Justine's Web Journal

New Cackle TV blog & website

2010-02-11T11:41:00.002Z

Cackle TV has a new look..... this blog will no longer be updated.

please go to our new blog and website for the latest news and adventures.

This 'old' blog will remain on the internet so you can still search the archives.

Thanks!!
Justine
x

January rolling practice

2010-01-24T16:27:00.004Z

'I've never actually rolled an Avocet', I thought to myself as I shot down another steep wave, and I couldn't help thinking that today might be the day that I would get to try it out!

I've been inside editing for an unhealthy amount of time recently and I nearly didn't go playing today as I want to finish editing "This is Canoeing" by tomorrow afternoon, but I decided a break would be good for me, apart from plain old fashioned fun!

I hadn't paid any attention to the weather forecast or swell conditions all week, I just jumped in the van with Barry and off we went! Roger & Greer were already on the beach, and we were soon headed for Penrhyn Mawr just as the tide was starting to flood. As we came round the corner where you first see Penrhyn Mawr in the distance, there were already quite an impressive collection of white waves on the horizon. We were all glad that we hadn't arrived any later in the tide when the waves usually pick up...
OF COURSE THE PHOTOS NEVER LOOK AS BIG AS IT FELT!

In the end we had a great day, lots of fantastic rides, a few scary moments, and I can now say that I can roll the Avocet with absolutely no problem AND the sea isn't that cold! We had a total of 4 rolls between us, although I had half of those ( just making sure it rolled OK!).

We had a paddle up towards South Stack, then lunch on a bouldery beach, before heading home...
Now, here I am back at my desk..... ! Time to finish off the editing.. I hope to have a preview clip up on the internet tomorrow or Tuesday which I'm quite excited about.

THIS IS A PHOTO FROM A WEEK OR SO AGO, THIS FELLA WAS USING THE WOODSHED AS A PLATFORM TO GET TO THE TASTY IVY GROWING ON THE WALL BEHIND IT.

"This is canoeing" cover done!!

2010-01-21T22:55:00.003Z

If you've ever tried to make a film then you might know that the editing is only part of the job!!

Alongside cutting, mixing and adding voice-over are all sorts of other tasks like making sure you have the correct credits for the film, getting permission to use the music, and not least telling people about the DVD!

One of the big jobs is always designing the DVD cover. As this is the first impression that many people get of the DVD, it's a pretty important undertaking! I'm lucky that Canoeroots magazine and Rapid magazine are sponsoring "This is Canoeing" so Beth Kennedy, their designer, has been working hard on the DVD cover for the last couple of weeks. I know she's also working hard finishing designing the upcoming magazine issues so I'm really grateful to her for doing such a good job and for politely making revisions and then more revisions when I'm sure she's really busy! I'm also grateful for the comments of those people who I sent earlier versions of the cover to, everyone has helped to create a cover that I'm really excited about.

So here it is - I hope you like it!

Over the next few days I need to finish the editing, complete an update of my website which Derrick Mayoleth and I have been working hard on over the last few months, and get a preview clip up on the internet. So watch this space!

Esquif & Kokatat sponsor "This is Canoeing"

2010-01-11T20:31:00.005Z

I'm delighted to announce that Esquif Canoes are headline sponsoring 'This is Canoeing", my upcoming DVD celebrating the single blade.

Esquif make excellent canoes that can be seen in "This is Canoeing" in 3 of the 12 films. Mark Scriver, Paul Mason & Andrew Westwood paddle the Taureau whitewater canoe that they helped design on the amazing Moose river in New York State. These talented paddlers are incredible to watch as they make grade 5 rapids look easy with 1 blade and no spray deck!

The Esquif Spark was the most popular choice for the competitors in the 2009 Open Canoe slalom National Championships. I filmed this exciting event and am editing the film of the competition at the moment. It's amazing to see paddlers spin the Spark on a sixpence as they negotiate the slalom gates.

15 year old US team member in womens canoe slalom, Hailey Thompson, is also seen paddling a Spark in the OC Nationals. There is a film about Hailey in "This is Canoeing" which looks at her remarkable success and how family trips in Wisconsin as a child inspired her to get out in her canoe as often as possible.

Photo credit: Michael Thompson

Kokatat watersport wear are the main supporting sponsor. I have been sponsored by Kokatat for about 5 years and have found their paddling gear to be excellent over this time period. I still wear the same dry suit I received from them 5 years ago and it's seen a lot of wear! I wore it every day on the 2 week trip down the Mountain River & it kept me warm and dry. I'm delighted that Kokatat have chosen to support this DVD and help bring these canoeing films to you all.

Another great sponsor is Rapid Media. Their editor and publisher, Scott MacGregor is featured in one of the films taking his 4-year old son Dougie down the Petawawa river in October. And their magazines, Canoeroots and Rapid Magazine are sponsoring the DVD. Beth is in the process of designing the cover for "This is Canoeing". I've just seen the first draft and it looks great!

Not long now!

Skiing...... in Wales!!

2010-01-09T22:01:00.003Z

We've really been taking advantage of the snow and sunshine in Wales over the last couple of weeks and the last 2 days Barry and I did something I hadn't really thought I'd do in Wales - we went skiing!

Neither of us have touring skis so we carried our skis and boots up to the top of a couple of big snowy hills, swapped walking boots for ski boots and skied back down. Yesterday we went in the Ogwen Valley and took 2 hours to trudge up a long snowy ridge. I don't know how long it took us to get down, but it was much much quicker!! We stopped quite a few times to savour it.

Today we went with Nick, Matt & Mark into the Carneddi and had a great outing. We carried the skis up almost 600metres - and thankfully the snow was harder today so our ski boots didn't break through the surface as often and it wasn't that bad walking uphill. The others had touring bindings and skinned up the hill - it looked a lot easier and more fun... I definitely have to get a pair of touring skis! The downhill was great fun - not the best snow in the world but none of us cared, we were out skiing in our backyard - Barry and I could even see our house across the valley as we were walking up.

Nick & Matt have been working hard on a new instructinal DVD that they will be releasing in the next month or so called "Kayak Essentials"

I haven't been working hard enough on my canoeing DVD, "This is Canoeing" but I'm back on the case tomorrow morning and will stop myself from looking out of the window for the next week or so to try to get the editing finished.

Original art

2010-01-07T14:22:00.000Z

I was obviously a very good girl this year as Santa was very kind to me!

It all started a few weeks ago when Barry and I paddled out to Bardsey island and stayed overnight with the family who lives there year round. We had a great time, bought a few christmas presents ( homemade Bardsey island rugs & hats, and hand woven willow) & caught up with Steve, Jo, Rachel & Ben. Their daughter, Rachel, loves art and showed us her GCSE art projects which were really imaginative and beautiful. I particularly liked a charcoal painting she had drawn of a seal.

We returned home and a week or so later, Barry told me that he would have to lie to me over the next week - but all in my best interests of course! I knew his lies involved making something out of wood, but I could never imagine that when he left home telling me he was going to work, he really drove down the Llyn Peninsula, paddled to Bardsey in a force 5 westerly & lumpy seas to pick up a charcoal painting that he'd commissioned Rachel to paint for me! When he got home that evening, I had no idea where he'd been!! He then disappeared off to make a lovely frame out of a big piece of elm and gave me the end result. The seal charcoal by Rachel is her first commission, but I don't think it will be her last!!

RACHEL - CHICKEN & TURKEY FEEDER AND ARTIST!

Snowy Snowdon horseshoe

2010-01-04T18:50:00.004Z

Today was so beautiful with sunshine, blue sky and great snowy conditions on the mountains. How could I spend the day inside knowing that friends were out making the most of these pretty rare conditions in Wales? So I postponed starting work again and spent the day out in the hills with Clare & John D (they didn't have to twist my arm very hard!).

We did that classic Welsh walk - the Snowdon horeshoe, up the knife edge Crib Goch ridge, down, round and up to the highest peak in Wales, then down via the striking peak of Y Lliwedd. We were glad of our crampons and axes on some of the scrambly bits and the spikes stayed on our boots for most of the day. I'm home now and still smiling from a great day out on the hills.

Time to start back on "This is Canoeing" now I'm energised from lots of fun playing outside!

CLARE ON CRIB GOCH, SNOWDON SUMMIT IS DIRECTLY BEHIND HER
ONE OF THE PINNACLES ON CRIB GOCH

Sunny Snowy Wales

2010-01-03T18:38:00.003Z

A cold wintery spell has lingered over Wales for the last 2 weeks allowing us to get out and enjoy some great snowy walks and scrambles over the festive season.

Yesterday a group of us tried to climb up Snowdon up the Watkins path, but it's not a well used footpath so once we started to climb more steeply we lost the path and were wading through knee to thigh deep snow making very slow progress. The short days and deteriorating weather persuaded us to head back down once we'd reached the ridge by Y Lliwedd. Today we walked the Nantle ridge - a lower but very beautiful walk with a few scrambly bits. What a gorgeous clear sunny day with great views to Snowdon behind us and the Llyn Peninsula with sea on both sides.

Life is good!

Fifth Award for "South island circumnavigation"

2010-01-01T20:05:00.001Z

2009 ended well for Cackle TV! We won a 5th major award for the film ‘South island circumnavigation’.
The film of my 3 month expedition has just won best sport and action film at the BOVEC Outdoor Film Festival in Slovenia on 30th December.

This is the 5th win for this warts-and-all film which documents the challenges and the joys of this treacherous 2,400km journey. Barry Shaw & I faced constant surf, strong winds and a helicopter evacuation due to illness.

Other wins for “South island circumnavigation” are,

*best adventure film at Kendal MFF, 2008
*best adventure film at the Reel Paddling Film Festival 2009
*best adventure film at the Waterwalker Film Festival 2009
*Best water-based adventure film at the Montreal travel and Adventure Film festival 2009.

“South island circumnavigation” is just 1 of the award winning films featured on the DVD ‘This is the Sea 4’. The DVD double disc set contains over 2 and a half hours of exciting and entertaining seakayaking films from around the world. Didn't get it for Christmas? It's available in our on-line store, with free shipping worldwide!

I am currently working on a DVD about open boating called “This is Canoeing”. I've got so much great stuff that it will be another double DVD disc set with almost 3 hours worth of footage! It's due to be released in March 2010.

Festive paddle

2009-12-28T20:14:00.005Z

Where was everyone today on the sea? It was a glorious day with sunshine, views of snow covered mountains, very little wind and fantastic clean waves at Penrhyn Mawr tidal race.

After a lovely Christmas Day with our families, Barry and I have enjoyed a couple of days working off some of that turkey and trimmings. On Sunday we hoped to paddle to the Skerries, but the wind was a bit stronger than forecast and we decided it would be much more sensible and sane to walk along the north coast of Anglesey from Cemlyn Bay for a few hours. With our legs suitably exercised, today the wind dropped right off and allowed us a wonderful window to enjoy one of our favourite paddles from Porthdafarch to Penrhyn Mawr and South stack. When we first got to the tidal race at PRM it was just starting and we played in small waves before heading around the rocks to South Stack.

It was a gorgeous clear day with views across to the snow-clad peaks of Snowdonia and the Llyn Penisula. We tried to surf some small waves off South Stack before heading back to PRM for one more play. By then it was mid-flood and the waves had built to a fun and exciting size. The lack of wind and moderate swell meant the waves were lovely and clean and we had a great time flying down the faces, burying our bows, getting spun around to face backwards and both of us coming very close to rolling. I thought I was going to get looped at one point and was half relieved (it's pretty cold out!) and half disappointed ( it would have been pretty exciting!) not to.

We were having so much fun that we stayed out until it practically got dark, landing back at Porthdafarch at 4.30pm. What a great day!

We are trying out some Valley seakayaks - Barry was in the Avocet today which he loves and found very maneuverable & responsive. I was in the Avocet LV which I really enjoyed ( although I'd like another go in the Avocet aswell). I'm enjoying trying out some different kayaks as they all respond slightly differently and I'm sure it's good for my paddling to experience that.

We're also trying out some Mitchell blades which are made pretty locally to us in Chester. We both like the way they feel in the water.

"This is the Sea" available as digital download

2009-12-16T15:40:00.003Z

"This is the Sea" is now available as a digital download for the bargain price of under 6 Euros - just in time for Christmas!!

I'm not sure how you wrap up a digital download, but you could always put the download information in an envelope for someone, or buy it for yourself - after all we should spoil ourselves at Christmas aswell!!

Or perhaps you could download it and burn it to a DVD for someone?

Then again, if you'd rather have the physical disc in it's original cover with the disc artwork then you can buy them from the Cackle TV store, or from your local kayaking and outdoor shop. Remember you can save money if you buy more than 1 DVD.

I'm interested in feedback about digital downloads. The recommended price seems a bit cheap to me, but then maybe it appeals to people who wouldn't pay more for a physical DVD?

Should I make the other DVDs available as digital downloads? What about selling individual films from the DVDs? For example I could sell the award winning film of my circumnavigation of New Zealand? This is part of "This is the Sea 4", but I could offer just the NZ film for a lower price?

Hilbre & the Seiont - packed weekend!

2009-12-06T18:03:00.004Z

They say variety is the spice of life. On Saturday, Barry and I headed to the Wirral to catch up with his family and my sister, who was visiting the area. We went for a seapaddle out to Hilbre island at the mouth of the Dee Estuary - Barry's local paddle when he lived on the Wirral. The tidal race out the back of the island was working well and we had a bit of a surf before having lunch on the island with some friends.

We headed back to North Wales and today joined John Domony and Gordon on a river paddle down the Seiont, a mostly grade 3 river which is right on our doorstep but which Barry and I haven't done before. The level was high and we had to portage around one low bridge, but it was great fun and bouncy.

Winter white out!

2009-12-04T13:02:00.005Z

It's been snowing on and off for the past week or two and yesterday afternoon I got out into the mountains for the first time this Winter. That's the beauty of living in North Wales - we have sea, rivers and mountains right on our doorstep, which makes it possible to chose your poison depending on the weather and what you feel like.

Tara and I had a great walk up Y Garn and back down the Devil's Kitchen. There was loads of snow and a bit of ice up top, and white-out conditions for the top 100-200metres. Map reading was quite tricky!! But we had a great day! Back to work today, before the weekend tomorrow!

Strait Flush

2009-12-03T12:23:00.003Z

Last Saturday a windy forecast & big swell kept us from venturing onto the more exposed parts of the coast. Instead we opted for a 'sheltered' but longish paddle from Moel y Don on the Menai Straits, south and then out of the Straits to Lladwyn island. I've only paddled this stretch of coast once before and that was when I paddled around the whole of Anglesey in a day so I wasn't really stopping to see the sights! A 30km round trip was enough on this day and we ended up returning practically in the dark. Barry's godson Jake was visiting so he went in the double with Barry. The mountains of Snowdonia and the LLyn peninsula looked beautiful with a dusting of snow and I really enjoyed the different scenery and fresh crisp air!!

I tried out a Valley Aquanaut LV and Barry and I tried out Mitchell Paddles, which we liked.

"This is Canoeing" to launch at Canoecopia 2010

2009-11-27T09:23:00.007Z

I finally have a name for my canoeing DVD. I'm not sure why it took so much agonizing over because as soon as Paul Mason said,

"Why don't you call it "This is Canoeing"?"

a lightbulb went on! I'd already thought of 'This is the Canoe' but it somehow didn't have a good ring to it!

Some people will be relieved ( or disappointed?) that the acronym is the very respectable TIC !

The other big news is that I'l be launching the DVD at Canoecopia in Wisconsin in March 2010. I attended this event once before 3 years ago when I launched "This is the Sea 3". I was impressed with the huge scale of it, there were so many stands and people there. At the time - as a seakayaker who had never tried canoeing - I was surprised to see that half of the hall was full of canoes and open boat stuff! Things I knew very little about!

This year, I'll be looking with interest at everything at Canoecopia, on the seakayaking and canoeing stands! The programme isn't finalised yet but aswell as launching the world premiere of "This is Canoeing", I'll be giving some salty and fresh water presentations. I'm excited that my good friends, Shawna Franklin & Leon Somme from Body Boat Blade will be there and we may even all give a presentation about our trip to the Queen Charlotte islands.

Back to now.....I only have 105 days left until Canoecopia! Realistically thats about 70 days left until I need to have finished the editing, graphics and cover! Plus letting customers, shops and distributors know about the DVD!
It's a bit of a tight deadline but I'd like to launch the DVD at a big event at the start of the season, so the gauntlet has been laid down! Editing is going well and the stuff looks great! ( although I say so myself!).

The DVD is being sponsored by "CanoeRoots" and "Rapid magazine". The staff there have just launched new websites which you should check out. They will also be designing the DVD cover for me so thanks a lot to Beth and Scott for that.

Right, back to it! I hope to see some of you there at Canoecopia!

Remember, if you are a facebook user, you can follow Cackle TV on facebook for more frequent short updates.

North Coast paddle

2009-11-16T16:39:00.003Z

I've been making the most of having use of a Valley Rush surf kayak and have been out surfing 4 times in the last 10 days! I really love the kayak and am trying to learn to do it justice. For the last 8 years I've been surfing a longer surf kayak without fins and feel my surfing hasn't really improved in that time ( although that could be mostly because I don't do it that often). I've had some great moments on the Rush .... I just need to learn to string them all together on 1 amazing ride!! Barry has been given a raider pro waveski by a kind man in Oxfordshire (thanks Ronny) and he's been enjoying trying to get to grips with that as it's a competition ski and not easy to even sit on, never mind surf!

On Sunday, Barry and I left the surf boats at home and took out some seakayaks that we are borrowing from Valley. We tried the Avocet and the Avocet LV on a lovely paddle on the north coast of Anglesey. We managed not to break the carbon kevlar one, which was the first good thing about the day! I enjoyed manoevring the kayaks around the rocky coastline and through slots and gaps. We paddled out to the island of Middle Mouse & had a play in the small tidal race there, which was also great fun. I'm looking forward to getting out and trying the boats in a bigger tidal race, and trying out the Nordkapp LV and the Aquanaut LV.

