Blog

  • TITS 3 – coming soon

    So I couldn’t resist a little joke when I saw 3 birds eating our fatball outside my window. Of course, TITS 3 is not some dodgy blog post, but shorthand for my new DVD ‘This is the Sea 3’ – it could also be the 3 long tailed tits that came to feed at my window!?

    I’m nearing the end of my editing and reflecting a bit on how this DVD differs from the previous two. Each one to some extent shows what I’ve been doing for the last 18 months, and also the fascinating seakayakers that I’ve been fortunate to meet and film. The 3rd DVD stands out to me for it’s expedition footage. There are substantial 3 features about journeys – the longest is a 40min programme about 3 Aussies kayaking almost 800km down the Antarctic penisula. It’s a great film full of drama and humour. It features Andrew McAuley who is, as I type, paddling across the Tasman Sea from Tasmania to New Zealand is pretty much a standard kayak. I think he’s one of the most determined and accomplished adventurers out there at the moment and I wish him all the best.

    Another expedition is my trip from mainland Scotland to Shetland with my partner Alun. It’s probably the most committing crossing in UK waters, with two 25 nautical mile crossings in areas of strong currents and notorious tidal races. We had our fair share of excitement on the water aswell as seeing fantastic birdlife on Fair Isle.

    The final trip is Alun and I exploring the remotest Faroe Islands. These are incredibly beautiful steep rocky islands with cliffs up to 800metres rising straight from the water. The people are wonderful and we were invited into their homes, fed delicacies, treated to live music crammed into a schoolroom, and shown puffin hunting. Oh and I can’t forget our force 11 gale which caused lasting damage.

    There’s also great tidal race action, Greenland style rolling and features on legendary paddlers including Paul Caffyn. You can see more information here, and you can pre-order from my website if you want to get the DVD first. Good kayaking stores will also be stocking the DVD so make sure your local shop orders some!

    I better stop typing and get back to editing so it’s ready for the launch at Canoecopia on March 10th.

  • Skiing in Val D’Isere

    I’m ripping it up in Val D’Isere for New Year, skiing with Alun and some of my family.

    I spent New Year’s eve throwing up ( not alcohol induced) but after a day recovering I’m now feeling ready to hit the slopes again. It’ a shame it’s high winds and poor visibility today and most of the lifts are closed, but Alun and I are going to brave it anyway this afternoon. At least we have a hot tub to jump into at the end of the day! And it’s been snowing hard for 2 days so tomorrow should be great!!

    The photo is Alun and my sister’s boyfriend Alistair ( could be confusing!) heading down towards Tignes.

  • All thing Greenlandic

    So I’ve put the finishing touches to the first completed section of “This is the Sea 3” – it’s about Greenland-style rolling featuring Cheri Perry and Freya Hoffmeister. I’m really excited about it because it’s got some fantastic shots in it, including various angles of Cheri doing the straight jacket roll, and of course Freya doing her famous handstand in the kayak. Cheri starts it off by talking about how the different traditional rolls developed, which is through Greenlanders going out in their kayaks to hunt seals and being capsized while sorting out their hunting equipment or while they were entangled in their hunting line. Rolling up from a compromising position was often a matter of life or death. So I decided I’d like to use a few photographs of Greenlandic hunters to show what Cheri was talking about and a few people put me onto a fabulous resource. The Danish Polar centre has a wonderful collection of old photographs from Greenland including loads of kayaking images. I even found the one on the cover of Harvey Golden’s new book!

    You can browe the photos for free at www.arktiskebilleder.dk The database is in Danish only but Kirsten Klüver from the Polar Centre gave me some great tips. if you look for kajakker you will have all kayak-photos, starting with the oldest. You can limit the search by writing kajakker fangst (kayaks hunting), but you might miss some relevant photos. Or just search for kajak to bring up even more photos. I’m using 4 photos form here in the DVD and I struggled to chose which ones because there are so many fascinating shots. If you want to use the photos for anything then Kirsten can send you them at full resolution for a small fee ( depending on what you want to use if for). You can email Kirsten at
    Needless to say these are 2 of the images she sent me ( although I didn’t use either of these!)

    So while I’m on the Greenland theme, in 2007 Cackle TV will be the first place in the UK where you can buy to Harvey Golden’s new book, “Kayaks of Greenland” .

    The book is a complete look at the history and development of the Greenlandic Kayak from 1600 – 2000. Harvey is shipping a limited number over to Wales so if anyone on this side of the pond wants one then send me an email. I’ll put them on the website when they arrive but if you want to save on postage, I’ll have the books with me at the Outdoor Show in Birmingham in March and the Anglesey Symopsium in May (the 580page book crammed with diagrams, photos and information is pretty heavy!!)

    So this blog post is not about me for once!! If I carry on like this I’ll turn into Derrick!?

  • Nearby discoveries


    High pressure is finally here and this bright and clear weekend we did familiar things is slightly unfamiliar places.

    On Saturday we paddled on the east coast of Anglesey from Moelfre to Point Lynas and back, amazed at the calm seas and warmth in the December air. I’ve paddled in that area before but don’t really know it very well. It’s not as dramatic as the ‘Stacks’ and a bit lower lying but quite a lot of wading birds, a few isolated pebbly beaches and not many houses. A late-ish start meant we arrived back just as the sky was turning black. On Sunday, we walked up Cwm Llan and over to Cwm Merch near Nant Gwynant – places I drive past quite often but have never explored. It’s a really pretty area and it was great to get to know some of the nooks and crannies of my homeground a bit better. Again, we got back to the car as darkness fell – not too hard to achieve near to the shortest day of the year!