The Paddler 32 Autumn/Fall 2016

PADDE PD DLR LER The International digital magazine for recreational paddlers

ezine

ECUADOR Darcy Gaechter WW rivers of

HIGHLIGHTS Luke Longridge SA WW

KYRGYZSTAN Tomass Marnics The Eyes of God in

Issue 32 Autumn/Fall 2016

JOEOlympic CLARKE Champion

An interview with…

CONTN TENTS

Saryjaz River, Kyrgyzstan. Photo: Erik Boomer Editor

Peter Tranter peter@thepaddlerezine.com Tel: (01480) 465081 Mob: 07411 005824 www.thepaddlerezine.com

Advertising sales

Anne Egan Tel: (01480) 465081 advertising@thepaddlerezine.com

Covers

Kayak: Joe Clarke by Pete Astles Salty: Lofoten by Dave Rossetter Canoe: New York state by Brian Threlkeld

Thank you to: Dr Lou Luddington, Pete Astles, Julien Fillion, Jacob Longridge, Adrian Tregoning, Erik Boomer, Jared Meehan, Sam Sutton, Chris Emerick, Don Beveridge, Dave Rossetter, Julian Short, Phil Carr, Lyn Anderson for all your help in putting this issue together.

Not all contributors are professional writers and photographers, so don’t be put off writing because you have no experience! The Paddler ezine is all about paddler to paddler dialogue: a paddler’s magazine written by paddlers.

Next issue is Winter 2016 with a deadline of submissions on November 20th. Technical Information: Contributions preferably as a Microsoft Word file with 1200-2000 words, emailed to submissions@thepaddler.ezine.com. Images should be hi-resolution and emailed with the Word file or if preferred, a Dropbox folder will be created for you. The Paddler ezine encourages contributions of any nature but reserves the right to edit to the space available. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishing parent company, 2b Graphic Design Limited. The publishing of an advertisement in the Paddler ezine does not necessarily mean that the parent company, 2b Graphic Design Limited, endorse the company, item or service advertised. All material in the Paddler ezine is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved.

Reproduction without prior permission from the editor is forbidden.

Issue 32 Autumn/Fall 2016

004 The Paddler’s Planet

By Christian Wagley

006 Iconic paddlers

No. 5 Miko Duffek by Steffan Meyric Hughes

011 Seasonal delights Foraging by Sonja Jones

022 Interview with…

K1 Rio Olympic Champion, Joe Clarke

032 Coaching

The elusive air by Corran Addison

042 Coaching Safety Series No.4 Get the advantage by Chris Brain

056 Kayak fishing EJ’s fishing tips

064 South Africa

Southern African WW highlights by Luke Longridge

074 Kyrgyzstan

The remote Saryjaz River by Tomass Marnics

092 Ecuador

The emergence of Ecuador’s WW by Darcy Gaechter

104 United States & Canada Paddlequest 1500 by John Connelly

116 Guyana

A wildlife extravaganza by Cato Elnaes & Ashley Holland

134 United States

The romance of rolling by Chris Crowhurst

140 Norway

A teenage perspective on Lofoten Islands by Ellie Young

156 Scotland

The Glenmorangie Kayaking Challenge by Nicola Greaves

164 Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro Eleven day record breaker by Natasha Lindley

174 Testing, testing

Plenty of kit reviewed by our contributors

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PADDLER’S PLANET by CHRISTIAN WAGLEY

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Plastic emotions For more information on how you can participate wherever you may be on the Planet visit www.supradioshow.com Stay tuned for my weekly podcast of The Paddler’s Planet with my guest host Christian Wagley on www.supradioshow.com, “Where we are Standing Up for the Planet!”

We are emotional creatures. Our emotions allow us to care about our fellow humans, and the health of our planet.This appears to be an evolutionary response that allowed us to quickly assess threats and to give empathy and care to those in need, giving us a survival advantage over humans without such care.

But those same emotions routinely steer us wrong. In deciding on threats to our natural environment, we tend to focus on the most tangible over the most meaningful and the most visible over the most impactful.This is certainly the case with the issue of plastic in the oceans, which gets an emotional response far beyond what it deserves.

Images of plastic bottles and bags bobbing on the sea and washing down storm drains create an ugly scene. Even uglier are those images of a sea turtle stomach clogged by a plastic bag, or tiny bits of plastic pulled from the gut of a fish.