Algonquin in the Autumn

2009-11-03T21:36:00.004Z

Doug is sitting happily in the bow of the canoe clutching Kitty the toy cat in one hand and his lego magazine in the other hand. His dad, Scott MacGregor, paddles their red canoe along the Petawawa river, one of the classic canoe journeys in Algonquin Park. Inbetween looking after his toys, eating snacks and casting his fishing rod, four year old Doug will pick up his small wooden paddle and help his dad propel the boat down the river.

It's a frosty October morning. It was hard to get out of our sleeping bags this morning and once we were up, the cold was biting. My thermometer says minus 7 and there is frost all over the gunwales and seats. Who's idea was this anyway? Scott was too cold during the night but Doug tells us how he was so warm in his double sleeping bag that he took his hat and socks off. Now he's happy because he's toasting a marshmallow over the morning fire.

Over the next 3 days we paddle some challenging rapids, admire some beautiful Fall scenery and enjoy a remote adventure! We don't see anyone else on the river. Doug is a trouper, surviving - enjoying - the cold temperatures and challenges of living from a canoe. Perhaps that's because he has his own small barrel full of his favourite toys!

Thanks a lot to Scott MacGregor for organising the trip down the Petawawa and for Paul Britain for paddling with me and providing a Mad River Canoe for us. And of course to Dougy for letting me come along. It was a great fun trip and I'm looking forward to editing the footage and telling the warming story of this father and son paddling down a beautiful river.

Helen Wilson has written an account of the Vulcano symposium that we both attended in Sicily. Read it here.

Filming with Becky Mason

2009-10-29T20:35:00.003Z

Becky Mason is known for paddling a heritage red cedar & canvas canoe using traditional strokes and for making the canoe dance on the water. I had the pleasure to film her on the beautiful ‘Lac Vert’, or Green Lake in Quebec, along with her husband Reid. The clear water and white cliffs on the lake made it easy to get some pretty shots, while Becky talked about her love of canoeing, how she has been influenced by her dad Bill Mason and how nature inspires her artwork. The next day she did some painting for me and we went to see her exhibition on ‘portages’, which shows her interpretation of different treescapes that she’s seen while portaging her canoe on trips.

Canadian Flag ship!

2009-10-28T21:34:00.005Z

It was the first time Kevin Callan had been paddling since a man dressed as a bear jumped on him and fractured his ribs! The accident happened while Kevin was filming a programme about bear safety and put the affable canoeist out of action for a month. When I came over to film with him, he was back less than subtly with his red canoe covered in white maple leaves, like a gigantic amalgamation of Canadian flags! The best selling author is a lovely funny chap who likes the canoe as a means to get into wilderness. He believes strongly that people should use it or lose it. We spent almost as much time driving as we did filming, and of course stopped for breakfast at that Canadian institution, Tim Hortons! it was cold enough at 9am to get some moody misty paddling shots on the Matawaska river before driving on to the famous Barons canyon in Algonquin park. We even paddled through some ice!

Kevin was kind enough to give me a copy of his latest book, 'Wilderness Pleasures' which I enjoyed reading on the plane ride home. He'll be featured in my canoeing DVD, out in 2010. Thanks to Kevin for the photo!

Grade 5 rapids with no spray deck!

2009-10-27T17:02:00.003Z

SPOT THE CANOE ON CRYSTAL RAPID!

Imagine running a grade 5 rapid without a spraydeck! That’s what the whitewater canoeists that I just filmed effectively do. I spent the last 3 days kayaking down the Independence and Moose rivers in New York state to film a bunch of talented whitewater paddlers with a single blade! I portaged around most of the grade 4 and all of the grade 5 rapids while they executed perfect lines in highly turbulent and fast flowing water. Former world champion Mark Scriver was voluntarily the probe on most of the hardest rapids and the only open boater to run a 45foot slide with a man-eating hole at the bottom. Martin Talbot also showed nerves of steel, picking a line through ‘Sureform’, a shallow grade 5 rapid described by fellow canoeist Andrew Westwood as a cheese grater! My favourite rapid was Crystal on the Moose river, it’s so beautiful and imposing with a series of ledges forming white wedding cake layers. Mark and Martin were the only ones to run the meaty line on that and I was more than happy filming from the safety of a rock!

I did gain in confidence in my own whitewater skills over the 3 days and on the last day I ran a 13 foot waterfall, and ‘double drop’, which is just as it sounds. I would have liked to have a go in one of the small whitewater canoes, but not on that river!! After the 3 days I have lots of great footage, and some exciting carnage and I’m looking forward to putting it together.

I had loads of help - thanks a lot to Eric for helping me get into position on the river and for carrying my camera in his kayak. Also to Mark Scriver for lending me a liquid logic kayak and a brand new Werner paddle ( sorry about all the scratches!). Thanks to Paul Mason for inviting me along to the weekend, for organising things and forgiving me for not watching his canoe and paddle when he went into rescue mode (he got them both back, fortunately!). Thanks also to Martine Amyot for helping with the filming and to all the other paddlers. Thanks also to Andy and Vanessa for putting me up in Chelsea.

FILMING WITH MARK SCRIVER

South island circumnavigation wins another major award!

2009-10-27T07:42:00.002Z

I just heard that the South island circumnavigation film won another major prize at an international film festival. It won the Thalassa adventure prize at the 8th Montreal Festival of Travel and Adventure.

Here are the comments of the jury;

"On behalf of the entire festival team, we wish to congratulate you for this remarkable film, the jury (and we) found there was a true authenticity to your film and a positive and enthusiastic spirit althrough the film and that we were able to share the emotion with you throughout the adventure".

I was relatively close to the event, being based in Chelsea, Quebec filming for my canoeing DVD, but I was too busy filming at the weekend to attend the event. What a shame, but I'm very happy to have won the prize. That's the 4th first prize that the New Zealand film has won at international film festivals. The other first place prizes are,

Best Adventure Film, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, UK
Best Adventure Film, Reel paddling Film Festival
Best Adventure Film, Waterwalker Film Festival

'South island circumnavigation' is also a finalist at the Graz Mountain Film Festival in Austria from 11-14th November, and was a finalist at the 18th Dijon International Adventure Film Festival in France last week.
If you missed it at the festivals then you can always see this film (and many other good stories!) on 'This is the Sea 4' DVD!

I'll write a blog about my filming in Canada in the next few days, once I get home.

All work and no play...

2009-10-14T15:11:00.002+01:00

What's the point of working for yourself if you can't take an afternoon off when it's warm and sunny!? Yesterday was clear and bright with a slight wind and a small swell. Barry and I haven't been 'to the races' together for ages and decided to spend a few hours playing in an old favourite, Penrhyn Mawr. It was definitely play and not work, but i did grab a bit of video using my waterproof sanyo xacti camera. Conditions were lovely - it could have been a little bit bigger, but we're not complaining!

Cackle TV on Facebook

2009-10-12T19:18:00.004+01:00

Despite my better judgement (!), I've finally been persuaded to join Facebook! I've always said that I already spend enough time on my computer and don't want another reason to sit in front of it.... BUT - I recognise that a lot of people use Facebook to communicate and are more likely to keep up-to-date with the happenings at CackleTV if I put the latest news on Facebook. So today I created an account for CackleTV in my name. I intend to use this to let people know about updates to my website & blog, and to give notification about special events, upcoming adventures etc. So if you'd like to follow along in this way then please send a friend request or become a CackleTV fan! ( if that doesn't sound too pretentious!)

The photos are of the Vulcano Seakayak symposium in Sicily and were sent to me by Giuseppe Di Mauro, who makes seakayaks in Italy - Seakayak Design, and Overline kayaks. We tried the SKD 526, and the Overline Aretusa. Thanks Guiseppe!

Fine food, fine wine and fine paddling in Sicily!

2009-10-11T09:25:00.007+01:00

I feel like I've just come back from a 10 day holiday, although Barry and I were officially "working" at the first international seakayaking symposium in Sicily, Italy.
The event was organised by Francesco Petralia who takes people seakayaking in Sicily through his company Maremotu. Francesco & GianFranco looked after us wonderfully, leaving us with a fantastic impression of the seakayaking culture in Italy. Get in touch with Francesco via his website if you fancy some warm water seakayaking ( and fine cuisine) this winter!!

During the symposium, eating and drinking well was as important as paddling. During the 3 days of teaching classes, there was officially 2 hours break for lunch ( and in practice perhaps a little more). All the participants could be seen sitting around tables filled with pasta, local cheeses, salamis, olives, sun dried tomatoes, huge pieces of fruit and a little red wine or beer. I would never usually drink alcohol at lunch while paddling but it somehow seemed the right thing to do in Italy! While in Rome...... Every lunch and dinner time, we either ate at restaurants or Francesco's family cooked some delicious traditional food for us.

The paddling itself was great with clear, warm, turquoise water and we mostly wore light shorts and a rash vest or light-weight shirt to kayak in. The location was the beautiful Aeolian islands to the north of Sicily - a group or 7 volcanic islands which spear the sea. The symposium was held on Vulcano, one of the 2 still active volcanoes. On our first day we were officially free to be tourists and we climbed up the volcano to see all the plumes of sulphuric gasses streaming out of the crater. In the afternoon, we kayaked 14 miles around Vulcano, exploring caves and impressive volcanic formations. We even found our own little cave with a hot spring in it. Our route can be seen here on Sanoodi.

On the 4th day there was a 3-mile race and we were encouraged to take part. It was Barry's first race, and my second ( I competed in a middle distance race in Jersey, Channel islands about 11 years ago, shortly after i started kayaking). There was quite a fun buzz around the race, and a force 4/5 wind made things a bit more exciting. We had to kayak around a few rocks, across to the neighboring island of Lipari, and back the same way. Although this is the Mediterranean, there was a small tidal race between the two islands with wind against tide forming a few breaking waves. This worked to my and Barry's advantage as the people in the faster racing kayaks were a bit slower in the rougher water. Barry overtook the leaders and was winning the race until the sea flattened out closer to the bay on the way back. He came in 3rd, close on the heels of 2 people in an Inuk, and another fast boat. I came in 5th, and 1st woman. I have avoided competing in seakayaking before, preferring to enjoy the sport, but I really enjoyed this race - it was great fun!

The next morning a 4-day tour of the islands started. By now we were familiar with "Italian time" which was more of a guide to when things would start than an actual rule. But from now on time-keeping was a bit more important as we had between 20-30km to paddle every day. It still wasn't close to 'swiss time' and the 9am start on the first day turned into more like 10.45am, but that still wasn't bad for some people packing their kayaks for a trip for the first time! We really enjoyed paddling around and between Vulcano, Lipari, Salina & Panarea.
The routes can be seen on Sanoodi - day 1 -
day 2 - day 3 - day 4 -

We saw a pod of dolphins jumping playfully out of the water and a turtle! The first turtle I've seen from a kayak!

Also a guest at the symposium was Helen Wilson, who is very good at Greenland style rolling ( and entered the Greenland kayak championships in 2008), and a good paddler and fun girl! We enjoyed hanging out with Helen and thanks to her for helping me with some of my rolls!
FRANCESCO AND GIANFRANCO

The Runt did good

2009-09-27T12:13:00.002+01:00

Happy belated birthday to my family dog, Monty!!

I remember 16 years ago when Monty was born that he was the runt of the puppies with dodgy hips and other problems. We chose to keep him because we couldn't sell him. A huge long doggy life later, our lovely Monty has out-survived all his brothers and sisters and is being spoilt with cake by my mum in Jersey. Good on ya Monty ( and mum)! I haven't seen Monty for a while and hope to get home to give him a big hug later this year.

On another note, Barry and I are off to Sicily for a seakayaking symposium on Wednesday. We're teaching some classes and then joining in with a 4 day paddle around some beautiful volcanic islands.

I have also fairly recently put up more video clips on YouTube. CackleTV has it's own Youtube channel, which you can check out here. Most of the clips are already on my website, but I've moved them to Youtube. However there are a few new ones, and I'll be adding some more. Derrick and I are working on an update of the website, which hopefully will be live before too too long!!

Ray Goodwin filming

2009-09-24T08:58:00.006+01:00

I spent the last 2 days filming with Ray Goodwin, a level 5 coach in Canoeing, river kayaking and sea kayaking, and a very fine paddler and person! On Tuesday we went canoe sailing on a brisk wind on Bala lake. Ray rigged up a big sail on 2 rafted canoes. I did my best to make it more interesting for them by crawling up to the bow of one of the canoes. Apparently the front of the canoe was worryingly close to the bulging bow wave, but we survived it! Thanks a lot to the Glan Llyn outdoor centre for helping us out and lending us a RIB for safety and filming.

Yesterday we visited the river Dee at Llangollen and Ray showed off his slick moves with a bit of surfing, maneuvering and poling. He loves the fluidity and quality of movement in a canoe. He's a brave man as he again allowed me to flail around in the bow of his canoe with a camera while he surfed the bottom wave! Or perhaps I'm a brave camerawoman?

The real star of the show was actually not Ray, but his trusty dog Dillie! Dillie faithfully - even eagerly - sits in the bow of Ray's canoe while he floats, carves into micro-eddies, or surfs waves. I'm assured she is the ultimate test of the difficulty of a rapid - if it's straighforward she remains at the front, if it's slightly harder then she sits down in the middle. For those "Are you sure you should be doing this?" rapids, she cowers behind Ray!

At the end of the day Ray lent me one of his boats and gave me a few tips on running the lower waves and drops on the river, so thanks Ray!

Today, I'm back in my office with piles of tapes and memory sticks, wondering where to start with all the editing!

THANKS TO PAUL FULBROOK FOR THIS PHOTO OF ME FROM THE SCOTTISH SYMPOSIUM, Thanks to RAY for the photo of him and Dillie - I was too busy filming to take any pictures yesterday!

Scottish Canoe Symposium 2009

2009-09-21T21:11:00.004+01:00

I had great fun at the Scottish canoe symposium at Glenmore Lodge last weekend. It was good to be a student, taking classes and trying to get some good habits before the bad habits start to set in too much! I enjoyed having a fairly steep learning curve and picking up new tips and tricks.

I was paddling solo whitewater for the first time, and I paddled 2 different sections of the river Spey - from Loch Insh down to Aviemore, and from Knockando downstream about 6km. It was great fun on grade 1 and 2 water. I found it easier to control the canoe ( to some extent!) than I had thought I would.

About 70 people attended the symposium and it was fun to chat to a different crowd of paddlers and learn more about canoeing. On Saturday night I showed about 25 minutes of video from my upcoming canoeing DVD, which seemed to go down well! I still don't have a name for the DVD though.... ideas very welcome!

Thanks to Venture Canoes for lending me a canoe for the symposium. I wasn't sure they'd lend me one of Sunday after I showed the video of Barry and I pinning my canoe on the Rannoch Moor crossing, so thanks a lot for having faith!

There are a few more pics on the Stirling Canoes Blog here.

I'm back home in Wales and tomorrow I'm filming with Ray Goodwin doing some strong wind sailing on Bala Lake!

Rannoch Moor crossing

2009-09-18T20:03:00.003+01:00

Crossing Rannoch Moor is one of the classic Scottish canoe journeys, which can form part of a crossing of the whole of Scotland from West to east. I wanted to film this varied journey for my upcoming canoeing DVD, and experienced and talented canoeists Dave Rossetter and Scott Simon volunteered to take me and Barry across the moor ( in reality looking after us as much as they were being filmed on the adventure). We only had 3 days so Dave very wisely decided that we’d start at the highest point and let gravity help us eastwards. Other people start at the sea and have a gruelling 6km carry uphill before they can float on water! We met at Loch Ba at 9am on Monday, to be greeted by a thick mist and a thicker swarm of Scottish midges. Dave and Scott politely kept quiet about how long it took Barry and I to sort out our gear for the 3 day trip and patiently kept swatting. By 10am we were as organised as we were going to be and after a short drag across the heather we were afloat.
The midges and the sound of the busy road were soon left behind, and we were alone on a mirror calm loch, weaving our way between tiny tree-covered islands. How very peaceful. After a few kilometres we reached the start of the first river, and the first whitewater section of the trip. To novice canoeists like Barry and I, the river looked really rocky and shallow, and surely impossible to paddle down? We were certainly nervous about how we’d avoid all the rocks. Dave and Scott showed us how it was done –there was one rock which acted like a magnet for both their bows, but they did a very slick job of weaving between all the others and lining themselves up to slide down the tongue over a couple of ledges. Barry and I started off well, but parked ourselves on a couple of rocks lower down and had to get out and pull the canoe off. It was great fun though, and we did really well on grade 2/3 rapids considering it was only the second time Barry and I have been in a tandem canoe in whitewater.
A few exciting hours later, we reached another loch. The sun won it’s battle with the mist and the impressive peaks of Glencoe came into view around us. What a glorious day. Another grade 2 river flowed from the end of the loch which Barry and I survived! We made camp on a peninsula at the start of the next loch, in a vain attempt to find a breeze to keep the midges away. It looked like the plan had worked for about half an hour, but as we started to cook, they found us, letting us know wherever we had an exposed millimetre of flesh. We all hid in our tents to eat! The weather remained good for the final 2 days, which were full of pretty lochs, grade 2/3 rivers, and a couple of short portages around dams and weirs. Barry and I were really glad we’d borrowed a trolley from Surflines as it made the carry so much easier. Poor Scott’s trolley had a flat tyre and was designed for a seakayak so it didn’t work very well and he ended up carrying his canoe the old fashioned way.

The rivers gained in volume as we got lower and on the pushier sections we had to line the canoes down some of the grade 3 rapids. It was really interesting to see how that worked. Dave and Scott tried to sail across the bigger lochs but dare I say it, the weather was too good and we had to paddle the entire 15 km length of Loch Rannoch.
The last morning saw the biggest excitement as Barry and I completely messed up the very first rapid of the day. We were trying to sneak left on a grade 3 set of drops but got our canoe pinned at the first hurdle. The bow was stuck on the rock and the stern was stuck on a bit of tree stump. The whole canoe was stuck in the flow of water and buckled really worryingly. I thought the canoe was a gonner but fortunately Scott and Dave took a small saw out of their emergency kit and cut through the tree. Within 5 minutes they freed the boat. The damage was 2 buckled gunnels and broken fittings on one of the seats (and a bit of a bruised ego for me). I think we were pretty lucky. And as Scott pointed out, at least I was filming it so it’s a good story line!

