Driving tips for the sea lanes

This beloved manual, in its fifth edition since 1974, is technical enough to satisfy paddling vets who want to perform the latest tricks, rescues, rolls and rigging. But the update is better than ever for paddling rookies.

A new chapter on basic strokes and techniques was adapted from U.K. author Hutchinson’s sea kayaking clinics and classes for novices. Everything is covered -- ways to enter a kayak, buy one, how to crash through waves.

The book also includes safety and navigation guidelines as well as tips for reading wind and tides, surfing waves and performing flicks or pirouettes. And in a nod to the ancients who gave us this timeless transit, there’s a section devoted to the origins of the sea kayak, developed by Native Americans in the Arctic thousands of years ago.

-- Emmett Berg