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  • Sarah Outen Pacific Row launch day Sunday!

    Sarah Outen is one tough cookie. She’s also a really nice person. She inspires me by what she’s doing and the way she’s going about it. She’s about to set off on a solo 4,000 mile row across the Pacific ocean from Japan in a bid to become the first woman to row non-stop across the Pacific. Sunday is launch day from Choshi marina, Japan.

    This amazing row is just one stage of a human-powered loop of the world. She’s already kayaked and biked from London to Japan – mostly solo. I was lucky to be asked to accompany Sarah on the kayaking legs of her incredible journey from London to France and from Russia to Japan. My camera and I also joined her for 1000 km of her bike journey so I could film her pedalling from Kazakhstan to China. I’ve got to know Sarah really well over the last year, and really enjoyed spending time with her on her big adventure. She manages to achieve amazing things with humility & a great sense of humour. I was meant to be in Japan now helping her with her final preparations for her Pacific row and filming her launch into the big blue (but injury meant I couldn’t fly). So it’s with a mixture of excitement and sadness (that I’m not there) that I wave Sarah off from a little further away in Wales. Whooooop whoooooop Sarah. YOU GO GIRL!  And don’t eat that chocolate I sent you for at least a week!

    Sarah will be blogging about her trip & even sending back audio recordings and the occasional photo and video. So keep an eye on her website if you want to join her and her trusty boat Gulliver on their big voyage. Or check out her YouTube channel for more videos. I’ll be keenly watching their progress, and I’m due to meet Sarah on the other side…. ETA September, October or November 2012, target – Vancouver! I’ll take another bar of chocolate & a few of her favourite Mars bars – I think she’ll be even more glad of them by then!

    There will be footage of Sarah & I on the kayaking legs of her journey in “This is the Sea 5”. Due out March 2013.

  • Free postage until 30th April


    Unfortunately postage prices are about to go up hugely in the UK. To post 1 small DVD from here to Europe today costs £1.49. On 30th April, it will cost £2.70. To Australia the prices increase from £2.07 to £3.30.

    Cackle TV has offered free postage for our PAL DVDs to Europe & Australia since we first made “This is the Sea”. But this next price hike means we will start charging for postage to the Europe & Australia from 30th April.

    So if you have been debating whether to buy our new DVD, “This is the Roll” which has had lots of great reviews, or been thinking about treating yourself of a friend to our “This is the Sea” box set, or you have your eye on any of our other DVDs… now is the time to buy them while we still post them for free.

    In the US & Canada, I recently started charging for shipping DVDs, but I’ll remove the charges until 30th April…. so wherever you are in the world, you have a couple of days to take advantage of free shipping!! Go on, treat yourself!

    UK/ Europe/ Australasia store.

    USA/ Canada/ South America Japan store

     

  • “Probably the best instructional DVD…”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Carlsberg lager and tasty pastries come to mind when I read the latest review of “This is the Roll” DVD. The pastries because the humorous John Herbert from the very popular KayakYak blog was disappointed not to find some instructions on how to make bread! However, he seems to have forgiven the omission as he had some very positive things to say about the DVD. He comments on what excellent presenters Cheri & Turner are and feels this is the most in-depth rolling DVD. In fact the conclusion of all his friends who watched the film was “probably the best instructional DVD any of them have seen”. In the comments, Paula has added “How can I make it clear that this is the single most helpful instructional kayaking video that I’ve ever seen?” (please read her comment to hear why she thinks that).

    I was delighted and flattered to read such high praise. English folk will probably now realise why it reminds me of Carlsberg – as that was widely advertised as “Probably the best lager in the world”! But please – if you don’t like Carlsberg – don’t be put off!! It tastes nothing like it. Read their full review here.

    Dutch paddler Axel Schoevers has also written a review which you can read here.

    My ribs continue to improve and I went kayaking for the first time last Saturday. It felt great to be on the water on a short, slow paddle from Porthdafarch to South Stack, although in some ways I felt like a beginner as I was nervous of hurting myself. I’ll continue to build up slowly!

    On a separate note, my website has recently swapped hosts so there may be a few glitches where things didn’t move across properly. If you spot a problem, then please let us know at info@ cackletv.com (minus the space – that’s there to try to prevent spam!).

    Happy Paddling!

  • “This is the Roll” reviews

    A few more reviews are appearing on “This is the Roll” DVD.…. most comments I’ve seen have been on Facebook which is a very easy way to leave feedback. This has all been really positive – many people are impressed with how thoroughly we have covered the roll, as well as the pace & the filming.

    One comment simply said, “Your Rolling DVD is the best ever. Clear and concise“. Another said, “It’s entertaining as well as extremely clear and informative.”

    Simon Willis – creator of sea kayak podcasts & the filmmaker behind the “Sea kayak with Gordon Brown” DVDs – has written a review as detailed as “This is the Roll”. You can read it here. It’s the most comprehensive review I’ve read so far so if you want to know more about the DVD from an outside perspective then please take a look.

    A shorter, positive review from Denmark can be read here in English – or here in Swedish.

    In separate news, David Johnston, an kayaker and blogger from Canada recently interviewed me for a series on him website called “I want your outdoor job”, asking me about the business side of making paddling films. You can read the interview here.

    Other filmmakers have also been busy. Nick & Matt at Kayak Essentials – makers of the popular ‘Sea Kayak Essentials’ DVD – have just introduced digital downloads of the individual chapters of that DVD. If you prefer your movies instantly delivered to your computer then check out this page on their website. There are short previews of all the chapters so you can try before you buy. And if you prefer to buy the whole DVD then we sell it in the Cackle TV store – click here for our US / Canada/ Japan store. Click here for UK/ Europe/ Australasia store. Don’t forget we have special offers – if you buy more than 1 DVD you can save money…. Or check out our inspirational digital download films.