Written by world travelling Canadian kayaker, Zack Kruzins

I grew up in Dundas, Ontario, Canada and from a young age I was always drawn to the wilderness from family camping and interior canoe trips into Algonquin Provincial Park with scouts and my dad’s yearly outing with his work buddies. The idea of travelling by water with everything you could ever need was a real appeal to me. I remember heading to northern Ontario, Canada to Thunder Bay when I was 13-years-old for the Scout Jamboree in 1997. Driving along the Lake Superior shoreline really struck me and has stuck with me ever since.

The birth of a sea kayaker

great parents

The big thing I did was I just got out there. When I was 17 I was going on my own canoe trips with my friends on high school weekends. I was really lucky that I had such great parents who introduced me to paddling and the outdoors at such a young age. They also saw the value in pursuing your passion and saw how passionate I was about being on the water outdoors.

I decided to return to Thunder Bay for the Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism program at Lakehead University. Here I was exposed to a community of outdoor opportunity that I really thrived off of. It wasn’t until the spring of my second year in 2005 where I really got introduced to a sea kayaking. I had my mind set on the canoe as the ultimate craft for wilderness travel but then I discovered the sea kayak.

We launched on a calm morning in April 2005 and broke through the ice at the mouth of the McIntyre River and were eventually in the open water of Lake Superior. I vividly remember the feeling of working so hard to get these kayaks over the ice and eventually slipping into the open cold smooth rolling swell. We paddled a really far distance straight across to Pie Island – nearly 20km.

On route we actually had to stop on a nearby seagull infested rock island and wait out a squally thunderstorm before we had sunny skies and were off to Pie again. When we got there tired and sore on the beautiful and remote shores, we looked around at each other and felt so lucky, full of such a zest for life.

That zest for life is the feeling that drives my passion for paddling. The fact that I just went and got out there gave me this. The enjoyment of making big crossings to remote islands, exploring a wild uninhabited coastline or paddling to historic light stations that tell the stories of the place from another time.

access

The access I could get to wide open wilderness areas with a sea kayak was just incredible. I knew I wanted to learn more about this and get more experience. The greatest thing about it is that the freedom to go anywhere exists. In 2012 I co-wrote a book with my good friend and fellow paddler, Darrell Makin.

Darrell sums it up well, “When paddling upon the lake, it’s as if there are no trails but everything is open. The freedom exists to go wherever you wish. This island or that, over a shoal, back to see that rock, cross over there, and spend time in those waves – the possibilities are endless.”

I can relate to this freedom found while paddling. It has driven me to travel the world and explore and access some spectacular places.

It is also about the people, the people I meet while paddling to unique places. The culture, the hospitality, the community; This is a big part of why I paddle and immerse myself in it all.

sailboat

I lived on a shared cost sailboat for a while travelling the central and south Pacific islands for nearly a full year. I figured out a way to have three sea kayaks on board and explore the possibilities of creating a guiding company, which would take people out on kayak tours and make a few bucks to eat along the way. It seemed like a simple way of life but proved to be more complicated as we were always moving. I took every opportunity to soak it up, get out and have paddling adventures each chance I got.

I got introduced to the idea of folding sea kayaks as an ability to take my proper sea kayak with me everywhere I went, as the problem I found is that many countries and cultures think a sea kayak is something you sit on top of and dink around in. I needed something more for touring, something that could cover vast areas and had the storage capacity to bring your life with you. This is simplicity at its finest.

I decided to order myself a TRAK folding kayak in April of 2014 and I had it delivered to Vancouver Island and started taking it on trips with some other friends I met in French Polynesia who had been travelling the world for nearly 15 years, making expeditions to interesting places around the world in their folding sea kayaks.

Patrice and Isabelle Duval originated in France but have lived and worked in both Reunion Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean and the Island of Moorea, part of French Polynesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They used France, Reunion and Moorea as bases to make several 10+ day sea kayak expeditions. Them along with Darrell have been a big inspiration to me.

I have now have taken the TRAK kayak all over the world. I started by flying back to Australia from the west coast of Canada, finished my work contract and hit the road exploring as much of the coast and interior of Australia as possible setting up the TRAK, paddling then collapsing it and chucking it in the back of my Subaru Outback. The thing probably got set up and taken down more than any other TRAK kayak ever. I find the idea of the TRAK kayak has really appealed to me and it has suited my lifestyle.

‘Such A Nice Day (SAND) Adventures’

Now having moved back to Canada, I have secured an amazing job as a sea kayak guide and zodiac boat driver for Polar Latitudes in Antarctica and I have my own paddling business based out of Thunder Bay Ontario on Lake Superior called ‘Such A Nice Day (SAND) Adventures’, (https://suchaniceday.com/). I can switch between seasons and still fill my time between with amazing adventures by watercraft to cool remote islands and cultures.

The business allows me to share amazing paddling experiences with others and hopes to get more people, particularly youth, into the lifestyle of sea kayaking at a younger age ,as there are so many ways it can enhance one’s life. Not only does it bring you closer to the water and nature but it connects you with people who love and live for the land, lakes, rivers and oceans. Paddling has the ability to promote environmental stewardship, compassion and caring for your local community and natural spaces within it.
I hope I will still be paddling late into my life as once conditioned with the proper skills and experience, the ability to sit in a boat and play will always be there. You are in power for all the benefits that exist within.