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MY DAD SKIING PAKALOLO ( DOUBLE BLACK DIAMOND)

Barry and I had our last day of skiing in Whistler today. The last 2 days were great, with fresh snow and some good runs. I went up for one last run down the Peak Chair, 2 minutes before it closed and I had the mountain to myself going down through some of the bowls spraying powder behind me. It was a great end to our time in Canada.

This is Barry’s first time skiing and he’s been whizzing down black runs and (sometimes reluctantly) tackling bumpy un-pisted runs.

BARRY WHIZZING DOWN THE DAVE MURRAY DOWNHILL

The film of our circumnavigation of New Zealand has won another award – the best adventure film at the Reel Paddling Film Festival. This Canadian festival has been running 4 years and aims to be to paddling films what ‘Banff Mountain film festival’ is to Mountain Films. The festival is taking the best paddling films on tour around Canada and America over the next year so if you haven’t already seen it then you might get a chance to see it at one of the locations. Check here! If you do go to one of the showings then please make sure you vote for us for the ‘people’s choice award’! Or, of course, you can always buy the film which is just one part of the ‘This is the Sea 4’ DVD.

The photos are of Tofino, just to prove we looked around a bit, aswell as surfed!!

We’ve had 3 days staying at a fantastic house right on the beach at Tofino. We wake up, check the surf out of the window, have a quick soak in the hot tub, eat breakfast and walk down to the beach with a surf kayak! After lunch, we do it all again.

On the first day it was raining and misty – the sea was 8 degrees and the air was 7 degrees so it didn’t make much difference whether you were on top of the water or under the water! The last 2 days has been sunny and warm and it’s great to be here. There is something about surfing which is hugely addictive. I think it’s the energy and the power.

We’re here with Shawna and Leon of Body Boat Blade, and Eric and Megan Schorr of Anacortes Kayak Tours.



Thanks to Johnson Outdoors and Necky for lending us 2 Spyder surf kayaks, which we’ve enjoyed trying out. Thanks also to Lendal for sorting Barry and I out with surfing paddles. Thanks to Kokatat for a fantastic hood which kept me warm!!

Thanks to Barry and Eric for the photos.

I’m in Whistler skiing with Barry and my dad. Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme have joined us for a few days and we’re enjoying the huge number of runs available here. It hasn’t snowed for over 2 weeks but we’re still enjoying being out here in the mountains skiing.

Tomorrow is the last day of skiing for a while, and we’ll go back to Orcas island with Shawna and Leon for a few days, then on to Tofino for some winter kayak surfing, before a final 5 days skiing in Whistler before flying home.