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On Sunday I fly to Russia with my shiny new 3-piece Valley Etain and a whole bunch of kayaking, cycling and filming equipment. I’ll be joining Sarah Outen again as she travels by kayak and bike from Russia to Japan, via the Russian island of Sakhalin.

Sarah’s logistics manager, Tim Moss, is also flying out to Russia and together we will pick up Nelson, Sarah’s trusty Rockpool kayak, and drive with him for 2 days up to Lazarev which is the closest point on the Russian Mainland to Sakhalin. We’ll meet Sarah here, who has spent the last 5 months cycling East from France! Sarah and I will make the 4 mile crossing to Sakhalin & kayak south down the remote Sakhalin coast for about 100miles. It will probably take 4 or 5 days before we reach the road and the town of Aleksandrov.

Meanwhile Tim will be getting himself, Sarah’s bike Hercules, and the rest of our kit to Alekandrov ready to meet us. Some local kayakers have been really helpful and they will also meet us in Aleksandrov and will help transport us and our kayaks further south to Korsakov. Sarah will of course cycle all the way. My job is to film her journey and edit short clips to go onto her website so sometimes I’ll join her on a bike and other times I’ll be in a vehicle.

From Korsakov we get back in the kayaks again and paddle about 90 miles down the Sakhalin coast to the SW tip of the island. It’s then a 20- 25 mile open crossing to Hokkaido island in Japan across La Perouse Strait. This will be a challenging paddle as there are strong tides and an even stronger East-going Soya current in La Perouse Strait but not very much information about whether this affects the whole strait or whether we will find eddies or counter currents. We have been given very helpful advice from local paddlers, especially Greg Beliakov, & we have a predictions for the ‘tide’ for 1 point in the Strait, but it’s hard to know how helpful that information is for the whole crossing.  There has been mention of some tidal races in places, but again not very detailed.

The upshot is that it’s very hard to know how far we will be pushed by currents and in what direction. We may end up working very hard to reach land if our predictions are wrong. I don’t know of anyone in modern times who has kayaked across this Strait but if anyone reading this has any  more information then we’d be very grateful to hear it! We’ll certainly be asking the locals in Sakhalin! We are required to have a safety boat for the crossing.

Once on Hokkaido, Sarah continues cycling south all the way down the island. We both then kayak approx. 10 miles to Honshu island across the very tidal Tsugaru strait. Thanks to Jeff Allen for information about this crossing, which he made with Hadas Feldman on their circumnavigation of Japan a few years ago. (you can see film of their journey on ‘This is the Sea 2′, or buy the digital download for just £1.99). But again, please get in touch if you have experience of kayaking in this area.

After the 3rd crossing, Sarah cycles on to Tokyo where she will spend the winter getting ready to row across the Pacific in Spring 2012. I come home.. hopefully in time for the UK storm gathering on Anglesey!

I enjoy reading kayaking magazines and a few of them arrive through my letterbox every month or so. It’s fun to hear what other people are up to, see the latest bits of kit and read interviews with colourful characters. Imagine my surprise while flicking through the last-but-one edition of ‘Canoe & Kayak UK‘ magazine to see myself peering out from the pages of their ‘2011 awards’ issue (issue 126).

Unbeknown to me, I was ‘highly commended’ in ‘the Chris Wheeler Adventure Paddler of the Year Award’. This is the first time that the magazine has issued awards & it seems this particular accolade is for someone who not only goes on some good adventures, but also shares them with other people by films, magazine articles etc.  So thanks to the team at CKUK for thinking of me. Fittingly, I am off to Russia at the end of the week, to join Sarah Outen in kayaking from there to Japan – more on that in another blog before I go.

On a completely separate note, my sister Holly has just entered a new adventure! She got married to her longterm partner on Saturday! Congratulations to her and Al and I hope they are having a lovely honeymoon in Africa. My dad did comment in his speech that he doesn’t often see his daughters in dresses! I may post some photos…

It’s good to be back in Wales and I’ve been enjoying paddling with Barry in some of my favourite places. It’s always great to paddle around ‘the Stacks’ when you’ve been away and have a play in the tidal races. On Monday the waves weren’t that bit, but it was fun to have a surf none-the-less.

