SALTY DOG SEAKAYAKING WEBZINE
NEW YORK CITY
JOHN PETROCELLI & BOB HUSZAR FOUNDERS

Seakayaking First On-Line
Site .. Where King Neptune
Goes To Fill His Lungs
With A Taste Of The
Old Salty Spray.

You've reached a small section of
Sea Kayaking History in the United States

'A Salty Dog' The Internet's first on-line Sea Kayaking Magazine
which started with a handful of Klepper Folding Kayak Owners in Manhattan.!


SEA KAYAK TIPS .. KAYAK TRICKS .... KAYAKING ARTICLES .... KAYAKING NEWS .... KAYAK FUN ..... AND MORE .... !!!!!
***** THE HISTORY OF SEA KAYAKING IN NEW YORK CITY****


Gadabout Gaddis - The Flying Fisherman

Gadabout Gaddis was an inspiration to millions of young men in the earliest days of TV. He was known as the Flying Fisherman. Gadabout Gaddiss shared his love affair with fishing with the American public. He was the grandfather everyone wished they had and during World War II, Gad entertained the troops with his stories of fishing..

This is my tribute to Gadabout Gaddis. I designed this site over 15 years ago. Old fans of Gadabout keep stumbling over it and they write me touching emails saying how their memories of childhood just come up. A simpler time when they woud sit in front of a TV on a saturday afternoon and for 30 minutes allow Gad's fatherly voice to fill them as he shared his life and love of fishing as his float plane flew into isolated grandeurs of beauty.

Even today when I look at one of Gad's videos, those simple 16mm movies are still holding the test of time. Isn't it amazing, in this day and age, we keep remaking the old movies, hits of the past. Tv producers copy shows from an earlier generation that were staples of American culture. Makes you think .. huh ?.
So travel back with me on these pages to a simpler time .. when people communicated face to face ... take a trip to Gad's world.

SEA KAYAK LINKS.. KAYAK ARTICLES....KAYAK HISTORY IN U.S. .. NYC KAYAK STORIES ..... NYC KAYKING AND HYPNOSIS ON THE HIGH SEAS !!!!.... !!!!!

KAYAK NAVIGATION

KAYAK NAVIGATION: HOW TO STAY ALIVE ON THE SEAS IN A SMALL BOAT
Here are the rules, all you need to survive taught by sea kayak and folding
kayak expert, Ralph Diaz. http://www.seakayaker.com/nav-hd.htm

-SPECIAL LIGHTS FOR YOUR SEA KAYAK
-HOW TO READ OCEAN GOING TRAFFIC FROM A KAYAK
-HOW TO BE SEEN IN A KAYAK - DON'T BECOME OCEAN ROAD KILL
-FERRIES, JET SKIS, OCEAN LINERS AND OTHER OBSTACLES FOR SEA KAYAKERS
-STROBE LIGHTS ON SEA KAYAKS - WHAT ARE THE RULES
-THE TEN SAFETY RULES FOR SEA KAYAKS
-REFLECTIVE TAPE FOR SEA KAYAKS - A SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR SAFETY
-CHOOSING A STROBE LIGHT FOR YOUR KAYAK
-SOFTWARE FOR SEA KAYAKS - TIDE CHANGES, CURRENTS - IT'S ALL HERE !
-RALPH DIAZ - THE FATHER OF NYC'S SEA KAYAKING

KAYAK LORE

THE NJ DEVIL - IS THIS PINEY DEVIL FROM
THE NJ PINELANDS REAL OR JUST FOLKLORE

http://www.seakayaker.com/njdevil.htm

SEAKAYAKING STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
http://www.seakayaker.com/story.htm

KAYAK FUN

JOHN PETROCELLI AND ROBERT HUSZAR - NY'S SEA KAYAK FLOTSOM OR HEROS

SEA KAYAK IN NYC FOR FREE
THE NYC DOWNTOWN BOATHOUSE IS THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN NYC

KAYAK ARTICLES

HORSESHOE CRAB MATING IN THE JERSEY PINELANDS - WATCH OUT FOR YOUR KAYAK
http://www.seakayaker.com/secret.htm
PADDLING A KAYAK IN FLORIDA'S EVERGADES - WATCH OUT FOR THE GATORS
http://www.seakayaker.com/sorcery.htm

