Author: Justine

I’m in Tarifa filming surf skiing for “This is the Sea 5“. And while I’m here it would be rude not to have a few turns myself!

I love surfing down wind in my sea kayak so how can I not love a one-way paddle with the wind behind me in warm turquoise waters!? I’ve paddled a V8, one of Epic’s more stable surf skis, so it’s nice to surf without any worry about capsizing. It’s pretty quick too – when surfing and just paddling along.

I’ve been filming with amongst other people – 12 times world champion surf skiier Oscar Chalupsky, 2 times Olympic Medalist Greg Barton & five timesworld marathon champion Ivan Lawler.

I have been filming a lot, including from a boat but I keep forgetting to take photos. I will try to remember to take more.

Thanks to everyone who gave us advice on greetings cards for sea kayakers. In the end, we decided to use a set of 6 photos from fantastic UK photographer Will Herman. He captured these moments on his sea kayaking journeys in Cumbria, Scotland and Wales. I’m delighted with the results –  high quality large cards printed on recycled card using environmentally friendly inks.

The cards are 210cm x 148cm (8.5 inches x 5.75 inches) – which is the size of an A4 sheet of card folded in half. They’re blank inside for your personal message. They look great & they are totally unique. There are only 200 of each card and they’re only available from Cackle TV,  Gael8 or from Summit to Sea shop on Anglesey.

If you are going to the Dundee Mountain Film Festival this weekend then look out for Carol from Gael8 – as well as her gorgeous T-shirts, she’ll have some cards hot-off-the-press. And she’s offering some good deals on my DVDs…..

Due to the size & quality of the cards, they are £1.50 each, or £7.50 for a set of 6.

If you are in the UK then postage is 60p for 1 or 2 cards, & free for 3 or more. Elsewhere postage is at cost price – for example it’s £1.35 for 1 or 2 cards to Europe, & £1.90 to the rest of the world.

See all the cards here.

It’s always a pleasure to have a film showing at the UK’s premiere outdoor film festival, the Kendal Mountain Festival. ‘Tierra Del Fuego” had it’s world premiere there & was shown 3 times during the weekend. I got good feedback from the film with many people saying the really enjoyed it (including 2 of the judges). And Barry even showed up in the programme!

As a filmmaker who largely works on my own, it’s fantastic to see the latest & greatest outdoor films that are out now. I always get ideas for my next films & am inspired by some of the stories. I met Paul Diffley, director of “Wide Boyz“, a great film that picked up best climbing film and the people’s choice award. As the way in which people watch films is changing, he is offering people the chance to watch his latest film, Odyssey, for free on the internet. If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, then you need to do it TODAY as it’s a limited offer. Click here.

Other great films included ‘Crossing the Ice‘ & ‘Journey on the Wild Coast’. Alastair Lee continues to make climbing movies look more like Holywood films with great cinematography, soundtrack & special effects. His latest flick Autana won best mountaineering film. I also really enjoyed a film by Pete Astles from Peak UK which played on the wild water night. It told the story of his Nepali friend Babu who trekked up Everest, paraglided down and then kayaked to the sea.  It seems he did it with little fanfare – just because he wanted to. It was great.

We went to listen to the amazing Karen Darke. I already knew lots about Karen and all the wonderful adventures she has been on since becoming paralysed from the chest down; like hand biking across the Himalayas, skiing across Greenland, climbing El Cap and winning silver in the London Paraolympics.  But it was great to hear her talk about what drove her to do these things and her philosophy. You can’t fail to see right through all of your own excuses for not doing things when you see what Karen has achieved. I really enjoyed her first book, If you Fall, and I can’t wait to read her new book, Boundless. Barry gets a mention in the book as he kayaked around Corsica with Karen a few years ago.

Now, I’m home I’m back to editing ‘This is the Sea 5′ which will be launched in March 2013.

It’s always great when you make the effort to get up early and go paddling. Swellies wave first thing this morning was great fun. I took the Gemini SP which is great to throw around on the wave. I got a bit carried away with edging it as much as I could & edged it totally upside down – twice! I was certainly awake after 2 cold showers.

Unsurprisingly, Baz and I had it to ourselves & we were off the water by 8.

We are heading up to Kendal Mountain Film Festival this afternoon to present the world premiere of the “Tierra del Fuego” film. I’m excited – and a bit nervous to attend the first showing of the film outside of my living room! I hope it gets a few laughs, oohs and aahs. But first I’ve got to wash the salt water from my hair & face!

“Tierra del Fuego” will be released on DVD in ‘This is the Sea 5′ in March next year.