Author: Justine

SPOT THE CANOE ON CRYSTAL RAPID!

Imagine running a grade 5 rapid without a spraydeck! That’s what the whitewater canoeists that I just filmed effectively do. I spent the last 3 days kayaking down the Independence and Moose rivers in New York state to film a bunch of talented whitewater paddlers with a single blade! I portaged around most of the grade 4 and all of the grade 5 rapids while they executed perfect lines in highly turbulent and fast flowing water. Former world champion Mark Scriver was voluntarily the probe on most of the hardest rapids and the only open boater to run a 45foot slide with a man-eating hole at the bottom. Martin Talbot also showed nerves of steel, picking a line through ‘Sureform’, a shallow grade 5 rapid described by fellow canoeist Andrew Westwood as a cheese grater! My favourite rapid was Crystal on the Moose river, it’s so beautiful and imposing with a series of ledges forming white wedding cake layers. Mark and Martin were the only ones to run the meaty line on that and I was more than happy filming from the safety of a rock!

I did gain in confidence in my own whitewater skills over the 3 days and on the last day I ran a 13 foot waterfall, and ‘double drop’, which is just as it sounds. I would have liked to have a go in one of the small whitewater canoes, but not on that river!! After the 3 days I have lots of great footage, and some exciting carnage and I’m looking forward to putting it together. 

I had loads of help – thanks a lot to Eric for helping me get into position on the river and for carrying my camera in his kayak. Also to Mark Scriver for lending me a liquid logic kayak and a brand new Werner paddle ( sorry about all the scratches!). Thanks to Paul Mason for inviting me along to the weekend, for organising things and forgiving me for not watching his canoe and paddle when he went into rescue mode (he got them both back, fortunately!). Thanks also to Martine Amyot for helping with the filming and to all the other paddlers. Thanks also to Andy and Vanessa for putting me up in Chelsea.

I just heard that the South island circumnavigation film won another major prize at an international film festival. It won the Thalassa adventure prize at the 8th Montreal Festival of Travel and Adventure.

Here are the comments of the jury;

“On behalf of the entire festival team, we wish to congratulate you for this remarkable film, the jury (and we) found there was a true authenticity to your film and a positive and enthusiastic spirit althrough the film and that we were able to share the emotion with you throughout the adventure”.

I was relatively close to the event, being based in Chelsea, Quebec filming for my canoeing DVD, but I was too busy filming at the weekend to attend the event. What a shame, but I’m very happy to have won the prize. That’s the 4th first prize that the New Zealand film has won at international film festivals. The other first place prizes are,

Best Adventure Film, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, UK
Best Adventure Film, Reel paddling Film Festival
Best Adventure Film, Waterwalker Film Festival

‘South island circumnavigation’ is also a finalist at the Graz Mountain Film Festival in Austriafrom 11-14th November, and was a finalist at the 18th Dijon International Adventure Film Festival in France last week.
If you missed it at the festivals then you can always see this film (and many other good stories!) on ‘This is the Sea 4’ DVD!

I’ll write a blog about my filming in Canada in the next few days, once I get home.

What’s the point of working for yourself if you can’t take an afternoon off when it’s warm and sunny!? Yesterday was clear and bright with a slight wind and a small swell. Barry and I haven’t been ‘to the races’ together for ages and decided to spend a few hours playing in an old favourite, Penrhyn Mawr. It was definitely play and not work, but i did grab a bit of video using my waterproof sanyo xacti camera. Conditions were lovely – it could have been a little bit bigger, but we’re not complaining!

Despite my better judgement (!), I’ve finally been persuaded to join Facebook! I’ve always said that I already spend enough time on my computer and don’t want another reason to sit in front of it…. BUT – I recognise that a lot of people use Facebook to communicate and are more likely to keep up-to-date with the happenings at CackleTV if I put the latest news on Facebook. So today I created an account for CackleTV in my name. I intend to use this to let people know about updates to my website & blog, and to give notification about special events, upcoming adventures etc. So if you’d like to follow along in this way then please send a friend request or become a CackleTV fan! ( if that doesn’t sound too pretentious!) 

The photos are of the Vulcano Seakayak symposium in Sicily and were sent to me by Giuseppe Di Mauro, who makes seakayaks in Italy – Seakayak Design, and Overline kayaks. We tried the SKD 526, and the Overline Aretusa. Thanks Guiseppe!