Venice Kayak

After two days in the city it was time to explore the lagoon a bit. The weather continued being hot and sunny, well over 30° C in the afternoon, so we loaded up on water and went north, to the two jewels of the lagoon: Burano and Torcello.

The tide would remain resonably high all day, so route planning was easy: we could go wherever we wanted.

We started by crossing the bocca di porto, the mouth of the lagoon. There’s a huge shallow area in the middle, but thanks to the tide we went straight through, avoiding most traffic easily.

We continued up along the east side of Sant’Erasmo, another shallow area opened up for us by the tide. At low tide the area between Sant’Erasmo and Punta Sabbioni is full of stranded boats whose proprietors wade around in the low water collecting snails and mussels while the kids play on the exposed sand banks.

The inherent giddiness of the group was immediately triggered by the shallow water and traffic-free surroundings, and most of the group started splashing around doing all sorts of manoeuvres, edging, bracing, trying to do the smallest circle or whatever came to mind. Nobody capsized, the water wasn’t even deep enough for a proper capsize.

One of the guests paddled my Rockpool, so I was in a Point 65° Whiskey, designed by Nigel Foster. It is very hard not to join in with such games when you’re sitting in the ultimate piece of maneouvrability. It is amazing what you can do in that boat.

We had to call an end to the fun after a short hour, or we woundn’t make it to Torcello and back.

We continued north along Sant’Erasmo, passing some of the barene there. Barene are lagoon islands that just manages to remain above a normal high tide. One of the girls in the group was a biologist, so we took some time looking at the very special species of plants found in such a humid and salt environment.

A couple of us squeezed into a rather narrow canal between the barene, and ended up having to either ‘seal’ our way across a few mteres of land, or get out and pull the kayak across, as the canal got so narrow and curveous that we couldn’t turn or even reverse out again.

We were now approaching Murano, only much later than planned. We did a meticulous tour of all the small canals in the town, enjoying the spectacle of the many coloured houses, and a leaning campanile that could give the tower in Pisa a serious inferiority complex.

Just how yellow can it get

Don’t idle on the wrong side of this tower!

At the end of our tour we moored our kayaks near the main square and went in search of a place to have lunch. We decided on a small trattoria, which proved a wise choice. Both pizza and pasta were excellent, and so was the dessert, and not expensive either.

It was well past three before we continued. Somehow it always takes longer getting into the boats when they parked near shops and bars.

We paddled the few kilometres to Torcello without any detours, or we would have had problems getting home before dark.

At Torcello we found a nice quiet corner to land, and went sightseeing. Torcello was a flourishing lagoon city for over six centuries, until silt deposits in the estuary of the river Sile led to serious problems with malaria, and around 1300 AD the city was effectively abandoned. Now only two churches, both dating from around 1000 AD, are the only buildings left of what was once an important city. In the 16th century the Republic of Venice had the Sile rerouted north of the lagoon to stop the process of the lagoon drying up.

We couldn’t enter the two churches as we weren’t properly dressed – both churches are still consacrated – and we had little time anyway.

When we returned to our boats, two taxis were squabbling over the remaining space, and one made a rather violent maneouvre which half floooded half our boats. From what I understood of their discussion in dialect it had nothing to do with us, but we got the splash anyway.

It was getting late and we still had almost two hours paddling between us and San Nicolò, so all further detours and unjustified giddiness had to be cancelled. We still paddled in a leisurely pace, just in a bit straghter line than before.

The route took us back to Burano and past San Francesco in Deserto. Legend says that St. Francis spent a night on the island on return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and a franciscan monastery was founded there soon after his death. The monastery was abandoned later, but reformed again. The island also serves as the cemetery of Burano.

As we passed in front of Burano we saw that people were getting sports boats ready, and we saw a bright red racing gondola towards San Francesco. They’re incredibly fast, and none of us could keep up with it.

We then followed the western side of Sant’Erasmo towards Lazzaretto Nuovo. Most of the time it was a quiet paddle, with Sant’Erasmo on one side and some barene on the other.

We saw some beautiful, large branzini jump in front of the kayak, some must have been 30cm long. They were definitely no smaller than branzini I have been served in restaurants.

At some point a dog barked behind us, and a motorboat came up the canal with a fairly large dog standing in the stern. It stared a bit at us, but seemed good enough.

I also saw an egret on a pole, but as I approached to get a good picture, I hit the stub of another pole and the egret took off. I got a rather weird photo of an egret’s behind in mid-air.

From Lazzaretto Nuovo we only had a few kilometres, and with the persistent high tide we just went straight across back home to San Nicolò, in good order and well before dark.

On the second day we went back to Venice, but this time through the front door. Marco had taken a day off work to join us, so he led the way.

We paddled along the Lido, where we met one of the great cruise ships, then across towards San Servolo and then San Giorgio Maggiore. As we passed the Canale della Grazia, we arrived right in front of St. Mark’s square.

The St. Mark’s basin is one of the more difficult spots in Venice. Traffic can be quite intensive, with boats of all kinds, from transatlantic cruiseships of 15 storeys above the water line, across car ferries and vaporetti to taxis, motorboats and gondolas. All this activity creates some very choppy waves of up to half a metre.

