Jon Turk, Author at Paddling Magazine

Jon Turk’s Life Lessons For Digging Deep

Jon Turk — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:15:58 +0000

An errant hydraulic grabbed the stern of my kayak, stood me into a tail stand, and then pulled me down, down, down. The boat twisted and then: Scratch. Bang. Clunk. Stop. With the boat wedged, the current slammed me forward, smashing my face against the front deck. I pushed against the deck to stretch out […]

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Open Crossing Kayak Technique

Jon Turk — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Put simply, a crossing occurs anytime you cannot safely return to land virtually instantaneously. This includes shortcutting across the mouths of bays or fiords, island hopping and paddling around cliffs or rocky capes where you may be close to shore but still vulnerable with no safe exit. There are three dangers inherent in any crossing: […]

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Paddling on Faith

Jon Turk — Sat, 01 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

I was paddling as hard as I could, but my bow kept falling off the wind. I looked nervously at the GPS, and then turned it off so I could concentrate on the sea. Fifteen minutes later I turned it back on, to confirm my fears that I was drifting inexorably downwind. I was alone […]

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How To Plan Your Expedition

Jon Turk — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 10:00:00 +0000

Eight hundred and fifty thousand years ago, three quarters of a million years before our species, Homo sapiens, evolved, Homo erectus built boats and went to sea. Many of us inherited this yearning to sail, paddle, float or zoom across the earth’s abundant waterways. Two thirds of planet Earth is covered by glistening lakes, gurgling […]

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