Author: Justine

Last weekend, we went seakayaking for the first time for a month – having given Barry’s wrist another good chunk of time to heal. We managed 2 short paddles. Yesterday we went on a longer paddle around the Stacks. Things are moving in the right direction and it was great to be back seakayaking at home in Wales.

The doctor suggested that Barry take a giant ball on the back of his kayak so if his wrist suddenly fails, he will be prevented from capsizing all the way over. Yes, of course that is a load of rubbish and I just made it up! We found the mooring buoy at the back of Parliament House Cave when we stopped for lunch. Barry’s friend was about to buy one for his boat so we saved him a bit of money and brought this one back for him! Needless to say, we didn’t stop for a surf in South Stack race with the buoy in tow.

Less than 2 weeks until Sarah Outen starts her 3-year human powered journey around the globe. I’m looking forward to kayaking from London to France with her – kick off is 1pm on 1st April at Tower Bridge.

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This weekend is my ‘local’ Mountain Film Festival.

“Llamff” is Llanberis’ answer to Canada’s Banff Mountain Film Festival. It features many of the latest and best outdoor films and zillions of interesting speakers. Lots of climbers like Alan Hinkes and a several talks by adventure cameramen on how they get the shots. Olly Saunders is talking about his last seakayaking trip to Greenland.

My latest film, “Islands of Fire” is showing on Sunday, and I am giving a talk about some of my adventures on Sunday afternoon (including the first view of some footage from ‘Tierra del Fuego’). So, I better get back to editing that footage from Tierra del Fuego! If you are in North Wales consider taking a break from kayaking/ climbing/ biking/ drinking tea in Pete’s Eats to check out some of the festival.

My latest film – which I haven’t really mentioned before – has just won it’s second award!

I finished editing “Islands of Fire” just before heading off for Tierra del Fuego and posted a copy to the ‘Reel Paddling Film Festival‘ literally on the day that we left the UK. Rapid Media kindly made a copy and sent it to the ‘Waterwalker film festival‘.

The 30 minute film about seakayaking in the warm turcoise waters of Sicily’s Aeolian islands won “Best Seakayaking Film” at both festivals, which is very exciting. The film is a little bit different to my other films in that the story is just as much about the place as it is about the paddling.  We kayak between the islands, climb active volcanoes, join in with the annual grape harvest, eat plenty of delicious Italian cuisine & explore ancient ruins. Local paddlers and lovely fellas Gianfranco Liotta and Francesco Petralia add humor and a real insight into the Italian way of life.

The film will be released in October/ November this year as part of my next DVD. Excitingly, you will be able to select to watch it with Italia

n or French subtitles. Gianfranco Liotta has already translated and put Italian and French subtitles on the film! A huge thank you to him. I may release the film before then as a digital download, so watch this space.

There is a 3 minute trailer of the film on the Reel Film Festival website, and preview of the other winning films.

If you can’t wait to see it, the film is on tour around the world (although mainly in the USA and Canada) with both festivals in 2011. The Reel Paddling Film Festival visits over 100 venues – click here for details.  See the Waterwalker website for details of their tour (soon to be updated).

“Islands of Fire” is also showing on 19th/ 20th March as part of my local adventure Film Festival in North Wales, Llamff. I’m also giving a talk there which is mostly about my latest adventure in Tierra del fuego. I am editing a few bits of footage for that talk.

“Dougie Down the Pet” will be showing as part of the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival very soon. The festival runs from 4-6th March and screens a selection of some of the best recent outdoor films. You can see a preview of the film HERE. Or buy it from our store!