Author: Justine

I’ve been making the most of having use of a Valley Rush surf kayak and have been out surfing 4 times in the last 10 days! I really love the kayak and am trying to learn to do it justice. For the last 8 years I’ve been surfing a longer surf kayak without fins and feel my surfing hasn’t really improved in that time ( although that could be mostly because I don’t do it that often). I’ve had some great moments on the Rush …. I just need to learn to string them all together on 1 amazing ride!! Barry has been given a raider pro waveski by a kind man in Oxfordshire (thanks Ronny) and he’s been enjoying trying to get to grips with that as it’s a competition ski and not easy to even sit on, never mind surf!

On Sunday, Barry and I left the surf boats at home and took out some seakayaks that we are borrowing from Valley. We tried the Avocet and the Avocet LV on a lovely paddle on the north coast of Anglesey. We managed not to break the carbon kevlar one, which was the first good thing about the day! I enjoyed manoevring the kayaks around the rocky coastline and through slots and gaps. We paddled out to the island of Middle Mouse & had a play in the small tidal race there, which was also great fun. I’m looking forward to getting out and trying the boats in a bigger tidal race, and trying out the Nordkapp LV and the Aquanaut LV.

Doug is sitting happily in the bow of the canoe clutching Kitty the toy cat in one hand and his lego magazine in the other hand. His dad, Scott MacGregor, paddles their red canoe along the Petawawa river, one of the classic canoe journeys in Algonquin Park. Inbetween looking after his toys, eating snacks and casting his fishing rod, four year old Doug will pick up his small wooden paddle and help his dad propel the boat down the river.

It’s a frosty October morning. It was hard to get out of our sleeping bags this morning and once we were up, the cold was biting. My thermometer says minus 7 and there is frost all over the gunwales and seats. Who’s idea was this anyway? Scott was too cold during the night but Doug tells us how he was so warm in his double sleeping bag that he took his hat and socks off. Now he’s happy because he’s toasting a marshmallow over the morning fire.

Over the next 3 days we paddle some challenging rapids, admire some beautiful Fall scenery and enjoy a remote adventure! We don’t see anyone else on the river. Doug is a trouper, surviving – enjoying – the cold temperatures and challenges of living from a canoe. Perhaps that’s because he has his own small barrel full of his favourite toys!

Thanks a lot to Scott MacGregor for organising the trip down the Petawawa and for Paul Britain for paddling with me and providing a Mad River Canoe for us. And of course to Dougy for letting me come along. It was a great fun trip and I’m looking forward to editing the footage and telling the warming story of this father and son paddling down a beautiful river.

Helen Wilson has written an account of the Vulcano symposium that we both attended in Sicily. Read it here.

Becky Mason is known for paddling a heritage red cedar & canvas canoe using traditional strokes and for making the canoe dance on the water. I had the pleasure to film her on the beautiful ‘Lac Vert’, or Green Lake in Quebec, along with her husband Reid. The clear water and white cliffs on the lake made it easy to get some pretty shots, while Becky talked about her love of canoeing, how she has been influenced by her dad Bill Mason and how nature inspires her artwork. The next day she did some painting for me and we went to see her exhibition on ‘portages’, which shows her interpretation of different treescapes that she’s seen while portaging her canoe on trips. 

It was the first time Kevin Callan had been paddling since a man dressed as a bear jumped on him and fractured his ribs! The accident happened while Kevin was filming a programme about bear safety and put the affable canoeist out of action for a month. When I came over to film with him, he was back less than subtly with his red canoe covered in white maple leaves, like a gigantic amalgamation of Canadian flags! The best selling author is a lovely funny chap who likes the canoe as a means to get into wilderness. He believes strongly that people should use it or lose it. We spent almost as much time driving as we did filming, and of course stopped for breakfast at that Canadian institution, Tim Hortons! it was cold enough at 9am to get some moody misty paddling shots on the Matawaska river before driving on to the famous Barons canyon in Algonquin park. We even paddled through some ice!

Kevin was kind enough to give me a copy of his latest book, ‘Wilderness Pleasures’ which I enjoyed reading on the plane ride home. He’ll be featured in my canoeing DVD, out in 2010. Thanks to Kevin for the photo!