Our adventures, trials and tribulations seem like such a long time ago. The memories of those intense days on the water may have faded a little but the good news is that we shot some video footage along the way. This has all been put together into a short film.
The Cumberland Ring from P&H SeaKayaks on Vimeo.
Enjoy the moods of the river and the freedom of the coast and perhaps dream up your own plans to try the Cumberland Ring, or plan your very own local expedition / challenge.
Committed2thecore’s 2012 sea kayaking schedule will have lots of great new ideas, many of them inspired by my BCU Level 5 training.
I recently spent an incredible week in Ireland with 11 other eager paddlers and two of the world’s best sea kayaking instructors, Oisin Hallisay and Mike McClure, as part of the intensive British Canoe Union Level 5 training program.
In most programs I have taken or delivered, the first meeting is all about who you are, what you want to get out of the program, and getting to know your fellow paddlers. Well the instructors turned that idea on its ear. They told us that there was a mini bus with a trailer loaded with boats, and we were to pack up our stuff because we were heading out to an island to spend the night. That was just the start of some unexpected, and pleasant, surprises.
Our group was made up of 8 sea kayakers and 4 white water kayakers. During the 7-day program we were exposed to many different classroom based sessions: visualization exercise, learning styles, learning types, personality profiling, and how to work with all types of people in groups. Once the classroom-based sessions were done, we moved onto the water. Oisin brought in Howard Jeffs, Gordon Brown, Kevin Mansell, Andy Stamp and Nigel Robinson for two days of practical coaching. I had the pleasure of two days of on water coaching with Nigel Robinson (a fellow P&H team member).
I am now planning the 2012 Committed2theCore sea kayaking programs. Some of the innovations I plan to introduce as a result of the BCU training include:
My BCU training will conclude in November 2012, when I return to the UK with 6 sea kayaking students. I will develop a customized training plan for each of the six and work with them to attain their goals. They will take part in an assessment, in which I will be observed by two other level 5 instructors to see if my training plan worked. I will also be assessed on my ability to develop practical teaching situations.
I hope to see many of you on the water in 2012. If you want to brush up on your skills, and learn some new ones, register now for the Atlantic Paddle Symposium, May 11 to 14, at Liscombe Lodge on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. (www.atlanticpaddlesymposium.com) If you are in Ireland and are looking for a great place to paddle and learn, check out the Tollymore Outdoor Centre (www.tollymore.com), the base for the BCU training.
Special thanks to Jim and all the crew at P&H kayaks for all the support.
Yours in Adventure,
Christopher Lockyer
Fifth Annual Atlantic Paddle Symposium
May 11-14, 2012 www.atlanticpaddlesymposium.com
Registration for the 5th annual Atlantic Paddle Symposium is now open! LINK Register now to guarantee your place, as we only have room at beautiful Liscombe Lodge for the first 75.
By registering now, you will be entered for the Early Bird prize draw. Prizes include
a white water canoe from Esquif, a dry suit from Kokatat, plus many other great prizes. Check them all out at LINK
This event is open to all paddlers, of all levels, who have a keen interest in improving their skills. We are reprising past successful sessions, and introducing new lessons. Check them out at LINK
The Atlantic Paddle Symposium is recognized as the premier paddling event in Atlantic Canada. Always timed to start off the paddling season, it brings together a dedicated paddling community for a 4-day event focused on skill development, outdoor leadership, education, and paddling safety. Now in its fifth successful year, the symposium facilitates relationship building within the Atlantic Canada paddling community, as well as introducing top international paddling instructors to the Atlantic Canada paddling community.
If you are wondering who is going to be coaching at this year’s event, check LINK
When you are relaxing in the evening, you can enjoy some of our top-notch presenters:
A special thanks goes out to P&H kayaks for help to bring Matt Nelson in again this year. We hope to have a bunch of P&H demo kayaks to be used at the 2011 event
Liscombe Lodge, located on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore and just one and a half hours from Halifax International Airport, will provide us with a white water, canoe and sea kayak playground this year. Liscombe Lodge will provide us with accommodations, meals, and use of all facilities. For those of you who are looking for a single room we have that option. If you are coming alone not to worry and want the double occupancy rate that is an option as well. We will assign you a roommate.
Highlighted sessions for this year’s event include:
We could not offer registration fees of for a symposium of this calibre without the support of our corporate sponsors.
Carbon-fibre sponsors for the 5th Annual Paddling Sympoisum:
Esquif Canoes http://www.esquif.com Mountain Equipment Co-op www.mec.ca
To see a full list of our sponsors see LINK. To become a sponsor, please contact me at LINK.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at info@atlanticpaddlesymposium.com
Christopher Lockyer Executive Director Atlantic Paddle Symposium
New Expedition Skills DVD from Olly Sanders and Nigel Robinson
Due to be available January 2012
It’s been a month since Gethin and I finished our circumnavigation of Ulster to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. The journey took us from Belfast Lough down the east coast to Blackrock, across Ireland to Ballyshannon on the west coast and then around the coasts of Donegal and Northern Ireland.
