Blog

  • "Kayaks of Greenland" Book available


    A few copies of Harvey Golden’s “Kayaks of Greenland” book have landed in Wales. As far as I know Cackle TV is the only company selling this book in the UK. We’ll be selling them for £35 each ( the retail price is $69 in the US ). Unfortunately it’s a big heavy book ( almost 2 kilos of pure quality! ), which I think will cost £4.78 to post by parcel post within the UK, and more within Europe. I’m happy to post them to anyone if they are prepared to pay the postage on top of this.

    I will take some to the Fort William Film Festival with me this weekend, and take some to the Outdoor Show in Birmingham in March, so if you would like one without paying the postage then please come and find me!!

    For more info on the book, see

    http://www.traditionalkayaks.com/KOG.html

  • "This is the Sea 3" cover

    Here’s the final cover of “This is the Sea 3”. You’ve probably already seen the front.

    I’m driving up to Fort William tomorrow to talk in the Fort William Mountain Film Festival. Myself and Patrick Winterton will be giving a seakayaking presentation on the Sunday evening. I’ll be showing a sneak preview from ‘the Falls of Lora’ footage which I think will go down well!

  • Support Fund for Andrew’s family

    The New South Wales canoe club have set up a trust fund for Andrew McAuley’s family, following his tragic disappearance less than 100km short of his 1,500km solo crossing to New Zealand. If you would like to donate something to help his wife Vicky, and 3 year old son Finlay then the details are below.

    I will be donating a percentage of sales from “This is the Sea 3” to the fund, partly because this DVD contains the story of Andrew’s recent 800km journey down the Antarctic peninsula, which he filmed. For every DVD sold I’ll give US$1.50 to Andrew’s family.

    With sad timing, this documentary of Andrew’s Antarctic expedition won “best paddling adventure travel story” at it’s world premiere at the Reel Film Festival in Canada last Saturday. The film “Epics in Ice – An Antarctic Kayaking Odyssey” is a fantastic story, where Andrew’s love of exploration and wild places really shows through. The film festival is now on tour across Canada in over 30 different venues. The organisers, Rapid Media, have said they’ll tell people how they can donate at each event.

    Here are the details,

    Andrew McAuley Support Fund
    To make a donation, please electronically transfer funds to:

    Account name: Andrew McAuley
    Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
    BSB: 062505
    Account: 10184059
    SWIFT: CTBAAU2S (for international transfers)

    If you find a wire transfer too cumbersome, you can go to the NSW Sea Kayak Club’s web site and make an online donation using your credit card:

    http://www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/

  • Highs and Lows


    I’ve just had one of the best days surfing I’ve ever had in North Wales.
    Clean head-high lines of surf rolled onto the north coast of the Llyn Peninsula all afternoon. We put in at the pretty harbour of Trevor, a place we usually drive past on the way to the ‘proper surf’ at Hells Mouth. Today, most people avoided the pounding unpredicatble walls of white at Hells Mouth and there were cars with roofracks parked all along the road on the north coast of the Llyn. The sun even shone for most of the afternoon and everyone had big grins as we crawled off the water as the sun set. Trevor is usually flat but it’s a great spot when it works, with clean steep lefthanders peeling for a few hundred metres. We started off trying to surf outside the harbour but I got caught in the already broken water on my first attempt and struggled to get off the pounding surf as I was driven towards some nasty sharp rocks. We thought better of it, and moved to a slighly smaller, friendlier, and excellent break in the bay. At this spot, you can take a fantastic clean ride in then paddle back out in flat water and set up for another go.

    Despite the fun, I’ve had a shadow hanging over me today as I constantly kept thinking about Andrew McAuley and his family on the other side of the world. I found out last night, UK time, that he might be in trouble so close to the end of his solo kayak journey from Tasmania to New Zealand. I so admire Andrew for living his dreams, for setting himself goals, and methodically and sensibly working towards them. From the few emails I had from Andrew, I have been really impressed with the logical and rational approach he has to challenges – and the guts that he has. It made me feel alive just to read his trip updates every day – which has been the first thing I’ve done every morning for 4 weeks. So Andrew, as I was catching those waves today, feeling the adrenaline surge through my body, I was thinking of you & Vicky, sending you my best wishes and hopes & thinking of how the sea that we love can be so giving and so taking, how it can bring joy on one side of the world and despair on the other. It’s not fair but it’s that unpreditable, untamable beauty that draws us to the ocean.

    I hope more than anything right now that you are OK. If it’s possible to send warmth and energy mentally then you’ve been getting plenty of help from all over the world. It must be daylight again in NZ now. My best wishes are with you and the rescue teams.