Author: Justine

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.

Our lunch breaks have started to get a lot shorter as the nip of Winter seeps into our drysuits, but I love this time of year for paddling. The sea is still warm & the light is beautiful on the clear, crisp days. There isn’t as much daylight but that makes me get out and appreciate what there is.

Today, Baz and I went to the Skerries and enjoyed a bouncy ride from Cemlyn into the wind. I smiled as waves bounced off my kayak and splashed me in my face. I love a lively sea.

At the island, lots of seals swam around looking at us curiously. Two of them started fighting just behind Barry – not realising I was behind them. I got an ‘almost great’ photo of it!

As we pulled our kayaks onto the beach, the sun disappeared and it started raining. We took shelter in one of the buildings on the island, and as soon as our sandwiches were gone, we headed back down to the boats.

The journey back was much calmer with the wind and tide – although typically the wind had also dropped now it was almost behind us! We took a detour to the Victoria Bank buoy before ferry gliding back to Cemlyn.

Britain’s premiere Mountain ( & adventure) film festival hits Kendal in the Lake District in a few weeks from 15th – 18th November. It’s a great chance to see the latest and greatest climbing, mountaineering, kayaking & other adventure films, hear some inspirational talks, & catch up with friends. I’m delighted that my film about kayaking around Tierra del Fuego is a finalist in the competition & is showing as part of the ‘wild water’ programme. This is the film’s world premiere & one of the only chances to see it before it’s officially released as part of ‘This is the Sea 5″ next March.You can catch it 3 times over the weekend.

Friday 16th, 1pm
Sat 17th, 5pm
Sunday 18th, 4.30pm

I’ll be there to introduce it on Saturday and Sunday.

Jim Krawiecki’s film about sea kayaking in Greenland also premieres at Kendal & I’m looking forward to seeing Jim following in the paddle strokes of Gino Watkins.

Amongst the inspirational speakers is Karen Darke – who I imagine will be talking more about her Para-olympics silver medal than her equally impressive kayaking exploits.

For those people wanting a pure paddling fix there is a ‘Wild Water’ evening on Friday, featuring paddling films & a talk from Adrian Durrant.

More info on the Kendal Mountain Film Festival here.

Would you buy a card with a great sea kayaking photo on it?

Cackle TV are teaming up with Carol Lang from Gael8, & Pete Baars from ‘Summit to Sea‘ to make some greeting cards with a sea kayaking theme. We’ll start with one design & if it’s popular then we’ll develop more of a range.

They would be A6 size on recycled card, and would be blank inside. We’d try to keep the cost down & would sell them for about £1 each.

If you like the idea, please let us know if you like any of these photos enough? Which are your favourites?

In the future, we may even ask people to submit their own photos — but one step at a time!

If you hover over the photo – a name comes up. Please let us know what you think.