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"Believe me, my young friend. There is nothing, absolutely nothing,
half so worth doing as simply messing around in boats." 

The Wind in the Willows

Nice to meet you, North Sea

3/28/2018

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Picture
Why are they walking? Read on to find out :)
Last weekend a fun group of Never Dry paddlers headed out to Stellendam for a late winter (early spring?) paddle on the North Sea. If you are wondering why we are walking in the photo, read on to find out!

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"Patatje met tocht" aka "french fries and a paddle" to Rotterdam centrum

3/24/2018

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This photo really captures the essence of this paddle!
As I pack my bags for a paddling trip tomorrow, I realize I've forgotten to finish this post about a recent trip to Rotterdam centrum. A couple weeks ago Joachim organized a relaxing/low-key trip from the kayaking club on Kralingse Plas to the center of Rotterdam. We took a different route into Rotterdam than in previous trips. We saw a number of iconic Rotterdam sites, and ended up in the heart of the city during the peak of the Saturday market. â€‹Read on for a short post with plenty of photos from a wintery urban paddle!

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A misty and mysterious paddle in Deep Cove, Vancouver (Time Capsule)

3/17/2018

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A sailboat in the mist and Henk paddling in the background, in Deep Cove, Vancouver
This is a "Time Capsule" post, meaning it describes a trip from the past which never made it to the blog. This post is short on text but has some of my favorite ever paddling photos! Enjoy :)

Our second day of Vancouver paddling, in October 2016, took us to Deep Cove (click here to see the first paddle). We rented boats from Deep Cove Kayak (at the time, 72 CAD for the day), and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of their rentals. After they heard I was an experienced kayaker, the manager said he had a boat I might like to try. He came back with a beautiful white (carbon fiber?) sea kayak from a brand I hadn't heard of before - Sterling Kayaks, made in Bellingham, Washington. I paddled the "Illusion" model. Apparently they go for $6000+! Price tag aside, it was a wonderful boat to paddle. A girl can dream, right?

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Trip Planning 101: Keeping Track of Flights, Lodging, and Rental Cars

3/9/2018

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On a flight to Portugal in June 2015
This is the final post in a 6-part series about trip planning. If this is the first time you're seeing this series, I recommend you start here! For an overview of the complete series, please visit the Trip Planning 101 page.

Since this is the final post, the Google spreadsheet template is now available! Check out the main Trip Planning 101 page to get a copy. This post presents a few additional (and optional) tabs in the spreadsheet: Flights, Lodging, and Rental Cars. 

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The 200th Post! Goals for 2018 + a nerdy graph

3/4/2018

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How do you like my cheesy meme?
​I'm having a mini celebration right now, because this marks the 200th Naked Kayaker post! I know it's not much for 8 years in the blogging world, but considering how much time and effort go into most of these posts (planning the paddle, paddling, making maps, photo editing, writing the story, researching the destination, editing), I think it's something to be proud of. I've started and stopped my fair share of hobbies/projects in this life, but if all else fails, The Naked Kayaker will go on!

In my 100th post, I reflected on some goals I'd made in the past, and defined some new ones for the future. Looking back, Alice and I did not meet our first goal of paddling together 8 more times (I think we went 3 more times?). But I definitely met the next three goals of paddling 100 miles before a set date, exploring ten new places (easy!), and getting involved in sea kayaking in the Netherlands. 

That's fun - let's do it again! While we were in New Zealand, I made a list of New Year's resolutions. I just checked and somehow, out of 19 resolutions, only one of them is kayaking-related! How did that happen? Let's fix that asap. Below are 7 new kayaking-related goals for 2018, some more ambitious than others... 

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    Welcome!

    This is a blog about exploring the outdoors (mostly by kayak), traveling, trip planning, and coastal engineering. It currently focuses on kayaking in the Netherlands and Belgium, but previous posts cover Upstate New York, California, and much more. See the Complete List of Blog Posts for a history of the site. Looking for something specific? Search the site here.

    In addition to the blog, check out the Water Nerd section, where I write about coastal engineering and hydrology. 

    ​Happy Paddling!
    ​Nena

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    Maps in each blog post: Click the icons to learn more about the launch site (amenities) and destinations. Click the square in the bottom-left corner to see an aerial photo behind the route.
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