These clearly are awful reflections of our consumer culture.

And so many of us click on these images on Facebook, share them around, and make angry comments about the use of plastic.That’s because plastic in our waterways is a visceral, emotional issue that evokes a hugely emotional response. While it is a real issue deserving of attention, it’s also vastly overstated as a problem when compared to so many others impacting our oceans, and may even be serving as a convenient ‘out’ for people unwilling to address the real environmental issues of our time.

The big issues affecting our waterways are water pollution from farms and urban runoff, overfishing, and climate change.The difficulty is that these issues are largely invisible to the public.

The biggest forms of water pollution come from excess nutrients and chemical contaminants such as mercury from the burning of fossil fuels, but neither of these can easily be seen. We don’t see what happens on fishing boats and even when we do it doesn’t look so bad.

Climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels is shifting species ranges, decreasing oxygen levels in the water and causing ocean acidification that is killing shellfish and corals.The impacts of fossil fuels are probably the biggest of all, as they are also responsible for chemical and nutrient contamination such as the presence of hydrocarbons that foul urban waterways around the world. But these impacts are largely invisible to the average person.

I’ve also noticed among my friends that many of those who make the angriest statements about plastic, are often those unwilling to make the larger changes in their own lives. I once spoke to the environmental committee of a group in my community, urging them to take action to help create communities that were

safer for walking and cycling and were more compact – the traditional settlement pattern of the world’s great cities and towns. This would help save open space and reduce energy use, as well.

They said they loved the message, but just couldn’t get themselves to take action. Instead, they launched an awareness campaign on to the more visceral problem of plastic in the seas.

I realized later that all of the committee members lived in large, suburban homes and drove their cars everywhere they went. So my message of walking and bicycling and living in right-sized, more efficient spaces, just didn’t connect with them. It was hard for them to take on an issue that they themselves were not ready to implement in their own lives.They went for the easy and visible over the much more meaningful but harder-to-tell story of changing our patterns of living to save energy, reduce water pollution, and preserve habitat.

Another interesting dilemma is that the solution to plastic pollution is often presented as a total avoidance of plastic products by those of us in more developed countries.Yet developed countries are not the source of most of the plastic. We live in communities with central garbage collection, so that almost all of the plastic we use is safely recycled or landfilled.

© Judith Scott

The majority of plastic in the sea is flowing from several poor southeast Asian nations where millions of people live in slum cities with no central garbage collection. Because of that, refuse is simply dumped in the streets and allowed to

wash into waterways and eventually the ocean. Developing a program that raises funds to bring garbage collection to these slums would have the greatest impact on the issue by far. But nobody has suggested that, likely because it seems too big and far-off as a solution when compared to simple little changes in our daily lives.

Plastic in our waterways is a horrible issue, and we are right to be concerned about it. But it is really more of a symptom of our lack of balance with our living planet, rather than the cause. When we stop to take a breath, and apply rational thinking to any issue, the solution is clearer.

As human beings, we are beautiful. We are also flawed, with emotions that served us well in making quick decisions in more primitive societies, but that don’t translate well to a world in which we have access to data and information that allows us to make more informed decisions.

As long as we continue our profligate use of fossil fuels and maintain a taste for animal protein, these issues will dwarf the more visible and tangible issues such as our use of plastic. We should continue to raise awareness about plastic in our waterways, but use the concern it generates to help create action on the issues that matter.

So when the volunteers return from the local beach cleanup with bags of trash, thank them for their very good and important work.Then use the positive energy and connection of that moment to have an informed discussion about the much larger threats from fossil fuels and urban runoff. Only by acting boldly on the issues that matter most will we restore and maintain a living planet.

Why not join the Marine Conservation Society?

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the UK charity that protects our seas, shores and marine wildlife, needs your help.

With one of the longest coastlines in Europe, the UK has around 1,300 beaches and 8,000 species of marine animals. Yet just 0.01% of o our seas are fully protected.

By becoming a member of MCS, your support will help us to:

Join us today and claim your free Rapanui m marine-themed organic cotton T shirt.

• • • •

www.mcsuk.org/join

Protect marine wildlife Clear beaches of litter Reduce pollution in our seas Promote sustainable seafood

When you join you will also receive a welcome p pack full of information and gifts, plus four issues of Marine Conservation magazine every year.