I’m now at Glenmore Lodge for the Scottish Open Boat symposium which starts tonight with whiskey tasting! That might not help my learning process at the sessions tomorrow!! I'll be showing about 20 minutes of video from the upcoming canoeing DVD on Saturday night, which I hope will go down well!

Thanks very much to Dave and Scott for making such a fun trip possible and for keeping us ( or getting us) out of trouble! Dave is a level 5 kayak coach and aspirant level5 canoe coach and is available for coaching and guiding through his company Standing Waves. Scott is a level 5 canoe coach based out of Wales who is relocating to Scotland in October and will be available for coaching/ guiding from then.

Bardsey in the sun!

2009-09-12T21:34:00.003+01:00

Summer is finally here and we had a wonderful day today paddling to one of our favourite destinations, Bardsey island. We were in short sleeves and sunglasses and had a great picnic on the grass, followed by an always pleasurable visit to our friends the Porter family, the local farmers. I was trying out the Rockpool Alaw Bach, which I found to be very playful and responsive.

Scotland tomorrow for some canoeing action across Ranoch Moor!

Tandem canoe

2009-09-10T22:38:00.004+01:00

Crossing Scotland's Ranoch Moor by canoe is a classic British open boat journey. there's a bit of everything - portaging, lining, sailing, and even paddling! All of it is across beautiful Scottish moorland, and much of the time we'll be miles from roads or civilization. Next week, Barry and I are spending 3 days canoeing from Loch Ba eastwards to somewhere near Loch Tummel. We're joining Dave Rossetter and Scott Simon, both very experienced canoeists. both are BCU level 5 coaches & Dave runs 'Standing Waves', one of Scotland's leading canoe & kayak centres. They are hundreds of times more experienced than us in canoes and we're happy to know we are in good company. I'll be filming the journey for my upcoming canoeing DVD, and hoping we can keep up & keep upright!! The following weekend we'll attend the Scottish open canoe symposium at Glenmore Lodge, where we'll enjoy being students and learning a few things about canoeing. On Saturday night, I'll be showing a preview of some of my canoeing footage from my upcoming DVD.

but....... back to our preparations for all this excitement. Barry and I have only been together in a tandem canoe 3 times so we thought we'd better get a bit of practice before next week. Today we enticed some friends ( who happen to be good canoeists & coaches !) with promises of homemade chocolate cake and a pub meal. But first they had to run down the river Dee with us! Jim and John obliged and we had a great day paddling about 5 or 6 miles down the grade 2/3 river, stopping to play at many of the features. The recent bad weather disappeared leaving us with a wonderful sunny day - who could ask for more?

Sorry the pictures aren't very good quality - I was testing out a video camera which also takes still photos. I now see why it's marketed as a video camera, not a photo camera!!

Thanks to Jim Bradley for a couple of photos of Barry and I surfing a wee wave!

Wind & rain, wind & rain, wind & rain, & Harry!

2009-09-04T20:12:00.006+01:00

Harry Whelan came to stay with us for a few days this week, visiting from London with his girlfriend Esperanza. Harry and Barry paddled around Britain together in 2005 ( with Phil Clegg) but don't see each other that often these days so it was good to catch up and go paddling - despite the strong winds and heavy rain that we've been having in Wales for about 2 weeks. We had a fun trip out to the Skerries, and enjoyed seeing about 30 curious seals and plenty of seabirds. Today we ventured to Rhoscolyn and battled into the wind out to the Beacon, before a downwind paddle along the coast, then sneaking back to the beach, sticking close to shore. Harry and Esperanza were in a double and luckily they practiced rolling it before we went out - Esperanza has only been paddling 2 months and she grabbed onto the hull, while Harry rolled it from the back. On our way back to the beach, they got a bit too close to a submerged rock. Suddenly the rock wasn't submerged anymore and a wave was curling over towards the rock. They just managed to paddle out over the wave, but it capsized them in a really bad place. Fortunately Esperanza grabbed the bow ( and her paddle) as they'd practiced and Harry rolled the double up again! They wouldn't do it again for me to film!

Barry and I have been trying out some Rockpool kayaks - the longer G.T. and the smaller playful Isel, which were good fun kayaks.

Mountains of fun!

2009-08-24T13:53:00.008+01:00

I've spent many weeks seakayaking around the edge of islands, countries or continents ( not the whole continent!). I love the perspective that you get from a kayak exploring beautiful coastlines, and accessing remote beaches which are hard to reach in any other way.

Over the last 2 weeks I've discovered another watery way to explore wild and beautiful places, but this time I'm going right through the middle. The river highway winds around or cuts straight through obstacles in it's path; mountains are eroded and swamps & undergrowth are brushed aside by the powerful flow. The river travels right through the heart of the wilderness, providing a wonderful means of access and an exciting mode of travel through wild lands.

My 12 days on the Mountain River with Blackfeather were a fantastic experience. The scale of the mountains blew me away, we travelled 370km through them, never seeing, smelling or hearing a sign of man ( except for ourselves & 1 other canoe group which we passed on our 3rd day). Breathing in the pure air wild air was a simple pleasure that I never tired of. I sometimes hear people describe wilderness as merely an untapped resource, and many people don't value it, saying things like 'there's nothing there'. I've always considered wilderness to be pockets of the earth in it's purest form and this trip really reinforced that feeling. Just being there energizes me.

It was fun to follow a river from it's source to where it flows into another river. We started on a lake, portaged about a kilometre to a tiny stream, dragged and heaved the canoes for another 5-8km on the aptly named 'push me, pull me creek', then breathed a sigh of relief when we reached Black Feather Creek where we could finally float. Blackfeather Creek provided some grade 2 and 3 rapids and we had 2 capsizes and a pin on our first day of actual paddling. Everyone was fine and the canoes were rescued quickly.

Overnight rain raised the river by a foot or so and turned it chocolatey brown. There were a few trees to dodge on a bitterly cold day as we continued down to the confluence with the Mountain River. The Mountain river is mostly braided and quite wide with a flow of around 8-10km/ hour. There are lots of rifles and wave trains and a few more challenging rapids. Most of the challenging rapids form in or around the 5 canyons. These were all very beautiful and dramatic with high vertical cliffs. The bow paddlers certainly got very wet in the wave trains and the spraydecks we had on the canoes were essential on a few occasions, or we'd have been swamped with water.

We paddled for about 4 or 5 hours a day mostly, and spent the rest of the time preparing and eating fantastic food, chilling out and going on walks. There are enough trees to look pretty, but the vegetation is sparse enough that it's quite easy to climb up pretty high and get amazing views back to the campsite and the surrounding mountains. Well, it's easy if you don't mind negotiating steep scree! From our high points, the tents always looked so tiny and it reinforced the huge scale of the wilderness up there. Amazing landscapes varied from multi-coloured cliffs to an eerie moonscape, to a huge mound that is building up from a natural sulfurous spring. We even visited a 'warm spring', described unkindly by Peter Wilson as 'underwhelming'! However, Wendy and I enjoyed a dip in a shallow pool there. The rocks on the trip were amazing, with intricate fossils of corals & shells and stripy sandstone rocks. Heather's carry on luggage on her way home was 75% rocks!! I'd have brought more home if I didn't have a limited baggage allowance ( and hand luggage full of cameras!).

We saw many different groups of caribou; one herd of about 10 crossed the river right in front of our camp, and we saw others from the canoe. Wendy and Rob saw a grizzly bear on the edge of our campsite, but he stood up on his hind legs and then ran away when he saw us. Jim and I saw a black bear on the last day and I as rushed for my camera, Jim spotted 2 cubs alongside their mum. Unfortunately they all ran away before I got back but the glimpse of mum standing up looking at us still remains etched in my mind. We also spotted a moose and Ian got a glimpse of what may have been a wolverine. But perhaps the best wildlife news was the lack of a species! Contrary to what everyone warned me about - there were almost NO BUGS! I got 2 mossie bites on the whole trip and there wasn't a bug net in sight!

I've been home in Wales a few days - I went seakayaking on Sunday and managed to forget my spraydeck!! well, I haven't been wearing one for over a month!! Paddling my seakayak on a 10 metre tide in the Menai Straits felt weird to start with - the fast current was fun but my kayak felt so light, maneuverable and low to the water! It wasn't quite so forgiving as a heavily laden tandem canoe with a good paddler in the stern with me! Once I got used to the new (old) feeling, I found I had a slightly different approach to breaking in and out of the eddies besides the bridges and I felt like I had a slightly more subtle understanding of the water. Maybe I'm just romanticizing my trip away!? Even if I am, I definitely think that my paddling skills in general are really benefiting from trying different disciplines, and it helps to keep my passion for paddling alive and new!

Thanks a lot to Blackfeather, Canadian North airlines and Northwright Airways for sponsoring my trip down the Mountain River. I've started loading the video onto my computer to edit it!

BirchBark canoes

2009-08-06T15:23:00.015+01:00

ERIK AND KITTIGAN.............. QUINN, MY ENGINE IN THE TANDEM CANOE FOR FILMING ERIK

What a whirlwind few days! On Monday I went paddling in Wisconsin's North Lakes with Hailey Thompson and her mother Jean. They are an inspiring family who love being outside and canoeing, but find time to be kind, generous and environmentally conscious. We paddled on 3 of their favourite lakes, portaging between them. It's a really pretty area with clear water, sandy beaches, lush trees and the occasional loon. Hailey confessed to actually ENJOYING portages because it makes her appreciate paddling on the next lake much more when she gets there. Her and her mum were enjoying escaping to the area where they both learnt to paddle as they've had a busy summer traveling around America and Canada while Hailey competes in canoe slalom competitions. This will probably be their only chance to paddle here this Summer as the whole family is preparing to go to the World Championships canoe slalom competition in Europe in a few weeks time where Hailey will be competing in the US senior team. So much talent and such a nice girl too.

Early on Tuesday I drove north to Grand Marais, near Grand Portage to meet up with Erik Simula, who is nearing completion of a 1000 mile journey by birchbark canoe around the Minnesota arrowhead. Accompanied only by his dog Kittigan, Erik has taken 102 days so far on this impressive journey which links up many traditional paddling and portaging routes. I filmed him on his last paddling leg down part of the Pigeon River, portaging down the impressive Partridge Falls and then on to Fort Charlotte. He took his canoe off the water at Fort Charlotte for the last time and all that stands between him and completion of his adventure is a 9 mile portage down to Grand Portage. He plans to arrive on Friday in time for the annual rendezvous at Grand Portage on Friday. Thank you very much to Quinn and Bob McCloughan of Bearskin Lodge who made it possible for me to film Erik. Quinn came with me to meet Erik and provided a tandem canoe and paddle so I could travel down the river with Erik and film him. He stayed overnight with us by Partridge Falls and was a great sport, powering the canoe right, left, back and forwards as I asked him to for filming! I spent last night at the beautiful Bearskin Lodge, which is a luxurious lodge on the Gunflint Trail, right by a great lake for watersports and in the middle of moose and bear country. It will be a shame to drag myself away!

Today I drive south to Minneapolis airport for a flight to Edmonton and tomorrow I head north to Norman Wells With Canadian North airlines for my trip down the Mountain River with Blackfeather.

DERRICK, MARY AND GRYPHON FROM MY FLYING VISIT

Open Canoe Slalom - 100 first place titles for Kaz

2009-08-03T05:30:00.008+01:00

Thanks to Hailey Thompson's dad, Michael for use of these great photos from the Open Canoe Slalom national championships. i've got loads of great video footage which I'm looking forward to editing when I get home later this month. I really enjoyed being at this event, the people were all really friendly and good fun and I became quite fascinated with the sport. I had 3 tries at running the river myself in a tandem canoe and I'm really grateful to Kaz, Gail and Carolyn for taking me down the course. i filmed some great people including John Kaz, who won his 100th first place title in a national competition today. what an amazing achievement. He won the event in light weight high performance canoes that he makes through his company Millbrook Boats.

I also did some filming with Hailey Thompson, a 15 year old girl from Wisconsin who is making a big splash in the whitewater arena. not only did she win 4 or 5 events at this competition, she's also on the US senior team in her decked canoe and she's about to head off to Europe to compete in the World Championships ( the first time that women have been allowed to compete in international canoe events).

The photos are ( from top to bottom)
1. Hailey Thompson
2. Kaz
3. Amy and Pete
4. Hailey and Kaz
5. Vanessa and Gail

Open Canoe Slalom National Championships

2009-07-31T01:06:00.003+01:00

I'm in Wausau ( pronounced like Warsaw in Poland) but this one is in Wisconsin, America! There is a good artificial whitewater course here and it's hosting the ACA open canoe national championships. I've been here for 2 days of practice and the 3 day event kicks off tomorrow. It's a totally new thing for me but I find it fascinating. Some of these guys are really precise, and it's different for them in an open boat from a kayak as they have to take drier lines to prevent their canoes filling up with water.

I have mainly been filming John Kaz, who has won over 90 national titles ( mostly in Slalom but also in marathon and downriver canoeing). He's really good to watch as he makes it look effortless and easy - not surprising really with that track record. i've been able to try out my new camera mounts and they work pretty well on the canoes and i've got some good shots.

I've also been filming Ely Helbert, two times world play boating champion for OC1 ( open canoe). I was very nervous when my camera was on the front of his kayak as he pirouetted and rolled in a shallow hole, but both Ely and camera came up unscathed!

I also filmed Carolyn Peterson, many times US National Champion in various canoe disciplines.

I got to have a go at the lower half of the course with John Kaz in a tandem canoe which was great fun. We only hit rocks twice and we made most of the gates which I thought was quite good considering I am almost a complete beginner at this!! I really enjoyed it and would have liked to have a few more gos but he was saving himself for tomorrow ( or perhaps he was concerned for the canoe!!)

I'll try and post some photos soon!

over and out from wisconsin!

The Mountain River

2009-07-24T13:15:00.006+01:00

In August 2009, I have the chance to canoe down the remote and beautiful Mountain River in northern Canada. I will film this amazing journey for a forthcoming canoeing DVD. I hope to make a 30minute documentary about the trip.

The trip is a 2-week adventure organised by Blackfeather – the wilderness adventure company. For over 30 years, Black Feather adventurers have paddled untamed rivers, hiked amidst glacier-capped mountains and sea kayaked through sparkling ice fjords. The director of Blackfeather, Wendy Grater is one of the guides on Justine’s trip. Wendy has been canoeing and guiding for decades. Easygoing, yet committed to excellence, her energy and enthusiasm for sharing her love of the wild is contagious.

THE RIVER
The Mountain River is visited by less than 150 canoeists every year. It's considered Canada's best wilderness river by the Blackfeather guides. To get there is an adventure in itself – from Edmonton we fly with Canadian North Airlines to Yellowknife, which I always thought was very remote, but that is just the start! From there, Canadian North takes us even further north to Norman Wells, a small town with no road access. In Norman Wells, we meet the group, and take another plane – a Northwright Air float plane this time – to Willow Handle Lake at the start of the Mountain River. Northwright will land the float plane on this beautiful lake – surrounded by mountain peaks.

For the next 12 days, we’ll canoe 370km down the fast flowing Mountain River to where it empties into the Mackenzie river about 80km north of Norman Wells. The river drops over 1200metres in elevation, with large volume rapids, fast currents and five beautiful canyons. We start in the MacKenzie mountains, a northern extension of the Rocky Mountains which reach heights of 2700metres. They dominate the background with rock colours of bluff, grey, cinnamon, green and maroon. They are home to many types of big game, including caribou, moose, Dall’s sheep, wolves, wolverine and grizzly bears. The river flows in constant meanders with grade 2 and 3 rapids that can change drastically due to often rising or falling water levels. With spraydecks on our canoes, we should be able to run them all. We’ll take some time out to explore and hike. It’s possible to ascend rocky slopes and ridges to get great vistas of the surrounding wilderness.

Lower down, the Mountain river runs quickly through sandstone and limestone mountains, with interesting tufa formations and even a natural spring. The canyons offer some challenging paddling – third canyon requires some tricky manoeuvering as there’s a ledge in some water levels and big standing waves. By now we have dropped 1000 metres in height and the vegetation is lusher with thick stands of black spruce and aspen crowding the banks. In a couple more days we burst into the wide Mackenzie Valley lowlands and continue to the confluence with the Mackenzie river. A chartered boat takes up upstream up the wide river, back to Norman Wells.

I should just mention the food!! I have a copy of Blackfeathers camp cook book http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Cooking-Black-Feather-Eating/dp/1896980317
Even looking at the pages made my mouth water and I know I’m not going to be losing any weight on this trip!!

SPONSORS

Thank you very much to the sponsors who have made this trip possible. Blackfeather have given me a reduced price trip & Wendy has helped greatly with logistics. Canadian North has donated my airfare from Edmonton to Norman wells and Northwright Air have sponsored my float plane journey to the start of the river. Sanoodi have provided a high tech rechargable battery and solar panel so I can recharge my camera batteries and record a GPS route of our journey, which I'll upload to the internet once I get back.

I'm really excited about this trip.... now I just have to pack!

Filming Evolution

2009-07-22T22:57:00.006+01:00

Technology is moving so quickly these days with high quality video cameras becoming smaller and cheaper. I've been spending quite a lot of time lately trying to adapt my filming techniques to make the most of these advances and to create a camera mount which will sit on a canoe, as opposed to a seakayak. My canoeing DVD, and future DVDs will all be shot entirely in widescreen High Definition which means that the minicam system I was using with a pencil-cam on a pole is OUT! That system is 4x3 and standard definition. Plus I can't use the suction mount that has been fantastic for me on my seakayak because there isn't a suitable flat surface on most canoes.

So I've bought a couple of new cameras and I've been working with Barry and a local whizz, Clive Hartfall to make a mount. The results can be seen in the pictures. We have 1 mount which can hold 3 different camcorders, depending on which is the most suitable for what I'm trying to film. The largest is the Sony HC3 which sits in the big clear waterproof housing. With a wide angle lens, this is the best quality footage, but it's also heavy and bulky! The yellow camera is a waterproof and High Definition camera from Sanyo. Its not full HD but the picture quality is very impressive. I can check what I'm filming by looking in the screen and delete clips that I don't want, but the downside is that the camera is not very wideangle. The tiny black camera is designed as a helmet-mounted camera, the Contour HD camera - this is full high definition and very widescreen but the camera isn't waterproof which could be a bit of an issue!! And you can't check the image before you start recording or play back your footage to check you haven't just filmed 10 minutes of the sky! So all 3 cameras have plus points, but none are perfect!! The challenge now is to get good at playing to their strengths & getting some fantastic canoeing shots!! I fly to America and then Canada next Tuesday for 3 weeks of filming and canoeing.

