Justine’s Blog

I’m back home in Wales after a tour that was at once exhausting and exhilarating. Over 19 days away, I gave 19 presentations in 11 different locations! It wasn’t quite quite one every day as I had the luxury of 2 days without presenting (and the day I arrived in Chicago). But at the bigger shows of Canoecopia & Jersey Paddler, I gave 2 or 3 talks within a few hours.

It was great to see familiar faces  – some of whom I see less than once a year. I met people I’ve heard about from mutual friends & folks who inspire me. One of my favourite comments was from a man who said that my films aren’t elitist and they ‘bring people along with me’. If that’s true then that’s a great achievement.

I was struck by what a community the paddlesports industry is – or can be. At the big shows, rival brands tout their wares next-to-each-other, then go for a beer together in the evening. We are all trying to have fun & make a living.  If we can work together to increase excitement for paddlesports then that has to be a good thing for businesses & participants.

I’d like to thank everybody who helped to arrange a presentation – lots of people worked hard to get things organised & to the friends and occasional kind stranger who put me up for the night. Thanks to the following shops for hosting talks – Rutabaga (Canoecopia) – Riverside Kayak Connection, Michigan – Alder Creek, Portland (OR) – Bay Creek, Rochester (NY) – Complete Paddler. Toronto – Trailhead, Ottawa – Canoe Imports, Burlington (VT) – The Kayak Centre (RI) & Jersey Paddler.

Thanks to Shawna & Leon from Body Boat Blade & Melinda Moree for spearheading the Seattle talk which raised well over $1,000 for the Washington Water Trails Association. Big thanks to Rob Avery & Valley Sea Kayaks who kindly paid to hire the magnificent Mountaineers building & Hilleberg – who sponsored me with a great tent and tarp for Tierra Del Fuego. Petra Hilleberg came along and donated 2 of those great tarps to the raffle. Local Olympian Greg Barton, who is featured in the DVD, came and donated a $100 voucher towards any Epic purchase. Kokatat donated a PFD.

I also had some play time, including a fun morning kayaking with Shawna, Leon, Seth & Erik at Deception Pass. And I enjoyed some fresh powder with Cheri & Turner, managing to get some snow time on 3 days, despite only having 1 day off. Thanks to Cheri & Turner and 4 Maine kayak shops for organising a great showing in Falmouth.

Thanks to everyone who came to a presentation – it wouldn’t have been much fun without you! The different crowds of enthusiastic people helped keep me excited about sharing the films, despite all the travelling. Thanks to Mark Morel for 2 Seattle photos & Kelly from Complete Paddler for the photo from his shop. Thanks again to the main sponsors, Kokatat & Valley. Valley Sea Kayaks generously sponsored the tour & paid for my internal flights & rental car.

This Saturday, I’m closer to home – presenting the DVD at Summit to Sea on Anglesey. If you are near by then come along and see some films! 6.30 for 7pm. The presentation will be about 70 minutes, followed by a curry.

Whoosh. That’s  how my world feels right now – but it’s an exciting whoosh, as I rush from place to place with “This is the Sea 5”. The launch at Canoecopia, the world’s largest paddlesports show, went well. It was great to see people I haven’t has a yarn with for 5 or 6 years, meet a few others & see the latest bits of gear on display at the many stands.

Too much time inside means I’m forgetting how to put the gear on though.

There were about 10 presentations going on every hour, every day about trips, paddling destinations, “how to” talks & pool demonstrations. Sharon & Alec Bloyd-Peshkin showed how to go a scramble rescue, and had a bit of fun in the process. I gave 2 presentations a couple of times each over the weekend. I showed highlights from “This is the Sea 5″ and showed photos & video from our paddle around Isla Grande, Tierra Del Fuego.

After Canoecopia, I got a lift to Michigan with Tiffany & Pat from Riverside Kayak Connection. They put on a showing of “This is the Sea 5” at a local restaurant with some yummy food. I recognised a few faces from when I’ve been to symposiums in the area & it was great to catch up folks.

Last night the show was in Portland’s Mission Theatre. Thanks to Paul Kuthe & Kate Ross for  putting me up & helping Alder Creek kayak centre to organise a great event. I was very excited to see “This is the Sea 5” up on the bill board outside the theatre – and there is something pretty special about having your film show in a beautiful theatre.

This Thursday night, I’m in Seattle at the Mountaineers, which I’m excited about. There will be a raffle in aid of the “Washington Water trails” and there are great prizes –  a PFD from Kokatat, a Werner paddle sponsored by Body Boat Blade, a fantastic tarp from Hilleberg & a $100 Epic voucher from Epic. Greg Barton will be there, as will Petra Hilleberg & Shawna & Leon from Body Boat Blade. Thanks to Valley Sea Kayaks for sponsoring my travel on the tour & for paying for the fantastic Mountaineers Building.

