[music]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. We continue our Summer In The City series because with snarled airline travel and hotel costs, staying put is a great option. Now, for those of you who think you have to head to the Cape or Florida to spend time on the water, not true. If you go to Inwood, you can partake in boating with Hudson River Community Sailing, or you visit Manhattan Avenue and Greenpoint, you'll see kayakers from the North Brooklyn community boathouse.

Or when you take a stroll on the west side, right around the intrepid, you'll see a pod of standup paddlers getting ready to enjoy a day on the Hudson with instructors from Manhattan Kayak. We are talking water sports on today's Summer In The City segment. There are free options in the city, higher-end classes, there are tours. Joining us now from Manhattan Kayak is lead instructor Jay Cartagena. Jay has guided more than 500 trips on the Hudson River and circumnavigated Manhattan many times. Jay, welcome to the show.

Jay Cartagena: Thank you for having me.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, we want to hear from you. Where do you go kayaking or stand-up paddling in and around New York City, or maybe you make a day trip somewhere to enjoy your water sports or you into sailing. Where do you go? How'd you get started, or maybe you've always wanted to get out there and try kayaking but weren't sure where to start. Don't know how to paddleboard. You can ask Jay for some inspiration or advice. Our phone lines are open, 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. You can call in and join us on air or you can text us at that number.

Social media is available to you as well at allofitwnyc. Jay, when we think about the basic level of fitness necessary to get out on the water in a kayak or a paddle board, what would you say?

Jay Cartagena: I think kayaking is super friendly to all levels of ability, and it's just a matter of knowing your limits. As you mentioned, there are a lot of great programs in New York City for you to come and try the very basic. Kayaking in certain areas that are pretty protected. I would say start there and build some endurance and stamina. What we always teach is that technique trumps all. You can be the strongest person in the world, but without good technique, you can certainly exhaust yourself. That's what we love to do at Manhattan Kayak is teach proper technique.

What you learn is that with technique comes efficiency and you can really have any level of ability and execute really great paddling opportunities.

Alison Stewart: Jay, when you think about the physical and mental health benefits of kayaking and paddling, what are they?

Jay Cartagena: It's incredibly therapeutic for me living in New York City now 11 years and paddling on the Hudson River for 11 years. Sometimes I think I don't know if I would've lasted this long in New York City, but it really does help decompress and get you out of the city. Especially the opportunity to just launch from any boathouse in New York City. In times where the city just feels overwhelming, it's incredibly therapeutic to get out. Then the physical aspect of it is incredibly rewarding as well.

You feel way more fit about this time of year if you've started paddling early in the season and you just overall are much happier, I believe. I think it really rang true for a lot of people during the pandemic. A lot of people came to us to find some escape from a challenging time and they found it with kayaking on the river.

Alison Stewart: What is an important thing for a first-time kayaker to learn, the most important thing first time in a kayak?

Jay Cartagena: I think, as I mentioned before, a little bit of technique certainly goes a long way. There's aspects of safety first and foremost, wearing life jackets properly, making sure that you assess the scenario and where you are. Learning from people that know the lay of the land and have a little good experience as far as the technique and the waterway. Then overall just having fun. Really having a positive approach to coming out on the water.

Alison Stewart: When you said wearing a life jacket properly, what are ways that people wear them improperly and think they're wearing them properly?

Jay Cartagena: [chuckles] The most common thing is not cinching the straps correctly. Sometimes you throw them on and just because it's over your shoulders, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to do this job properly. Making sure that it's cinched properly and it gives you good support making sure all the buckles are fastened properly and then zipped up correctly as well. Sometimes people like to let it breathe a little bit with the zipper wide open. Once again, that doesn't really have the function that you would want from it.

I tell people all the time, having it loose, it just negates the reason to wear it. Now you're just wearing a puffy jacket in those terms.

Alison Stewart: Just a puffy jacket. [laughter] My guest is Jay Cartagena, he's a senior instructor and general manager at Manhattan Kayak. We are talking about getting out on the water as part of our Summer In The City series. If you are a kayaker, we want to hear where you go, or a standup paddle border, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. How did you get into it? What do you like about it? Or maybe you want some advice from an instructor we have on the air right now. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC is our number you can call in and get on the air, or you can send us a text with your question or comment.

What is a common mistake even the most experienced kayaker or standup paddleboarder might make?

Jay Cartagena: Well, I think it's under-preparing at times. There's days that you can be out there and it could be hot, the sun can be really blaring, not having enough water, not having some snacks, things along those lines. I just think over-preparing is key always when you're getting ready to get on the water, just like any aspect of the outdoors, you really want to be prepared.

Alison Stewart: What do you mean by that?

Jay Cartagena: Well, part of it is making sure that you pack proper resources, that you understand the waterway. You know what, sometimes what people don't understand is that the Hudson River is a tidal estuary, so the water moves pretty quickly in either direction at any given time of the day. Not understanding tide, not understanding the boat traffic, all those things I think is something to be prepared for every time you hit the water here in New York, or in any other waterway that you may not be familiar with.

