Justine’s Blog

This Saturday morning was windy and pretty miserable and a few of us decided to go for a walk on Holy island instead of braving a paddle. The afternoon cleared up nicely for us and we walked the route that we usually paddle, starting at Porthdafarch beach and following the cliffy coast past South Stack and North Stack. South Stack race was clearly visible on the ebb. For most people seeing the sea from the land is their normal perspective, for us it was nice to see a familiar and beautiful paddle from a different angle. We even enjoyed a spot of kite flying!

Yesterday I paddled to the Skerries with Barry & Nick Cunliffe. It was an exciting ferryglide against the tide, with the wind behind us. Great for getting over jet lag! The return journey was even more exciting as the tide was in mid-flow and there were definitely a few breaking waves that we tried to avoid.

Today I am back at my desk catching up with paperwork. If you are in North Wales, don’t forget there is a free screening of “This is Canoeing” tonight at 7.30pm at Surflines. 

You can see a condensed version of the DVD – an hour of the best stuff. Nick Cunliffe & Matt Giblin will also be showing a couple of chapters from their new kayaking DVD, Kayak Essentials.

Bring a friend and a beer?

What a busy few days! Canoecopia followed by a paddle on Lake Michigan & a flight home yesterday. It was fun to paddle alongside downtown Chicago with Alec Bloyd Peshkin, Bonnie Perry & Paul. It was a bit chilly at the start so we played a spot of frisbee to warm up. Once on the water the air temperature wasn’t too cold but the water was pretty icy! I evolved a paddling style which kept my hands away from the waves as much as possible! We explored Lake Michigan’s ‘caves’ (under the pier), and did some ‘rock hopping’ (alongside the harbour walls). It was amazing how the sound of traffic and the city faded away just a few hundred metres away from the shore & if you looked away from thebuildings, you could have been anywhere. The fresh breeze helped with that.

When we got back from the paddle, Alec & Paul did a roll in the Lake. Brrrr – rather them than me!

I got home yesterday morning and managed to stay awake all day to try to fight jet lag. I even did some work. Thanks to Alec for some of the pictures. Check out the BP blog for more.

 What did I do today? Went kayaking!!

 I’m in a kind of daze from 3 busy days at Canoecopia, the biggest canoe & kayak trade show in North America with around 20,000 people usually coming through the doors, excited about the start of the paddling season, wanting to spend hard earned cash on new goodies and to listen to a range of inspirational and instructional speakers. Saturday was madly hectic – good for business I’m sure, and good for catching up with people. Of course, I kept forgetting to get my camera out so here are a couple of photos from about 30mins before it closed, & some of the Kokatat crew 30 mins after it closed! I’m pretty tired so won’t write much now – I’ll just say I enjoyed seeing friends again, meeting new people & listening to some of the other speakers at the show. It’s an amazing gathering of talented and interesting people. Thanks to Darren Bush & his family for hosting me and thanks to everyone who came to one of my presentations, and/ or bought a DVD. There was a big pile of “This is Canoeing” DVDs on Friday and there weren’t many left in the pile at the end of Sunday so that’s also a great thing.

I’m staying with the Bloyd-Peskhins near Chicago again tonight ( thanks to Tom Bamonte for the lift back), and we’re going paddling on Lake Michigan tomorrow, before my 5.30pm international flight! Nothing like packing it all in!! Should be fun.