I’ll also be in Rochester, New York – Toronto  – Ottawa – Vermont – Maine – Rhode Island & the Jersey Paddler show. Click here for details.

If you can’t make the tour, you can always buy a DVD – or download.

I woke up this morning feeling really grateful. I’m so pleased to have finished the editing for “This is the Sea 5” & to see the launch of it going well so far. The US tour is shaping up – nearly all my flights are booked! – shops & venues are excited – it’s great to be involved in the buzz of anticipation. I’ve been so busy making sure that things are happening in time that it wasn’t until the weekend that I paused to feel pleased & thankful for the systems that are in place to make things run relatively smoothly so far. By systems, I really mean people. So I wanted to take the time to say thanks to everyone who has helped to get this DVD from an idea to a reality.

Thanks a lot to Valley Sea Kayaks & Kokatat who have offered financial support for the DVD & the tour & who sponsor me with great kit. Thanks to Matt from GRO kayaks (who imports Valley into the Eastern USA) who has organised the East coast part of the North American tour. Matt was always polite & helpful even when I kept failing to get back to him when my priority was getting the editing finished!

Thanks to all the individuals and shops who are organising the tour. Melinda Moree & Rob Avery have done a great job organising the Seattle show in support of the Washington Watertrails Association, with support from Shawna & Leon from Body Boat Blade. Valley Sea Kayaks are paying for the venue & Kokatat, Hilleberg, Body Boat Blade & Werner are donating raffle prizes. Petra Hilleberg will be there & we hope local Olympian Greg Barton will be too ( as long as he doesn’t have to leave town on business). Kate Ross has booked the lovely McMenamins Mission Theatre for the Portland movie showing, sponsored by Alder Creek. Cheri & Turner from Kayak Ways are co-ordinating a presentation in Maine, with help and support from all the local paddling shops. Every time I think I’m getting on top of everything, Cheri asks me another intelligent questions about a detail that I hadn’t yet considered!

A massive thanks goes out to 3 hard working & humble translators who have translated over 20 thousand words each so that French- Spanish & Italian speaking kayakers can enjoy the films with subtitles in their own language. Yves Thomazeau, Ivan Lamas & Gianfranco Liotta have completed a massive task over 6 months, diligently sitting in front of their computers for many hours. Gianfranco adapted all 60,000 words for subtitles – pasting the text into thousands of titles 2 lines long with no more than 68 letters per line – it’s a mind boggling job. If you live in Italy, please consider buying a DVD from Gianfranco to help him gain a little for his amazing effort.

Mark Bateman has done the DVD authoring for my last 3 DVDs and he does a great job encoding the films for DVD & making sure that the menus work & look pretty. He’s figured out many problems that are totally over my head. If you need a DVD authored then I thoroughly recommend him.

Beth Kennedy from Rapid Media has designed the last 3 DVD covers & the box set sleeve & does a brilliant job every time.

I continue to get most of my music from unsigned bands or websites and pay a small fee for it’s use. Thanks to all the musicians who provide me with the fantastic and varied sound track to the action. A newly updated list of the musicians with links to their websites is here.

And of course, a massive thanks to the lovely and talented paddlers who are featured in the DVD – many cool people gave their time and energy to be filmed. I always feel lucky that I get to meet and hang out with a log of great people while making these films. Behind the scenes, more people offered assistance with logistics and many trip helpers became friends – in particular Monica & Marcelo & Kiko who housed us (& so much more) in Tierra Del Fuego. Thanks to M. Teresa & Carlos from Menorca en Kayak, who lent Sarah Outen & I kayaks when we went for training on their beautiful island, drove us around and generally looked after us.

Thanks to various friends who watched rough cuts of films & provided feedback. Joe Glickman‘s journalistic eye was invaluable with final tweaks to the surf ski film. Big thanks to Barry Shaw for putting up with me going away a lot recently, and working pretty hard when I’m at home. Barry gave me valuable feedback many times & helped me figure out what wasn’t quite right in an edit.

And thanks to magazines, blog writers & hundreds of paddlers out there who have shared the film trailer on social network sites, bought a DVD, or told their friends about the films. Without people spreading the word, no-one would buy the DVD & I wouldn’t be able to make any more. Over all, this feels like not just my project but the cumulative energy of thousands of paddlers & I’m really thrilled to have it out there!