The last couple of weekends I've gone kayaking in the East River in Queens, NYC. It's completely free every Sunday in the summer from 1 to 5, thanks to the good folks at the Long Island City Boathouse, who also run a number of other regular trips.

There are a couple of other groups in the city that do this at other places as well. I was wondering, is this just a New York thing, or can you do it in other cities as well?

The 4 lakes area - Lake Calhoun is a GREAT urban spot in Minneapolis. There are some other spots in subarban Twin Cities.

Some people kayak (and also water ski) in Cincinnati - the river is very dirty though.

Tons of it in Seattle. (Or are you asking specifically about the "free" part? Don't know about that.)

There's this in Baltimore. It's not free, but it's not a bad deal if you don't have a boat or a place to keep one. They've got kayaks stored at various places around the harbor which is handy.

Tons of kayaking in and around Austin as well. Just don't go when the lakes are closed...otherwise, you may be sucked through a dam

Just a note..if you stay at the HI Austin, check the news on the lake statuses before you rent a canoe there...apparently they didn't know (even though it had been raining intensely here for weeks and was all over the news...)

I bet Minneapolis is an excellent city for it. Last week when I was there I circled five or six lakes on my bike, and still missed a few. I'm guessing the best is Lake Calhoun or Lake of the Isles.

Don't know if you can kayak in the Mississippi, though

Also, my own hometown of Duluth seems to be great for kayaking, too, from the St. Louis River out into Lake Superior. Just stay near the shore.

Atlanta on the Chattahoochee,

DC in the Potomac and Antacostia. Costs money unless you have your own kayak.

I think you could find a kayaking company in any city near a river, lake, ocean, etc.

I have been with Chicago Kayak in chicago. With Laacke and Joys in Milwaukee, and canoeing with the Bronx River Alliance.

I would love to check out the Long Island Boathouse. That sounds like a whole lot of fun!

If you're interested, take the N or W train to the Broadway stop and walk west (towards Manhattan) until you hit water. They're there every Sunday from 1 to 5 -- you should call just to make sure they're doing it if the weather's iffy or it's rained hard in the previous three days. Maybe we'll see you there.

Check out the East Race Waterway in South Bend, Indiana.

I used to go rafting on the waterway when I was a little chica. IT was my first introduction to paddlesports. More city's should have things like that.