Author: Justine

It’s amazing how quickly you can be in a different place! On Saturday morning we had breakfast in England and by the afternoon we were being picked up by Mike Callahan from the Eco-Marine kayak shop in Vancouver. By the evening we were presenting the DVD to about 100 people, trying not to think about the fact that it was about 3am for us! It was a fun evening and good to meet lots of enthusiastic people and see a few people again. Thanks for everyone who showed up, to Michael, Eco-marine and West Coast paddler for organising and presenting the event and to Lendal Paddles and Ocean Kayak for sponsoring Barry and my travel expenses to make it all possible.

Yesterday Michael drove us down to Deception Pass where we met Shawna and Leon, Dubside Tom, Anne & Steve for an afternoon paddle. Now we’re back on Orcas for a couple of days, about to go for a walk up Turtleback mountain!

Thanks to Dan from West Coast Paddler – I’m having trouble getting photos from my camera so I stole one of his from his website without permission! I hope that’s OK and that you forgive me, Dan! You can read what people thought about the premiere and DVD here

It snowed today in Mynydd Llandegai – the first time this year!

There are a few more reviews of ‘This is the Sea 4’ popping up. Derrick at Kayak Quixotica has written a long and very nice review.

Overall, the DVD seems to be well received – there is some bickering and bantering about which disc is best and different people have their particular favorite chapters. I’ve also seen some discussion about which of the 4 “This is the Sea” DVDs is the best one – the Norwegians that I have spoken to think that this one is the best so far but no 2 people think exactly the same…. Hopefully with 2 and a half hours of content, everyone can find something they like!

If you still aren’t sure and live close enough then tomorrow – Wednesday – is the premiere of “This is the sea 4” in Llanberis at Surf Lines shop, and on Thursday there is a premiere at Brookbank Canoes huge store in Stockport.

You can see an interesting variation on the cover of ‘This is the sea 4’ here

We’re on our way home from the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth. They chose a good weekend for an indoor event as strong wind and rain drove people inside to buy new toys and listen to speakers. While we were there, Simon Willis recorded a podcast with Barry and I about our New Zealand expedition. You can listen to it here, or listen to some of Simon’s many other interesting podcasts here.

Now we’re driving south, hoping traffic allows us to reach the Wirral in time to show the premiere version of “This is the Sea 4” there tonight!

It’s been a windy week in Scotland and we’ve only paddled 2 days in the Oban area. We had a fun paddle around Seil island 2 days ago, and a battle into a really strong headwind yesterday at Craigneish which was strangely satisfying. It took us an hour and 10 minutes to go less than 4km around 2 islands, and about half an hour to surf back! Other than that we’ve been walking and catching up with friends. Tomorrow we’ll be at the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth.

“This is the Sea 4” is being well received. I’ve had loads of positive comments about the New Zealand and Queen Charlotte island expeditions, in particular. If you are still making your mind up whether to buy it, there are a few more reviews out to help you make up your mind!

In English,

http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/

In French,

http://www.expemag.com

In Norwegian,

http://www.qajaq.no/article.asp?id=75