Barry has recently got a Valley Rapier kayak and we took that out for a day, along with a Rockpool Tarran that we borrowed. We took it in turns to try each one and really liked both kayaks. It was fun to be moving quicker than usual and both kayaks felt surprisingly stable, especially the Tarran. The Rapier felt a little faster but I’d be more nervous in that in a big sea. We had a lap in Rhoscolyn race, which was dying off but was still quite exciting in a new sort of kayak. I’m looking forwards to trying both kayaks again sometime. On our way home, we stopped off to cheer on some other paddlers on ‘the Menai Challenge’, seeing how quickly they can paddle a 21km stretch of the Straits. Barry took a few photos from the bridge. 

Yesterday we paddled around Holy island on Holyhead, despite an exciting sea brought on by a westerly swell and wind which was in battle against the ebb tide! The waves were breaking over Holyhead Harbour wall and occasionally over us! We stayed in very close at North Stack to avoid the bigger waves, and also stayed out of the main wave train between the Stacks. This meant we were out of the favourable tide and had to work harder against the eddy and the wind. When we finally got back to Rhoscolyn, 5 hours after we set off, we were both exhausted!

The tides are getting very big this week and tonight saw a quick visit to the Swellies wave. It probably won’t be the only visit…

I think I have been smiling almost constantly for the last couple of weeks. It was so wonderful to take some time out of editing and regular ‘life’ to escape to the ocean with 2 great friends.

It’s been 4 years since Shawna Franklin, Leon Somme & I paddled around the Queen Charlotte islands together and over 2 years since I saw them, but  it soon felt like yesterday. They are such fun and happy people to spend time with, aswell as talented and safe paddlers.

Their friend Seth kindly picked me up from Comox and drove us both up to Port Hardy where we met up with Shawna & Leon, who had just put in a tough 30 mile day to get there on time to meet us. Fittingly, they were already in the pub devouring burgers and beer when we arrived and we were very happy to join them! After a ‘rest’ day of shopping & eating (all of us), plus doing laundry and checking up on their seakayak school that they’ve deserted for 44 days! (S + L), we set off from civilization and headed north and west on the water, breathing in big happy gulps of the fresh wild air.

I knew the West coast of Vancouver island can be a very challenging place to paddle, with large swells, lots of boomers, surf landing and strong winds but I hadn’t done much research into the specifics of the trip ahead as I’d been busy editing. So I was excited when Seth told me that paddling around Cape Scott and the Brooks range were usually the 2 cruxes of a trip down the West coast. Cape Scott forms the NW tip of the island and juts out into the powerful ocean, and the Brooks range invades 5 miles into the swirling seas, creating it’s own weather systems. How amazing to paddle around both of them in a 10-day kayaking trip. And a little intimidating.

In reality, we had amazing weather for my time on the water & neither crux posed much problem on the day. There was a small localised tidal race at Cape Scott and the biggest challenge rounding the Brooks was negotiating paddling round (or through) the many thick kelp beds at low tide.

The wind was against us probably half of the days, but it wasn’t that strong most of the time. It never prevented us from paddling, although it did slow us down quite  a bit one day! The swell didn’t rise above a metre and was often a mere ripple on the surface. It was just enough to provide some fun surfing near the shore and between rocks, without ever being worrying. It meant we could land on lots of beaches which are more regularly guarded by smashing waves and search earnestly for Japanese glass balls. Unfortunately, I suspect other people have had the same idea but got there first as we didn’t find any! And Shawna certainly looked very thoroughly!

Seth left us by Winter Harbor after 5 days and headed back in to Coal Harbor – seeing wolves on the beach on his last day (happily from his kayak)! We headed south, stopping at some glorious sandy crescent beaches, each one framed by rugged mountains and lapped playfully by clear blue sea. Even sand in my sleeping bag, clothes, glasses and everything else couldn’t dampen my mood at spending time traveling through this gorgeous landscape.

We saw quite a few black bears on the beaches – one on the same beach as us at the same time, some whales (although not as many as when I was in Haida Gwaii), lots of cute sea otters, quite a few majestic eagles and a few sealions. The life in the rock pools was incredible, so many shells, crabs, anemones and little fish.

I’m writing this at Vancouver airport, just before boarding a flight home to the UK. I’ve had a great time on Vancouver island. Even the filming and editing for our rolling DVD with Cheri & Turner was fun in a strange hard-working kind of way. That was at least in part because we had a lovely time staying with Monica & Trevor Russell and enjoyed great food, sitting outside in their garden every evening, relaxing pleasantly after grafting hard. I’m now looking forward to being home for a while and seeing my sweetie!