Why A Kayaking Website?
I have created Yackman.com as a way to share my passion for sea kayaking and wilderness, and to tell you about some of the places I have visited. I came to sea kayaking fairly late in life, after early years as a power boater and twenty years as a Great Lakes sailor.
In 1994, my wife Lisa and I were looking for a different kind of vacation experience, when I stumbled on an advertisement for a three day, wilderness kayaking trip off the coast of Maine near Bar Harbor. Neither one of us had been in a kayak before but we gave it a try and loved it. We’ve been kayaking now for another twenty years. I don’t plan to stop until I’m no longer able to paddle!
Paddling in a New Location
Originally from the beautiful, but cold and snowy, upstate New York, we have relocated to the sunny Treasure Coast of Florida. If you are a Snowbird, look here for information on paddling in Florida as you prepare for your winter visit. “Homesteaders” - full time Florida Residents, may find useful information here as well. And everyone will find great adventure stories.
Indian River Lagoon Spoil Island
Sebastian River Launch
Welcome to Yackman.com!
Welcome to the Yackman.com, a site devoted to all things related to the outdoors, water and sea kayaking. I hope you enjoy what you find here. Please feel free to contribute through the comments section on each page.
Yackman’s Bulldozer Website!
My first book, The Idling Bulldozer and Other Paddling Adventures, was published by Austin Macauley Publishers last March 31. Several of you have bought the book and some have written reviews. I thank you for that.
Now I’m pleased to announce that my newest website,
www.theidlingbulldozer.com, has gone live. There you will find more information about the book, including a company news release, book reviews, the book’s table of contents, a short excerpt from the book, Information on where to buy The Idling Bulldozer, including how to get a signed copy, and coming events related to the book. I hope you’ll take a look and perhaps pass on the information to interested family and friends. And, if you have a group or organization that would like a book talk and signing, please contact me.
Also
Available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Your Local Bookstore
Bruce Romanchak and Alan Lovgren, Barnstable, MA, 2011
Featured on this Site
• Trip Reports:
• The original idea for this site was to provide a place for me and others to post information about our sea kayaking adventures. That’s where Yackman.com started and as you can see, this section still holds the greatest number of posts. Go to Trip Reports to see reports from 2012 to the present. Go to YackmanArchive.com to see earlier reports.
• Guest Reports:
• This section contains reports of kayaking and other adventures contributed by readers of this blog. Many of you have taken interesting day and multi-day paddling trips. You may have had interesting or even harrowing experiences while paddling (or on some other outdoor adventure). What you have seen and done may be of interest to other paddlers. Read about what others have done and seen. Contribute an adventure of your own at Guest Reports. (Additional Guest Reports can be found at www.YackmanArchive.com)
• Building Pinguino:
• The Building Pinguino site contains a record of the process I went through in building the Pygmy Boats stitch-n’-glue kayak called Pinguino. Click on the link above or go to www.buildingpinguino.info
Daughter Liz paddling Pinguino on the Indian River Lagoon
• How To’s:
• How To’s cover topics from boat repair and boat building, to making kayaking gear and developing paddling skills.
• Gear Reviews:
• Gear Reviews are reviews of paddling gear and opinions on various paddling topics. Many different products have been reviewed on this site by Yackman and others. Pre-2012 reviews are located at www.YackmanArchive.com (see Yackman Sounds Off).
• Adventure Book Reviews:
• Unique to this website are reviews of books that loosely fall under the label “Adventure”. Guest reviewers contributions and comments are welcome. Additional reviews can be found on YackmanArchive,com.
• YackmanArchive.Com
• Yackman.com (the site you are on) contains reports uploaded starting in 2012. Extensive trip reports for the years 2007-2011 from New York, New England, Florida, Colorado, Washington, Mexico and Costa Rica can be found at YackmanArchive.com.
Use the menu bar at the top of the page to navigate to these resources or click on the link within each description.
Don, Bruce, Kaare & Tom at Pavilion Key, Everglades NP, 2014
• My YouTube Channel
• At last count I had 189 videos posted on YouTube, with 298 subscribers and 321,554 views. Most of the videos can be found embedded in this website (Yackman.com). Click here to go to Don Yackel’s YouTube Channel
• My Gear and Book Reviews on Amazon.com
• Many of the gear and book reviews seen on this website are also available on the web, largely at Amazon. To find them, search under D. Yackel Reviews on Amazon.com