New to Tubby Hook as of 2026, the Narragansett Bay Weekend is three nights and three days paddling in Rhode Island. Tent camping is provided in Fort Getty State Park, and from there we will travel to a variety of venues based on participant goals and environmental conditions.
What Is This Trip?
This trip is a long weekend starting the evening of Thursday August 20 and finishing the afternoon of Sunday August 23. We paddle the Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday, packing up the campsites Sunday morning. Up to 6 participants in addition to the two organizers may come along.
Who’s Organizing This Trip?
Julie McCoy and Chris Chan, both ACA L4 Open Water Coastal Kayak instructors.
How Will We Get There?
Carpooling is recommended in order to minimize parking at the campsite and venues. Julie and Chris both have cars and can collectively take about three people and two boats each.
Campsite? Venues? Where Are We Going?
We have tent campsites reserved at Fort Getty State Park near Jamestown, RI. We have two sites; each site can have up to two tents and four adults. We expect some people will need to share tents.
We can have two cars per site, but the layout of the area means most cars will be a few minutes walk from the tents.
The campsite includes hot showers and flush toilets.
Venues refers to the places we would put in and kayak. While we can put in near the campsite, there are several places to paddle less than an hour drive away.
How Much Does This Cost? What’s Included?
The course fee has been set, $150 per person for the weekend. Book online using the scheduler.
The course fee includes the tent sites and coaching. You will need to provide your own food, kayak, and equipment.
In previous trips, participants would sometimes go out to dinner together, or have a communal cookout, but that’s up to the group to decide on.
Nature of Activities
Narragansett Bay is a large area with diverse coastal kayaking features: tidal streams, ocean waves, rock gardens, and more. The exact activities will depend on the goals of participants and the environment, but overall this should be an opportunity for paddlers to develop their personal paddling skills in environments they don’t have easy access to.
Is this trip for me?
This trip is ideal for sea kayak paddlers who would like their first experience of dynamic coastal environments, or who would like to improve their skills in these environments.
You don’t need to be an expert or possess a YOLO-first mindset, but you should:
- Be very comfortable with wearing a spraydeck and making a wet exit in a natural environment.
- Be comfortable in a boat for 2 or 3 hours at a time. We’ll take breaks but be out most of each day, with breaks for lunch.
- Have good forward and turning strokes.
- Have a good bracing stroke.
- Be at least familiar with draw strokes and related strokes.
- Be capable of being rescued in an assisted-rescue scenario.
TL;DR
What: Car camping 3 nights, four days.
When: Thursday August 20 through Sunday August 23.
Who: Up to six participants plus Chris and Julie.
Who, me? Yes if you’re comfortable wearing a spray deck, making wet exits in dynamic water, can paddle in a boat 2-3 hours at a time, and have good forward, reverse, turning, and bracing strokes.
How: Carpooling and Tent camping; up to four tents total, hot showers available.
How much: $150 pp for camping and coaching, plus transportation and food costs.
Why: Tidal streams, ocean swell, rock gardening, and more.