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Another gorgeous day in Comox……. what a stunning place to be spending time and filming. I heard rumors of a terrible summer in BC, but since I’ve been here I can count the raindrops I’ve seen. I can see why Monica & Trevor live here, they are less than 5 minutes drive from the sea and are surrounded by wonderful views of mountains and the oceans. They paddle lots, and they eat VERY well! Thanks again to them and their family for letting us use their lovely house as a base for filming and editing and looking after us so well. (and thanks to Cheri for making me breakfast and lunch every day!)

Today, I leave Comox and head north to Port Hardy where I’ll meet up with Shawna & Leon who have paddled there from their home on Orcas Island, Washington. Their friend, Seth is picking me up in a couple of hours and we’ll both join them to paddle as far as Winter Harbor. Seth will then head into Coal Harbor, and weather and time permitting I will continue with them around Brooks Peninsula until Fair Harbor. I have to be back by 18th August as I’m giving a talk in Campbell River on 19th and flying home on 2oth!! I’m delighted to be joining them on a portion of their trip around the island with the aim of going slowly enough to enjoy the surroundings. Shawna wants to stop and paint — I think I’ll stick to looking around and reading! I’m really looking forward to seeing the wild west coast & spending some time with good friends who I haven’t seen for far too long! It’s still an aim of mine to find a japanese glass ball, so maybe this will be my time!? The only drawback I can think of is that I’ll have to learn to make my own breakfast again!

Local paddler Doug Taylor, who has also made a loop of Vancouver island, has kindly lent me his SPOT device and other bit of kit. I’ve set up a shared page with a map so you can follow our progress here if you like. Or look out for new updates on the Cackle TV facebook page.

Making a rolling DVD is a new experience for me, and for Cheri & Turner. In our search for clearer shots of the more advanced rolls, I had a crash course in diving from Trevor, who showed me how to breathe safely while diving straight down in shallow water.

After a short lesson on the sea, we headed to Comox Lake where the water is green and clear. Cheri put the scuba kit together for me, and I sunk down under the surface with my video camera in it’s waterproof housing. Co-ordinating things with Cheri & Turner was tricky – you can’t say ‘too close, or turn your bow 45 degrees to the right’ when you are a couple of metres below the surface (or at least, it wouldn’t be a good idea with breathing apparatus in your mouth, and no-one would hear you anyway!). But I was able to point the camera in the right direction and get some well-framed shots. Obviously whenever I breathed, a trail of bubbles shot to the surface in front of my lens so I had to time breathing in between rolls! Combine that with a brisk wind creating a current and kicking up a bit of sediment and all in all, it wasn’t as ‘easy’ to get great shots as we imagined it might be. But we did get some good images to go with some very clear water footage we already have from Sicily’s Aeolian islands last year.

“This is the Roll” is out November this year. Keep checking the blog or the Cackle TV facebook page for more information.

Technology today is so great that you can edit anywhere with a laptop and a small hard drive. Yesterday the already ‘moblie’ edit suite, moved again to an outside desk, so Turner could skin his new kayak, while being involved in the editing process! This rolling DVD is more work than any of us realised when we started out, but hopefully the end product will reflect all the hours we are putting into it. “This is the Roll” starring Cheri Perry & Turner Wilson, and featuring them teaching some of their students in Wales, Scotland and Canada will be released this November.

Sunny days, fine food & good company could sum up my first week on Vancouver island. In between working hard on filming and editing, it’s a great place to be. I’m based at Comox on the East coast finishing off the filming for an instructional rolling DVD that I’ve been making with Cheri Perry & Turner Wilson this year. We’ve already spent a couple of weeks filming in Wales & Scotland, aswell as getting some great clear underwater footage from Sicily last year. With another week to go filming on Vancouver island  so we are on the home straight. Well, it still feels like we have a lot to do but we’ve got a rough cut of about an hour so far which covers the standard Greenland layback roll in a lot of detail, aswell as some of the more advanced Greenland style rolls. Extras include a chapter demonstrating some stretching exercises to help with flexibility for rolling & a chapter on outfitting your kayak for rolling. We’re working on the forward finishing rolls right now.

I’m very grateful to the lovely Monica & Trevor Russell for hosting us all while we are here. Cheri and Turner have stayed with them before as they have run rolling classes in Comox for 3 years now, and have got to know Monica, Trevor and their 2 sons. We’ve all enjoyed delicious meals together every day- none yet prepared by me, as I’ve been glued to my computer quite a bit, editing things together. So big thanks to the Russells’ and Cheri for feeding me and for feeding me so well.

I have been on the water a few times – I had a go at some of the rolls one day, and went for a lovely local paddle with Monica, Trevor & Doug (followed by some rolling practice …. they LOVE their rolling here!).

The rolling DVD will be released in November this year and will be called….. you might have guessed……..

THIS IS THE ROLL!!

More details will be given out over the next couple of months.