Sea Kayaker’s 'Savvy Paddler' by Doug Alderson

 Published 2001 by Ragged Mountain Press

Paperback 132 pages

ISBN 0-07-136203-7

Price $15.95

This is a book to dip into on a regular basis as opposed to sitting down and reading on a bleak winters evening.  Doug Alderson, based on Vancouver Island, has brought his years of kayaking experience together and written a book, which is full of common sense.  Although we learn from experience it doesn’t always have to be our own experience and by reading Doug’s book it is possible to learn from other peoples experiences and so avoid having to go through some of the painful processes ourselves.

The book is divided into 8 chapters covering the following areas of knowledge:

    1.      Learning to Paddle a Sea Kayak

    2.      Major Equipment Purchases

    3.      Before You Go

    4.      Navigation and Safety

    5.      Food and Water

    6.      Clothing

    7.      Campcraft

    8.      Trip Planning

Contained within these 8 chapters are 538 tips for the sea kayaker, at all levels of ability.  Some are brief, for example, number 9 explains that “The best way to learn to stay dry is to get wet, often”. Whereas other points are far more comprehensive - guidance for selecting a course occupies more than half a page.  Paddlers of all abilities will find gems of knowledge contained within all the chapters and anybody who reads this book and says that they haven’t learnt anything are probably not being completely honest!

To supplement the text, there are a number of photographs and diagrams. A minor gripe is that I would have preferred to see more photographs of skills and techniques as opposed to outfitting a kayak or the tying of knots.

There are numerous books available today on sea kayaking, but with its different approach, this volume will not remain on the bookshelf for long.  You will want to continually return to its pages in search of further pearls of wisdom.  Even if you don’t adopt all of the ideas, they will certainly stimulate discussion amongst groups of sea paddlers. If you only buy one paddling book over the next few months the “Savvy Paddler” should be close to the top of the list.