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Alun and I are back in Wales after a sleepless overnight flight from Chicago. It’s 5pm and the struggle to fight the eyelids from closing is getting tougher! Despite that, I’m feeling warm and content after a succesful and fun world premiere and launch party for “This is the Sea 3”. I’d guess that 15-20,000 people rushed from stand to stand at Canoecopia over the 3 days of the show, white bags bursting with kayaking and canoeing goodies. The days flew by for me, filled with giving presentations or chatting with old friends and new aquaintances!

The launch party on Saturday night was full to capacity with about 400 people crammed into the High Noon Saloon in Madison to watch the world premiere of “This is the Sea 3”. We watched two thirds of the DVD before it got late and the band started playing. After my initial nerves, I really enjoyed the evening as the atmosphere was lively and happy. I’m very grateful to Lendal for sponsoring the launch party and paying for me to come over and present the film. I didn’t have my camera with me at the party so these photos were kindly sent to me by Derrick. Either he’d had a few beers before taking them, or he didn’t stop dancing to take them!! Well, maybe it was just pretty dark in the room, but I actually think I look better with a little soft focus so I’m not complaining!

Next weekend is the UK premiere of “This is the Sea 3” at the Outdoor Show in Birmingham.

So it was like this…. a sunny California morning, clean glassy 4foot waves on a reef break, no battling to get out back, just a paddle out on flat water; turn, wait and surf back in towards the shore at Sunset Cliffs. Alun and Jake were ripping it up on either side of me and pelicans were crusing by in convoy just above the waves. I found myself thinking I could every easily move to California!!! And after 3 days in the Spyder surf boat I’m finally getting to grips with it. Instead of catching an edge and flipping on almost every wave, I’m feeling comfortable turning it on the wave and really enjoying it. We had the pleasure of meeting the man known only as Spike (!), who designed the boat and I can aspire to be able to do some of the things that he can in it!

We had a good time filming in Baja with Jen & Jake from Aqua Adventures, and the Johnson Outdoor Crew. It’s a beautiful stretch of coastline about 2.5 hours drive south of San Diego and we enjoyed rock hopping and touring in the sun. We have some great shots which will be fun to edit. It was all topped off with delicious food cooked by Jock Bradley. Some work is better than other work !! The photo is of Jeff from Canoe & Kayak magazine by the largest blow hole in the world.

We’re off to Canoecopia tomorrow with a bright and early flight to Chicago…. I better go and get organised!

I’ve surfed, swum, filmed, fished, eaten, drunk and been merry in our first 2 days in San Diego. Thanks to Jen for looking after us so well and taking us surfing yesterday. There’s something about surfing in California which makes me smile! I tried out a Necky Spyder which was a lot of fun, although I wouldn’t say that I quite mastered the fins ( being more used to a Mega Cyclone) and I got flipped uncompromisingly a lot of times!! I had some good ‘moments’ on the waves though and should have stuck to it because when I swapped boats with Alun, I managed to get a wave in my deck, the deck popped ( yeah, that old story, but REALLY it did!). One minute I was surfing and the next minute my kayak cockpit was filling with water and the front of the boat sunk underneath me! It was a long swim to shore!!

Today we were up early to film Jim Sammons and friends kayak fishing at La Jolla. Alun was filming from a boat and I was filming from a kayak on the water. Except poor ALun got a bit queesy bobbing around on the swell and looking through a viewfinder and decided to feed the fish himself. Thanks to Jock Bradley for these photos!