SEA KAYAKER Magazine Covers - The Early Years
The first issue of Sea Kayaker magazine debuted in the spring of 1984. Published and edited by John and Bea Dowd, the quarterly magazine was devoted to all aspects of the just emerging sport of sea kayaking. This was long before the sport got really popular (and commercialized). Each magazine issue's cover featured a reproduction of a gorgeous kayak-related painting. In 1999, the cover art was replaced by photographs. Very nice photographs mind you, but to me they really didn't capture the richness and beauty of the sport the way the early covers did.
You can order back issues of Sea Kayaker, and the magazine's Web storefront has scanned small images of all the issues they sell. However, most of the early volumes are no longer available and have ended up as collector's items. I've been reading Sea Kayaker since the beginning, and even penned a couple of articles for the magazine ages ago. So in commemoration of 25 years on the newsstands (Happy Birthday Chris and crew), here are some seldom seen covers from the magazine's first years (1984 to 1989) - all rights reserved by the original copyright holders of course. Enjoy...
Volume 1 (1984)
