KO and I spent the last few days kayaking. First we rented a two-person kayak,
next two one-man kayaks–a lot more maneuverable. When you work
too hard for too long, it’s a good idea to do something such that, if you
think while you’re doing it, you fall down or fall in or fall off. Skiing used to
be a big help when I lived in Colorado. As we’re nowhere near
mountains we canoe and kayak. Great fun.
Any other canoers, kayakers here? Where do you go?
Ma bateau est un DIY pirogue. Normally a pirogue is made from a log and is pushed around the swamps of Louisiana with a pole. Mine is made from plywood and I use a carbon fiber kayak paddle to propel down Village creek north of Beaumont Texas. There are a few places here in Santa Fe Texas to go. A large drainage canal, and a big pond in the park. Don’t get to use it much in the pond though, they always tell me there is no boating, and I say where is the sign. 
Somtimes after a hurricane I can use it in the road here.
I live to canoe. I’ll kayak but I much prefer having the seat of a canoe rather than sitting on the bottom in a kayak. Where I live in West Virginia, there are many nice places right nearby. There are even better places within two hours or more drive. I don’t see a need to kill myself having fun, so I avoid Class III & IV whitewater. There was one day this summer that thunderstorms were expected but we went canoeing on Beechfork Lake anyway. The thunderstorms didn’t come and we had the whole big lake to ourselves. We got to see heron, hawks, ducks, beaver, and other wildlife enjoying themselves without having to worry about humans and pontoon boats. And the lake was so quiet.
One day, I’m going to lose my mind and drift to New Orleans. If you live along the way, stop me and offer me a shower and a hot meal.
My wife and I have recreational kayaks (Pungo) and use them on lakes, ponds and rivers here in upstate NY. We live right near the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, so we have plenty of great spots.
When we lived in LA we rented a two person kayak somewhere N of Santa Barbara and
went out in the ocean. We counted 16 sea lions sunning themselves on rocks. Coming in
we chose a wave and paddled furiously. At the last moment it turned us sidewise
and spilled us sideways on the beach. Got entirely wet. People on the
beach said it was the biggest wave of the day.
On Lake Union in Seattle they were renting utterly gorgeous ocean going kayaks,
state of the art. We rented a two-man and skimmed about the area,
amid huge docked ships.
i use a 12’ solo canoe as my dinghy for the sailboat. at 33 #s, i can easily pick it up and lie it on the side deck.
yesterday saw 4 river otters cavorting and so many wild fowl of various species i could not count, also bald eagles, hawks and hoot owls. i love to go hang out at night in the rushes in the fall of the year, there is no telling what you might come across. i use the double kayak type oar on this wee canoe, it is a wonderful little craft in a class by itself, also rated to carry 450 #s of weight.
tansy
I have a plywood stitch-&-glue sea kayak I made from a kit several years ago. (It’s an [u]Arctic Tern[/u] from Pygmy Boats.) I haven’t had it out in a couple of years (been doing a lot more backpacking), but when I do I generally take it out on Puget Sound or Lake Washington. It’s a lot of fun. 
ya o’tta drag the sucker out and get it ready
we’re due fer an other 100 year flood (been 3 years) 
We currently have a 21’ freighter canoe. A one tonner it is often called 'cause it’s rated for 1 ton of capacity. We do a fair amount of whitewater in the spring with borrowed boats. We use to sea kayak more than a fair amount, We had a small fleet of boats, a double and six singles. We also have dry suits as we don’t care what the weather is doing when we feel the need to get out on the water. It is a heck of a lot of fun to paddle a tidal creek in a snow storm but not safe if you aren’t dressed properly. Unfortunately I can no longer sit in a kayak so we have been saving for a racing type canoe that we can put a spray skirt on for rough conditions. We have paddled the Canadian Maritimes, the MIT, Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, every lake in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Chesapeake Bay, The Outer Banks from Virginia to Top Sail Island NC(very fun paddle, even with the bugs).
In just a few days thousands of common loons will be migrating into the Chesapeake Bay area. We use to paddle around in the Rappahanock and Potomac river regions to look for them. One day we were on a small tidal river called the Corrotoman paddling in a heavy fog. Occasionally we could make out some shapes that looked like loons so my wife gave a very quite loon call. Within a few moments we were surrounded by several hundred loons, some as close as a few inches from our hands.
I read James Michener’s book Chesapeake. Lucky you.
Funny Story: One year, I spent the whole winter pondering if a kite would work with a canoe. We had camped on a lake that summer and noticed the winds coming off of the lake. I discussed this theoretically with everyone in my family and everyone who had ever even looked at a canoe. No one had ever seen this done but a friend had once made a homemade sail for his canoe. He said it gave them a good ride up the river. I bought a big (but not too big) nylon kite. Then I had to convince someone to go with me. My wife would not get in the canoe. My newphew volunteered. We discussed all the safety precautions that we should take IF we started gaining too much speed. The simplest safety precaution we decided was to just let go of the kite. We left shore and there were not enough winds to get the kite up. I researched this on-line afterwards. Strong solid winds of 30 mph or more, like you find at the beach, would be needed. I shall try again.
We used to use a beach umbrella that we re-inforced. Down wind it was hard to beat.
Just saw a number of people kite-boarding in the sea. Basically a surfboard
pulled by a large kite. The wind was very strong, the sea was rough
and it looked positively suicidal. However they seemed to be
well in control.
Kite sailing kayaks is great fun but you need a boat with a rudder and about 300lb test string. There are also out-rigger kits of various types that will fits kayaks, Balogh Sails makes an inflateable outrigger that is very packable and extremely fast, as in getting a hydrofoil up on plane.