CONTOUR HD CAMERA

RIver Dee canoeing

2009-07-22T11:09:00.004+01:00

ONE OF A GROUP OF SOLO CANOEISTS WE MET ON THE RIVER

Yesterday Jim and I went back to the river Dee to run a longer section by canoe. We paddled up the canal from the shop/ cafe to the Chain Bridge and then carried the boat to the river and paddled back with the aid of gravity!

I am really enjoying learning something new, and I'm finding that tandem canoeing is really good fun. We spent a couple of hours dropping just a couple of miles down the river, practicing ferry gliding, reverse ferry gliding, maneuvering and breaking in and out. We also ran the most fun rapids several times, usually picking different lines each time. Our route can be seen here on the Sanoodi website.

I now feel much more ready to go on a 2 week remote canoeing trip in the far Canadian north!!

JIM WAITING FOR A HORSE DRAWN BARGE TO PASS US ON THE CANAL

PS. To the mint tea drinker who asked where Barrington Shaw was - he's busy working - one of us has to earn a living! But he'll be out playing at the weekend!

Bardsey and Tudwel islands

2009-07-20T13:04:00.004+01:00

We spent the weekend at the tip on the Llyn Peninsula visiting various wonderful islands! On Saturday, Barry, Tara and I paddled into the wind to Bardsey island where we caught up with our friends the farmers, Steve, Joanne, Rachel and Ben Porter. It was a choppy, quite challenging paddle which we all enjoyed. We saw lots of birds, including a dozen or so puffins.

After a refreshing cup of tea and a chat, we headed back against the last of the flood, with the wind at our backs. The wind had dropped a bit but still gave us a bit of a push home. The current was still flooding out of Abadaron bay quite quickly with 1-2 metre waves forming a race off the headland. After one last exhilarating surf we were back in the bay and heading for fish and chips! That evening we joined Jim Krawiecki and Pete Astles on the beach as they camped overnight nearby. The rain drove us back to the van for the night and we even managed to sleep in!

On Sunday, John Dommony joined us and we headed to the Tudwel islands - the first time I've ever paddled there! We had a great day, exploring both islands, poking our noses into caves, listening to all the birds squawking and watching the seals. The was an exciting swell on the exposed sides of the islands. We even saw Bear Grylls bear bum.... but that's another story!

Last stop was Porth Ceriad for lunch and enjoyed a bit of fun catching a few waves in the warm water. What a lovely weekend!

One bladed fun

2009-07-16T23:36:00.004+01:00

As the sun went behind a cloud and the cloud started leaking, Jim Bradley and I braved the grey afternoon and launched our canoe onto the Menai Straits. We had great fun for a couple of hours, breaking in and out of the tide which was flooding under Menai Bridge & practicing maneuvering the canoe in currents. Jim claims that open boating is his weakest paddlesport but he made me feel very comfortable in the boat as he steered it from the stern and gave me a tip or two. We even had a go at poling. At the end of the day, we paddled down to the white house on the island and tried to have a surf on a standing wave there. We didn't get much of a ride, but we did stay upright, which was a victory as far as i was concerned!

The days paddle was training for a big canoeing trip I'm going on in August and that I'm very excited about. It's a trip in the far north of Canada with Blackfeather. I'm filming the 2 week journey for the canoeing DVD I'm making. I'll write about it all very soon!

Arctic Kayaking - keeping tradition alive

2009-07-14T09:06:00.003+01:00

I recently received an email from Douglas Mcnaughton in Hudson Bay in the Arctic. He is a local pastor who is trying to re-introduce a paddling life-style to the Inuit and native youth. He was emailing me because he recently showed one of my DVDs to the Inuit youth and, according to Douglas, it came as a total surprise to them that non-Inuit people are using kayaks all over the world. It also surprised them that we like kayaking!

Douglas was emailing me to ask my permission to show some parts of my DVDs to some of the villages in the Arctic, as part of their Paddling For Life Program, which is a program to help them reclaim a part of themselves. Of course, I said I'd be honored.

I also asked Douglapermission to share some of the things he emailed me about on my blog as I was touched by the work he is doing out there and fascinated by the situation in the Canadian Arctic which I knew very little about. So the rest of this blog is Douglas words.
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The average age in the Eastern Arctic is only 15 years. It is not like Greenland; there are no traditional style kayaks except for those that are made for museums or collectors. We have been trying to re-introduce kayaking as a life-style. We have also been using kayaking as part of an anti-suicide program. The suicide rate is over 10% right now. Most youth would love to be able to go out of the ghetto like villages that the Government put them into in the 1970s; but they cannot buy gas for a motor boat or even for a snow mobile. In short, you can only go as far as you can walk and the next village is ussually 120 mile away along the coast.

I want to show your DVDs to the youth so they will dream, hope and maybe even try and kayak the routes that Inuit used for thousands of years. Their grand-parents routinely paddled 70-100 miles a day across some of the worst water on the planet. I am not asking that they start with those routes. I want them to see that other people, even non-Inuit, can and do travel long distances and enjoy this most amazing Inuit watercraft.

The villages where we would be viewing parts of your DVDs would be on the Eastern Hudson Bay and the Hudson Straits. (much better kayaking on this side of the Hudson Bay and more wild.) Right now everything is ice for the first time in June for maybe 10-15 years. There is some open water in the Northern Hudson Straits but the rest is still all ice today. Everything is upside down.

Until the 1960s the Inuit here had hundreds of very long kayaks (about 22 ft) and known to be fast even by Inuit standards. (Hudson Bay records and missionary journals routinely report them sustaining 6 knots.) The last kayaks of the 1960s were all sold to museums and the men and women who made them and travelled in them have mostly passed away since then. Since then some efforts have been attempted to make new kayaks, but the traditional cultural knowledge and life-style is all but totally gone. So we are trying to transition to modern kayaks with all of the modern clothings etc. (However they do not like european paddles at all.) Not everyone agrees with using modern kayaks designed by non-Inuit. Modern production kayaks are much smaller and slower according to the elders and "not as safe." They even say my traditional style paddle is too short for the "fourth gear" level of paddling they would have with a 10-12 ft paddles. They also say they never rolled their kayaks; and they were 100% against teaching rolling, until I told them it is now a sport and a competition in Greenland. (Instead of rolling they always tied the kayaks like a catamaran or trimaran or whatever for bad weather or for sailing in stronger winds or for training young people. There is documentation that supports these methods.) I am working to learn exactly how this was done at sea. They always say, very easy.

Your DVDs will also help the few remaining elders who kayaked 40 some years ago, because your movies will get the youth talking and asking question about kayaking that the elders can answer. (They know things about kayaking that I have never read in any books. ) My hope is that then the youth will be supported in the effort to reclaim this part of their culture and a healthier life-style. When I first proposed this idea the elders did not like it because modern kayaks do not paddle like traditional kayaks and they did not think todays youth could paddle safely. Since then Inuit youth programs have taken a handful of inexperienced youth from various villages and travelled from the eastern Hudson Bay and travelled hundreds of miles with them to the top of the Hudson Bay in six weeks. Then the following year, the program gathered a new group of inexperienced youth and traveled from Ivujivik to Quaqtaq, basically the length of the very worst part of the Hudson Straits. Then the next year another inexperienced Inuit youth group did the whole of Ungava Bay and every village. When I tell people in the south that inexperienced youth did these incredible trips as their first kayak exerience most say they don't believe it. Most non-Inuit people don't believe the Inuit youth either. Maybe that is why the Inuit youth here seemed to identified with the young Russian who was with you in the Kamchatka adventure. So that is one part of your DVD that we will be viewing in the villages. (The Inuit young women also were excited that two women where stronger kayakers than the Russian man. They say now they understand that women can kayak too!)

The Inuit also like it that you try new things in your DVDs and new places to kayak around the world. It will encourage them and already has encouraged the few that have seen your DVD at my home. They say you opened their eyes.

In other places, where you show some of the traditional skills you frequently refer to these as "Greenland style". The Inuit elders here do not like it when non-Inuit refer to traditional paddles and kayaks as Greenland kayaks. (So I won't translate those words exactly) You probably know that the Greenland Inuit also once completely lost the knowledge of kayaking. This is common knowledge in the Arctic and a story passed on for generations now. It was a determined group of Inuit from what is now Arctic Canada who brought the knowledge and skills of kayaking back to the Greenlanders in the early to mid-19th century. The Greenlanders had been without Kayaks or even the knowledge of them by 1810 when the Ross expidition arrived (European historical confirmation). Some epidemic had killed off so many Greenland Inuit after the 16th or 17th century that the cultural knowledge was lost and so they only hunted seals from the ice. A famous Inuit shaman in the Eastern Arctic, whose name is still well known, had a vision in which he saw the Greenland Inuit as lost people (inuit means people). But he did not know they were in Greenland or where these lost people were living. He just knew from the vision that they were real and needed to be found so that the Inuit could be connected again. He and maybe 30 Inuit families began a long wandering trek through the Arctic over many many years. They eventually crossed over into Northern Greenland and found the remains of old dwellings but no Inuit, so they travelled south down Greenland until they met the Greenlanders. There they stayed and taught many Inuit cultural skills like the knowledge of kayaks and other things. The descendents of some of these Inuit are still in Greenland today (although others returned to the area around Pond Inlet and Northern Baffin Island in modern Nunavut.

Ironically, the situation is reversed today. Greenlanders Kayak and the eastern Arctic Inuit youth know almost nothing about it. Maybe we should bring you and the Greenland Inuit here now to reintroduce kayaking to this generation.

I will start showing parts of your DVDs at two villages: Ivujivik at the northern most tip of the Hudson Bay and the Hudson Straits; and also Chisasibi near the top of the eastern James Bay/Hudson Bay region. Chisasibi is Cree and Inuit and I am letting them compete with kayaking trips and hopefully games. It is also the location best situated for bring more kayaks in from the south. Two or three youth in both villages have already taken part in the long trips I mentioned above, but I am hoping to increase that number to dozens per village.

The Inuit youth will certainly want you to come and kayak with them someday. We are talking about re-tracing the traditional route between the Belcher Islands (in the middle of Hudson Bay) and the mainland. No-one has ever attempted this in modern kayaks and no-one has done it by kayak in maybe 60 years. According to the Inuit elders, It can only be done while there is still some ice on the Hudson Bay. I will keep you posted.

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It might also be good, I think, if kayaking people outside the Arctic knew that the vast majority of Inuit and Inuit Kayak designs in the world are not in Greenland; and that an enormous amount of knowledge about kayaking and paddling over hundreds if not thousands of years is about to be lost with this last generation of Inuit elders in the eastern Arctic. Only tiny amounts have been recorded about the hundreds of kayaks and techniques used, and most of what has been written has been by people who never (or barely) kayaked and did not speak Inuititut. The special techniques and methods for a life of kayaking have not been recorded.

For example, the Elders of the Hudson Straits and Eastern Hudson Bay used a very different paddling method than anything used in Greenland and they had much larger and faster kayaks here. Take a look at the Cape Wolstenholme kayak of 1910. A swede- form speedster of over 22ft, designed for the extreme current, high winds, and big seas. Justine if you had a kayak like that you could fly on your adventures; just like they did. Across the Hudson Straits for a day trip with 10 knot cross current! No problem.

One of the unrecorded secrets seems to be that the wooden hoop around the Inuit kayak cockpit opening was designed for paddling purposes. (I thought it was to keep water out or to attach the tuliq. I was Wrong.) So far, I have not found anyone who has written how this is actually designed for paddling purposes. I found out by accident when I listened to the Inuit elders complain about the Inuit youth using modern kayaks. Apparently, there are several traditional stages in the traditional forward stroke besides those known or used in Greenland. The cockpit hoop was used almost fulcum-like for paddling purposes after the more vertical strokes (at two levels) were used to start, accelerate, increase to 5-6 knots; then then go to a horizontal stroke pivoting the paddle midway against the front of the vertical cockpit hoop. (A mat of polar bear fur was used to keep this silent.) In my mind it seems the traditional paddle then functions almost as a sweep (this is were they say I also need the longer traditional paddle of 10-12 ft.) They told me this in detail only after I had paddled a 70 mile day along one of their traditional routes. They say this method allowed them to travel very fast all day without sweating (which can be deadly in the Arctic as it can result in hypothermia quickly).

This Inuit paddling technique might be something that modern sea-kayakers could learn for long distance crossings with heavy loads.

I have asked a few manufacturers if they could install this hoop idea so the Inuit elders could teach this paddling method before they are all dead, but so far no one is developing even a proto-type on a modern kayak. You probably know lots of folks who would be interested.

You have my permission to put some of my Arctic ramblings on your Blog; My hope would also be that some experienced kayakers would consider helping the Inuit youth recall the traditions of a paddling life style through kayaking in the Arctic.

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If you’d like to contact Douglas and offer any help then write a comment on this blog

Scottish Sunshine

2009-06-23T23:25:00.007+01:00

The forecast wasn't good and enthusiasm was low after 2 days canoeing in less than perfect weather on Skye. But did we really want to drive for 10 hours back to Wales without dipping a seapaddle into the ocean with the beautiful Scottish mountains behind us? No!

On Monday night, after a hearty pub meal, we started driving south and reached the outskirts of Oban just after midnight. We would brave the cold, muggy, miserable drizzle that was due and paddle to our hearts content!

Next morning there was no drumming of rain on the roof of the van, and something bright found its way in through the curtain. Sunshine! What a welcome surprise! After a supermarket cooked breakfast and a catch up with Colin, we drove down to Arduaine for a wonderful calm sunny day on the water. The day started off brilliantly as we saw 2 otters, almost perfectly camoflaged, playing amongst the brown seaweed. I even managed to film one of them looking right at me from between 2 brown fronds, thinking he was invisible!

BARRY IN THE GREY DOGS

We headed across the fast flowing sound of Luing, to the even faster flowing "Grey Dogs" tidal race. We could hear the water rushing over shallow rocks long before we could hear it, and I made sure my map and hat were secure! The current must have been 6 knots as it grabbed us and threw us through the channel. The waves weren't that big as there wasn't much swell but we had fun surfing some a few waves at the back of the race. We had lunch on a beautiful beach on Lunga before heading north around Luing and back to Arduaine. A gorgeous day in such a beautiful place..... until the next time!!

Spirit Dancer Canoe Journey

2009-06-23T21:57:00.006+01:00

I never imagined myself paddling in an 18 seater Canadian canoe around the isle of Skye, but that's exactly what Barry and I spent the last 2 days doing! We joined Canadian adventurer Chris Cooper for a short section of his circumnavigation of Great Britain. He's taking 3 summers to paddle the replica Montreal canoe around the British coastline, giving local people and school children the opportunity to take part in the journey. It was surprisingly hard work considering I'd like to think I'm quite paddling fit, but then it's different from seakayaking! Chris steers the canoe from the back with a big paddle which he uses as a rudder, while everyone else follows his instructions about when to paddle forwards, sideways or stop. It was fun to be part of the team journeying on the sea in this way.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention that I'm making a canoeing (as opposed to kayaking) DVD next. It will be a similar format to 'This is the Sea' with about 10 individual films about different inspirational people, places or expeditions. I hope it will be as well received in the open boating world as the "This is the Sea" series has been. I'm enjoying learning about open boating and the new challenges of filming it. I'll give more information at a later date, I'm still working out what will be in the DVD at the moment!

Any ideas for a DVD name would be gratefully received. Apart from "This is the River", or "This is the Lake"!

Canoeing to Puffin island!!

2009-06-18T09:48:00.005+01:00

On Tuesday afternoon, we went to Puffin island on Anglesey - but with a difference. Barry was taking his son Adam and Adam's friend Mark out for a paddle. For a change, I swapped my seakayak for my open canoe, which hasn't seen much use until now! The sea was calm in the tidal passage between the mainland and the island and I easily drifted across the half a mile or so channel. We paddled around the island and as usual, saw lots of seals. One of the more friendly ones came and said a close hello to Barry, and he got that great photo. A big seal also swam right under my canoe but I didn't manage to get it on film very well. I'll just have to go out there again!!

I'm not very smooth in an open boat yet, and I was much slower than the seakayakers but I felt comfortable on the sea because I'm used to it ( and Barry was there with his tow rope if the wind picked up and blew me away!).

Thanks to Barry for the photos.

Whitewater kayaking in the French Alps

2009-06-15T17:24:00.007+01:00

BRIANCON GORGE
I've just got back from 5 days whitewater kayaking in the French Alps. I haven't done much whitewater paddling before, although I have done a few days in lots of different places - including seakayaking down the Grade 3/4 Ottawa river to film "This is the Sea 4". My survival paddling has always been quite good!!

TREE DODGING ON THE CLAREY
THE CLAREY

I really enjoyed spending 5 days on the rivers, learning about reading the water and how to apply what I've learnt seakayaking in tidal races onto a river environment. We had some coaching from Tom Parker We stayed at the campsite by the slalom course at l´Agentiere la Besse and branched out from there. Highlights for me were 4km of Grade 4 rapids on the lower Guisane, running 7 drops at Fournel ( up to 12-15 foot), and our last run on the Grade 3+ Ond. I'll definitely be returning to the river!
THE DURANCE

MARIANNE AND TOM ABOUT TO HEAD DOWN BRIANCON GORGE

"The Bitches" and Bishops photos

2009-06-15T17:10:00.005+01:00

'BEFORE THE BITCHES GETS GOING - ONE OF THE ROCKS WHICH THE TIDE WILL POUR OVER

'BUILDLING UP'
WATER POURS OVER THE ROCK SHELF FORMING 'THE BITCHES'
THE BITCHES TIDAL RACE IN ACTION.

