by WilliamNealy (Author)
This is the 2007, second edition of William Nealy's cult manual of intermediate and advanced whitewater techniques - "Kayak, the New Frontier". Carefully crafted to reflect the latest in paddling technology, William Nealy's classic, illustrated kayaking-skills manual remains dead-on hilarious.In Nealy's day, hardcore hippie hairboaters sucked air in block-long Dancers...but that was then. Today, insane youngsters steer tiny plastic boats down steep creeks with more rocks than water, and surf spinning holes and standing waves for hours without ever leaving site of their beat-up Subaru. Although shorter hair and more frequent bathing will never threaten the soundness of Nealy's illustrated techniques, equipment evolution - especially boats - has created new dynamics between moving water and modern-day paddlers. Professionally updated to reflect the latest technology, "Kayak" is back and more useful and entertaining than ever. You may break a rib laughing, but with Nealy holding your hand you'll look pretty cool doing it. The publisher confidently claims that this, the best-selling how-to-kayak manual in the world.
Format: Illustrated
Pages: 176
Edition: Second
Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press
Published: 01 May 2007
ISBN 10: 0897325893
ISBN 13: 9780897325899
As an instructor, Nealy's strength lay in his ability to convey in simple terms the often counter-intuitive techniques of adventure sports.
Nealy was arguably the best-known ambassador of his sport, entertaining and instructing hundreds of thousands of paddlers through his illustrated books. The success of the first edition of Kayak as an instruction manual hinged squarely on Nealy's ability to convey himself personally to the reader. It is all too obvious that each of the mishaps that befall the illustrated characters populating each of his books happened, in reality, to Nealy himself. That self-effacement, while hilarious, also embodied empathy for the reader and for the mishaps that were sure to befall him as he bounced his or her way down the steep learning curve of the sport. In short, each reader of Kayak, as well as Inline (an inline skating manual) and Mountain Bike, grew to trust Nealy as a teacher because he felt he knew William as a friend.