By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
The natural beauty of Cape Cod may be its strongest allure. It’s why so many visit here and why so many end up moving here.
“Of course, people come here for a reason,” said Bret Clark, general manager of COT, Inc., the parent company of Board Stiff and Sol Optics in Falmouth, Mashpee Commons, Chatham, and Provincetown. “It’s because, I dare say, that we have the best beaches in all of New England. People need gear to enhance that whole experience.”
With an abundance of Cape Codders who are drawn to the outdoors, there’s a good chance readers will be shopping for the perfect holiday gift to enrich a loved one’s time connecting with nature. A good place to start is one of COT’s stores, especially Board Stiff, which carries products perfect for any season of the year.
That includes a variety of winter weather gear, from Smith ski goggles to puffy jackets, including packable models, to a tumbler with a built-in Bluetooth speaker. And then there’s its line of products for the summer which includes traditional skateboards, electric skateboards, skimboards, body boards, swim masks, bathing suits, and sandals.
“We try to cater to clientele that is not only a day tripper or person on vacation, but for people who are outdoor enthusiasts,” said Clark. “We have probably the biggest collection of popular outdoor brands – Volcom, Billabong, O’Neill and Salty Crew.”
Its stores are also the place to shop for the most essential of all outdoor accessories – sunglasses. “We carry all the big brands that are used for everything, but we also have the brands which are considered more active lifestyle: Costa Del Mar, Maui Jim, and Smith Optics. Smith Optics transcends a lot of different sports with people using them for skiing, surfing, skateboarding, and mountain biking,” Clark said. “We’ve also got Ray-Bans and Oakley which is another huge brand for sports.”
The Gift Of Adventure
Sometimes the best gifts are ones that can be experienced. That’s exactly what RideAway Adventures has been giving its customers since owner Mike Morrison founded the company 15 years ago.
“Our main mission is to get people outside, connecting with one another,” he said. “Especially in this time with so much media and stuff coming at you and people always on the go, it’s such a great gift to give somebody the chance to check out and be outside. We always say that being outside is such a gift. I don’t think there’s a better gift you can give.”
The easiest way to do that is by purchasing a gift certificate to RideAway which can be used to rent kayaks, Stand Up Paddleboards (SUP), or bicycles, at one of its two locations in Mashpee; its Great Marsh location in Sandwich; its Lawrence Pond location at Camp Lyndon in Sandwich; its Cape Cod Canal location on Tupper Road in Sandwich; or at the Marine Biological Laboratory’s Swope Building at its Woods Hole location.
The certificates can be used at any point during RideAway’s season, which runs from May through October.
Another option is a membership which will give a loved one 10 separate opportunities to take an adventure of their choosing – kayaking, paddleboarding, or biking – during the summer.
And then there’s the true bonding experience which can be enjoyed through RideAway’s kayaking or SUP tours, available in Mashpee and Sandwich. “The tours we offer are all very beginner-to-intermediate-based,” said Morrison. “They are all very nature-based and we are one of the only companies on Cape Cod with all ACA-certified guides.”
Not only is RideAway focused on safety and teaching clients the proper paddling techniques, but it offers intimate tours with one guide assigned to a maximum of six people.
Among its more popular excursions is a sunset paddle tour for kayaking and paddleboarding out of Popponesset Bay, as well as large-group customizable gatherings out of Lawrence Pond, where families and friends can kayak, paddleboard, and bike at their leisure, combining those activities with a cookout, live music, bonfires, and food trucks.
This past spring, RideAway offered a one-of-a-kind trip to Mexico where clients joined staff in exploring the Sea of Cortez at the height of the whale shark migration. “It is pretty awesome,” said Morrison. “We partner with a company out there, Todos Santos Eco Adventures, and the focus is on providing a genuine immersion of Mexican culture and cuisine and connecting with an entirely different type of ecosystem with a lot of migrating whales, rays, and birds. It is really wild.”
Next year’s trip, which will include a chance to kayak crystal clear waters, scuba dive with turtles, interact with whale sharks, and paddleboard with seals, will take place in the beginning of March, and can be booked on RideAway’s website, www.rideawayadventures.com.
A Consumer Perspective
On the consumer side, birder, photographer, fisherman and naturalist Mike Tucker of Woods Hole had a long list of gifts he recommended for all levels of interest and abilities.
“I always encourage people to get outdoors and enjoy it,” he said. “You don’t have to be a top-notch naturalist to connect with nature.”
The first place he suggested to start is online by conducting research and reading reviews of gear that one may be considering as a gift. He recently purchased a pair of Salamon X Ultra 04 hiking boots “after doing tons of research and going with ones consistently rated among the best by many outdoor gear reviewers,” he said.
As far as in-person shopping, he said, L.L. Bean’s store in Mashpee Commons “has a great assortment of gear I particularly like. Today, I actually bought a new packable jacket for my backpack. They have lots of good quality stuff and have a decent assortment of camping gear and shoes.”
His suggestion for binoculars, which can range from $300 to $3,000, is Nikon’s Monarch series. And then there are field guides and phone apps for the bird enthusiast in your life.
A portable water filter bottle is a simple, but necessary gift Tucker recommended for a loved one who may be into hiking.
Those in the market for kayaks should consider not only what they will be using it for, he said, but how easily they can transport it. “I usually recommend a kayak that is known for being stable,” he said. “And there are a lot of other factors that come into play. Is it going on the top of a car, on the back of a truck, and how easy is it to get on the car?…Are you going to do saltwater kayaking or be on a lake or pond? Do you plan on cruising the coastline? How many hours do you plan on paddling?”
Again, online research can narrow down which product is best to give as a gift this holiday season.
Photography is an easy pathway to getting outdoors. “Having a camera to photograph a deer or hawk or a beautiful stream,” he said, is always an impetus to connecting with nature.
The best place to start, he said, is with what he termed “a bridge camera,” also known as an all-in-one without a detachable lens. “The zoom equivalent is way more than the camera lens on my nice gear,” he said, in reference to his more portable Nikon P950. “It’s nice to have something packable that I can throw in my bike bag when I go biking. Sometimes when I go up north, I’ll take it with me and stick it in my bag and put it in my kayak seat. It is great for doing wildlife videos and doesn’t take up as much space compared to the one I normally use.”
In listing all the possible gifts for people to consider, Tucker said, it made him think of all that he wants this holiday season. At the top of his list? Boundary boots and an ultralight tent for camping. “This is making me realize I’m depressed,” he laughed. “I’ve got a huge wish list of things I can’t afford.”