Finally! We have the cover of “This is the Roll” AND the subtitles are ALL done!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered for your patience. Making a DVD is already a long process but having subtitles in 3 different languages added a huge amount of work. This is the first DVD that I have subtitled, & is the first paddlesports DVD that I know of to be subtitled in 3 languages.  I am forever indebted and hugely grateful to Gianfranco Liotta who translated 150 minutes of video – close to 20,000 words –  into Italian & French and created the subtitles for all 3 languages. He did all this while studying, changing nappies of his young daughter Sara, being a husband to Claudia & drinking strong Italian coffee or fine Sicilian wine! Gianfranco – along with Francesco Petralia – offers seakayaking trips & kayak hire in the warm turquoise waters of Sicily. If you fancy a relaxing seakayaking holiday then check out Maremotu (otherwise known as Seakayak Sicily). I’ve been twice! (so far!). Gianfranco (amazingly) also says he would consider other subtitling jobs in the future if anyone needs his services.

I’m also really grateful to Iván Lamas, who emailed me at exactly the right time to ask if I would consider putting subtitles on my DVDs. When I told him we would have French & Italian subtitles on “This is the Roll” he immediately offered to translate it into Spanish. Iván has translated everything quickly and with great attention to detail. He responded gallantly to my desperate email last night when we realised we were missing a Spanish translation of ‘the standard greenland roll with a euroblade’ chapter! Thanks to his quick work – everything is complete on schedule!

On the other side of the Atlantic in Canada, Beth Kennedy, the very talented designer for ‘Rapid Media‘ & ‘Adventure Kayak’ magazine has been creating our DVD artwork. I’m delighted with the result and I hope you like it too! Look out for an article by Cheri & Turner about the 3 rolls we feature in “This is the Roll” in the next edition of ‘Adventure Kayak‘.

And of course huge thanks to Cheri & Turner, the stars of the DVD, who are not only excellent at performing all the rolls, but are fantastic teachers. It’s a pleasure to be able to share their skill & grace, and their unique style of teaching with so many people through “This is the Roll”. It’s the first time I’ve collaborated with other people so much on a DVD & agreeing on the best way forward has sometimes been challenging for all of us. However that dialogue has created a better product and ultimately been very rewarding!

We hope to have the PAL DVDs ready to ship in the first week of April (for the UK, Europe & Australasia). The NTSC DVDs (for America, Canada & Japan) may take a week longer as we need to ship a master DVD from the UK to America – but we will have the first “This is the Rolls” in the post, and in shops as soon as possible. You can pre-order from us, or make sure your local shop has put an order for some!