I'm home after seakayaking in South Wales, and whitewater kayaking in the French Alps. I'm still tired from a long drive back to the UK and not up to much work today! Here are some photos from Pembrokeshire Congratulations to John-Boy and Lou on their marriage!
BARRY PLAYS ON A POUR OVER IN 'THE CLERKS'
LANDING ON SOUTH BISHOP FOR LUNCH
Alps photos to follow tomorrow.

SUMMERTIME in Wales

2009-05-31T19:41:00.004+01:00

We've been enjoying the warm, clear, sunny weather in Wales for the last few days, getting outside for walks and paddles. Today, Barry and I went to Penrhyn Mawr with Jim, Wayne, Paul & Pete. The tidal race was slow to build up but great fun. After lunch, the flow was faster with bigger waves. Great to be out on the water!

Top 20 great British Adventurer?

2009-05-27T14:04:00.005+01:00

Last Saturday, one of Britain's national newspapers called me one of "Britain's top 20 Adventurers"!
While I'm not sure I'd agree with the Telegraph, I was very pleased to read that I was even considered for a place alongside well-known adventurers like Chris Bonnington, Leo Houlding, Benedict Allen & Ranulph Fiennes!

I also found out by doing a websearch that 'South island Circumnavigation' from "This is the Sea 4 won the best adventure film at PaddleCanada's Waterwalker film festival
AND 2 other films from the DVD won honorable mentions in the action category - "the Queen Charlotte islands" & "Lake Superior".

I also had a request today from the World Oceans Day Film Festival in San Francisco to show the "Rockhopping in Baja" film at their event on June 8th and 10th. That now makes 6 films from "This is the Sea 4' which have been finalists at international film festivals - the other 2 are "Dubside" & "The Ottawa River". That's pretty good value for money, I reckon!! But then I am walking particularly tall today!! I'll have my feet back on the ground tomorrow!!

Scottish seakayaking Symposium in Skye

2009-05-26T09:45:00.007+01:00

I finally made it up to Skye for the seakayaking symposium organised by Gordon & Morag Brown which happens every other May. It was unfortunately a flying visit as Barry and I travelled there and back with Nick, who had to be back at work on Monday morning. We did get there a day early and enjoyed a beautiful paddle from Ord, under sunny skies on Friday. During the symposium, the rain and wind returned ( but at least it kept the midges away!). It was fun despite the weather, and good to catch up with a lot of coaches and participants who I haven't seen for ages.

I helped out on a few paddling sessions, was a student on a fantastic skinny stick rolling class with Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson, and gave presentations about my trips around the South island of New Zealand, and around the Queen Charlotte islands. I met the mysterious "Wenley" who never puts a photo of himself on his regular kayak blog, and twice I failed to get up for 7am yoga with Cheri and Turner! I caught up with Simon Willis, who is making an instructional DVD with Gordon Brown, and chatted to Patrick Winterton and Mick Berwick about their ambitious plans to kayak 200 miles from Scotland to the Faroe islands this summer.

Now I'm back in Wales looking forward to my next chance to revisit Skye and do some more paddling on the beautiful island.

Across the Irish sea in 11hours 30 mins!

2009-05-19T13:56:00.009+01:00

NICK GETTING READY AT 4AM

Last week - freshly back from Sardinia - I was looking forward to settling down at my desk and getting on with some work. I hadn't even looked at the weather forecast! Then we saw Nick Cunliffe - he had some days off work and a cunning plan! The forecast was for strong easterly winds and he fancied kayaking from Holyhead to Dublin in Ireland in a following sea. I should work I thought - do I really want to put myself through paddling over 50 nautical miles in a day again!!?? Any sane person would say NO!

And so I heard myself saying, "I'll come with you!", and rushing about the house to get food, clothes and safety equipment together. I emailed Des Keaney of Deep Blue Seakayaking in Dublin, who looked after Barry and I so well when we crossed over to Wicklow in January. I hoped Des and his partner Sonja wouldn't mind picking Nick & I up and taking us and our kayaks to the ferry when we arrived. I felt a bit rude asking for their kind hospitality again but the email I received back from Des made me realise I needn't worry. It started,

"Holy Jaysus, the first decent easterly since January and look what blows in! I should have known!"
SUNRISE OVER HOLYHEAD MOUNTAIN
I finally got to bed about 11am, and tried to sleep. The alarm went off at 2am, and we drove to Soldiers Point in Holyhead aiming for a 4am start. Although we knew the wind would be behind us, we weren't sure how long it would take us and we figured we should allow plenty of time to make sure we weren't landing in the dark. Shortly after 4am we launched on the boulder beach at Soldiers Point. Before I could even get my spraydeck on, the wind immediately caught the kayaks and started blowing them west. The sun wasn't up yet but the sky was getting a little more grey already and we could see well enough to paddle. As we turned left out of the bay, the ebb carried us towards North Stack tidal race.

"um, North stack in the dark, I thought. That would be a new experience".

We took a wide berth around the race and fortunately, the waves weren't very big. Then we turned on the headtorch to check the bearing and started paddling just north of due West. The wind was more-or-less behind us, the direction changed a bit through the day, but was mostly behind us and very slightly to our right. The wind strength varied from about Force 4- force 6 at times. It was strongest early on in the day and we made great progress surfing away from Anglesey. By the time a big red sun came up behind Holyhead mountain, we had covered 12 nautical miles in only 2 hours. We continued to take advantage of a chunky following sea for the rest of the journey.

We stopped every couple of hours for some food and water but not for long as it got cold when we hung about! Our average speed fell slowly through the day - partly because the wind dropped a bit, possibly partly because the tide was strongest near to Anglesey and gave us less of a sideways push later on, and probably because we got a bit tired after 11 hours paddling! At one point I found myself disappointed that we'd paddled the last nautical mile at ONLY 4.5knots - then I caught myself and smiled to think that I'd have been delighted by that if we hadn't been going even faster earlier!

We were carried surprisingly far south by the ebb tide and the flood wasn't quite so strong, so we ended up further south than we'd hoped and adjusted our bearing for the last couple of hours and headed NW. By the time we reached Dalkey island, we'd travelled almost 56 nautical miles and been paddling for 11 and a half hours - far quicker than we'd expected. Once alongside dry land we agreed that we wanted to find the first possible place to land! We soon came across a tiny harbour with a lively swell surging up onto the stony pier where we'd need to land. It was a bit of a sporty landing, but it was THERE! We landed after 11hours 45mins, having travelled 57 nautical miles - an average of 4.8knots!! Is this a record?

I recorded the track we took using free Sanoodi software on my blackberry and you can see it here.

NICK LANDING AT COLIEMORE HARBOUR

Once on dry land, I called Des & Sonja and they came to meet us straight away ( they'd been looking at the live update of our track on the internet and knew that we were nearby!) They wouldn't let us carry the kayaks and ordered us into the warm car while they tied them on the roof! Back at their home, we were well fed and looked after - thank you so much again. Anyone wanting to go kayaking in the Dublin area should get in touch with Des - you'll be very well looked after!
SONJA AND DES - SMILING FACES MEETING US
We stayed overnight with Des and Sonja and travelled back on the Stenaline fast ferry the next day. Thank you very much to Stena and Eila for providing us with a free ferry ticket, and for taking the kayaks on the ferry as luggage. It was humbling to get back to Wales in warmth and comfort in under 2 hours, after our 11 and a half hours the previous day!!

NICK AND I AT THE STENA LINE TERMINAL IN DUBLIN

There are a few more photos in my flickr account here.

testing

2009-05-18T12:43:00.002+01:00

After some weird blogger change made it impossible to publish directly to cackletv.com we switched back to Blogspot...for the moment. Sorry for the hassle.

Sardinia circumnavigation details

2009-05-15T10:34:00.004+01:00

We kayaked 828km - 517 miles - around Sardinia in 29 days from 3rd April - 1st May 2009. We have 3 days off due to strong winds and quite a few very short paddling days due to winds. One of the nicest things about paddling here was the clear sea, which is every shade of blue and green imaginable. It’s so clear and you can usually see the sand, rocks or weed on the bottom as you paddle along. Where you have shallow white sand, the sea is an amazing turquoise colour.

COASTLINE
Most Sards live inland and the coast is largely undeveloped, except for clusters of identical tourist villas and the occasional gigantic hotel. The tourist season doesn't start gearing up until the start of May so these complexes were often deserted and the restaurants shut, which felt a bit weird. The coastline is really rugged and beautiful – in places pockets of white sand nestle between craggy granite headlands, in others imposing limestone cliffs rise over 500 metres from the sea, towering above us & providing a nest site for circling elanoras falcons. Elsewhere long beaches stretch for several kilometres. In April they were mostly deserted but I’m sure they will be crammed with sun loungers and parasols in a months time.

WEATHER
Most days the weather was warm and we kayaked in shorts and a thermal or rash vest – sometimes with a cag over the top. If it was particularly windy and overcast we'd wear warm trousers to kayak in. To start with the nights were cold and our thin sleeping bags were a bit inadequate but by the start of May we were warm enough. Sardinia had much more rain than usual for April and we must have had over 2 inches fall in a day on the south coast. So much rain that a stream broke it’s banks and flowed under our tent!

WINDS
I was expecting a lot of onshore winds in the afternoons or late mornings as in theory the land warms up quicker than the sea and the warm air over the land rises. The colder air from the sea rushes in to take its place forming an onshore breeze. In reality, there wasn’t an obvious pattern to the winds and we had quite a few days with very little wind, or F3/4 winds that could be onshore or offshore. We also had lots of days where low pressure systems dominated the winds, blowing strongly from 1 direction all day. The strongest winds (that caused us to have days off) were from the north or west ( or NW) although we had 2 days of Force6/7 NE winds, which we took advantage of and surfed along the top of the island.

The channel between the north coast of Sardinia and the south coast of Corsica is renowned as a wind corridor and we certainly experienced that. Strong ENE winds gave us a push on the first day, then a day and a half of calm was followed by 4 days of really strong westerly winds which slowed us to a crawl and then held us poised at the NW tip of Sardinia waiting for a break. Finally we snuck around the corner at 6.30am on a glassy calm morning and kayaked a 50km cliffy section with few places to land

SWELL
The swell was surprisingly large at times, considering there isn’t a huge fetch, and we experienced up to a metre and half of clean surf swell on the west coast. When it was stormy the wind waves also got up to a metre and a half. The swell on the east coast was up to about a metre at times, although both coasts were also flat calm on some days. Even when there was a large swell, we could usually find a protected bay to land in.

LOGISTICS
We used an MSR dragonfly stove and when our white gas ran out we bought unleaded petrol from a garage. In Italy you can buy gas canisters for stoves in a lot of supermarkets but we couldn’t find any other type of fuel so had to use petrol when we ran out ( we knew this in advance). Although most of the coastal development was (often deserted) tourist villas, we did manage to find small supermarkets in a lot of coastal villages/ resorts so we could restock our food. We were able to stop & camp near larger towns when we felt the urge to walk into civilization for a pizza and a beer ( which was increasingly often towards the end of the trip)! There aren't many streams for drinking water and most Italians only drink bottled water but we found the tap water to be fine! We started going to marinas when we needed drinking water and asking one of the boats to fill up our bags for us. Camping outside of campsites is not allowed in Sardinia and paddlers have been fined by the police when they’ve been caught camping so we mostly stopped for the night on deserted beaches away from towns, and finding these wasn’t usually a problem.

LOCALS
Neither Barry or I spoke any Italian before we went to Sardinia. Armed with an English/ Italiano dictionary and a few words of French and Spanish we mostly managed to communicate a bit with locals but I missed the easy conversations that I've had with people I've met on other trips. Italians - or certainly Sardinians - largely don't speak much English & we tried... but certainly weren't fluent!! We have a few favourite encounters with people.... We spent a great day with a local family on the south coast and enjoyed lunch and a traditional Sardinian dinner with them. We also spent a day in a B& B in Lozarai, which admitedly was run by a couple who are originally from the U.K. but it was great to chat to them and the other people staying there. We met up with a local kayak guide, Francesco, that evening which was also fun. When Anne dropped us off at our kayaks the next morning, a local man (who had allowed us to leave the kayaks under his yacht in the marina) thrust a bottle of Sardinian red wine in our hands as we left. Much later on in the trip, on the north coast we asked 3 people walking along the beach how far it was to the nearest pizzeria. The answer was that there might be one open about 2km away! We set off walking down the road, and after about 20 minutes, a car beeped and it was the people from the beach. They'd driven in the wrong direction to pick us up and take us to their local pizzeria! Finally, when we finished our trip, it was on May 1st, which is a public holiday in Italy, and no-one was at the campsite where we had left our van locked up. We phoned them up but there was no answer. After about 2 hours, we asked Mirko, the man who ran the small beachside hut/ shop if he know how to get hold of the owners. He made a few phonecalls, then produced a key for the side door to the campsite and helped us carry the kayaks in to the van. He left his key with us overnight so we could get in and out, before waving us good night and leaving!

CONCLUSION
Sardinia is a beautiful island with potential for warm water, warm weather, protected paddling, but it can also be very windy with swell and surf..... It would be a great place for a multi-day trip, or some day trips.

clean and well fed in Sardinia

2009-04-18T09:03:00.003+01:00

We stayed last night in the Lemon House B & B in Lotzorai which specialises in catering for climbers, walkers, bikers and kayakers. It is great to be clean and to have slept in a proper bed. We went out for a pizza last night with Peter and Anne from the B&B, with some Austrian climbers and with Francesco Muntoni, from Cardedu kayak, a local kayak guide. We are now having a relaxing breakfast with Peter,Anne and 2 English climbers before getting back on the water this afternoon.

Sardinia is a really beautiful island. The coast is largely rugged with loads of small hidden bays and its usually easy to find lovely isolated beaches to camp on. we have slept on tiny sandy coves, cresents of gravel, in pine trees and on endless dunes. There are amazing stretches of cliffs with caves and arches. we have also camped on the outskirts of towns and villages so we can look around and go out for food. The coast isnt very developed except for tourist houses in a lot of the bigger bays. most of these are empty as the season hasnt started yet so its a bit odd to kayak past ghost towns! beachside cafes are mostly closed and its hard to find a restaurant open in the evenings, although you can usually get a Sardinian beer.

The wind is very unpredictable and usually doesnt follow the forecast but it hasnt been so strong to make us turn back yet. we have tended to get off the water if it picks up to more than a force 3 or 4 against us as wed rather be on the land looking around and enjoying the place than working hard for little gain!! weve had it behind us a couple of days which has been very nice.

ok, time to get organised and get paddling. the coast ahead of us today is one of the most beautiful stretches with towering cliffs, impressive sea stacks, hidden caves and sandy beaches.... or so weve been told!

sardinian rain!

2009-04-09T15:34:00.000+01:00

We're sat in the tent as the rain continues to hammer down outside! So much for sardinian sun! Actually up until last night its been warm and mostly quite calm and beautiful.if you aren't familiar with twitter then you may not realise that we are sending daily updates of our kayak journey around sardinia on twitter. You can read them above this blog in the blue box. Where it says''justine and barry are kayaking in xxxx, italy then click on the link and it will take you to a map of our route for the day. If we are still kayaking you can see our progress live! its still raining!

Skiing on the way to Sardinia

2009-03-31T19:07:00.004+01:00

A FISH OUT OF WATER? THE KAYAKS AT 1500METRES!
It was unplanned and unexpected, but we somehow ended up skiing in the Swiss Alps today!!! We decided at the last minute to make a slight detour on our drive to Sardinia and called in on my father who is staying near Sion in Switzerland.

We put on our kayaking thermals and begged, borrowed and stole (temporarily) some skiing equipment, and by 10am we were on the slopes at Montana resort. The sky was blue and it was really hot today so we could really appreciate the beauty of the mountains. Barry was nervous about taking to skies again - he mumbled something about not wanting to break his leg just before our kayaking trip! But after his first few turns he was grinning and making jokes so I knew he was enjoying it!! We had a great day skiing between towering rock buttresses. with Alpine Chuffs flying in formation above us. We stopped at a great restaurant in the sun and enjoyed soup and raclette. I was really pleasantly surprised at the amount of powder snow there was right besides the pistes. I had endless runs making fresh tracks, within 50 metres of the piste! Tomorrow we have about a 5 hour drive to Genoa where we will catch the overnight ferry to Sardinia. We hope to be paddling by Thursday afternoon!!

On the road to Sardinia

2009-03-29T12:16:00.003+01:00

PHOTO BY AXEL!

We're driving south - still in the UK right now and heading towards Dover for a 2pm ferry. We've decided to stop for a night or 2 in Sion, Switzerland because my dad is there, and I just realised how close it is to our planned route through France & Switzerland. The ferry to Porto Torres in Sardinia only goes every other day anyway, so instead of rushing for the Monday night sailing, we'll get the Wednesday night sailing, arriving Thursday morning.

On advice from Rene Seindal, we will drive 40km to the small town of Fertilia where there is a secure carpark where we can leave the van for 1 Euro a day. It's also a pretty place to start, and means we have a section of coast with quite a few landing options to start with. The coastline anti-clockwise from Porto Torres is more cliffy with an often rough headland to paddle around and few landing options. That will be a nice end to our trip for us, instead!!

In the meantime, I've been featured on a website called 'Go! Girls Outdoors', a website for anyone (including men) interested in the issues facing women in outdoor education and recreation. Click here to see my profile, or HERE to go to the site homepage

Irish Sea crossing track

2009-03-26T10:40:00.002Z

I finally ( with help from Sanoodi) uploaded the track of mine and Barry's paddle to Ireland on New Years Day. Well, it was actually 1.30am on 2nd January by the time we left, but we hadn't been to sleep so it felt like it was still New Years Day!

We followed a bearing of 280 degrees the whole way across but the tide took us north, then south and then north again. It was really strong as we approached Wicklow but turned as we arrived so we had to fight a tidal race off Wicklow Head before we could land! If you missed it, you can read about the crossing on an earlier blog here.

If the track doesn't display properly then you can see it on the Sanoodi website here. The stats given on the website show a distance of 59 miles in 11 hours 53 minutes, an average of 5mph. This is statute miles - it was about 52 nautical miles I think.

We plan to get a ferry to France on Sunday and drive down to Italy as tourists ( i.e slowly!). We should be in Sardinia and paddling by early April. First, we have to pack!!