Marine Conservation Society, Overross House, Ross Park, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 7QQ. Telephone: 01989 566017 Registered Charity No: England and Wales: 1004005; Scotland: SC037480.

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I C O N I C

P A D D

STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

L E R S

N o . 5

Milo Duffek

After the Second World War, whitewater kayaking started growing exponentially in popularity, a rise that would peak in the 1970s, with the first Olympic Canoe Slalom in 1972, and big expeditions later.The technology invented or developed for the war had changed everything and would add speed to the evolution in build materials over the next decade or two.

Plywood and synthetic glue was around the corner, with the adoption of glassfibre, and designs for home-builders using the new plywood and synthetic glues. But for now, this was a world picking itself up from the debris of ruin, and marshalling forces for the 1948 London Olympics, which featured eight sprint-racing disciplines and, for the first time, a category for women. Czechoslovakia and Sweden dominated, with Britain not medalling in a single event.

Among the hopefuls were Briton Percy Blandford, Frenchman Roger Paris and Czech Milo Duffek, all three of whom failed to qualify for the Games, but would go on to be among to exert a huge influence on kayaking over the next two decades, Blandford through his books (113 of them!) enabling DIY-ers to build canoes and kayaks at home, the other two for making advances in river-running and slalom techniques and for spreading those skills around the world – particularly to the USA. A year later, the first World Canoe Slalom Championships were held in Switzerland, attracting 96 competitors from seven nations.

The event was held biennially until 1999, after

which it was held annually, barring Olympic years, and runs to this day. Whitewater canoeing had been growing as a summer alpine sport throughout the 1930s, despite, according to some sources, efforts by Hitler to dismantle canoeing clubs.

This is rather thrown into doubt given that the 1936 Olympics featured nine canoeing and kayaking events (sprint only). Either way, runs were made in folding boats that would still challenge some paddlers today, although it was not until after the war (1952) that one of the pioneers of that age, Walter Sneck, published his book In Den Schluchten Europas (In the Canyons of Europe). Its grey linen cover depicting a line drawing of a kayaker in whitewater left no doubt as to its contents.

Roger Paris had been affected by the war too, his family displaced to the south of the country, but he his father bought a canoe and in it, Roger started to negotiate the various manmade rapids that had been caused by bombed bridges falling into otherwise placid rivers, aided by his coach and mentor Andre Pean. After the war, he took off for the then epicentre of the kayaking world, the Alps, with his brother.

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In writing this article, I am entirely indebted to research by the BCU, ICF, Bill Endicott and Kayak Session magazine.

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He ran a number of rivers, including many first descents (and last descents, due to the Alpine damming programme), including, according to one source, the Upper Isere, the Upper Arc and La Rue. Paris was initially a C-1 and C-2 paddler, winning second in the C-2 category with partner Claude Neveu at those first slalom worlds in 1949, then gold in 1951.

under the supervision of a guard who travelled to the event with him. This was an extraordinary event for two reasons. Firstly, Duffek unveiled his hanging draw pivot turn, known to British paddlers of a certain vintage as a bow rudder, and to Americans, still, as the Duffek stroke. The question seemed to be not if Duffek would win – but by how much.

In 1952, he travelled with coach and partner to the USA where the sport was undeveloped, to compete at the annual ‘Salida Race’, a downriver event on Colorado’s Arkansas River. While stateside, they also ticked off a number of first descents, including Browns Canyon, today a classic G3-4 raft run, the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas, and many more, including the first serious whitewater runs in California. He settled in America in the mid60s, setting up the Roger Paris kayaking school and promulgating the sport to thousands.

According to Bill Endicott, himself an influential competitive paddler, coach and historian of later years, Duffek deliberately threw the race by touching a pole to remove himself from the attention that a podium finish would bring. That night, his guard got drunk in the celebrations and Duffek escaped with the Swiss team in the dead of night. He threw the race to win his freedom, defecting to Switzerland, where he became a naturalized resident.