Learning the area that you'll be going out and we use what's called a flow plan to prepare ourselves. We account for tides, we account for weather, we account for our destination. We account for all these things as we've prepared ourselves to get on the water and have a great trip.

Alison Stewart: There are different kinds of kayaks. What are three different kinds, and who is each type good for?

Jay Cartagena: The most common kayak is your recreational kayak, and sometimes referred to as sit-on-top kayaks. Those are great for everybody. Depending on the waterway that you are on it's the most forgiving, the most stable, and the most casual. If your goal is to have a short trip and have a lot of fun going out and sit on top kayak, whether it's a single or double, to go out with a friend or family those are always great options. If you're in waterways that may be a little choppier, or that you just want to get a little more efficiency out of your movement, a sea kayak is a great option as well.

The sea kayak is also to the sit-inside kayak or a touring kayak in which people will use to travel longer distances, maybe do an expedition of sorts where you can pack up gear and really have an adventure. A lot of people like to use that. We teach a lot of sea kayaking here at Manhattan Kayak Company and we find it to be our most favorable vessel here. There's something we also teach here is just called Surfski, which is a kind of almost like a competitive, really super long and narrow sit-on-top style kayak.

It's meant for big open waters, fast-moving waters, and it's for those who are the more competitive type. It is the fastest kayak you can use.

Alison Stewart: Let's take a call, Mike from Manhattan calling in. Hi Mike, thanks for calling All Of It.

Mike: Thanks so much. First-time caller, longtime listener. My question is I have my own kayak that I typically use when I go away on vacation. Obviously unable to really take vacation all the time as much as I'd like. If I had my own kayak would Manhattan Kayak store my kayak for me, and obviously, have use of it while I'm not using it, but when I come, I can use it accordingly?

Alison Stewart: That's a big issue in the city is storage, Jay.

Jay Cartagena: Yes, storage is a real thing. Real estate is always a little on the expensive side in New York City, so it is hard to find a place to store kayaks. We do store kayaks here and we don't typically use our clients' kayaks that if they're storing with us, they have solo access to it and they have access to our boathouse, which if you ever come and visit our boathouse, we have beautiful boathouse right in Midtown Manhattan, right next to the Intrepid Museum. It feels like a little bit of an oasis here, but we'd be happy to explore.

What we do for our storage clients is we just explore what your use is going to be like and making sure that we educate you as much as we possibly can before we give you all access to the Hudson River. If we do have space, we'd be happy to store the boat for you, Mike.

Alison Stewart: Someone wrote in, "I did a kayaking trip. At the end of the day, I can suddenly lean over and hug my knees. I wonder why kayaking gave me that flexibility." Any thoughts on that, Jay?

Jay Cartagena: Well, we always encourage the mobility of using your entire body. Just using your arms is a misnomer, and then when you're kayaking, you're in this arm-intensive sport, but if you're doing it properly, you actually can use your entire body to create good motion. It's like swimming. If you were paddling around, you would get pretty exhausted, but good swimmers know that you use your entire body to really create the motion. We think with good paddling you could really enhance that mobility.

As far as flexibility is concerned, I could see with your legs extended and trying to lean forward to paddle and to stroke, there's definitely some stretching in the hamstrings, and I could feel a little bit of that.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Anthony on line three calling in from Paterson, New Jersey. Hi, Anthony. Thanks for calling in.

Anthony: Hi. Good afternoon to you and your guest. I'm interested in paddleboarding. If the guest could do a brief one-on-one, an orientation as to your level, do you have to be a good swimmer, equipment, that kind of thing?

Alison Stewart: Three things that you need to know if you want to start paddleboarding, Jay?

Jay Cartagena: Well, as far as the swimming aspect, we definitely encourage people to be good swimmers. It just helps with confidence of being able to stand up on a paddleboard because there is the inevitable part of potentially falling into the water and that's okay. That just means you're having a lot of fun. The challenge in paddleboarding is certainly the stability aspect, so having some balance is always a nice thing. Then there is a level of athleticism that you would use to really get that paddleboard moving.

Just making sure that you're comfortable with that level of ability, and as I mentioned just having that confidence and that ability to have fun, and being willing to fall in the water and have fun with it. As I remind everyone, level of ability does help. As long as you're wearing a life jacket properly, you should be feeling pretty good about it.

Alison Stewart: I got a DM that says, "Paddling and kayaking on Newtown Creek, the best combo of urban and aquatic." Everybody, get out there and enjoy the water. We've been talking to Jay Cartagena, senior instructor and general manager at Manhattan Kayak, part of our Summer In The City series. Hey, Jay, thanks for all the information.

Jay Cartagena: I appreciate you having me.

Copyright © 2023 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.