"Eastern Horizons" DVD here, and new art for "This is the Sea"

2009-03-25T09:48:00.003Z

It was Christmas here yesterday and a batch of 'Eastern Horizons' DVDs arrived at my door, ready to go to eager viewers in the UK, Europe and Australasia. It's now for sale in the CackleTV shop!

I also took delivery or another batch of "This is the Sea" DVDs as the classic DVD is still popular and I've nearly run out. At the time when I first made 'This is the Sea' it cost about £25 per colour for the artwork on the DVD. Money was tight and I chose a very simple design with just 2 colours. Or so I thought..... I actually got charged for 4 colours anyway, as the blue and yellow that I chose weren't the blue and yellow that they had in their palette so they had to mix different colours to make them! So much for money saving!

THE NEW 'THIS IS THE SEA' DISC BESIDES THE OLD ONE!

In May it will be 5 years since 'This is the Sea' first came out so when it came time to get some more made a month ago, Derrick from Kayak Quixotica suggested making a special anniversary cover! Well, we left the cover that Jim Westcott designed as it was, but Derrick designed some new disc art using a photo of Hadas Feldman and I from Kamchatka. I'm really pleased with it and think it looks great! So if you order "This is the Sea" from the UK, Europe & Australasia store from now on, then you might get the new look DVD! Some of the DVDs are headed to a shop in Sweden today aswell!

Mediterranean sun, here we come!

2009-03-24T13:27:00.003Z

SARDINIA

This weekend, Barry Shaw and I are packing up the van and driving south in search of the Sardinian sun!
Barry kayaked around the next door island of Corsica a few years ago and enjoyed himself so much that he wanted to return to paddle around the bigger neighbor. At around 900km of coastline, we expect it to take us around 4-6weeks. We expect the surf to be less than in New Zealand! but it is a very windy place so that will be our biggest challenge. You can read more about the trip here.

Whenever we have a phone signal we will be recording the route we paddle on our blackberry, using free SMap software from Sanoodi. You can follow along by 'following' CackleTV on Twitter, or by checking the twitter feed on this blog, at the top of the page. You'll see a message saying, 'CackleTV' is kayaking in Sardinia with a link. click on the link to go to the map of where we are. If the twitter feed doesn't work, then you can also go to the Sanoodi website and search for routes in Sardinia.

Not long now, I'm busy preparing for the trip... lots to sort out!

BARRY IN CORSICA. PHOTO BY JOHN-BOY

Bardsey lambs & track

2009-03-23T10:24:00.006Z

Axel and I went to Bardsey on Sunday, in a brisk breeze. Axel hasn't been there since about 2002 so we took the scenic tour, including using the eddy close to the mainland, and then going around the island. I also thought Axel would appreciate a slightly longer and more challenging route so we chose to go to the island with the strong tidal streams giving us more hindrance than help. ( If we'd left from "Whistling Sands' on the West coast of the Llyn, we'd have been able to drop onto the island using the ebb, and make the most of the afternoon flood to take us back later).

You can see the resulting 'tracks' that we made on our journey, as recorded by our Blackberry and the free Sanoodi software. The tide is strongest nearest to land and you can see that we were swept downstream as we approached our destinations on the way there, and back. On the way back we were aiming about ENE, even though the tide tide took us much further West than this!

Once on Bardsey, the Porter family were very busy in the middle of the lambing season. After a cup of tea, Axel and I were happy to help move some young lambs from the stable where they were being looked after to the field outside. Steve took the mum while we got to carry the cute cuddly lambs. Later we went on 'patrol' with Steve and Jo looking for any new-born lambs, or any mothers who needed some help with a difficult birth. We saw 3 new lambs come into the world - 1 set of twins and 1 single lamb. Despite the goo, there is something magical about new life!

The technology I used to track our progress to and from Bardsey will be used on my next trip. In theory, an update from 'twitter' should alert people to the start of a new paddle, and you can follow along live, or check the progress once we're reached our destination. For some reason, the twitter update part didn't work on the paddle to Bardsey - perhaps because the phone signal was very week? I'm trying to find out if that can be fixed.

Click HERE to see the outward route to Bardsey and HERE to see the return route on the Sanoodi website, from where you can navigate around and look at other things.

You can read Axel's account of the trip here.

CackleTV Twittering!

2009-03-17T15:11:00.005Z

You may have noticed that a strange box has appeared on the top of the blog, which says 'Twitter' in it. A week ago, I didn't know what "Twitter" was and I didn't really care ( I'm getting old already!)! But then I got told that 'twitter' could automatically let people know if I was about to go on a kayaking trip, and provide a link to a 'live map' of the kayaking route. I signed up and have spent the last week or so working with "Sanoodi" and Derrick to work out the nitty gritty of it.

Today is a beautiful warm sunny day in Wales and when I got a phone call from a friend, I didn't need much persuading to get out on the water - just to test the system out, of course!

The upshot is that as I'm kayaking somewhere, my position is uploaded live onto a website, superimposed on a map or an aerial photograph. Check out the map of the test paddle today - it's amazingly detailed. You can even see where Jeff and I stopped for a play in the moving water. For those people who have better things to do than check up on my progress (!), you can look at the map at the end of the day and see where we kayaked, the total distance covered and the average speed. And, by the way, we were against the tide today - in both directions!!

How this works is quite simple - thanks to some very clever software - and the good news is that if you want to do the same thing, you can download the software you need for free from Sanoodi. You need a phone with a GPS in it - either a blackberry, an I-phone, a Nokia S-60, or a windows mobile phone. Then you can download a free copy of the SMap software from the Sanoodi website and upload your own tracks live to their website. Or go to wap.sanoodi.com from your phone. We have a blackberry because it has the best battery life.

Barry and I are planning a trip in the next few weeks which I'll write more about soon - and we'll be using the blackberry to give live updates of our position. To follow along, you don't have to join twitter. Just check the blog and whenever we set off, you'll see a link to the map of our route. If you want to join twitter, or you are already a member, then 'follow' CackleTV and you'll automatically get the update everytime I go on a trip.

Sunny Surfing

2009-03-16T10:14:00.002Z

It actually felt like Spring this weekend. On Sunday, the surf on the Hells Mouth webcam was looking good and the sun was shining. Eve and I drove down the Llyn Peninsula with our surf kayaks in the van and had a great couple of hours getting wet and thrown around by the waves. Eve was rolling like a demon, recovering from front loops, back loops & washing machine rides! A great day to get excited about warmer weather and fun adventures to come!

Swellies by night

2009-03-13T17:34:00.003Z

Yesterday was a really big tidal range with a high tide of 9.7 metres in Liverpool. Perhaps more importantly for us, the low tide was REALLY LOW! Only 0.4metres... That meant that the standing waves at the Swellies in the Menai Straits should be really well formed and calling out to be surfed! The only problem was that action time, when the waves form was about 6.30pm -- about the time it gets dark! But we couldn't resist such a big tide. Barry also wanted to check out a different wave, a bit higher upstream from the ''Swellies wave', which he's only seen 'working' (i.e surfable) when the low tide is REALLY low. It was working well last night, with the tide tanking through there, making it hard to get onto the front wave. The traditional Swellies wave is still my favourite though, and on our way back, in near pitch dark, it was steep and powerful. It was a bit scary, to be honest, especially when we could only see each other if we were very close. After Barry capsized and rolled, which I didn't see, we decided to get off the water, and go for a well deserved Pizza-and-a-Pint!

"Eastern Horizons" DVD released this month

2009-03-11T14:56:00.004Z

Cackle TV is going to sell and distribute the new seakayaking film "Eastern Horizons" in the UK. Europe & Australasia. Bryan Smith & his wife Lise-Anne Beyries from Reel Water Productions in Canada have been spent a lot of the last 18 months making this new entertaining seakayaking DVD, which is released this month.

The creators of "Pacific Horizons" (which is also available from CackleTV) moved over to North America's east coast from Georgia to Newfoundland to bring you another inspirational and breathtaking sea kayaking adventure film. Eastern Horizons blends the rich history and culture of the sea with world class sea kayakers, idyllic destinations, incredible wildlife and compelling stories of people who's lives are deeply connected to the Atlantic Ocean. From the rich marshes in North Carolina to the icebergs in Newfoundland and from the urban landscape of New York City to the remote fishing villages of the Magdalene Islands, this film is a must for everyone interested in the ocean.

You can read more about the film HERE, and you can now pre-order it from my website. The DVD should be available to ship on 25th March, or soon afterwards.

"Pacific Horizons", "Eastern Horizons" and the "This is the Sea" series can also be purchased at a reduced price if you buy more than 1 DVD at a time - click here to go to the UK/ Europe / Australisia store. For example you can buy any 2 DVDs for £35.99, or any 3 DVDs for £52.99, with free shipping anywhere in the world.

"This is the Sea 4" is still doing well at film festivals. The South island circumnavigation film won second place for 'best Adventure film' at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival recently. First place was awarded to 'Solo', the film about Andrew McAuley crossing the Tasman Sea.

In the US, "Eastern Horizons" is being launched by Bryan this weekend at Canoecopia.

Another Place

2009-03-10T16:51:00.003Z

Last weekend Barry and I visited 'Another Place', a series of 100 cast iron statues placed on the beach at Crosby by artist Antony Gormley. I remember hearing about the statues when they were first put there in 2004, and finally found myself close enough to Liverpool to enjoy a stroll along the beach with a difference. The statues are identical and are spaced along a 3km section of beach. They all stare out to sea - some of them almost completely buried by water at high tide. I found it really evocative to see all those mesmerized people fascinated by the magic of the sea.

Bardsey Adventure

2009-03-03T17:40:00.004Z

THE SEA ON THE WAY OUT, BARDSEY IS BEHIND THAT WAVE!

Everyone I contacted to 'play out' this weekend was busy or away, but I decided not to let that stop me having a wee adventure. On Sunday morning, I packed the van and drove down to Aberdaron at the end of the Llyn Peninsula. The white water at the tiderace off Pen y Cil headland was very clearly visible from a mile and a half away. The conditions were sporty enough for me to phone the Porter family who live on the island to tell them I was on my way - they promised to look out for me and to get the kettle on as I drew close. I had a fun paddle in the end - a force 4 wind which was almost a headwind kicked up a few big waves, but I enjoyed the heightened awareness that comes from being solo.
STEVE GIVES 2 SICK SHEEP A RIDE BACK

I was met by Steve and his son Ben on their quad bike and escorted to their farmhouse for the promised cuppa. It was a beautiful day and I took a walk up to the top of the island and looked back at the whitecaps in the Sound. The sky was so clear that I could see Holyhead mountain and the hills of Ireland from up there. I was invited to stay overnight with the Porters and had a great evening. Ben took me out in his rowing boat to check his lobster pots. He had one big lobster, but it was a female which he had to put back, and a few other lobsters which were too small to keep. Oh well, no lobster for dinner this time!
BEN ROWING BACK AFTER CHECKING HIS POTS
THROWING BACK A LOBSTER THAT'S TOO SMALL
After dinner, the stars were out and I had a look at the craters of the moon and Saturn's rings through Steve's telescope.

The next morning, before I headed back home, I "helped" the family to round up the year old ewes, so Steve could shear around their bottoms! I didn't offer to help with that task, and headed back across a roughening up sound about 9.30am. The current was strongly pushing me in the wrong direction this time, but I ferry-glided across the Sound and ended up about a mile downstream of the headland I wanted to go around to get back to Aberdaron. The eddy close to the land carried me back to Pen y Cil headland and I had to work hard to surf against the tide to get around the corner, then i was home and dry, with a following wind to push me back to the beach.

Bardsey island is one of those special places which relaxes me and makes me feel happy just to be there, and it's usually quite an exciting paddle to get there.... I'm sure it won't be long before I return!
BEN AND JO ROUNDING UP THE SHEEP

Walking on Water

2009-02-23T20:45:00.004Z

This weekend I walked on water for the first ( and probably last) time! I was visiting my friend Cheryl in the Lake District and went with her to 'have a ball' in Keswick. Cheryl is organising the 'Keswick Mountain Festival' this May, full of outdoor activities, speakers like Double Olympic champion James Cracknell, climber Leo Houlding, Doctor Mike Stroud, endurance athlete Jez Bragg, round the world runner Rosie Swale and round the world cyclist Mark Beaumont. This weekend she had to test out some giant inflatable balls which you climb into and which allow you to walk on water. I was only too happy to volunteer to be one of the testers! It was great fun, but amazingly tiring to try to make it go anywhere. And of course, it was really difficult to try to stand up, or to remain standing up. I found that kneeling down and trying to 'run' on it like that was a bit easier.

Al and Jase from 'Keswick Adventure Centre' will be manning the 'water wheels at the Keswick Mountain Festival and they blew up the balls using an electric pump. They then seal you in there with a huge 'dry suit' type zip. It's quite a strange feeling being 'locking in there' with only 5-10 minutes of breathable air but I soon forgot that as I tried to keep ( or get!) my balance in the ball. It's also a wierd feeling to fall into the water, but not actually to get wet! Not even my socks were wet inside the ball, which was pretty cool.

CHERYL INSIDE THE BALL, WITH AL AND JASE

More chances to see "This is the Sea 4" films

2009-02-19T10:02:00.003Z

Chapters from "This is the Sea 4" are proving popular with film festivals. if you live near San Francisco this weekend you can see "Rockhopping in Baja" and "Dubside"on the big screen as part of the 6th annual Ocean Film Festival. Click here for details.

The following weekend, 27th February to 1st March is the 4th Sheffield Adventure Film Festival, known as Shaff. Here you can see the multi-award winning film of my New Zealand expedition. I also notice that they are showing "Solo", the film of Andrew McAuley's tragic crossing of the Tasman Sea.

From 6TH - 14TH MARCH 2009 is the Fort William Mountain Film Festival in Scotland. The shorter festival version of the New Zealand film is showing (approx 25mins) and perhaps one of the other chapters.

I've also entered the film into the Wanaka Mountain Film Festival in New Zealand from July 3rd-7th, and the Alaska Ocean Film Festival on June 6th. They haven't selected which films they are showing yet but hopefully one of mine will be in there!

The NZ film is also on tour throughout Canada and America as part of the Reel Paddling Film Festival.

Last ski

2009-02-11T02:59:00.002Z

MY DAD SKIING PAKALOLO ( DOUBLE BLACK DIAMOND)

Barry and I had our last day of skiing in Whistler today. The last 2 days were great, with fresh snow and some good runs. I went up for one last run down the Peak Chair, 2 minutes before it closed and I had the mountain to myself going down through some of the bowls spraying powder behind me. It was a great end to our time in Canada.

This is Barry's first time skiing and he's been whizzing down black runs and (sometimes reluctantly) tackling bumpy un-pisted runs.

BARRY WHIZZING DOWN THE DAVE MURRAY DOWNHILL

New Zealand film wins best Adventure Film at Reel Film Festival

2009-02-05T05:30:00.004Z

The film of our circumnavigation of New Zealand has won another award - the best adventure film at the Reel Paddling Film Festival. This Canadian festival has been running 4 years and aims to be to paddling films what 'Banff Mountain film festival' is to Mountain Films. The festival is taking the best paddling films on tour around Canada and America over the next year so if you haven't already seen it then you might get a chance to see it at one of the locations. Check here! If you do go to one of the showings then please make sure you vote for us for the 'people's choice award'! Or, of course, you can always buy the film which is just one part of the 'This is the Sea 4' DVD.

The photos are of Tofino, just to prove we looked around a bit, aswell as surfed!!

Surfing Tofino

2009-02-04T22:15:00.006Z

We've had 3 days staying at a fantastic house right on the beach at Tofino. We wake up, check the surf out of the window, have a quick soak in the hot tub, eat breakfast and walk down to the beach with a surf kayak! After lunch, we do it all again.

On the first day it was raining and misty - the sea was 8 degrees and the air was 7 degrees so it didn't make much difference whether you were on top of the water or under the water! The last 2 days has been sunny and warm and it's great to be here. There is something about surfing which is hugely addictive. I think it's the energy and the power.

We're here with Shawna and Leon of Body Boat Blade, and Eric and Megan Schorr of Anacortes Kayak Tours.

Thanks to Johnson Outdoors and Necky for lending us 2 Spyder surf kayaks, which we've enjoyed trying out. Thanks also to Lendal for sorting Barry and I out with surfing paddles. Thanks to Kokatat for a fantastic hood which kept me warm!!

Thanks to Barry and Eric for the photos.

Skiing

2009-01-27T03:41:00.003Z

I'm in Whistler skiing with Barry and my dad. Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme have joined us for a few days and we're enjoying the huge number of runs available here. It hasn't snowed for over 2 weeks but we're still enjoying being out here in the mountains skiing.

Tomorrow is the last day of skiing for a while, and we'll go back to Orcas island with Shawna and Leon for a few days, then on to Tofino for some winter kayak surfing, before a final 5 days skiing in Whistler before flying home.

River Dabbling

2009-01-15T16:24:00.003Z

YES, THAT IS AN ICE WATERFALL BEHIND BARRY!

We took our salty sea kayaking kit for a dunk in the river last weekend. Nick and Mark invited Barry and I for a paddle down the Tryweryn. It was blowing a gale on the sea and seemed a perfect opportunity to try something a little out of our comfort zone. We had second thoughts as we looked at the ice-clad rivers on the drive there. brrrr. Neither of us have done much river paddling before, and enjoyed learning new things. Sorry the photos are not very good!

We've also been getting out on the sea a bit and enjoyed a choppy trip to the Skerries with a different Nick last Friday. Tomorrow we head to Canada for some skiing and some surf kayaking.

New Years Irish Adventure

2009-01-03T20:03:00.007Z

CROSSING TO IRELAND IN THE DARK

I can't remember whose stupid idea it was to kayak over 50 nautical miles from Wales to Ireland in winter, a week after the shortest day of the year, but somehow Barry and I came to do just that. Barry has already kayaked from Wales to Ireland at the very top and very bottom of Wales ( from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire and from St Davids to Rosslaire) but he also wanted to kayak from the tip of the Llyn Peninsula to Wicklow. I think he probably imagined doing this in Summer but the Summer came and went without the Easterly wind that we wanted to push us along in the right direction. Then over the last 10 days, we've had consistent Easterly winds and bright skies. One of us suggested the paddle to Ireland and we came up with all sorts of excuses why we shouldn't do it - a lack of fitness, near freezing temperatures, the fact we have less than 9 hours of daylight for a 12-16 hour crossing, tiredness etc etc. So we went paddling to get our fitness up and tried out Barry's double seakayak which we thought it would be safer ( and quicker ) to take. The easterly winds didn't go away so on New Years Day, instead of sitting at home and relaxing we got organised and got our kit ready.