Over a few beers and whilst I should have been marking children’s books, I’ve had time to reflect on a trip that had a relentless pace as we raced to stay with the weather. We took just 16 days to cover the 560 km route. Things that I have learnt:
Sails are the way ahead; we woke up in just north of Burtonport in one of the most ideal campsites of the trip. The promised north westerly winds had not turned up during the night and we had slept peacefully on our granite atoll. Paddling out along the west side of Cruit Island the wind arrived from the south. We popped the sails up and headed towards Gola, a quick check of the GPS showed that we were getting a lift of 4km/h from the sails. Happy that we were going make Inishboffin for the end of the day we surfed our way north on the small wind chop, the sails giving us that extra push to stay on the waves.
Bloody Foreland came all too easily and we turned east as the wind kindly turned west and increased to a steady force 4+. We were soon zipping long, surfing the small waves, making a steady 9km/h against the tide. Pulling into Inishboffin for a late lunch, we knew that we could not stop long and had to make the most of the conditions. Horn head and then across Sheephaven to Doagh became the new target. With the wind increasing and the seas building, the sailing and surfing was moving towards a little too exciting with both Gethin and I stalling the boats and backing off the big waves by the end of the crossing. With the sails up we only needed to keep the boats pointing in a straight line to keep the speed up, so this did not slow us down that much. We pulled into Doagh 9 hours after starting, having had the wind behind us all day. Sails are not a common sight on sea boats in Ireland but in NZ (a windy place) they are*. Are sails cheating? I remember Scott saying something like that about Amundsen and his dogs.
Don’t take advice from TV characters; it did not take long to get used to putting on wet clothes in the morning and by the 3rd day, as we left in the early morning mizzle to cross Cralingford Lough and Dundalk Bay, the force 5 winds were of far more concern. We needed to get to Blackrock and the Fane River within 2 hours of high tide before the bay dried out or risk losing a day waiting for the evening tide. The crosswinds became headwinds as we tuned west into Dundalk bay and remembering that Del boy declared “fortune favours the brave!” We gambled on getting across to the Fane in time. Fast forward an hour and a half and taking advice from an imaginary East End market trader seamed slightly foolish. We were out of the boats, running through shin deep water to get to the deep channel, as the water disappeared around us. With legs screaming and breakfast threatening to make a comeback, we made it into the Fane River with barely a centimetre of water to spare. Del boy was not quoted in the decision making process again.
People are generous and kind; to our knowledge the round Ulster route had only been completed once before by “Shooter”. It was starting to become apparent why, after 5km the Fane became shallow and littered with small stone weirs. By 6 o’clock towing the boats up stream, through calf deep water, was losing its novelty and hey 6 is the magic number so the next cow field was declared camp.
I would like to say that the tents were up and the kettle on in minutes but we just stood there staring and gently rocking backwards and forwards wondering what we had got ourselves in to. The next day we managed to paddle 100m before we were out of the boats, this time we were lifting them over fallen trees, setting the theme for the rest of the morning. After only making 3km in two hours we decided to quit the river and break out the trolleys. Unfortunately just as sea kayaks were not designed to be tracked upstream, the trolleys were not designed to carry 50kg and within 5km they were starting to creak and at 10km the wheels quite literally fell off. Standing 20km from the sea by the side of the road, with two fully loaded boats and no trolley was a potential stumbling block for the trip. So we grabbed the bat phone and called Shooter, who called Andrew McCol, who called his mate Paddy and a rescue was on. We even had a reserve in the wings with Gregg Miller who decided that he did not need to sleep that night and could head down from Belfast once he had finished work at 9pm. After Paddy had helped us off the road (whilst laughing heartily at the ridiculousness of the situation) Andrew arrived and took us home for the night, fed us and then dropped us off at Butlers Bridge the next day. John O’Neil helped us out in a similar way by giving us a lift round the barrage at Ballyshannon and numerous other people helped with words of encouragement and support along the way. The circumnavigation has raised over £5000 pounds for Macmillan Cancer Support with the vast majority of donations coming from people who I have never met or heared of and who never met my wife Alex. Thank you for helping Macmillan continue to support those affected by cancer.
And finally Ulster is not an island!
The circumnavigation was kindly supported by P and H custom sea kayaks, Reed Chillcheater, Cotswold Outdoors and Johnson Campbell ltd.
* Search for “kayak sail” on the Belfast Kayak Club web site for how to make a sail.
Rich Lineham & Gethin Thomas
The 2011 Lumpy Waters Kayak Symposium was over for another year. Organized by Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe it was once again an excellent event with great comaraderie, paddling and learning. On the first day there was an incident that involved some bad decision-making by yours truly (with others) that thankfully and luckily did not result in loss of life (a full account of this incident can be found on Mark Whittaker’s blog).
Once again, after three days of teaching classes some of the coaches (including PH paddlers Chris Lockyer, Matt Nelson and Sean Morley) took the opportunity to cut loose and go play. We chose Three Arches Rocks as the venue for this now annual Play Day and the increasing westerly swell produced some big waves for us to play in.
Matt Nelson running a big pour-over with Sean Morley providing safety. Photo by Bryant Burkhardt
Matt running the same pourover on an even bigger wave. Photo by Bryant Burkhardt
Sean Morley turned back by a close-out wave in one of the arches. Photo by Jeff Laxier
Sean Morley surfing the Delphin watched by Chris Lockyer. Photo by Bryant Burkhardt
Matt Nelson carving in the Delphin 155. Photo by Chris Lockyer
Sean flying down wave in the Delphin 155. Photo by Jeff Laxier
After a very stressful experience on Friday and much introspection and insomnia it felt soooo good!
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