three-foot wave - on a kayak, that's over your head," he said.

Go The Distance

What thrills him about wave riding is what scares most people away from paddling in the ocean. It takes a lot more know-how to brave a wave than to hug the shore watching the wildlife, but for a skilled surfer, he said, "it opens up a whole new world."

While a surfboard is made for shorter rides and a canoe can be a bit heavy for long solo trips, kayaks were designed for distance, enabling a paddler to travel in and out of little coves, along the ocean coast, even up one side of the South Fork and down the other.

Each area offers something a little different and some spots are better left a secret. After talking to just a few paddlers, one gets the sense that a prime kayaking spot might be something you have to track down for yourself.

Three years ago, Mr. Bottini drew up a plan for a canoe/kayak waterway guide that would include maps of good routes and possible camping or bed and breakfast spots along the way for those who'd like to make overnight trips or might not be familiar with the area's waters. Outside of Cedar Point Park in East Hampton, there aren't any designated camping spots now that tie in with good kayak routes.

With all the paddling activity, it seems the time for such a guide couldn't be better, but Mr. Bottini has been so busy with his duties at the Group that he's had to put this project on the back burner.

Though it's hardly likely the East End will become a hub for ecotourism, the area has long drawn a large contingent to outdoor sports and the waterways of the East End, some say, provide kayaking to rival that of any of the better-known destinations around the country.

Critical Mass

Dorothy Dalsimer of Southampton would agree. She took up kayaking long before it was the latest "in" sport. She went to Baja, Calif., on a kayak trip last year, when she was 83. A few years before that, it was Belize.

This summer, she stuck to the South Fork, taking daylong trips, stopping for lunch, and often fishing or gathering scallops and oysters aboard her kayak. If the weather stays warm this year, she just may keep kayaking through the winter.

So when does all this activity become too much of a good thing? Will the crowds on the roads spill over to the waters?

"There's something called a sustainable load," Mr. Terry said a few weeks ago. "You have to look at the size of the system to determine how many kayak loads it can handle." Mr. Terry, who has a degree in environmental science and forestry, doesn't think the waterways here are anywhere close to critical mass. Certainly not at this time of year.

"Most people only go out once or twice a week," Ms. Dreeben of Peconic Paddler said yesterday. "It'll never get too big."