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Coastal Kayak's 2024 Used Kayak, Paddleboard, & Sailboat Sale! Rules of the Sale: ALL SALES ARE FINAL! PRICES ARE FIRM! *Click on the name of the kayak/board you're interested in and it will take you to the product page on our website where you'll find a description, photos, specs, and where you can also purchase it if you'd like! Purchases should be made online or in person. *Please check our operating hours. We don't do any in-person sales 1 hour prior to closing. *All equipment must be picked up by 10/13/24. Please call to schedule a pick-up time as we are not open 7 days/week in the fall. (And if you don't call ahead to let us know you're coming, your kayak/board may be on the water when you arrive!) *We know you have a

For millennia, the outside environment played a vital role in human survival. Whether they were farmers or fishermen or sailors, most people's lives revolved around the weather. Today, however, we go from our climate-controlled house to our air-conditioned car to our climate-controlled office and back again. The weather plays a very small role in our day-to-day existence. And sadly, most of us have lost the ability to read the wind. But for any outdoor activity, from sailing to pickle ball, the weather, especially the wind, is a major factor. Being able to read the wind’s direction and velocity, especially in water sports, can be the difference between an enjoyable, safe adventure, and a disaster. Before the days of wind meters and phone apps, watermen used The Beaufort Scale to communicate wind velocity. Developed in 1805 by

In our area, oysters get all the glory for cleaning our bays. But they aren’t the only mollusks in the ring. For filtering water and controlling erosion, Atlantic Ribbed Mussels do a lot of heavy lifting. Their name comes from the fact that they have ridges, or ribs, on their shells as opposed to the smooth shells of Blue mussels. Atlantic ribbed mussels can live up to fifteen years. You can determine their age by counting the ribs on their shells. You’ll find thick aggregates of Atlantic ribbed mussels along the muddy banks of the salt marshes in our inland bays. They attached themselves to the roots of the salt marsh grasses (and each other) with strong, silky fibers called byssal threads. Made of collagen, just one of these tiny threads is strong enough to

Years ago, before the internet, smart phones, and GPS, back when we were young and spontaneous, Mitch and I paddled from Chincoteague to Wachapreague, camping for two nights along the wild, lonely Virginia beaches with nothing except a million stars and a surprising number of sun-bleached Whelk shells to keep us company. Easy, relaxing vacations have a way of fading into a foggy-happy-memory corner of my mind. Whereas trips which require a level of discomfort remain fresh. On that trip, because I was too chicken to do a beach landing, we planned a lunch break at the first small inlet past Wallops Island. On the map, it looked to be about six miles from our starting point. We spotted our first gill net shortly after clearing Wallops Island. A gill net is a mesh made

Sending your recent high school graduate to the beach for Senior Week is stressful. Of course they deserve some time to relax and play. But too much free time can spell disaster. Both kayaking and paddle boarding are great activities to get them out of the condo and away from their phones. These water activities will also help them connect to our coastal environment while making fun memories with their friends. Of course most teens will do the opposite of what their parents tell them to do. So tell them NOT to come to Coastal Kayak for a fun water experience! But if they do come to Coastal Kayak and mention the Senior Week 2023 offer, they'll get 30% off kayak and paddle board rentals during their Senior Week. (Good for on-site rentals only. Must

We’re all hypocrites, aren’t we? The outdoor industry uses A LOT of plastics and synthetics for A LOT of its products. And plastics and synthetics require petroleum. In the entire spectrum of industries, I don’t know where ours stands as far as consumption. Kayaks are not one-time-use products. If cared for properly, the quality ones can last a lifetime. So maybe we’re on the lower end of the pile. Is that wishful thinking? But does the fact that we rely on petroleum mean that we should just remain quiet about the consequences of our addiction? Maybe everyone has to answer that question for herself/himself. However, it seems like for any addiction, the first step is to admit you’ve got a problem; then take a hard, honest look at its costs; and finally, work towards eliminating

The night of April 20, 2023, while most of us slept, 603,700 birds flew right over the top of us here in Sussex County, heading north-northeast at an average speed of about thirty-three mph, flying at about 1,900 feet of altitude. The night before, 858,800 traveled through, and the night before that, there were only 4,400. The migrants were a mixture of species—Dark-eyed juncos, Hermit thrushes, Prothonotory warblers, to name a few. Am I some sort of superhero birder that I can see in the dark, count thousands of small flying beings high above me, and identify them? Very much the opposite—unless a bird lands right in front of me and stays still long enough for me to enter the size, color, habits, etc., into my Merlin app, I’m hopeless. In 1999, a group of

Get Rid of Extra Stuff! It is so easy to accumulate stuff! Especially paddling gear. You love your single kayak so you decided to get a two-person for when the grandkids visit or when your spouse wants to go with you. But the grandkids grew up. Your spouse has his/her own hobbies. Or maybe you bought a surfing paddle board, but only use your flatwater board. Bad knees, moved further from the launch, sold the car with the rack - whatever the reason, you've got paddling/sailing equipment you never use. We'll help! Run a classified ad with us. We'll post it in our once monthly newsletter with nearly 10,000 subscribers. This isn't like running an ad in the newspaper where most readers aren't interested in paddling. Or on Craigslist or Marketplace (who knows who'll you'll

Welcome back, Daylight Savings Time! We have missed you! An extra hour after work to do something outside—it’s the best gift ever! Prep the garden. Clean up the yard. Take your dog for a nice, long walk. Go for a hike, a run, a bike ride. Walk on the beach. Watch the birds as they build nests and prepare for their coming brood. Plant a tree. You no longer have to wait for your next day off. Now you have time today!   I know, I know. This gift might not really be a true gift because it comes with a price. Losing an hour of sleep. It stinks. But maybe we can think of it as traveling to a different time zone. To a better time zone. And then staying in that time zone

After a treacherous, miserable, 66-day crossing, the Pilgrims reached Plymouth Rock at the beginning of winter 1620. Since they arrived so late, they remained on their ship, the Mayflower, until the weather improved. When, that spring, they finally set foot on solid land, they swore they’d never, ever get on a boat, of any type, for any reason, ever again. Soon after, they were greeted by friendly locals. These people, who’d lived in the Plymouth Rock area for thousands of years, graciously taught the Pilgrims how to survive. They showed them how to plant corn, how to extract sugar from Maple trees, how to identify poisonous plants, and they showed them how to fish from a kayak. “Oh no, no, no,” the Pilgrims said, shaking their heads. “We will fish from the banks. We are