How to Dress for Cold Weather Paddling

Are you tempted by those blue skies but intimidated by that zippy bite to the air? For those of us clutching at the memories of our mild autumn, we can still squeeze the last drops out the paddling season (or even plow right through to spring), provided we know just how to dress for it.

Before the snow starts to fall and the ice sheets begin to form, get yourself geared up for a last hurrah on your kayak or sup board. A five millimeter farmer john style wetsuit with jacket will do nicely. Add a splash top, skirt, neoprene boots, gloves and a hood and you will find yourself perfectly toasty and not too bulky under that p.f.d. Once you have discovered the joys of paddling in the cool, quiet months of the off season, invest in year round adventuring with a paddling specific dry suit. Layered over fleece undergarments, these provide the ultimate in dry warmth. Neoprene keeps you warm by warming a thin layer of water between the fabric and your skin. The dry suit relies on strong seals to keep the water out altogether.

Always remember, the risk of hypothermia is very real, and anyone can succumb quickly. Never test the bounds of your paddling capabilities, your preparedness, or the conditions. It is crucial to use the utmost caution this time of year. That being said, it is very possible to (smartly) enjoy paddling on the outskirts of the season, or even year round, here on the Cape. Feel free to contact us for more information. All of the gear mentioned is, of course, available at the store!


Note Santa's lack of kayak skirt, gloves, and p.f.d. He is unprepared for the conditions!

Specialized Bicycles at Cape Cod Sea Sports

Jeff Craddock and the Sea Sports team are pleased to announce Sea Sports as the new Mid Cape Specialized Bicycle retailer.



 We offer the complete line from kids' balance bikes to top shelf S-Works road and mountain bikes. The store also has an extensive selection of Specialized accessories including saddles, saddle bags, helmets, clothing, tires, tubes, tape, grips, water bottles, cages etc... You can see some of our showrooms above and to the left. Check out the previous blog post for some pictures of the renovations and additions to our bike department.  

We offer full service including sales, service, and bike fittings. Every bike comes professionally fit with a 30 day bike fit guarantee. Check us out for Specialized or our other great brands, Cannondale and Fuji.

Let's Talk about Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We hope you all have a wonderful week with your families. Here are a few reasons why the Sea Sports family is thankful this autumn.

1. Our Customers: We have enjoyed a busy fall here at the store, and we have all of you to thank for that! We are open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. through Christmas.

2. Our Team: Special thanks to Tom Craddock for his beautiful rennovation work in our showroom. Also we are thankful for the new addition of Dusty Adams, a former professional athlete with forty years of experience in the bike industry.

3. Our Brands: We are pleased to announce the addition of Specialized Bicycles to our product line. We have a selection of everything, from children's balance bikes to top of the line S-Works road and mountain bikes.

 4. Small Business Saturday November 24: We are excited by the widespread support for the Shop Small movement, especially during the holiday season. We encourage all of you to support your favorite local Cape merchants this Small Business Saturday, holiday season, and all year long. We will have some special offers as well as holiday goodies to get you in the spirit!

5. Cape Cod: We are happy to live in such a beautiful place where we can enjoy paddling, cycling, and scuba right out our back doors. Here is Kelly trying out one of the original style kayaks at Plimoth Plantation.

June Happenings 2012

June Happenings at Sea Sports!
 It is a beautiful day here in Hyannis. We have been spending our days off riding, kayaking, and playing on the stand up paddle boards. We hope you have been getting out there too! Things are picking up quickly, so we would like to let you know some of the news around the shop.

 June 13th Stand Up Clinic: Jeff will be hosting a Stand Up Clinic at 5:00 p.m.to introduce newcomers to the sport. Clinic is free.

 June 16th Kayak and Stand Up Demo: We will be hosting our second and biggest kayak demo of the season on Saturday, June 16th, at Hathaway's Pond on Phinney's Lane. The Demo runs from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Representatives from the different kayak and stand up companies will be on hand with their fleets of boats and boards, as well as the Sea Sports crew. Event is free, with an optional five dollar donation to a local charity. Please give us a call if you are interested or have any questions, or just show up! We hope to see you there!  

June 27th Kayak Forward Stroke Clinic: Kayak instructor Larry will be hosting a clinic on the essentials of the forward kayak stroke at 5:00 p.m. Clinic is free.  

Kayak Tours and Lessons: This year kayak tours and lessons will be held weekly on Thursdays and Fridays at 10:00 and 2:00. Please call for reservations. Tours and lessons are also available Saturday through Wednesday upon request.

