Four Members of Our Diverse Kayaking Community

The Iconoclast
Dubside is known for rolling his kayak, which he can do while holding a lighted candle, or a brick, or a bowling ball. He can even roll without using his hands, as if wrapped up in a straightjacket.

But less known—and what better explains the man’s inner workings—is that he assiduously avoids e-mail and cell phones. Nor does he own a car or even drive, which is a trick in itself for an avid kayaker. Instead, the one-named Pacific Northwester relies on mass transit to reach put-ins all over Puget Sound, using a matte-black kayak that folds up like an origami swan.

“I call it commando kayaking,” he explains, kneeling on a grassy shoreline in the northern reaches of Puget Sound. Red barns squat along the banks and a few white yachts bob casually in the canal. A steady breeze blows offshore. Dubside is wearing his trademark black jumpsuit. He pauses, and then ponders, “I may have been in jail in a previous life, which is perhaps why I like freedom.”

“In our motorized world we are always moving too fast to see what’s going on,” Dubside continues. “A kayak slows you down and lets you see what’s going on.”

His new status as a minor celebrity has pulled him to kayaking events in Canada, Sweden, and Greenland, where he has excelled at traditional paddling competitions. Ironically, his primary dogma is that as much adventure can be found in one’s own backyard as anywhere in the world. What if you paddle by a spot where you know geese gather, and there are no geese? Their absence, says Dubside, is significant only if you know the place. “What you don’t see is as important as what you do see.”