We opted for a break in front San Giorgio Maggiore, to relax a bit, take some photos of the truly spectacular cityscape in front of us, and make sure everybody knew what to do when we started the 400m crossing.

Fortunately, traffic was light but it is still a tricky process getting across, with numerous stops along the way, and much care of keeping the group as compact as possible.

In front of St. Mark’s is an enclosure of wave breakers, which creates a calm area for the many gondolas working off the waterfront of the square. We crept in there for more photos and just hanging around, enjoying the unique viewpoint we had all to ourselves. General giddiness dictated a few rolls in front of St. Mark’s, just because After all, when is the next time you get a chance to do that?

We then continued into “Gondolandia”, that is, the area between S. Marco and Rialto, where most of the gondolas circle. Paddling there is on their terms, you have to go where you can go, not necessarily where you’d like to go.

We went under the Bridge of Sighs, which didn’t look good because the palaces on both sides of the canal were covered in scaffolding, passed S. Maria Formosa and stopped al cavallo (Piazza SS. Giovanni e Paolo) for lunch and ice cream. There’s a really good gelateria there.

After lunch we continued towards Rialto, went a bit up the Canal Grande and took a small turn into the Sestiere S. Polo before returning to Canal Grande further down. Along here we met a very curious sight – one of the few canal sweepers employed by the city to keep the canals clean.

We then returned to “Gondolandia” by the canal that passes under the apsis of S. Stefano, only to get utterly stuck in a gondola traffic jam. It took quite some time to extricate the entire group.

Its a bit of a pain being in charge of a group under such conditions. There’s no turning around, so it involves a bit of shouting messages up and down the canal and a lot of patient waiting. I don’t think our guests minded, though. They had first class seats to the entire show, and got a very good impression of how the whole gondola business is run, and also a close up look at how the gondolieri operate their boats.

Once we’d all gotten out, it was time to head back home to San Nicolò. We followed almost the same route, crossing the Canale Giudecca to San Giorgio Maggiore, around San Servolo and up along the Lido to the camping.

We’ve had a group of six Danes here in Venice for a week’s paddling. They came to Venice Kayak through our partnership with Kajakhotellet in Copenhagen, and they were followed by Jes, an experienced coach at Kajakhotellet, who also spend two weeks in Venice last year.

The group soon coalesced into three pairs. The first was a couple in their mid-fifties, who had paddled for a few years but with little formal training. Two girls had signed up together, both in their late twenties and beginners, having just taken their first kayaking course at Kajakhotellet this summer. The last two had signed up separately but soon became friends. Both work as nurses, and are in their mid-forties. He had paddled for a couple of years, while she had just started.

On the first day we almost always do the same thing. It is not a predetermined route, but it does contain some fixed elements, which allows us to gauge the skill level of each participant and their reactions to difficulties and stress factors we are likely to encounter later.

This time was no different. We took the group from our base at San Nicolò on the Lido di Venezia to the Arsenale, where we did a few exercises before we entered the smaller canals. This is also a recurring element. We spent half an hour in front of San Pietro in Castello doing bow rudders for sharp turns in narrow spaces, and sideways movement with the sculling draw and the hanging draw, so we can get out of the way if we meet something larger and faster in the canals.

We then did a tour through the Sestieri Castello and Cannaregio, with a stop in Campo Arsenale for lunch. Its a labyrinth of small winding canals, with the occasional encounter with a gondola or taxi. We had to make a short 50m excursion into the St. Mark’s basin, so our guests got a first taste of the traffic and waves we’d encounter there later.

After a leisurely paddle down the canals, dodging the random gondola on the way, we emerged in Canal Grande close to the Rialto Bridge. Naturally, we hung around for a while, taking photos from every possible and impossible angle, fooling around as much as the conditions allowed. Jes, being the playful type, felt an irresistible urge to do a roll under the Rialto Bridge. It was high tide and the water was clean enough, so Jes is still with us

We continued down the Canal Grande, admiring the beautiful palaces and the many gondolas. We did a few detours into the Sestiere Dorsoduro, and had a break for ice cream on the Campo San Trovaso. I’m always amused about how you can paddle right in the middle of a major European city and still find a green lawn to place the kayaks on for a break.

We then returned up the Canal Grande, passed Rialto again before we left the Canal Grande at San Marcuola. We paddled through some of the canals of the Sestiere Cannaregio before we left the city at Sacca della Misericordia.

The paddle back to the camping was eventful in quite another way. As we paddled past San Michele which is home to the cemetery of Venice, towards the Vignole islands, small fish, about the size of a hand, started to jump in the water around us. First people were amazed, then amused, until one of the girls uttered a yell of pain. One of the jumping fish had hit her shoulder, followed by another one to the head. Apparently fish are rather hard

We all returned safe and sound to the camping at San Nicolò, in spite of nature’s little surprises, and after a nice shower the whole group went off for dinner in one of the many little restaurants and trattorie on the Lido di Venezia.

Venice is a magical place, and even more magical by night, so , so what can surpass a night paddle through the lagoon city?

