Paul Caffyn 

                                                                    

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When Eric Stiller of Manhattan Kayak Co. introduced me to the sport of sea-kayaking on a dark, cold October day in 2003 — as the sole participant in his "Paddle Basics 1" class — my life changed.

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Since then, I’ve visited countries, islands, and coastlines with my three-piece kayak that I’d never have considered visiting otherwise. In some cases, like the 800-mile-long Patagonian archipelago between Puerto Chacabuco and Cape Horn, access would have been impossible without a kayak. But more importantly, kayaking itself became the initial spark to travel in the first place.

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Paddling along remote coasts, I encountered not just stunning landscapes and wildlife, but also the generosity of people living in some of the world’s most isolated places. I was invited into the homes of Chilean farmers, Argentine soldiers stationed in solitary and surreal outposts, and sheep farmers in the Falklands. These are people I never would have met if I hadn’t taken up kayaking. They offered meals, beds, and stories from life at the edge of the world.

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Kayaking also sparked a deep interest in the natural phenomena I now witnessed firsthand and on eye-level from the seat of my kayak: Waves, currents, and weather systems — which led me to pursue a Master’s in Oceanography at Bangor University.

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I’m deeply grateful to the sport and to the sea kayaking community—especially Nigel Dennis and Eric Stiller—for their guidance and inspiration, and to the many open-hearted people I met along the way.

 

The kayak is my passport.

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Marcus Demuth

May 2025  

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(Paul Caffyn is an expedition sea-kayaker, best known for this ground-breaking circumnavigations of Australia, the UK, New Zealand etc.)