Archive for the ‘kayaking’ Category

Having been home in Wales for most of the Summer, I have a bit of travelling to do in the next few weeks.

It actually started last weekend, when I travelled up to the Island of Bute for their 2nd Women’s sea kayak symposium. I really enjoyed the event  – the atmosphere is friendly, supportive and good fun, Bute is very pretty and the evening meals put on by the Ettrick Bay tearooms were finger-licking good! I’m told there will be another one – although it might not be next year. There is a facebook group here. The photo above is by Michal Madera – he has more here and here and here.

In a week or so, I head to Nova Scotia for the first time which I’m really looking forward to. I’ll be attending the Bay of Fundy sea kayak symposium and enjoying some paddling with Chris Lockyer from Committed 2 the Core seakayaking in the Bay of Fundy area – home to the largest tidal range in the world. Bring it on!

This symposium sold out months ago, but a few people have had to drop out so there are still a few places if you are interested. The is also an opportunity to run the Shubie bore the 2 days before the symposium with some top coaches, which should be great fun. Even if you aren’t going to the symposium, I’m giving a talk on 17th September in Halifax which is open to anyone in the area.

On 12th and 13th October, I’ll be in Norway at Bolgefestivalen – a paddle festival organised by Kajakkentusiastene, in an area in southern Norway that I haven’t visited before.

The following weekend, I’m in home waters at the Anglesey Seakayak festival. This is the 2nd event run by the Kayak Essentials Team.

If you have access to the Nautical Channel then you can switch over and watch some of our adventure documentaries . 7 sea kayaking and canoeing films have been packaged into a series called “Kayak Diaries”.

They have been airing for a while now – here is the schedule.

the Kayak Diaries will go on air every Sunday at 21.00 from the 5^th of May. Please find below the first airing times.

 

ANTARCTICA  05/05/2013

HAIDA GWAII 12/05/2013

ISLANDS OF FIRE 19/05/2013

SOUTH ISLAND CIRCUMNAVIGATION 26/05/2013

THE MOUNTAIN RIVER 02/06/2013

RANNOCH MOOR 09/06/2013

THE MOOSE RIVER 16/06/2013

 

Below the runs of each show:

 

Sundays 21.00

Mondays 02.00, 08.00, 16.00

Tuesdays 00.00, 09.00, 18.00

Wednesdays 07.00, 15.00

Thursdays 05.00, 11.00, 23.00

Fridays 06.00, 14.00

Saturdays  05.00, 15.00, 22.00

Sundays 17.00

If you don’t have the Nautical Channel then you can buy downloads of all these great films – and more – for as little as £1.99. Or you can buy the DVDs that they were published on – This is Canoeing – This is the Sea 4 and This is the Sea 3. These are available as DVDs or you can save money and buy the whole DVD package as a download.

Since filming a surf-ski section in ‘This is the Sea 5‘, I have wanted more! How can you not embrace the concept of downwind paddling!?  I love that after 17 years of paddling, I can still be a relative beginner at something and have a steep learning curve. And well – there’s not much that’s more fun than surfing.

Although I’ve never been especially slow, my paddling technique could certainly be a lot better and I’m motivated to improve that, get faster and more efficient and catch more of those waves! Ultimately – for me it’s about setting myself a challenge and going on a journey and I’d like to do the Molokai race between 2 Hawaiian islands.

Not many people have surf skis near to me in North Wales, so I decided to drive down to a race in Devon to meet a few advocates, have a go and see what it’s all about. I was really nervous about the race – even though I’ve only tried surf skiing about 5 times in Tarifa, I can’t help being competitive! Ivan Lawler (multiple world champion) of Ultimate Kayaks lent me an Epic V8. This ski has revolutionised surf skiing as it’s much more stable than the knife-edge skis that you see the best guys using – yet it’s still pretty speedy and catches waves. That competitive side of me wants to get good enough to use a faster, tippier ski but it was the perfect choice for me in my first race.

The course was a 17km downwind run from Combe Martin to Lynmouth. It’s a beautiful cliffy section of coastline, although you can probably tell from my gritted teeth in the photos that I was too focussed to take it in! I did respectably – about 2/3 of the way down the pack and I’ll definitely have another go. The next race is in Poole on 7th September  – skis can be rented from Ultimate Kayaks – maybe see you there!?

You can check out the GB Ocean Ski website or facebook page. I ‘borrowed’ these photos from their facebook page (thanks) and there are  lots more photos and info on there. You can see how the good guys do it (and get a sense of the fun) if you buy the 11 minute surf ski film that I made as a download for just £2.99 here (with optional subtitles in French, Italian or Spanish). Or start by watching this film featuring Ivan Lawler for free!

The current (July) issue of Canoe & Kayak magazine features an ‘Unfiltered’ interview that Joe Glickman carried out with me. The photo was taken by Kirk Mastin, when I took a day off on the ‘This is the Sea 5‘ tour to paddle at Deception Pass with Shawna, Leon, Seth & Eric. Kirk still uses film to shoot and you can read about why here on Canoe Kayak’s website.

I met Joe Glickman in Tarifa last year when I was filming a surf ski segment for ‘This is the Sea 5’. I probably told him far too much before I knew he was going to be asked to write about me! A few months later, I stayed with him & his family in Brooklyn for a night while attending Jersey Paddler show & further incriminated myself.

Canoe & Kayak magazine is printed in the US and is available in print or digitally.