Paddling under the illuminated Rialto Bridge.

Stopping for a short break at the Rialto Markets.

A tranquil Canal Grande.

Dinner at the Trattoria alle Vignole before our night paddle.

It is very hard to get good pictures from a kayak in the dark, and this is the first time I have manage to get something recognisable, even if they are a bit shaken. The photos do at least give an impression of how it is.

Each year on the third Sunday of July, Venice celebrates the Festa del Redentore. The feast originates in the 16th century, and has been celebrated annually ever since.

From 1575 to 1577 Venice suffered a plague epidemy, and in 1576 the Senate ordered the Doge to wow the construction of a church to the Redeemer to deliver the city from the plague. The building of the church started in 1577, and the Chiesa del Redentore, or Church of the Redeemer, was consacrated in 1592.

The plague was officially declared over on July 13th, 1577, and since the Feast of the Redeemer has been held on the third Sunday of July each year.

The official programme of the feast is not very extensive, but the feast holds a special place for most Venetians. A votive bridge of boats is made on Saturday from the Zattere area across the Canale Giudecca to the Chiesa del Redentore on the Giudecca island, and a procession lead by the Patriach of Venice crosses to the church for mass at the church. Saturday evening is the central part of the feast for most people, with an incredible display of fireworks on the water in St. Mark’s basin. On Sunday there are further masses and a regatta in traditional boats.

Most Venetians celebrates the Redentore by having dinner in the open on Saturday with family and friends, often along long tables set along the Canale Giudecca and other places, or in boats in the St. Mark’s basin, with the fireworks as the grand finale. The number of boats in the Canale Giudecca and in St. Mark’s basin was astonishing, it literally took hours for them to get away afterwards, in a slow procession through Canal Grande or towards the Lido.

In fact, the best way to enjoy the spectacle is from a boat, as it gets very crowded indeed on land.

Kayaks aren’t as foreign to Venice as one might think. In the 19th century several types of kayak-like  boats could be seen in the canals of Venice. They were of an indigenous design, hence not related to the kayaks of the Inuits in any way, but with a striking similarity.

They were referred to as sandali a sbatole.

The sandalo is a traditional Venetian type of boat, normally 5-9m in length, shorter than a gondola, but with very little rocker, and the kayak-like boats looked a lot like small sandali. The main difference is that a sandalo is normally rowed alla veneta, that is, like a gondola standing up using a one blade oar, while the sandalo a sbatole was rowed sitting down with a two blade paddle.

The second part of the name, a sbatole, refers to the paddle or the way it is paddled. The word sbatola is essentially the same as spatula in English.

Little is known about the actual use of these boats, but apparently they were rented to tourists and hotel guests, so they could move around the city at their leisure.

The photo below is a very curious sandalo a sbatole, shaped as a fish.  It is a detail from a larger photo, taken in the St. Mark’s basin in the second half of the 19th century. Note how few waves there are in the basin, compared with today.

This boat, or one very similar, is now on display at the Museo della Marineria di Cesenatico. Gilberto Penzo has a photo of this boat at the museum.

The above material comes from www.veniceboats.com, by Gilberto Penzo, which is an impressive collection of information Venetian boats of all kinds, from the Bucintoro to the modern vaporetti.

Photos reproduced with kind permission of Gilberto Penzo – www.veniceboats.com.

The German kayaking magazine KANUMagazin.de has a short article on Venice Kayak in their June-July issue.

Auf der Liste der schönsten Paddeltouren der Welt steht die Stadrundfahrt durch Venedig im Kajak ganz oben. Nun kann man dank »Venicekayak« dieses Vergnügen auch ohne eigenes Kajak im Schlepptau genießen.

Venice Kayak has partnered with Point 65°N kayaks of Sweden.

Point 65°N, founded in 1996, is the leading kayak brand in Northern Europe and one of the fastest growing kayak companies in the world. Nigel Foster, the world renowned paddling personality, heads Point 65′s R&D-department.

Several Point 65°N models will be available at Venice Kayak for trials and sale, starting from late May. Initially the models XP, X-lite, Sea Cruiser and the brand new Whisky 16, designed by Nigel Foster, will be available.

The participants of Venice Kayak’s tours and excursions will also have the possibility of trying and enjoying the Point 65°N kayaks in the waters of Venice.

Venice Kayaks has partnered with Sea Kayak Designs, a new Italian kayak company by renowned kayak designer Raymond Varraud.

From late May one of each of Sea Kayak Design‘s three models, the 486, the 516 and the 526, will be available at Venice Kayak for trials and sale.

Participants in tours and excursions organised by Venice Kayak will have the possibility of trying the Sea Kayak Design models for extended periods.

When not designing sea kayaks, Raymond Varraud works as a professional photographer.

Sea Kayak Design 526

Sea Kayak Design 516

Sea Kayak Design 486

The German kayaking magazine KANUmagazin has visited Venice a while ago for a photoshoot, and if the rumours I hear are true, there will be something about kayaking in Venice again in a later issue.

Here are some pictures the editors of KANUmagazin has kindly sent us: