If you read our post about kayaking in Manhattan and thought, I'd like that, but with a greater chance of falling in the Hudson, then kayak polo is for you.
The sport is just what it sounds like--a take on water polo where players paddle around on boats instead of swimming. You can use your paddles to take a hold of the ball, and while bumper car-style attacks are frowned upon, there are plenty of grade-A crashes. It's popular throughout much of Europe, but is only just taking off in the United States.
On July 2 and 8, New York Kayak Polo is offering introductory classes to the sport, held at the Pier 66 Boathouse at the Hudson River and 26th Street. Classes are free, but there's a $5 insurance fee.
When I tell people about the free, walk-up kayaking program on the Hudson River in Manhattan, I'm generally greeted with incredulous stares. And who can blame them? In this town--where it costs twenty bucks just to walk out your front door--who in their right mind would provide kayak rentals for nothing?
The New York City Downtown Boathouse, that's who. The all-volunteer organization has been introducing New Yorkers to the joys of Hudson River kayaking for years, and it's as simple as showing up, signing a paper indicating that you know how to swim, slipping on a life jacket and hitting the water.
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie is not what you'll be singing, our mother warned us. "The gondolas in Venice are dirty and unromantic!" But the New York Times offers a sporting alternative: kayaking Venice, where you're your own gondolier.
Motorized boating for nonresidents is technically illegal, but as far as writer David Kocieniewski could tell, people-powered skiffs are free to cruise the canals even with a foreign tourist at the helm. (Given all the rules in Venice, we're sort of amazed.)
Sure, you have to check an inflatable boat (or rent one there) and spend a few days practicing on back canals, but exploring the city by kayak gives you a resident's glimpse of Venice. And after the gondolas are moored for the night, the waterways are all yours.
Slate's press critic Jack Shafer must really need a vacation. After reading through back issues of The New York Times' Escapes section--you know, the one about all the vacation homes you need?--he's realized that it prints the same stuff almost every week:
There are only so many places to send Times readers for quickie visits and only so many times you can compare the cost of second homes in different states before brainless repetition sets in.
Harsh as he is, Shafer isn't calling for the destruction of the section: He just wants it to be a worthwhile read. Lucky for him, this week's edition has a great feature on a six-day paddle down the Potomac River, no vacation-home purchase required.
Summer's winding down, but the long Labor Day weekend means there's still time for one last Summer Vacation with an Edge.
Those looking back and finding their summer deficient of both blues licks and whitewater rafting might want to head out for Wildman Whitewater Ranch's Labor Day Music Fest in Athelstane, Wisconsin. You'll run rapids by day and get juiced up to the sounds of the finest Chicago blues and jug bands every night. Admit it, its been awhile since you've sat down to be entertained by a jug band.
Wildman's stock in trade is serving up barbecue and adventure adapted to all tastes and all levels of death wish. River runs are anywhere between spicy (class IV rapids) and extra mild (lazy river tubing), with kayak touring thrown in to round out the watersports. Dry land offers horseback riding, rappelling and ATV trails with an ever expanding list of other seasonal activities and amusements.
The place is unabashedly family friendly, though maybe not so much this weekend: The food remains authentic hardwood smoked pit BBQ served up in a joint that's been standing since it served hooch on the sly in the Twenties.
Late August heralds the arrival of that short-lived season in New York'sAdirondacks with neither snow nor black flies as the area's number one feature. In early fall, the miles of trails and waterways that wind through the Five Ponds Wilderness Area in the Adirondack's northwest foothills are the main event, with good reason.
Five Ponds has mostly been left alone for the last hundred years, bouncing back from logging to be a truly wild area off-limits to most motorized vehicles. Foot trails here are clear enough to follow but definitely give nature the right of way. Likewise, nature maintains the streams, giving paddlers rapids to enjoy and bends to explore. Some routes are served by recently renovated lean-tos. (Not exactly 4-star, but this is the wilderness.)
If you're not quite ready to go it alone, Packbasket Adventures' Lodge and Guide Service is the perfect introduction to the area. They've got anything and everything you'll need: equipment rentals, eco-tours, wilderness guides and meals, packed or served family style in their newly constructed lodge. And though the guides are all state-licensed experts, that doesn't mean they aren't a hell of a bunch of characters to have around a campfire with you.
It is officially the summer of the kayak. This week Ashley Tisdale -- no idea what she is famous for -- was repeatedly photographed somewhat successfully attempting to take a kayak in Malibu, California. However, the kayak tipping point (no pun intended) was reached long before Ashley's Malibu adventure.
Why is there such a run on these unsinkable boats this summer? First, as we told you last month, kayaking is one of the few activities you can actually do for free in Manhattan, and no cost tends to make things trendy in NYC.
On the left coast, kayak tours come with a price. Pacific Coast Kayaking offers Malibu kayaking with a brunch for $45.00 -- how decadent. The trip is a noncommittal 10 AM - 2 PM, which makes it even more attractive to slacker travelers.
Want more kayaks-are-hot evidence? If you are watching Shark Week on the Discovery channel this week, and you should be, you may have noticed the clear kayak the host used in order to spot sharks while above water. Very cool.
New Yorkers get hit up for cash every moment of the day -- yes, even after Guiliani sent all the homeless to LA. Somehow, city dwellers willingly pay an obscene amount of money to sleep, eat, and move around this place. Soon, Bloomberg will probably introduce legislation charging $1 for every molocule of oxygen we draw of Manhattan air. Oxygen: the last uncommodified resource. So it's refreshing when we find activities where people's sole purpose is goodwill, there is a mutual interest in having some fun, and oh, it is free in New York City. We feel an obligation to share these discoveries with you all, naturally. So we bring you Free and Fun in NYC. Just in time for summer. Enjoy.