His career path was similar in ways to that of Milo Duffek, a Czech athlete who emerges as the most influential paddler of the 1950s. His story, like Paris’s, is intimately woven to the Second World War, after which the so-called ‘iron curtain’ descended over Europe, dividing free-market west from communist east. Duffek’s predicament was that he was stuck on, as he saw it, the wrong side of the divide, so although he qualified for the 1948 Olympics (flat-water racing), he was never permitted to leave Czechoslovakia to take part.

That changed in 1953, with the slalom world cup in Merano, Italy. Duffek was allowed to attend

His many subsequent triumphs in world slalom are not really the focus of this series (which focuses on non-competitive whitewater kayaking), but like Paris, he helped introduce more advanced techniques to the USA: among them were front-surfing waves, rolling, ferrygliding and, of course, the Duffek stroke. He is also credited with being the first to apply moving water technique to flatwater training.

His long career, which lasted until the early 1980s, spanned three construction eras – folding skin boat, glassfibre and plastic. He, along with Paris, is also the first on our list to still be alive today, and can be considered, perhaps, as the first paddler of the modern era.

https://youtu.be/GwkDsXsZO3A

https://vimeo.com/53819943

SONJA JONES

Seasonal

delights Foraging

In November I’m embarking on an exciting expedition with a group of friends – we’ve named it The Maltese SUP Project. We will be attempting to circumnavigate the three Maltese islands by SUP in nine days.

Whilst I was thinking about general logistics for the trip, my mind very quickly wandered to one of my favourite subjects – food.

On my last sea kayaking adventure we ate mainly couscous and sachets called, “Look what we Found,” as well as occasional fresh food from villages we passed on our paddle. Although it was quick and easy, it wasn’t always inspiring, and so sometimes a few of us would cheat and go for a cheeky meal in a restaurant… maybe ‘cheat’ is a harsh term; I think we merely made use of the tasty resources a tourist island such as Menorca had to offer.

Every village we arrived at had one thing in common – restaurants brimming with fresh seafood. One day we pulled up at a remote beach where there was a man precariously paddling in wellington boots on a reef, with a bucket and what appeared to be something

akin to a litter picker. On closer inspection and an exchange made up of single worded Spanish and French between us, to my surprise, he was foraging for sea anemones, a local delicacy to be served in his restaurant.

Imagine that – plucking morsels fresh from the shore and cooking them within minutes – I cannot think of anything lovelier. I began to wish I knew more about foraging or even had a hand line to dangle over my boat to catch fish with.

We were at all times, on or by the sea with Mother Nature’s own supermarket surrounding us, which, with the know-how and right kit, could have contributed to our expedition diet.

With this memory in mind and keen to see what delights can be found and eaten for all future sea based explorations, I contacted an expert for her advice.

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Introducing this season’s Star Paddler and marine forager extraordinaire –

Dr Lou Luddington.

Dr Lou Luddington is a marine biologist, sea kayak guide, surf coach and Palm Ambassador. She is happiest immersed in water and breathing sea air under the open sky, with the sounds of nature ringing in her ears. Her formal training involved a degree and PhD at University of Wales, Bangor, where she spent much time underwater honing skills essential for scientific surveys and monitoring. She thrives on the physical challenge of long days out sea kayaking, carving lines on powerful waves and inspiring awe for marine life in others.Through her company, Luddington Marine, she runs; seashore safaris, wildlife focused sea kayak trips, and professional courses for outdoor practitioners on coastal and marine life (www.luddingtonmarine.co.uk).

Lou, being based in Pembrokeshire you have access to some of the UK’s most exquisite coastline – where is your favourite place to sea kayak?

The offshore islands never disappoint for wildlife and have the added draw of tide races and a feeling of exposure. Skomer Island and Ramsey Island are both National Nature Reserves for birds and popular with Atlantic grey seals and harbour porpoise. Skomer Island is surrounded by a Marine Conservation Zone, which is an underwater nature reserve so is pretty special for marine life too. I also love nipping down the hill from where I live in Solva and launching from the harbour to explore the coast in my backyard. Spring low-tide is my favourite time so that all the shore life is exposed for all to see.

There are so many channels and great rock hops and the odd cave to drift through.

Have you any particularly memorable wild sightings?

I’m glad to say the list is quite long! Two years ago I was lucky enough to go to Vancouver Island for five weeks with my husband and two friends. We hired some sea kayaks and headed off in to the wilds in three separate areas of the island: Johnstone Strait in the north-east, Gordan Islands in the north and out from Tofino on the wild west. The wildlife we saw blew our minds!