KAYAK SURVIVAL
KAYAK BASICS: COLD WATER WORKSHOP

How to protect yourself from the cold
http://www.seakayaker.com/cold-ws.htm

SEA KAYAK NOTEBOOK - THE NYC COLD WATER WORKSHOP

SEA KAYAKING HORROR STORIES: TERROR IN NEW YORK CITY HARBOR

An ill-fated trip when several kayakers launch from the South Street Seaport during calm and
placid conditions not knowing they were going to run into the most disasterous storm to hit the harbor
in a center. There are run-ins with Coast Guard, Oil company tugs, scaling sea walls and more!
http://www.seakayaker.com/terror.htm

KAYAK INSTRUCTION

KAYAKING BASICS: LONG DISTANCE TOURING STROKES
WITH ED GILLET

http://www.seakayaker.com/p-stroke.htm


SEA KAYAK - TOURING STROKES - FROM THE EXPERT
"LEARN TO PADDLE SERIES "

http://www.seakayaker.com/p-stroke.htm

DANGERS OF SMOKING PAGE
Learn the Dangers of Smoking and how Hypnosis in New York City can help you.

SEA KAYAK LINKS.. OTHER AREAS OF INTEREST .... OUR SPONSOR NY HYPNOSIS ....... AND THE HISTORY OF SEAKAYAKING IN NYC !!!
NYC HYPNOSIS CENTER
NYC's leading hypnotherapy clinic to stop smoking, weight loss, motivation, sports improvement, general health and well being, stress and more. Check us out. We're all NYC kayakers.


http://www.healthwithhypnosis.com
212 964-4450

GADABOUT GADDIS WEBPAGE
THE FLYING FISHERMAN


Gadabout Gaddis was a hero to a nation during the development of early tv.
Here was a grandfatherly figure who came across a tv screen and dissolved the cares of a nation away in a simple 30 minute show discussing fishing techniques.

http://www.seakayaker.com/gaddis/gadabout.htm

SLEEPWALKERS FREE HYPNOSIS INSTRUCTION AND PRACTICE GROUPS
This is where it's happening. We've been in the news. The largest FREE self help group in the world and it's FREE. FInd out more

. Free hypnosis and NLP study groups.
http://www.seakayaker.com/hypno/themenu.htm
THE HISTORY OF SEAKAYAKING IN NYC WITH JOHN PETROCELLI AND BOB HUSZAR !!!
 

**** History of Modern Day Seakayaking in New York City starting with the
German Folding Kayaks on the Sea Walls of NYC's Hudson RIver


It was here that John Petrocelli and Bob Huszar created the largest recreational seakayaking club (M.A.S.K. -
The Metropolitan Association of Sea Kayakers) in NYC about 15 years or so ago (maybe longer) in the United States.

Back then in New York City, every beginning sea kayaker either owned a German Klepper folding kayak or they didn't own a boat at all. Plastic sea kayaks were not even in prototype stage yet and the sea kayaking market hadn't really been established.

Although across the pond, In England, kayaker designers were working on developing the prototypes for the first fiberglass sea kayaks.
A sleek design emerged called the Nordkap. It was meant for advanced paddlers because it had poor initial stability, but if you had the skills, this beauty cut through water and waves like a knife through butter (The double klepper folding kayak was affectionately labeled - 'The Sea Slug'. It moved. It was roomy (you could pack gear for a month's expedition). It was strong and stable, and if you paddled as much as we did, your body developed to meet the challenge.

It was a blast for sea kaykers back then in NYC. We had the waterways all to ourselves. The tricky part was, it was extremely dangerous just getting in and out of the water as there were very limited and treacherous access points along Manhattan's waterways.

As the first year went by with our fledging organization (called M.A.S.K.) we grew. Sometimes from 3-40 hardy paddlers would show up an hour or two earlier along some beer can, broken glass and sharp rock strewn site along NYC's waterways each lugging 2 sacks containing close to 110 lbs. of unassembled hypalon rubber, tightly meshed canvas skin and Birch wood interior boat frame folding boat which were lugged in the open trunks of NYC cabs or through the NYC subway system.

