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The Reel Paddling Film Festival is in it’s 7th year & the 2013 winners have just been announced. I’m delighted to share that ‘Tierra Del Fuego” won best sea kayaking film of 2013.  See all the results here. The Reel Paddling Film Festival tours around the world so look out for it in a town near to you – click for details.

“Tierra del Fuego” is one of 8 adventure films about to be released on the “This is the Sea 5″ DVD. It’s great value for money at £19.99 or $29.95 for all 8 films. It’s now available for pre-sale in the Cackle TV store. Go to the UK/ Europe/ Australasia store. Go to the US/ Canada/ South America/ Japan store.

I’ll be going on a 2 week tour of the US & Canada in March with the DVD – details to be announced soon.

Meanwhile, a couple of photos from our Tierra del Fuego trip appear in the new Hilleberg catalogue. We used a fantastic Tarra tent on the trip -as seen in the photo above.

I’m on my way home from fun-filled few weeks of sea kayaking, skiing, surf kayaking & socialising. I was able to go to Tofino to join Shawna & Leon, Matt Nelson, Megan & Eric Schorr, Mathew Wendell, Wendy, Seth & Svetlana for some West coast waves.

We stayed in a great house on Chesterman’s Beach & watch the waves over breakfast, before chosing sea kayaks or surf kayaks to go and play. A hot tub awaits after a chilly session.

The inspirational and fun ‘Hurricane Riders‘ – otherwise know as THR, also came out to play and it was great to get to know them and share some of their energy. They are talented, inclusive, fun paddlers who are pushing themselves on the sea seeking smiles & skills. If you don’t know about them, check out their website & watch some of their videos. I did a bit of filming with them and a few shots made it into the introduction to “This is the Sea 5” which I finished editing while in Tofino.

“This is the Sea 5” is now with DVD replicators and should be ready to ship to shops & individuals in the next couple of weeks. I’m really excited to have finished the editing & for people to see it.

Thanks to Rob Avery for lending me a fantastic Valley surf kayaks Rush mark 2, to Shawna & Leon, Eric & Seth & Svet who all helped to bring me the Rush and an Anasacuta to paddle. Thanks to THR and Matt Wendell for the photos.. and to everyone for the fun times!

I ended my trip with a talk at the Vancouver Mountain Film Festival which I enjoyed – and showed the”Tierra del Fuego” film. There are more films going all all week if you live in the area. I quickly met up with Bob Putnam from Deep Cove Kayak store who I met last year in Tarifa – he has some of my DVDs in stock for anyone interested.

Ok I gotta go catch a flight home!

I’ve just had a fun couple of days staying with Sean Morley and his family near San Francisco – surf kayaking the first day & sea kayaking around Tomales Point yesterday. Thanks to Sean for the hospitality and some fun paddling. Sean lent me a kayak and paddle so I apologise to Valley sea kayaks & Mitchell Blades that I wasn’t using my usual choice of equipment, but I wanted to share some nice photos.

Sean was trying to take a photo of me coming through an arch when a wave knocked him off balance. A point & click while trying not to be surfed backwards created a photo that makes me laugh!

Another new hat! An approximately 12 year old abalone shell – the biggest one I’ve ever seen. A gift for Sean’s daughter, Shea Bella!

Backing into a cave on Bird island.

Learning how to use the GoPro Hero 3 on the way to the beach! The instruction manual was on my computer.

Sean catching a ride – as usual!

Me catching a ride in.

I don’t think this one broke for very long.

I’m on my way to Whistler for a few days’ skiing, then another few days in Tofino on the West coast of Vancouver island to go surf kayaking with friends including Shawna & Leon. In between times, I’m finishing off editing the last film for “This is the Sea 5” which is released in March at Canoecopia & organising a 2 week North American tour. Thanks to Ivan, Yves & Gianfranco for their continued hard work on the subtitles.

On Monday 11th February, I’ll be giving a talk & presenting films – including the new ‘Tierra Del Fuego” film as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival. The talk is at the Pacific Cinamatheque at 7.30pm. It should be fun! More details – or to book here.

What a great event the GGSKS is. A fantastic location, experienced and fun coaches, keen and interesting students, tasty food & I guess 3 days of sun helped too! Thanks so much to the organisers Sean Morley & Matt Palmariello for inviting me & to Kokatat for sponsoring my flight to the event. I paddled a very pretty Gemini SP thanks to Valley sea kayaks & Rob Avery.

I’m a bit tired after ‘not quite enough’ sleep but I’m smiling at the memories of 3 great days on the water. The first day I joined Sean Morley and a fun group for a paddle outside the gate (which I learnt meant going under the bridge to the outer coast). We had a beautiful one way trip to Muir beach, stopping to do a few rock hops & dealing with small surf at Rodeo Beach so we could land for lunch. The swell is always present here – but this day it was ‘relatively’ small allowing us to land on the outer coast comfortably.

On Saturday, I worked with ‘tall Matt’ talking about tides & then using them to paddle to Alcatraz & around Angel island. Another gorgeous paddle. Yesterday was a tidal race day with Ben Lawry. The waves were smaller than on the other days but that didn’t stop everyone having fun and learning lots.

I gave a talk on Friday night about some of my adventures & the upcoming “This is the Sea 5”. On Saturday night, Jason Self, Chris Bensch, Shay Bickley from Out of Sight, Out of Mind talked about their project to help reduce & clean up litter from our waterways and the ocean. They have a Kickstarter project and are looking for money to fund their work. More info here. Ken Campbell & Steve Weileman showed a film of their journey up the West coast looking for debris from the Japanese Tsunami. More info about their Ikkatsu Project here.

I’d thoroughly recommend the Golden Gate Sea kayak Symposium for any sea kayaker wanting to attend a festival.