From breaching humpback whales to bald eagles, sea otters, black bears foraging on beaches, a wolf at dusk, killer whales, northern sealions and birds galore – we were pretty overwhelmed.

One particular night stands out – we were camped on a tiny island with tide swirling all

around. I woke in the darkness to the sound of a humpback whale exhaling deeply. I lay there not sure if I had dreamt the sound until it surfaced and blew again. It was doing circuits of our island and drew each of us from our beds to sit and listen through the blackness.

Closer to home I have had encounters afloat with minke whales and basking sharks in Skye and the Outer Hebrides in Scotland and sat in the tide with harbour porpoise breathing and fishing nearby off the tidal headlands of the Pembrokeshire coast.

Dr Lou

LUDDINGTON

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ThePADDLER 14 As a marine biologist and seaweed enthusiast, I am sure you have a wealth of knowledge surrounding the species inhabiting our seashores. Sea kayaking is a gateway to adventure, where we can pack a stove, a bivvy, and find ourselves settled in a Sugar kelp beautiful cove for the night. It lends itself to a night watching the sun go down, cooking and eating freshly foraged food.

If we think about all the beautiful seafood in our restaurants, the sea shore must have some incredible rich pickings at our finger tips, if only we know where to look and what we’re looking at. Do you have any top tips for those new to foraging?

First off – learn to identify some common species so you know what you are looking at. It’s unwise to try something if you don’t what it is! Get yourself a guide book or even better book a session with me either on the shore or for a sea kayak journey! Once you’re happy then nibble away and see what you like the best. Seaweeds certainly have a variety of flavours and textures that appeal to different palates. I don’t tend to forage for animals so I can’t comment on those

Do we need a license or any special permission to forage from our sea shores?

As long as you are collecting for personal use and not for commercial purposes then no licence or permission is required. It is always worth checking whether your chosen shore has any special protection.The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 make it illegal to collect wild plants or fungi on a National Nature Reserve (NNR) or a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) but this mainly applies to land habitats.

Sticking to common, easily identifiable species will give you peace of mind

What are your most favourite things to pluck from our shores to eat?

Seaweeds in general. Sugar kelp is one of my favourites for its nutty flavour. When collecting it be sure to only collect the end of the frond leaving the remainder to continue growing

Sea lettuce

Pepper dulse

Do you need any special tools for harvesting seaweeds?

The most you would need is a knife or a pair of scissors.

Can you recommend any recipes?

I tend to keep it simple and use seaweeds as a garnish so the flavour and texture is not overwhelming. I like to add a pinch of either dried and chopped sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) or dried pepper dulse (Osmundea pinnatifida) to egg fried rice. Seaweeds are packed full of iron and other minerals so a great addition to any meal.

We are now heading into deep autumn and fast approaching winter… can we find tasty morsels even in the chillier weather?

In a word yes! Pretty much all species of seaweed are edible; it’s just that some are more palatable than others! So it could be a time to get experimental with your choice of seaweeds.

At this time of year many types of seaweed die back. Some shed the upper portions which will be regrown next year, whilst others are annual so will die off altogether. Fresh growth will begin in very early spring. Some don’t tend to look much different so can be foraged all year round.

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ThePADDLER 16 Is there anything our readers need to be particularly mindful of conservation wise?

Not to over-collect from a particular shore. Be sensitive in the way you collect trying not to damage or trample other species or habitats. If you turn over rocks and boulders as you search be sure to place them back as you found them.

Many species living on the undersides of boulders do so because they require the particular conditions found there to survive.

When collecting seaweeds don’t collect the whole plant – just snip off a portion of the frond, leaving the holdfast that anchors it the seabed to continue growing.

Be cautious when collecting molluscs such as winkles and limpets – as grazers they play a key role in shaping the whole shore community; studies have shown that removing them completely has a drastic, knock-on effect.

I know Dr Lou has inspired me to learn more about foraging for my future trips – I wonder what tasty treats we might find in November.