 Stand up Paddling: Lessons to begin in a few weeks. Stay posted!  

Wednesday Evening Group Rides: Leaving Sea Sports at 5:30 p.m. Free. Please call to sign up and for more information.  

Keep us in mind... For all of your scuba, cycling, kayaking, and stand up paddling needs. We are a full service store, offering repairs, lessons, tours, and rentals. Give us a call or come on in today!

Holidays 2011

Here at Sea Sports we spend a lot of time reaching out to our customers and our public, but we seem to let this blog slip through the cracks while focusing on other social media. If we may set an early New Year's resolution, we would like to try to make this blog another priority in our communication with you, our faithful customers.

Now let's get down to the good stuff! So much is new since the spring, and when it is combined with the spirit of the season you get some pretty exciting news.

First of all, for all you kayakers out there, we've got several wicked awesome promotions occurring right now! Old Town, Necky, and Ocean kayaks are all offering $50 Visa gift cards for the purchase of their Heron, Rip, and Tetra kayaks, respectively. That is a lot of dough at Christmas time!

In terms of Sea Sports specific kayak promotions, we've got the Old Town Heron 9XT at just $399, which coupled with the Visa gift card offer, means you will be paying just $350 for a $430 kayak. Wow! We also have the old town otter kayak at only $249 for an unbelievable door buster. In addition we also have lots of boats left on our closeout list, many are going fast we still have a super selection.

Our annual $99 Down Kayak sale is now going on. Put a $99 deposit down on any in stock kayak, and receive a model miniature ornament to give as a representational gift or to hang on your tree and we will store the boat till spring! Just pay off the kayak and pick up by April 1, 2012!

We are also offering a gift certificate promotion running now through December 11. Purchase any gift certificate at 10% off. Take advantage of this early bird special!

Join us! For Our Happy Holidays Party on Saturday December 3, 2011 from 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Free Holiday Goodies, Warm Beverages, Gift Wrapping on small items, & Gift with purchase!

Let's not forget to mention some of the new gear we are carrying this year. 2012 boats, bikes, and stand up paddle boards are in! Come check them out. We also have plenty of used and older model clearance items to choose from.

Our bicycle department has just been remodeled to make more room for new and exciting product. We have more room for accessories upstairs and expanded our basement showroom. It looks great and we welcome all to come and check it out!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Spring!

Welcome to our Spring news update here at Sea Sports. It seems that Facebook and our shop newsletter are easier ways to keep updated on happenings around here but we will try to keep the bloggers up to speed as well.

We are now OPEN on Sundays from 11-5. Our Sundays hours will continue through September.

We are having a kayak Demo this weekend May 22nd from 11:00-3:00 at Hathaway's pond in Hyannis. We will be offering mini clinics on the beach throughout the day. Come test paddle that new boat you always wanted or try out an upgraded model. The event is free and open to the public.

We have been busy training new divers this spring and despite the cold wet weather thus far the lobsters are starting to show up. Our Thursday evening beach dives start June 16th and are open to all certified divers. The dives run every Thursday throughout the summer at a cost of $20 per person.

I can't remember a time in the last 19 years in business when we have had as much new gear arriving at the shop, just boxes and boxes of bikes, kayaks, scuba gear, and accessories. New equipment and brands include Lazer bicycle helmets, Bic and Hobie Standup boards, Teva, , Stohlquist pfd's, Shimano cycling shoes, and Oakley sunglasses among many others.

We are excited for another great season here on the Cape! Hope to see everyone soon!

General news and updates

We had a great summer here at Sea Sports, weather was perfect, and business was great! While winding down the 2010' season we have been putting a lot of work into getting prepared for 2011'. We are installing new carpet in the showroom, and have done lots of improvements in the basement getting it ready for all the new 2011' product that is starting to come in.



Speaking of new product, we just got word that the new Atomic Cobalt diving computer has shipped. This thing is sure to be a game changer. We also received the new CAAD 10 bicycles from Cannondale along with a fresh stock of their other 2011' bicycles. Our 2011' preseason shipment from Native Watercraft is due the first week in December. On that order is also a re-supply of the ever popular Featherlight kayak.

We are running some Christmas Specials. We will continue to offer the $99 deposit Layaway on any kayak purchased before Christmas. (we provide a model miniature kayak to gift wrap) Old town is offering a nice rebate on their Vapor kayak. We are also offering a $50 savings on any new bicycle purchase valued at $299 or more. These specials run through the Holiday.

Don't forget we are also on Facebook so if your a member you can use that to stay up to date on shop news as well!