I’m eternally grateful to Gianfranco Liotta, Ivan Lamas & Yves Thomazeau for translating many thousands of words from “This is the Roll” and “This is the Sea 5” and to Gianfranco for even more hours helping me to creating subtitles for both these DVDs.

I know some Spanish, Italian and French speakers are really grateful for their hours of work so they can understand Cheri & Turner’s instruction, and follow along on some inspiring adventures. However, sales of DVDs to Spanish, French and Italian speaking countries have been disappointing  – in some cases, most notably in Spain, sales have been less than previous DVD without subtitles.

For ‘This is the Sea 5’, I created downloads of all 8 films on the DVD with Spanish, Italian and French subtitles but I’ve only sold a handful of these downloads.

So, unfortunately it’s not economically viable for me to subtitle any future films, including the film of Kayaking the Aleutian islands which will be out on DVD and download in the new year. I’d love the films to be enjoyed by a wider audience, but takes a lot of time, and costs extra money to produce the subtitles.

It’s good to try these things and a shame that there weren’t more sales as a result of all the effort. Maybe we just didn’t get the word out enough to French, Italian and Spanish speakers that “This is the Roll” and “This is the Sea 5” have subtitles, so if you have a friend who speaks any of these languages and who you think would appreciate the films, then maybe you could point them in the right direction. They can even have 15% discount on the downloads using the codes ‘bonjour‘, ‘hola‘ or ‘ciao‘.

To get in the festive spirit, I’m offering a FREE download of one of my first (and still one of my favourite) kayaking adventures. About 12 years ago, Hadas Feldman & I paddled 650km along the Kamchatka peninsula with novice Russian kayaker Alexey Sitnikov. I’ll just say ‘bears, surf and laugher’ and let the film speak for itself. To get your copy, please click here to go to the download store.  Just use the code ‘santa’ for your free download. I’d love to hear feedback if this is your first download, and please share the good cheer with your friends.

“Kamchatka” is one of the films on my first inspirational sea kayaking DVD, “This is the Sea” – you can buy the whole package as a download, or DVD, or you can pick your favourite films as downloads from just 99pence. There are some great deals on DVDs at the moment particularly on “This is the Sea 3”, “This is the Sea 4”, and “This is Canoeing” – simply because I have more of those DVDs than the others. Click here for the US / Canada/ South America store. Click here for the UK/ Europe/ Australasia store.

The December issue of Canoe & Kayak magazine has the story of Sarah and I kayaking 2500km along the Aleutian islands and Alaskan peninsula. Digital subscriptions are available for anyone interested! I’ll be releasing the film of the adventure in early 2015. I’ll definitely be at Canoecopia and plan to add more places in the US/ Canada to show the film in February/ March/ April – if you’re interested in hosting me presenting the film then please get in touch.

In case you’ve forgotten how good they are…. great value Christmas presents – “This is the Sea 3” AND “This is the Sea 4” – £9.99 or $9.95

“This is Canoeing’ is described as the best collection of open canoeing films ever. It’s won 3 awards….. it’s yours for just £9.99 or $9.95

You’ll get big thanks if you give this to a canoeist for Christmas!

We don’t think there is a 100 % sea kayaking calendar out there at the moment to give a daily fix to sea paddlers, so we’ve made one. At Cackle TV, we’re excited to announce a calendar packed full of 14 fantastic sea kayaking images. The 2015 calendar captures the beauty of wilderness destinations, the excitement of dynamic water and the magic of wildlife encounters. Destinations include Antarctica, Alaska, Patagonia, Wales and Kamchatka, with guest photos from wildlife photographers Daniel Fox and Ben Porter. Enjoy a different photo every month, and keep your favourite pictures.

The calendars are a booklet with a photo on one page and the calendar on the other page. They are A3 size when opened up & A4 size when closed. We have a limited number of calendars for sale and have already sold one third of them.

Click here, or on a photo to go to the store for more information. We also have some amazing deals on DVDs this Christmas – from just £4.98 each if you are in the UK / Europe / Australasia, or from $4.95 each if you are in the US/ Canada.

I’ve been back in Wales for 6 weeks already. Time has flown by, yet I can measure it by events – I became an auntie, I’ve had some fun days out in my favourite tidal races and paddled over to my friends on Bardsey island. My Alaskan photos have been sorted – look out for some in the November edition of Canoe & Kayak magazine as they’re running an article about the trip. They already ran a story on their website which you can read here. I’ve trawled through dozens of hours of Alaskan video footage and cut the 101 day journey down  to the best 150 minutes. There is some great stuff in there and I have the beginnings of a first edit. Simon Willis recorded a 30 minute audio interview with me about the trip that you can hear here.

I’m expanding the CackleTV webshop. I’ve made a sea kayaking calendar which should be on sale next week, and started stocking reflective tape  to make your kayaks, paddles or vehicles more visible in the dark.

On 25th and 26th October, I’ll be at the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth. I’m giving a talk on Saturday at 3.30pm about ‘Paddling the world’ and one on Sunday at 2pm about paddling in Alaska, including the first preview of video from the trip. I also have a stand at the show with Carol from Gael-8. Carol will have t-shirts and hoodies for sale, I’ll have good deals on DVDs, as well as a range of Pesda Press and Rivers Publishing books, reflective tape, Sea kayak calendars and cards and some of my favourite healthy and tasty snacks. The Scottish canoe show is in the Dewars Centre in Perth for the first time, there are demonstrations in the pool and a chance to have a go yourself and entry is FREE to the show and all the talks. Why not come along?

For Dreamteam TV, I filmed on the Sandman and Snowman triathlons in Wales, and I’ve been testing out a ‘slow motion’ feature on my camera in the surf at Rhosneigr – see the video above. I’m excited to play around with that some more if we get better surf!

I’ll be releasing the Alaskan film on DVD and download in the not too distant future – although it will probably be March 2015. I hope to go on a bit of a tour with the film after that.

Meanwhile, there are some great deals on DVDs in my webshop – you can buy both ‘This is the Sea 3’ and ‘This is the Sea 4’ for just £14.99 or $29.95, and buy one, get one free on ‘This is Canoeing’.