The boats (most of them, were 17 foot, 2 seater models. We were a site to NYers and tourists alike as we assembled our kayaks along the debris-ridden sea walls of NYC. We then carefully lowered each boat down long the slick, oil-encased ea walls using frail 'climbers' ropes, doing our best to avoid glass, rats, sharp, oil-encrusted pilings, rusted steel spikes and sometimes waves which rammed us relentlessly up against the seawalls.


There was no put-ins (a 'put-in' for new kayakers is like a floating ramp or a driveway into the water that offers easy and safe accessibility) in New York City for kayakers at the time. Because of the efforts of our M.A.S.K. group, Bob Huszar formed an offshoot - the Hudson River Watertrail which set in motion the precedent for other environmental groups to follow ... major groups ... like those who over the last few years completely redeveloped the waterfront along the Hudson into beautiful parks and a system of put-ins for kayakers emerged.

It's amazing ... the actions of a handful of kayakers whom were continually arrested (the NYC police boats didn't understand the law, that we as small boaters had a right to be on the Hudson) and we were continually hauled down to the precinct and when they tried to charge us, well ... heh heh ... they had to let us go (talk about ignorance of the law)..

The Salty Dog Webzine contains those articles which appeared in the first four years of the M.A.S.K. newsletter.
M.A.S.K. grew in 4 years from 10 or so paddlers to 600 strong and hearty. The organization created
a movement. We took celebrities, newscasters, authors and just plain folk out on what was still considered
the polluted waters of the Hudson and got them paddling. Now, sea kayaking has been established in the U.S., which is comical as I was told I was a fool. No one wanted to kayak in the Hudson. Sea kayaking would never take off ... after all ... it was jet ski's that were coming into fad.

JFK jr. (his pre-flying days) joined us and we took him out on his first trip. He even had two boats stored at the Downtown BoatHouse, another successful off-shoot with members whom originally came from M.A.S.K.

John Petrocelli still kayaks. Sometimes he leads trips to the Statue of Liberty or up in Cold Spring Harbor but mostly
he likes the quiet back waters of the NJ Pine Barrens or fishing in the NY reservoirs. He has gone from being known
as one of the leaders of a kayaking movement to being known as one of the leaders in the self help movement and is
one of the most well respected hypnotherapists / hypnotists on the planet and has an office just a
heartbeat from the old world trade center site. You can find him here!

Robert 'Bob' Huszar ran a successful kayak company called the Manhattan Kayak Company who offered
tours of the Hudson from a barge located near 25th Street in NYC and the Chelsea Piers.
Bob formed the original Hudson River Watertrail which was the defining mark which started the
whole ball rolling for the redevelopment of the Manhattan Waterfront and the Parks Commission.

We hope you enjoy these articles contained within.
As you notice, when these were written, there wasn't specific kayaking gear.
We had to borrow from other industries and sports.

You could imagine how we looked in those rag-tag days: Wearing fisherman's thigh boots, long rubber fisherman's glove in the winter which made it extremely hard to grasp a paddle. We wore scuba diving wet suits which cause our arms to chaff from the constant rubbing. Yep, we were a sight.

So enjoy the pages and remember,you're perusing the history of the Sea Kayaking movement in America ... from the famous German Folding Sea Kayaks that were around from the early 1900's and were used in military expeditions during the war ... and now to the Hudson River and beyond .... again ... enjoy ... and if we peaked your interest in trying your hand at sea kayaking, you're in for a wonderful experience that's addictive and a wonderful way to get some exercise.

See you on the water.

MUCH MORE SEAKAYAKING ARTICLES TO FOLLOW !!!

NYC SEAKAYAKER MESSAGEBOARD

KAYAK LINK TO US
How to Link To Our Kayak
Page - Details

Mental Preparedness for SeaKayaking

NEW YORK HYPNOSIS CENTER
DIRECTOR PROF. JOHN PETROCELLI

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