We only managed to snatch an hours sleep that evening before leaving the house around midnight, to drive south to Porth Oer ( otherwise known as Whistling Sands), a beach near the tip of the Llyn Peninsula. We planned to leave in the dark so we could be sure of arriving at unknown territory in the daylight. The crossing is around 50 nautical miles so we knew it would take over 11 hours in the double, and perhaps 14 hours or more if things didn't go well.
GETTING READY AT 1AM
It might sound obvious but when we arrived at the beach, the thing that struck us both was how dark it was! It was a starry night but the slim moon we'd expected was nowhere to be seen. We couldn't pick out any waves. We considered driving home again but thought we'd get on the water and see what it was like. A rolling swell picked us up straight away and the kayak moved up and down disconcertingly below us. But as our eyes adjusted we could see the shape of the sea within a few metres of our kayak and it wasn't that rough. Green phosphorescence sparkled off our paddles and it was quite exciting to be setting off into the unknown.

The lighthouse of Bardsey island flickered it's beam over us for the first few miles as we drew further away from the shore. We paddled without any lights and navigated using the stars ( i.e we got onto the right bearing using the compass then picked out a star in front of us and aimed for that, turning the light on to check we were still on course every 30 minutes or so). We soon warmed up with the paddling, but as soon as we stopped to eat and drink, we got very cold within 5 minutes. The sandwiches and flasks of hot drink we'd prepared would have taken too long to pfaff around with so we drank water and ate snacks of sausages, hard boiled eggs, bananas, chocolate, nuts and museli bars. We would stop every 5 or 6 nautical miles, eat and drink quickly then paddle on again. We set off about 1.30am and paddled in the dark for the first 5 and a half hours. My stomach was knotted with tiredness and we were both struggling to stay awake. In fact we both fell asleep several times while paddling. We'd nod off for a split second then our paddle would catch on the water or we'd start to lose our balance and we'd wake up with a jolt. This was one of the reasons for taking the double. Apart from being faster, we wouldn't have to worry about losing sight of each other in the dark, and we hopefully wouldn't both fall asleep at the same time and fall in the frigid water.
BARRY AT SUNRISE

Very soon I started to hallucinate and seeing all sorts of things in the sea in front of us - trees, boats, rocks, birds and sculptures all rose up in front of me, and melted into nothing as we drew up besides them, or over them. For a split second I believed that we were about to hit whatever the object was and a panic would start to well up inside me, but I quickly realised I was imagining things and watched them fascinated to see how they changed or disappeared. Once it got a bit lighter, I really believed that a swarm of midges had just flown past my face, until Barry pointed out that we were 25 miles from land and it was January so I couldn't have seen midges.
APPROACHING WICKLOW
A slight breeze and swell from the east helped us along at 4-5 knots, and we were able to surf a few waves at up to 9 knots. At 8.30am the sun came up behind us and my hallucinations stopped. The tiredness was still there but we closer and feeling more positive. Finally Wicklow Head came into view and the flood tide was carrying us north towards it. The VHF radio crackled into life and it was Des Keaney of Deep Blue Seakayaking asking for an ETA.

We were now a mile from Wicklow Head feeling confident we could ride the flood around it to Wicklow Harbour. Unfortunately as we got closer, the tide on the headland had turned earlier than we'd expected and we had to ferry glide a mile into shore, giving it a last big effort to surf the waves forwards, against the tide.

ARRIVING AT WICKLOW

At about 1.30pm we pulled into Wicklow Harbour after almost 52 nautical miles and 11 hours 53 minutes on the water. Des and Sonja held the kayak while we clumsily struggled out of it. They very kindly drove us back to their home, offered us a shower, cooked us a fry up and sent us to bed for 3 hours while they prepared dinner! Another friend, Marie came over that evening and we lost all track of time and stayed up chatting until 2am!! Thanks a lot to Des and Sonja for all their help and kindness. Today they took us to the Dublin ferry terminal, where Stenaline Ferries really looked after us ( thanks to Eila and the staff there for sorting that out). We had to wheel the double kayak through security and carry it around to the baggage lorry, then stack it on top of all the suitcases. Then we were invited up to the bridge to chat with the captain, Simon Mills, who is also a seakayaker.
QUEUING UP WITH THE KAYAK TO BOARD THE FERRY HOME
We got home this evening, thanks to a lift from Nick and Libby. I think it's time to relax now!

Kayak Fishing Fever

2008-12-16T09:36:00.004Z

Kayak fishing is the fastest growing sector of kayaking around the world with hundreds of people taking up the sport every month. I often trail a hand line behind my kayak which could perhaps be regarded as 'entry level' for kayak fishing. At the other end of the spectrum, fishermen go out on sit-on-top kayaks with electronic fish finders, up to 4 or 5 rods, a stash of lures & a cool box for bait.

I filmed some of these fishermen for the first time in "This is the Sea 4". There's an 8 minute feature which mainly follows Jim Sammons, who has been kayak fishing in San Diego for 20 years and who runs kayak fishing trips there and in Baja. But there is a a catch - Jim has to launch through 3 foot surf before he can even cast a line!

I recently sent a review copy of "This is the Sea 4" to Terry Jackson from the UK website 'Kayak Fishing North Wales'. Terry described the DVD to me as 'inspiration in a box', which I like a lot!! You can read his review here, or enter the competition he has set up to win a signed copy of the DVD.

Bardsey island turkeys

2008-12-10T14:43:00.004Z

On Saturday, Barry and I paddled to Bardsey island at the end of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. It's one of our favourite places to paddle and we've got to know the only family who live there all year round. Steve, Joanna, Rachel and Ben Porter have spent just over a year as the resident farmers - during the summer the other few houses are occupied by local lobster fishermen, RPSB bird wardens, National Trust representatives, a resident artist and many visitors. In the winter, it's just them, cattle, sheep, turkeys, ducks, seals and birds. The local lobster fisherman is employed by the post office to deliver their mail by boat once a week, but in the Winter there are often 3 week stretches when it's too stormy to get out to the island. It's only a couple of kilometres from the mainland but the tide flies through the sound at up to 6 knots and it can be really rough. That's why the Welsh name for the island is Ynys Enlli - island in the currents.

We try to visit Bardsey at least every couple of months and we are always given a warm welcome, a cup of tea and often a piece of home made cake! In return we take out some fresh fruit, a weekend newspaper and some other treats. We've been talking about staying overnight for months and finally we spend a lovely evening with the Porters, eating local beef, chatting and going for a star-lit evening walk. Slightly strangely, we also watched the X-factor on telly!!! The next morning we watched the Porters catch some of their turkeys for Christmas gifts. If we get a chance to go back to Bardsey before Christmas then I'm going to bring one of the poor turkeys back in my kayak and have a Bardsey free range turkey for Christmas dinner. At least it will have had a happy life!

NZ premiere and FREE WORLDWIDE POSTAGE

2008-12-03T13:09:00.002Z

The New Zealand premiere of "This is the Sea 4" was a great success last week. Thanks a lot to Sarah Wilson from Adventure Coaching for organizing the event at the Spectrum Theatre in Wellington. I couldn't be there ( in case I was tempted to keep kayaking around the North island!) but Sarah tells me that 100 eager kayakers and adventurers turned up. They "broke the rules" and watched the first part of the premiere disk but instead of watching the 25minute version of the NZ film that's on that disc, they watched the whole 48 minute film! Sarah's verdict, "It is winna mate!" The premiere also raised around $500 for a project that supports teenagers learning through adventure - called Project K.

There's one more premiere planned in Toronto this Saturday on 6th December, organised by the Complete Paddler and Gerald Croney. If anyone else is interested in organising a premiere event then please get in touch - I can provide an hour long version of the DVD.

With over 2 and a half hours of award-winning films, "This is the Sea 4" makes a great Christmas gift!. If you've already got it then there are 3 previous DVDs in stock for anyone who has any 'gaps in their collection' that need filling!

Remember that if you buy from our on-line store then SHIPPING IS FREE TO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
Orders are usually posted within 24 hours, and often go the same day.

(in the UK/ Europe/Australia/Asia store, there is a small postage charge for buying multiple DVDs, but postage is free for single DVDs. In the USA/ Canada store all shipping is free)

HILBRE ISLAND IN THE MIST

2008-11-28T21:49:00.003Z

UNITED WITH THE TROPHY FOR 'BEST ADVENTURE FILM' AT KENDAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL!

The mist shrouded Barry, Jim Krawiecki and I as we paddled out to Hilbre island at the mouth of the Dee Estuary this morning. We could only see about 30 metres away so I was glad when a black smudge appeared ahead of us. Jim brought along the trophy that he collected for me at Kendal Mountain Film Festival, and a bottle of booze that came with the prize. The trophy was made by Andy Parkin, sculptor and climber.

HILBRE EMERGES FROM THE MIST

New Zealand film wins "Best Mountain Adventure Film" at Kendal Mountain Film Festival

2008-11-23T17:57:00.002Z

I'm really excited that the 50 minute film of my and Barry's circumnavigation of the South island has won a major prize!

Kendal Mountain Film Festival is the UK's largest adventure film festival and one of the big 4 mountain film festivals, alongside Banff in Canada ( which I was too late to enter). Today it was announced that the film won the 'best Mountain Adventure Film' award which is a great honor. The sharp ones amongst you may have noticed that the NZ film is not strictly a MOUNTAIN adventure - however most 'Mountain Film Festivals' are broad enough to show other outdoor adventure films aswell, and there isn't a 'best adventure film' category. I'm very grateful to the judges for being broad-minded enough to chose a seakayaking film as the winner and I personally think it says a lot for the film to win here!

Unfortunately I can't be there to collect the prize as I'm still in New York, but Jim Krawiecki is collecting it on my behalf.

I should remind you that the NZ film is just one part of the "This is the Sea 4" DVD double disc set ....... so it's a real bargain!

There is another review of the "This is the Sea 4" on the Solent Seakayaking blog.

The last US premiere of "This is the Sea 4" was last night in New York City organised by Marcus DeMuth and the Manhattan Kayak Company The tour has been a great success with well over 1,000 people seeing the premiere version of the film in 10 different locations. It wasn't all 'work' and we got to go seakayaking 9 times, in 6 different US states. Tonight we go home, and we're looking forward to that aswell!

Sub Zero in Connecticut!

2008-11-22T13:13:00.003Z

CHERI AND TURNER IN CHERI'S LIVING ROOM/ TURNERS WORKSHOP ANNEX!

WICOPESSET PASSAGE
We continue to see our breath in front of us and anxiously guard our fingers on the West coast. Yesterday we paddled at Wicopesset Passage in Connecticut with Sid, Turner, Nick, Ron & Paula. The air temperature was hovering around freezing, and the wind wasn't helping but the sun was out and we had fun playing in the race that forms there.

Tonight Barry and I are in New York City at Pier 66 Boathouse for the last premiere on our tour, before we return home tomorrow.

There are a few more premieres happening soon in Montreal, Toronto and Wellington, New Zealand so if you live near-by then you can also get a chance to see an hour long version of the DVD FOR FREE and mingle with other seakayakers. The details are below.

Saturday 25th November Montreal, Quebec
There is a premiere in Montreal, Quebec on November 25th at le Sergent Recruteur, a micro-brewry, at 19h30. Entry is free. (4801 St-Laurent Blvd, Montreal)

DECEMBER 6th TORONTO -
At 'Complete Paddler' at 1pm
RSVP to gerald croney

28th November New Zealand
New Zealand premier in Wellington on Friday 28th November, 7pm in the Spectrum Theatre.

SID SEAL LAUNCHING

New York New York

2008-11-20T03:17:00.003Z

The almost freezing temperature in New York has been a bit of a shock to the system after shorts and t-shirts in Florida but we braved the icy wind and had a good paddle today in NYC. A very different paddle to what I'm used to - with cliffs of steel and glass and so many boats whizzing around everywhere. We're staying with Sid Stone who showed us the city last night, including going to the top of the Rockerfeller building and a horse drawn cart around Central Park. Thanks to Sid.

Tomorrow ( Thursday) is the Connecticut premiere in Middletown organised by Connyak.
In the UK, this coming weekend the New Zealand film and the Dubside film are showing at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, the UKs largest mountain film festival.

Gators and Manatees in Florida

2008-11-18T04:01:00.003Z

We had a great premiere in Florida at Sweetwater Kayaks. Russell Farrow who is one of the owners of Sweetwater is also in a band called Sisemore, who played live at the premiere. I used one of their songs, Butterfly Breeze in the New Zealand documentary on "This is the Sea 4", and it was really moving to hear them play it live.

We've spend the last 2 days on 2 fantastic paddles. Alligators one day and manatees the next!! Both days were on rivers - the first on the Myakka river and today on the Weeke Watche. We also saw loads of birds and enjoyed the peacefulness of the wild places.

"This is the Sea 4" on the big BIG screen

2008-11-15T13:16:00.004Z

It was quite exciting last night to drive down the street in Chicago and to see 'This is the Sea 4' written on the cinema screen near Geneva. Especially as tomorrow night Davey Jones from the Monkees is permorming there tomorrow night! Obviously he saw that it must be a worthy cinema if they have a great kayaking movie there the night before!

It was a fun event, hosted by Geneva Kayak Centre with over 100 people attending. It was great to see "This is the Sea 4" on a HUGE screen. When I took a photo from the back I realized just how BIG the screen was.

The San Diego event the night before hosted by Aqua Adventures was also great, with a similar number of people showing up for food and beer provided by Jen of Aqua Adventures. And we had a great days WARM surfing in a shortie cag on a wonderful reef break surrounded by pelicans.......

Before that we had a wonderful drive down the California coast with lots of beach and cove walks.

I'll write more later and post pictures, I just have a brief internet connection over breakfast on the way to the airport. next stop Florida!

BIG SUR COAST

On tour....

2008-11-11T04:18:00.004Z

PELICAN AT HALF MOON BAY

THE SAN FRANCISCO PREMIERE

The premiere tour of "This is the Sea 4" continues to go well, with 2 countries, 3 American states and 5 showings in 9 days! I'm tired just thinking about it!

We had a fun paddle in windy conditions at Half Moon Bay yesterday followed by a showing of the film. Thanks to Andy at Golden Gate Kayaking for organising it and to everyone for showing up! Thanks also to Yoshiko and Russ for putting us up for 2 days and looking after us really well!

We're rented a car for the next few days and are making our way down to San Diego in time for a premiere there on Thursday.

There are a few more reviews of "This is the Sea 4" appearing in various languages.

Click here for one in German from Kanu Magazine

Here is one in American!

A MOODY WALK IN PORTLAND

Portland premiere and Columbia River Gorge Paddle

2008-11-08T17:48:00.003Z

The Portland Premier was packed - the Mission Theatre was full to capacity with 304 people! Sorry to anyone who had to be turned away. Alder Creek did a great job of organising the event and publicising it so thanks a lot to them. We had a fun paddle yesterday down the Columbia River Gorge with Jon Walpole. The gorge often acts like a wind tunnel and is famous for down wind paddling runs. Yesterday it was very calm and we enjoyed a mellow scenic paddle. Today we are going for a hike, and then fly down to San Francisco for a paddle and premiere there on Sunday

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Orcas & Seattle Premieres, parties and paddles!

2008-11-07T01:16:00.004Z

SAN JUAN ISLANDS PADDLE

SAD TO SEE SHAWNA AND LEON GO HOME TODAY!

It's been a busy few days, with a premiere on Orcas island and one in Seattle, both with good turn outs. Plus a great paddle and a nice walk in the San Juan islands. Thanks a lot to "Body Boat Blade" for driving us down to Seattle, and buying pizza and beer for everyone who attended, aswell as organising the San Juan islands premiere. Thanks also to Seattle Raft & Kayak company for providing the venue. Last night we stayed with Nigel and Kristen Foster and had a look around Kristen's wonderful ceramics studio. Thanks to them for hosting us.
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KRISTEN IN HER STUDIO
We were sad to leave Shawna and Leon from BBB today, but are excited to head south to Portland for a premiere there tonight at the Mission Theatre. I'm sitting in the theatre now, 15 minutes before people arrive. It's a great venue with a huge screen, lots of seats and a bar!

STRONG FEELINGS IN ANACORTES THE DAY AFTER THE US ELECTION

LEON ON SUCIA ( SORRY IF I SPELT THAT WRONG!)

Vancouver premiere and paddling!

2008-11-03T21:14:00.002Z

It's amazing how quickly you can be in a different place! On Saturday morning we had breakfast in England and by the afternoon we were being picked up by Mike Callahan from the Eco-Marine kayak shop in Vancouver. By the evening we were presenting the DVD to about 100 people, trying not to think about the fact that it was about 3am for us! It was a fun evening and good to meet lots of enthusiastic people and see a few people again. Thanks for everyone who showed up, to Michael, Eco-marine and West Coast paddler for organising and presenting the event and to Lendal Paddles and Ocean Kayak for sponsoring Barry and my travel expenses to make it all possible.

Yesterday Michael drove us down to Deception Pass where we met Shawna and Leon, Dubside Tom, Anne & Steve for an afternoon paddle. Now we're back on Orcas for a couple of days, about to go for a walk up Turtleback mountain!

Thanks to Dan from West Coast Paddler - I'm having trouble getting photos from my camera so I stole one of his from his website without permission! I hope that's OK and that you forgive me, Dan! You can read what people thought about the premiere and DVD here

UK premieres and reviews

2008-10-28T19:58:00.003Z

It snowed today in Mynydd Llandegai - the first time this year!

There are a few more reviews of 'This is the Sea 4' popping up. Derrick at Kayak Quixotica has written a long and very nice review.

