Company registration

Venice Kayak has existed since 2008, as a sole proprietorship by René Seindal. It has grown consistently year after year, in spite of an international economic crisis, and it has now reached a level of demand and activity which is beyond the scope and capability of one person alone.

Venice Kayak would never have existed had it not been for Marco Ballarin. He has since the very beginning been instrumental in creating Venice Kayak even if he didn’t have a formal role in the company.

Therefore, as of December 13th, 2011, Venice Kayak has become Venice Kayak S.r.l., a Società a responsabilità limitata, with René Seindal and Marco Ballarin as partners, with an initial capital of €15,000.

A Società a responsabilità limitata is the Italian equivalent of a private limited company (Ltd.)  in the UK, a Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH) in Germany, and a limited liability company (LLC)  in the US.

Tomb of Santa Lucia

Venice Kayak Srl is founded on the day of the Saint Lucy (Santa Lucia), who happens to be buried in Venice, in the Chiesa di San Geremia on the Canal Grande where we regularly paddle past. In the Gregorian calendar the shortest day of the year fall on the day of Santa Lucia, and she is therefore often associated with light and the return of light.

The previous incarnation of Venice Kayak was formally founded on February 14th, the day of St. Valentine.

Together they represent love and light

In 2012, the real action will heat up May 17-20, as teams compete for top honors in both match and fleeting racing championships as well as the overall winner-take-all title. Similar to other AC World Series venues, Venice offers both great sailing conditions and proximity to the racing, allowing spectators to see the world’s top sailors compete just off the shore.

via America’s Cup | Venice to host AC World Series.

via SR Fernsehen / da will ich hin! and online in the SR Fernsehen Mediathek (the kayaking part is at 0:10-0:13).

We’ll be happy to make exceptions for experienced paddlers who bring their own dry suit for the tours.

Evening tours will resume next season when the weather is better again.

The coverage can be seen online here:  Empresa oferece passeios de caiaque guiados pelos canais de Veneza

The offer is valid for stays between August 21st and September 1st.

Prices are as follows.

• For one person in a single room: €314 (kayaking tour with others).
• For two persons in a double room: €549 (€275/person).
• For three persons in a triple room: €749 (€250/person).

The hotel room is with breakfast included.

The dinner is at the hotel restaurant, and consists of various Venetian specialities, such as sarde in saor, pasta allo scoglio,  frittura mista.

The kayaking tour can be any of Venice Kayak’s day tours, to Venice, or Burano through the lagoon of Venice. Evening tours can be arranged for an additional €50, and private tours (with no other participants) for an additional €100.

Booking through the Certosa Hotel, phone: +39 041 2778632, fax: +39 041 8623113, email info@venicecertosahotel.com.

The Hotel Cipriani is the most prestigious hotel in Venice, in a category of it’s own. Located on the Giudecca island, almost directly in front of the Piazza San Marco, it is only a five minutes paddle to the start of the Canal Grande.

Tours from the Hotel Cipriani are only available to guests of the hotel. They are booked through the concierge.

Last year, out of curiosity, I took a couple of my old worn Greenland paddles down to his little workshop close to San Marco, and asked him if he could make me a replica, if only a bit shorter, sharper, smoother …

Within a week he passed me a paddle, from his doorway on the canal behind the workshop, so I could give its try. It was absolutely brilliant, even if it was just a trial cut made of whatever sticks had littered the floor of his shop.

Paolo is truly a great craftsman, and an artist.

He has by now started a small production of beautiful Venetian kayak paddles, which can be bought directly from his shop, where you can also find many other things, like miniature oarlocks and carved ornaments.

Paolo’s paddles are made from a variety of wood, depending on where it goes on the finished paddles, just like each bit of a gondola is made of a specific type of wood, for the correct degrees of weight, durability,stiffness and water resistance.

They’re not only high quality paddles, they’re little works of art and history, embodying a thousand years of wood working traditions.

Paolo currently makes three different models.

The basic paddle is made of one single piece of wood, with inserts of hard wood to reinforce the edges of the blade.

The paddles I have are made of more pieces of wood, to make a light, stiff and yet durable paddle. The paddles are all individual, but usually made of light wood in the middle, reinforced by inserts of hardwood along the edges and tips of the blades.

Lastly, Paolo can paint the paddles on the same designs as gondola paddles are often painted. This makes for some very Venetian souvenirs to take home for display, or use if you can get yourself to do it.

I now have three of his paddlers, some of the very first. They’re now as worn as the ones I brought him a year and a half ago.

The island is reachable by vaporetto 41, which passes the S.Lucia station (departure at 9:15 for arrival at the Certosa at 10am), Piazzale Roma (9:18), S.Marta (9:24); and on the Giudecca island: Sacca Fisola (9:28), Palanca (9:31), Redentore (9:34), Zitelle (9:37); and S.Zaccaria (9:41), Arsenale (9:44), Giardini (9:47), Sant’Elena (9:50); with arrival at the Certosa at 9:56.

By vaporetto 42, from Murano Museo  (9:23), Murano Navagero (9:26), Murano Faro (9:29), Murano Colonna (9:32); then Fondamente Nove (9:41), Ospedale (9:43), Celestia (9:45), Bacini (9:48), San Pietro di Castello (9:55); with arrival at the Certosa at 9:58.

The Certosa stop is by request only, so tell the sailor on board that you need to get off on the Certosa island, when boarding the vaporetto.

Both vaporettos run a 20 minute schedule, so the previous vaporetto is 20 minute before the times mentioned above.

There’s a hotel on the Certosa island, and the meeting point is at the bar there, so the ones coming early can have a coffee and a snack.