Blog

  • Under the weather

    I’ve been skiing on the road outside my house this afternoon! I think it’s safe to say that the parcels of kit for Tierra del Fuego, and Christmas presents I’ve ordered on-line aren’t going to arrive today, and we’re not going anywhere. Axel tested out his snow tires and JUST managed to get to Holyhead and back but he looked almost as white as the snow when he returned! I certainly don’t fancy driving on roads that I could successfully ski on! We were meant to go to the Mitchell blades factory in Chester today, to pick up our shiny new paddles for Tierra del Fuego, but that will have to wait for another time.

    The good news for anyone ordering from the UK / Europe / Australasia Cackle TV webstore  is that the lady who posts your DVDs ( Fflur) lives 5 minutes walk from a post office close to sea level (and less snowy) so all orders will still go out. All UK orders are posted 1st class within 24 hours so you still have time to order Christmas presents.

    On the subject of weather, while in Tierra del Fuego, we’ll be sent daily weather forecasts from the other side of the world, in Israel. Karel Vissel is remote weatherman extraordinaire. He offers support for remote kayaking trips, helping people to make informed decisions about whether it’s safe to go on the water or better to stay in the tent. More information can be found on Karel’s website, www.kayakweather.com

    One slight snag to this plan is that we don’t yet have a satellite phone. We need an Irridium 9555 phone so Karel can send us texts of the weather forecast, and also so we can let the Chilean and Argentinian navy’s know where we are. They won’t let us kayak in their waters without a sat phone. If anyone can lend us a phone for 70 days, or has any contacts which might help, then please let us know.

  • Spot on!

    Our overworked postman delivered a precious parcel from Canada today. Inside are 2 spot devices which are being lent to us by Avantura for our trip to Tierra del Fuego. Aleks Gusev has sent us the original SPOT 1, and the smaller SPOT 2, so we can chose which one we would like to take on our trip. Both are personal trackers which can work out our location and send the GPS co-ordinates to a google map on a website so that people can track our progress while we are away. If all is well, we will use the SPOT every evening to send an ‘OK’ message with our location, to let people know where we are and that we are fine. If things go wrong, we have an emergency SOS button that we can press to alert the GEOS International Emergency Rescue Coordination Centre and other pre-determined people ( and we will also have an EPIRB in case of emergency).

    The new SPOT 2 is 30% smaller and can find a GPS signal quicker, but the battery life is shorter. Since we’ll just be using the SPOT once a day then we’ll probably take SPOT 2, but we’ll have a play with them both over the next 2 weeks to get used to them as see which we prefer.

    Thanks a lot to Aleks for sponsoring us with the loan of the SPOT devices. If you are interested in hiring or buying one, then please visit his website, Avantura.ca.

  • Testing, Testing!

    This weekend, Barry and I paddled joined Kev, Gill, Chris & Matt for a paddle down the Menai Straits and an overnight camp at Aber Menai Point. Although, the snow on the Welsh mountains has largely melted it was still a frosty cold night, so was a good chance for Barry and I to test out some of the kit that we’re planing to take to Tierra del Fuego. It was exciting to sleep in our new Hilleberg Tarra tent for the first time and our first impressions are great. It’s roomy, very sturdy and a fantastic shade of red! We’ve both got a large porch to ourselves so there will be no squabbling over space to put our kit! The footprint extends underneath the porches so our kit is off any wet soggy (or frosty!) ground.

    While we were testing out our kit, it wasn’t all serious! I am happy to confess that we spent most of the evening in Kev & Gill’s big family size tent, crowded round Kev’s homemade fire pit, drinking mulled wine and scoffing mince pies! Kev & Gill were in a canoe which meant they had lots of space to make life very comfortable!

    I was also trying out a few new bits of kit from Kokatat. I’ve had the dry suit that I’ll take on the trip for a few months already and I’ve been wearing it most of the winter so far! but on Friday I received a box with some extra goodies in it. I tried out my new destination paddling trousers which I’ll live in when I’m on land. They are very comfy, and fit over my thermals nicely ( which was definitely needed on Saturday night!). I also had on Kokatat’s long sleeved base layer which is very warm and snug, and the new Msfit tour buoyancy aid ( PFD). The new Msfit has slightly larger pockets than the original one and has a new piece of material over where you can clip your knife, so that it’s less likely to get caught on anything. Thanks to Kev & Gill for inviting us to join them! I’m looking forward to a couple of months of camping in Tierra del Fuego. 3 weeks to go!

  • Rolling with Cheri & Turner in Wales

    For those of us with snow outside the window, it’s that time of year when  rolling your kayak is probably the last thing you want to do! Especially a whole day of rolling with 2 of the worlds’ very best rollers and rolling teachers. But read on….. for when the snow melts and the sun returns, Cheri & Turner will be coming to Wales and offering 2 days of coaching on 7th and 8th May 2011. The classes will be on Llyn Padarn, Llanberis and are a fantastic opportunity for anyone wanting to learn to roll, or to develop lots of fancy ( and practical) rolls.They use ‘skinny sticks’ (Greenland paddles), but you don’t have to use a Greenland paddle to benefit from the teaching. I’ve had a bit of coaching from Cheri & Turner and they are excellent teachers. This is what they do all the time and it shows. They are quick to spot what people are doing wrong and have lots of tips for correcting it. They are also lovely people with plenty of interesting stories about competing in the rolling competition in Greenland, making their own kayaks & paddles, and getting out on the water all over the world. Places are limited to 8 people per day, so contact Cheri & Turner if you have any questions, or to book your place.  Email: info @ kayakways.net