Our story
The Aegean Paddlers
The Aegean Paddlers are a registered and certified NPO, aiming to promote and develop sea kayaking in Greece.
To this day, the Aegean Paddlers are the point of reference for sea kayaking in Greece and the the Aegean sea and have played an important role in the development of the sport in the country.
Operating from our 3 bases in Athens, Kalymnos and Naxos, our fleet can reach any part of Greece in less than 24 hours..
Our activities include training sessions, day and multi day trips and expeditions, sea kayak and equipment imports, on line and live presentations and lectures, 2nd hand market and anything else that can be of service to the local and int'l sea kayaking community.
We have planned, organised and equipped several dozens of the most beautiful, thrilling and adventurous sea kayaking trips and expeditions in the Aegean Sea with sea kayakers from all over the world.
Descriptions and pictures from our trips have adorned sea kayaking publications in countries like Canada, Japan, France, UK, Germany, Israel, Norway and possibly more.
This website will try to communicate all this experience, an ambitious project and a ever going process.
If you want to check our past trips and expeditions in chronological order, please go to records
For a more general view of the various groups of islands / bodies of water, please go to destinations
For what we are up next, please go to upcoming
For anything else please contact
George Karpathios is the founder and C.E.O. of the Aegean Paddlers, he is also the man responsible for all A.P. activities.
George Karpathios
I'm in love with the Aegean sea, always have been, always will be.
I dreamed of paddling it's waters, end to end ever since i first saw a sea kayak,
Sometimes dreams do come true and then they sparkle forever, like diamonds.
But make no mistake, it was not just a raw impulse that drove my hands to paddle a total of over 10.000 n.m. in over 130 multi day trips expeditions around the Aegean islands and coastlines.
It was not sheer luck that saved the day on several occasions
It took a lot of training, discipline and some of the best kayaks and equipment in the world market to make it all possible.
I started paddling sit on tops some 25 years ago.
20 years ago I discovered sea kayaking
In 2009 I got my first formal training and certification in sea kayaking.
At the same time I started doing smaller multi day trips in the Aegean sea and elsewhere in Greece.
Between 2011 - 2019 I travelled to Wales several times to learn from some of the forefathers of sea kayaking, like Nigel Dennis, Gordon Brown, Jeff Allen, Eila Wilkinson, Pete Barnes and more.
In 2015, I created the Aegean Paddlers NPO and started importing from the U.K. kayaks and equipment, otherwise unavailable in Greece to equip our trips and training sessions.
I have led dozens of multi day trips, through out the Aegean sea and have offered countless daily outings and training sessions.
And most importantly I have always brought everybody back safe with 0 emergency calls.
the modern sea kayak
The Modern Sea Kayak
The NDK Explorer is my expedition kayak of choice.
I chose it for it's stability in waves, speed, agility, carrying capacity, low windage, solid marine grade construction and all it's unique safety futures.
We have done many sea kayaking trips together including
Athens to Turkey
Athens to Kalymnos
Athens to Milos
Athens to Kythera
and much more...
Key futures of the Explorer
L/B ratio : 10/1
Max height : 33 cm
Total length : 5,33 m
Max. width : 54 cm
Weight in c/k construction 20 kg
Avg. speed > 3,5 knot
Top speed in calm water : 5,5 knot
Paddler weight range : 70 - 85 kg
Storage compartments : 3
Storage capacity : 170 lt
Insight
Sea kayakers are trained to travel in pairs or in small groups and sometimes solo.
They can cover an average of up to 15 n.m. daily in up to sea state 3 (>2m. wave/>5 Bft wind) in less than 5 hours while experienced sea kayakers often exceed these limits.
They always wear a utility pfd and have on board a variety of simple, mechanical and electronic safety / survival equipment