Month: June 2009 Page 3 of 4

One year on from the launch of the ‘South West Sea Kayaking’ guidebook the author, Mark Rainsley began scheming a first anniversary celebration. It was to be much the same as last year’s shindig based upon paddling, tall tales and other matters to be discussed around a table full of fine Devonshire ales.

Over 60 paddlers descended upon the misty village of East Prawle in south Devon and set up camp in the farmers field. I was part of a small elite force that headed for the ‘Pig’s Nose Inn’ to see what local beers could be found.

The Pig’s Nose Inn (photo – The Rainsley collection)

The mist was still down on Saturday morning but with just a light southerly breeze we split up into small groups and began to explore the local coastline. I had travelled from Runcorn with Tim Lambert from P&H Custom Sea Kayaks and a trailer load of demo boats. We Paddled out from Hallsands with a small group around Start Point.

Graeme Mackreth was amongst our number sporting his latest acquisition. I wondered if this classic skin-on-frame ‘Baidarka’ was merely a purchase of passion or perhaps a cunning investment in research for a future boat design.

In the evening we gathered in the Pig’s Nose hall for a series of short talks. Chris Wheeler started with a world tour of places less paddled. Olly Sanders delivered tall stories a plenty including an account of how he managed to blow the roof off a hunting cabin on the Greenland coast. Mark Rainsley described his recent Scottish adventures then I finished off with the virtues and beauty of northern England coasts.

On Sunday the sun came out as did plenty more demo boats.

(photo – The Rainsley collection)

Tim and I paddled with a group to Burgh Island where the hotel and pub were overwhelmed by thirsty visitors.

With the pub out of bounds we got in amongst the swell to explore the rocky shores and towering cliffs before reluctantly winding up the weekend festivities back at Thurlestone Beach.

optical communicationDNV – Det Norske Veritas, is an organization of unsurpassed reputation within risk managment. I have just completed several courses for some employees at the Copenhagen office. We started last year with a couple of one day sessions after they purchased 3 Capella kayaks for employees to use after work and at weekends, their office is just a couple of hundred meters from Tuborg Harbor. The sessions over the last two weeks have been for new people to get a good start with technique & to learn the basic safety drills.

Here we are using Easky 15 boats as well as an Easky 15LV, these boats are really great for getting people to relax on the water, even after a few short minutes, they are so stable and yet really easy to turn through 360 degrees, I am glad that the Scorpio is as agile as it is, otherwise it could be a bit of a challenge to weave in and out of the trainees…..
It has been great fun teaching safety to people that daily are working in risk management, getting them to see the relationship between good maneuvering skills and rescue drills

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I was watching quietly while students were sorting out a navigation challenge off the coast of Maine when I heard an odd “suckling” sound and a tiny bark; to my surprise I saw this little guy having a taste of my Cetus. Overall I think he liked the flavor but thought the color was a bit generic.

I slowly backed away and the little fellow moved on to a nearby lobster buoy. We had an amazing couple of weeks of coaching in both Maine and Rhode Island with every possible environment, cold temps, fog, rain, swell, surf and couple of blue bird days now and then to dry things out.

In between trips to the coast I was able to get a clinic in with the staff from Canoe Imports in South Burlington, Vermont. The staff was impressed with the agility of the Cetus, Scorpio and Scorpio LV and were psyched about all of the features and value packed into the Easky 15 and 15 LV.

Cheers,

Todd Wright

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You ever feel like you’re the luckiest person in the world?

Two weeks ago my wife, Djuna, and I decided to celebrate two years of being married by paddling for a couple of days at our favorite local tidal race. We caught the tail end of a big ebb to get to “the spot”, took a break to eat some snacks and see how things would shape up as the flood began. The signs were good–a small surge from the Straits and a moderate wind from the west predicted to build in the afternoon. I exchanged looks with Djuna saying, “It’s gonna be good, darlin'” hoping I wasn’t jinxing us, but confident that it would, in fact, be sweet.

Sure enough, an hour into the flood and already there were surfable waves, and we had the place all to ourselves. Having so much fun we opted out of landing for lunch, just snacking in the eddy behind a large rock. Suddenly, things jumped up another notch as the combination of current speed, depth over the ledge, and the surge all synched up into beautiful 4-5 foot walls of water. We ended up paddling for 4 hours straight, and left with the race still going off, feeling foolish about expending energy early on. No matter, for we were going to return the next day to an even stronger flood, and similar weather conditions.

We caught the flood back to our starting point searching for the whitest, roughest water we could find. We saw a large gnarly whirlpool zone and I suggested we head for it, as I was trying to get some good video. I dropped into an intimidating bowl about 20 feet across and maybe 3 feet deep–no sucking vortex but kind of scary, I looked back to Djuna, separated now by a massive upwelling, in time to see her descend into the white mass, flip and then successfully roll up laughing. Things calmed down after that and we enjoyed the conveyer belt back to our put-in, marvelling at how lucky we both felt to be able to enjoy these dynamic places together, and feel well within our comfort levels.That evening we spent with some good friends on Lopez, Colin and Heidi, who graciously let us camp in their garden, and rested up for another day.

Day two was even better than the first, and we were spontaneously joined by two other paddlers, Warren Willimson, and a guy named John, who is a competetive racer, and had the skills and strength to be out there in a surf ski, always staying just upstream of the white stuff. I think he ended up being a little jealous of us in our shorter sea kayaks, and will soon be buying a Capella!

Ready for action. Nice call on the camo, Dinver.

Meet my new friend, Leroy Brown. We are about the hit the road for the Northeast. Click here for more.