Christopher Cunningham: The Magazine That Shaped Sea Kayaking

Send us Fan MailFor nearly three decades, Sea Kayaker magazine was the voice of the sea-kayaking community—shaping conversations about technique, safety, equipment, expedition travel, and traditional kayaking. Founded by John and Bea Dowd in 1984, the magazine was led by Christopher Cunningham as editor from 1989 until its final issue in 2014.This long-anticipated interview offers a rare opportunity to hear the magazine’s story—and the evolution of the sport—from someone who witnessed both from the inside. Cunningham brings a breadth of experience few others can match. He discusses the 2,500-mile paper-canoe journey that led him to Sea Kayaker, the growth of traditional Greenland kayaking, his friendship with John Heath, and his first encounter with a young Maligiaq Padilla. He also takes us behind the magazine’s influential kayak reviews, landmark safety reporting, Deep Trouble series, and eventual closing.More than a look back at an important publication, this conversation is an oral history of a formative era in sea kayaking, told by one of its most thoughtful observers and influential voices.