Overall, the DVD seems to be well received - there is some bickering and bantering about which disc is best and different people have their particular favorite chapters. I've also seen some discussion about which of the 4 "This is the Sea" DVDs is the best one - the Norwegians that I have spoken to think that this one is the best so far but no 2 people think exactly the same.... Hopefully with 2 and a half hours of content, everyone can find something they like!

If you still aren't sure and live close enough then tomorrow - Wednesday - is the premiere of "This is the sea 4" in Llanberis at Surf Lines shop, and on Thursday there is a premiere at Brookbank Canoes huge store in Stockport.

You can see an interesting variation on the cover of 'This is the sea 4' here

Scottish Canoe Show and Podcast

2008-10-26T13:36:00.003Z

We're on our way home from the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth. They chose a good weekend for an indoor event as strong wind and rain drove people inside to buy new toys and listen to speakers. While we were there, Simon Willis recorded a podcast with Barry and I about our New Zealand expedition. You can listen to it here, or listen to some of Simon's many other interesting podcasts here.

Now we're driving south, hoping traffic allows us to reach the Wirral in time to show the premiere version of "This is the Sea 4" there tonight!

Scottish Gales

2008-10-24T11:57:00.002+01:00

It's been a windy week in Scotland and we've only paddled 2 days in the Oban area. We had a fun paddle around Seil island 2 days ago, and a battle into a really strong headwind yesterday at Craigneish which was strangely satisfying. It took us an hour and 10 minutes to go less than 4km around 2 islands, and about half an hour to surf back! Other than that we've been walking and catching up with friends. Tomorrow we'll be at the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth.

"This is the Sea 4" is being well received. I've had loads of positive comments about the New Zealand and Queen Charlotte island expeditions, in particular. If you are still making your mind up whether to buy it, there are a few more reviews out to help you make up your mind!

In English,

http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/

In French,

http://www.expemag.com

In Norwegian,

http://www.qajaq.no/article.asp?id=75

"This is the Sea 4" in the mail!

2008-10-16T12:00:00.004+01:00

Phew! Finally all the DVD pre-orders are on their way to distributors, shops and individuals. They should be in stock everywhere by next week at the latest, so not long to wait now! I've also spotted the first brief review of the DVD. Read it here.

I celebrated last night with an evening paddle on the Menai Straits. It was a 10metre tide - the last big tide of the year - so Barry and I went to the standing wave that forms at 'the Swellies' on spring tides. It was great fun, with the only snag being that the wave only forms for an hour or so twice a day and it happened to be when it was dark!! I didn't take any photos - sorry - but I did get capsized and have to roll in the dark! Funnily enough, it's just the same as rolling in the daylight, except that it feels a bit scarier!

Tomorrow we head north, to the Edinburgh Film Festival where I'm talking on Sunday afternoon, then to the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth the following weekend. We'll spend the week in between paddling in Scotland and catching up with a few friends. DVD orders will still go out, usually within 24 hours of them being ordered.

We've added a new date to the UK premiere tour. On Sunday 26th October we'll be on the Wirral in NW England, where Barry is from, to show the hour long version of 'This is the Sea 4'. The event will be held at the West Cheshire Sailing Club in Wallasey at 7pm. It's presented by "Let's Go Adventure" It's free but you need to reserve a place by emailing info@letsgoadventure.org.uk Barry and I will be there to answer any questions at the end of the film. We're also hoping that one of the bands whose music are featured in the DVD, Reckless Elbow, will be able to play a few songs.

We also have a venue confirmed for the San Diego event. It's at Aqua Adventures at 1548 Quivira Way on Thursday 13th November. There will be live music and burgers starting at 5:30pm and the screening starting at 7pm. Jen Kleck, the owner of Aqua Adventures ( and one of the stars of 'This is the Sea 4'), is providing burgers and beer.
PARLIAMENT HOUSE CAVE A FEW WEEKS AGO

Gremlins & Changes to Premiere dates

2008-10-10T11:14:00.005+01:00

THE DAY WE DIDN'T PADDLE! CARMEL HEAD! ( thanks to Jake for the photo)

The launch date for "This is the Sea 4" is getting closer and I'm getting more anxious as everything which could possibly go wrong seems to be happening. It's OK, the DVDs will be ready before the launch date but it's going to be tight. Without boring you with all the details, the things keeping me busy in the month since I finished editing include an international courier (UPS) losing a set of master DVDs ( which are still missing), and everything in the UK taking several days longer than I was promised. So if you live in Australasia or Canada or some parts of Europe then there may be a slight delay in you receiving your DVD which I apologize for. The DVDs should all be ready for shipping on Monday so we'll have to cross our fingers that the postmen are speedy! Please be patient if your DVD is a few days late or your local shop doesn't have it for a few days. It's coming!

There are 2 changes to the premiere dates in North America.

Due to the American election being on 4th November, we've moved the premier on Orcas island to the evening before, Monday 3rd November. Contact BodyBoatBlade for details, or look on my website here and the details will be updated once they confirm the venue with me.

The San Francisco event has also changed dates and is now on Sunday 9th November. The location is the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. The beer garden has been booked for 3 hours, between 6 & 9 pm. There will be a small charge for the event as the organisers have hired the venue. There is a paddle during the day which Barry and I will be attending. The plan is to end up back at Half Moon Bay, grab some food and then head to the Brewing company. Contact Golden Gate Kayaking for details

In the UK, there are 2 new premieres -
On Wednesday 29th October, I'll be presenting the hour long version of the DVD at my excellent local kayaking shop Surflines in Llanberis at 7pm. Entry is free and we'll all go for 'pizza and a pint' afterwards.

On Thursday 30th October I'm at Brookbank Canoes new big store at in Stockport (Manchester). I'll be giving a short talk about the New Zealand cirumnavigation and presenting the hour long version. 7.30pm. Entry is free.

The photos are from a paddle with Shawna Franklin, Leon Somme, and Jeff Cochrane around 'the Stacks' a week or so ago. Shawna and Leon came to stay with us for a few days which was great fun!

Perspective

2008-09-21T22:36:00.003+01:00

CURIOUS SEAL AS WE LEFT THE SKERIES

I've been working pretty hard lately to get this DVD finished and although I've been paddling and walking and other activities, I haven't been spending as much time doing them as I'd have liked. Although I've still got lots of things to organise, this weekend was a chance to forget about work and do some dedicated paddling! On Saturday Barry, Axel and I paddled around Holy island on Anglesey - a 22 mile paddle which involves kayaking through some of the best Anglesey races ( North Stack, South Stack and Penrhyn Mawr), aswell as weaving through a shallow estuary to the 'inland sea', and paddling underneath 2 narrow bridges where the tide pours in and then out of the inland sea. Despite paddling on Anglesey for years, it was the first time Axel and I had paddled around Holy island and it was great fun. It was windier than we'd expected which slowed us down at times but made it more fun. It was quite exciting to paddle under Four Mile Bridge with the current, and then we stopped for lunch for 2 hours at "Stanley embankment" to wait for the tide to stop pouring into the inland sea. Barry even swapped his seakayak for a playboat and had a surf.

ME ABOUT TO GO THROUGH FOUR MILE BRIDGE

Today was a beautiful sunny summers day and we decided to paddle to the Skerries, a wonderful offshore island with loads of seals and birds. Except we decide to make it a bit more interesting so we paddled there against the tide. We eddy-hopped from Cemlyn to Carmel Head and then ferry glided across to the island. A great weekend to remind me what it's all about!

BARRY AT STANLEY EMBANKMENT

Thanks to Axel for the photos

Editing"This is the Sea 4" finished!

2008-09-17T10:39:00.003+01:00

On Monday I finally finished editing "This is the Sea 4" and posted the master tapes to the company who is producing the master DVDs for me. Anyone who has done some editing knows that it's a never-ending job which consumes you for weeks on end, but at some point you just say 'That's it. I'm happy with that!" Now I have to wait about 3 weeks before I can proudly show off the finished product.

A few friends have seen some of the finished DVD and feedback has been great. One friend was an hour late for his appointment when he sat down to watch a bit of the 50 minute New Zealand documentary and ended up glued to the screen for all of it! Other friends have scrunched up their faces in sympathy watching me try to follow expert whitewater kayakers Ken Whiting and Brendan Mark down the Ottawa river and end up sliding into a hole three times my height and much more powerful than me! And there is loads of other good stuff in there.

It would be nice to report that I'm now out paddling all day before coming home and putting my feet up & chilling out in front of the wood-burning stove, but alas - there is still lots to do to let people know that the DVD is coming, make sure distributors and shops will have the DVD in time for the launch date of 18th October, organize the premiere tour, decide what will be in the hour long 'festival' version of the DVD which I'll be playing at the premiere events, make another preview clip etc etc...

Thanks a lot to Derrick Mayoleth, who has been working hard on the cover design and disc designs. I've ben finding plenty of time to hassle him!!

The premiere tour for 'This is the Sea 4' is coming together nicely. The Seattle premiere will be at Seattle Raft & Kayak Company on 5th November (my birthday), the San Diego premiere will be on Thursday 13th November and the venue is almost sorted! The Vancouver premiere has now moved dates and is on Saturday 1st November ( due to our original airline Zoom going bust and us having to re-book our flights). There is likely to be an extra premiere on Orcas in the San Juan islands, probably on 4th November and we may be able to add a couple more dates. I don't think the organizers in San Francisco have found a venue yet so please get in touch with any suggestions.

In the UK, we're arranging a premiere at Brookbank Canoes huge new store in Stockport (Manchester), probably on 31st October.

Details on the premieres will be updated soon ( once Derrick has recovered from all my other requests!), Keep up to date here.

North America premiere tour

2008-08-29T21:29:00.004+01:00

You can see details of our premiere tour of America and Canada, sponsored by Lendal, on the website now. Click here.
Details will be updated as things are firmed up.

The photo is me filming the rockhopping in Baja section, at the world's second largest blowhole!

"This is the Sea 4" released 18th October - Double Disc set!

2008-08-27T15:08:00.008+01:00

I'm locked away in a dark room right now, busy editing "This is the Sea 4" so it can be on the shelves of your local kayaking store in time for Christmas. I've done an amazing amount of kayaking in the last 18 months - over 7 months worth of trips and symposiums in fact!! All in the interests of giving you an action packed DVD full of fantastic locations. In fact, I've got so much great material that "This is the Sea 4" is going to be a double-disc set, and the good news is that it will still be the same price as the others, $29.95, £20 or Euro 29.95. If making these DVDs were purely a business venture for me then I would be crazy to give you so much good stuff in one DVD when I could hold over half of it for a later date, but I can't help being passionate about what I do and I want to share it all and inspire everyone else to get out on the water.

Editing is going well, it's not over yet and things may change a little bit but here's the line up so far. Or read about it on the webpage here.

There are 3 fascinating expedition stories; Haida culture & humpback whales around British Columbia's Queen Charlotte islands; island hopping from Australia to Tasmania across the Bass Strait, & a 2400km trip around the stunning South island of New Zealand complete with intimidating surf & a helicopter evacuation.

Rough water rolling, Greenland rope gymnastics & commando kayaking with DUBSIDE, Kayak fishing in San Diego, Rock hopping in Baja, kayaking fun with father and son in Norways stunning fjords, paddling the Dead Sea in Israel, Seakayaking the Grade 4 Ottawa River, Lake Superiors Apostle islands AND MORE....

You can read more about the DVD on it's own dedicated webpage.

There is a preview clip of the New Zealand expedition, and soon there will be another preview clip on there.
I hope you like the front cover, designed by Derrick Mayoleth from www.kayakquixotica.com

The exciting news continues, Barry and I are going 'on tour' with the DVD across North America. Thanks to sponsorship from "Lendal", we'll be presenting an hour long version of the DVD at about 8 different locations including Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Florida & New York. Details are still being sorted out, but if there is one near you then I hope to see you there! You can see the details of the tour on the webpage.

We'll also be presenting the DVD in the UK at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival on 18th October, and at the Scottish Canoe Show in Perth on 25th and 26th October.

And if you can't wait to see it then you can also now pre-order the DVD to make sure it arrives as soon as it's ready. Go to the shop here. Shipping is free for a limited time!

Lake Superior

2008-07-23T04:01:00.004+01:00

BARRY AT SPRAY FALLS, PICTURED ROCKS
SARAH AT DEVILS ISLAND, APOSTLES
DAMON AT DEVILS ISLAND, APOSTLES

I've just got home to Wales after a fun week on Lake Superior. Barry and I were guests at the Grand Marais symposium, organised by Riverside Kayak Connection, which was a lot of fun. We spent a day before the event kayaking alongside the amazing Pictured Rocks - steep sandstone cliffs with a few fun caves to paddle into, through and under, with amazing multi-coloured stripes on the rocks where the different minerals have leached through. We paddled about 10 miles along the cliffs and then back. At the furthest point was Spray Falls, an amazing waterfall which cascaded off a sheer 40foot overhang, which we paddled under to get a powershower. Thanks to Sarah & Damon Smith and Danny Mungo for taking us, and to Kelly Blades for lending us some kayaks.
ME AND BARRY AT THE APOSTLES
DEVILS ISLAND CLIFFS
BARRY IN THE CAVERNS AT DEVIL'S ISLAND

We met lots of fun people at the symposium and gave a talk about our New Zealand trip on the Sat night. Then Tiffany and Pat from Riverside Kayak Connection drove us west to Lake Superiors Apostle islands for a couple of days paddling which we really enjoyed. Lake Superior is an amazing feature - it's easy to forget you aren't on the sea as its the worlds largest lake and it seems to go on forever - you certainly can't see any land on the horizon. It was a nice change to paddle in freshwater without salt getting everywhere! The Apostle islands are a group of 21 sandstone islands in Wisconsin which is a great paddling destination with many options depending on the weather and time period. We headed out to Sand island and Devils island because they have fantastic sandstone caves, arches and caverns. There are loads of tiny little gaps that we could just squeeze through, and tunnels that we had to lean right back to travel through. We were grateful for a calm day so we could get in close. We camped overnight on Bear Island with Sarah, Damon and John before heading back via a couple of shipwrecks to Gail Green's Living Adventures near Bayfield on the mainland. Gail and her husband Grant run seakayaking tours of the Apostle islands from here. It's an impressive operation and thanks to them for putting us up for a night.

So now it's back home and straight into editing 'This is the Sea 4'. Well, OK, maybe I need to get a bit of sleep first but tomorrow I'll be working hard to get the DVD finished by mid October. I'll be updating the website soon with details of what you can look forward to seeing - and also writing a blog or two about the DVD in the next couple of weeks.

DOUG VAN DOREN HAS BEEN WORKING OUT FOR THE SYMPOSIUM
THE APOSTLE ISLANDS
ME FILMING A BALD EAGLE IN THE TREE TOP, APOSTLES

3 Peaks Yacht Race

2008-06-30T19:46:00.003+01:00

I'm in Scotland, filming the 3 Peaks yacht Race where teams sail from Barmouth in wales to Fort William in Scotland but stop off to send runners up the 3 highest peaks in Wales, England and Scotland. over 2 days in, I'm a bit sleep deprived having been on board one of the leading boats from Barmouth to Whitehaven, filming events as they unfold. We got almost 3 hours sleep at Caernarfon when the runners were racing up Snowdon, and very little last night as we filmed the lead yacht trying to leave and getting stuck on a sandbank at 1am, then really leaving (neck and neck with another boat) at 5am. Tonight, I'm at Crewhaven eating a pub meal before being taken on a boat in the middle of the night out to the Correvrekkan area where we hope to catch up with the lead boats in the early hours and get some shots of the battle for first place. I'm one of several camerapeople filming for "DreamTeam TV' and the final programme will be shown on TransWorld sport.

Thanks to Arran Cartwright for the photo from the land.

Isle of Man and the ellusive basking sharks!

2008-06-25T21:58:00.003+01:00

BARRY AND I PADDLING THE DOUBLE TODAY

In June every year basking sharks are often seen feeding around the Isle of Man. These amazing creatures which can reach up to 12 metres long often feed on the surface with their dorsal fin and tail wiggling menacingly above the water. Thankfully they only eat plankton so there's no fear of becoming dinner, just the exciting possibility of looking down upon one of these amazing creatures if they chose to swim up to your kayak. I've been hoping to get over to the Isle of Man to film them for a few years and finally on Monday evening, Barry and I flew over for a few days with our fingers crossed. Keirron, from Adventurous Experiences looked after us and tried his hardest to make us and the sharks meet but alas, it wasn't to be this time. On the positive side, we had a lovely sunset paddle on Monday, and saw a lot of the beautiful west and south coasts on Tuesday as we walked the cliff paths, scouring the water for any sign of a black fin. Today was pretty windy, a force 6 SWerly was whipping the sea up so we decided there wasn't much chance of spotting sharks and we'd just go for a fun paddle. Keirron took us to Port Erin and we surfed north to Peel Castle. Barry and I got to paddle the double which we paddled over to the Isle of Man from Anglesey about a year ago!

In a way, it's good that the sharks are so unpredicatable and we can't just plan to go and film them - after all the unexpected, untamable aspect is one thing I love about being out in nature..... but hopefully next time the sharks will give us just a little peak! "This is the Sea 4" needs you!
KEIRRON

Mountain Equipment Co-Op PaddleFest

2008-06-16T15:08:00.006+01:00

KAYAK PLAY SESSION WITH KELLY BLADES

The Toronto MEC PaddleFest was a lot of fun with a few hundred people out on the water in canoes, kayaks, outriggers, dragon boats and everything inbetween. There was a really good atmosphere with loads of instructors teaching beginners through to more advanced strokes. My favourite session was kThe weather held out well until the last afternoon when a thunder storm and torrential rain had everyone off the water and running for cover. It didn't dampen spirits and the final class of the day was back on the water briefly! Dubside was there impressing everyone with his rope gymnastics, slack lining and rolling, and I had the pleasure to meet some very talented canoeists including Karen Knight and Bob Foote doing an amazing freestyle routine which was like dancing on the water.

KAREN KNIGHT AND BOB FOOTE
Thanks a lot to MEC for inviting me to the event and to Dave, James and Erik at the Harbourfront Canoe & Kayak centre in Toronto for helping me out with various things including a pontoon boat and driver ( Erik!) for filming.
THUNDER STORM OVER TORONTO