No matter how big or small the trip – go forth and be responsibly creative with your adventure food from Mother Nature’s shelf, and if you need even more inspiration, check out Erin Bastian’s top tips for expedition food in her latest blog: http://palmequipmenteurope.com/blog/en/erinstop-five-expedition-meals

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PADDE PD DLR LER Kayak y

022 Interview with…

K1 Rio Olympic Champion, Joe Clarke

032 Coaching

The elusive air by Corran Addison

042 Coaching Safety Series No.4 Get the advantage by Chris Brain

056 Kayak fishing EJ’s fishing tips

064 South Africa

Southern African WW highlights by Luke Longridge

074 Russia

The remote Saryjaz River by Tomass Marnics

092 Ecuador

The emergence of Ecuador’s WW by Darcy Gaechter

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An interview with…

JOE CLAK ARKE Joe and Mike Dawson – Wanaka, NZ during the filming of ‘Into the Wild’.

Photo: Graeme Murray Red Bull Content Pool ThePADDLER 23

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T

Tell us about your early days of slalom – when did you discover the sport, what appealed and what caused the bug to bite?

When I was eight years old, I was in the Scouts and we went to the canoe club but they said I was too young. I was in middle school aged 11, where we had the opportunity to try canoeing again at Stafford & Stone CC. It was oversubscribed so I had to write a letter, which my parents said I should write myself, so I did and a week later it was announced at assembly that I and seven others had been accepted out of 60 applicants. I started once a week, then twice and was really enjoying it. Then it went onto Matlock weekends and day trips to Ironbridge. As soon as I was in the boat I felt at home, I just really liked it and found I was looking for something more.

Photo: Graeme Murray Red Bull Content Pool

Training then was once a week for a couple of hours, but things moved really quickly and before I knew it I was competing in my first race in October 2004 which led to me being promoted up to Division 3. By 2006 I was in the premier division, the youngest person ever to be promoted to that division at the time.

The first river you paddled?

River Trent in Stone, Staffordshire.

Outside of Lee Valley, tell us about the spots you tend to paddle the most frequent?

Before we start – just let our readers know a little about yourself, history, background etc.

I was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire and started Canoe Slalom in 2004 age 11 at Stafford and Stone Canoe Club. Currently I live with my girlfriend, Charlotte Eddery-Joel, at the Lee Valley Centre, a white-water facility built for the London 2012 Olympics, where I have trained for four years.

When I was 15, I suffered a setback when I fell seriously ill with an abscess behind my eye and secondary meningitis. I was hospitalised and put on intravenous antibiotics, preventing me joining the junior team.

However, 2009 was a huge landmark for me as I broke onto the GB Junior team and since then I haven’t looked back and the rest they say is history, culminating in winning the K1 Slalom Olympic gold at Rio de Janeiro.

Prague Canoeing Centre in the Czech Republic.

More recently the Rio training camps, where I spent 60 or 70 days training in the last year – I actually really like that course for obvious reasons! I’m also a big fan of the Tacen Whitewater Course in Slovenia.

What now for the next four years are you targeting Tokyo?

Yeah that’s the plan, it’s a long time away but it soon comes around. I remember after Lee Valley 2012 that Rio seemed so far away, then before you know it you’ve completed the selection races and that’s it, you’re on the plane to Rio. Already sitting down with my coach, looking forwards and having to think about how to improve after becoming Olympic Champion at Rio… so no rest for the wicked here.

Photo: Wouter Kingma, Red Bull Content Pool

Joe Cla arke ke ke

Is the Rio gold medal your ultimate achievement or would it be the World Championships or perhaps another gold at Tokyo?

I think the Olympic gold medal is the one that everyone goes for, as it’s watched by so many more people and it only comes round every four years. Whereas the worlds you get a chance each year. Obviously I’m still looking to go out there and fight for a Worlds and European medal but I’d give numerous World and European medals for an Olympic medal.

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highest level. It showed with the results we got in Rio with everybody getting to the finals, Shows the standard of form and pushing on, shows the legacy we’ve had from London 2012 as well.

Can you talk about your training?

Greatest inspiration? Role model?

I think Campbell Walsh is probably one of them. He was such a part of Slalom in the UK and pioneering his own way, he had some competition but he was training on his own. He was the first British Men’s K1 to start really putting Britain on the map again.

Obviously we had a really strong patch with Richard Fox and that kind of era. We had a break and then Campbell came along and we started to win medals and that kind of gave me real inspiration because it came as I started slalom in 2004. I watched him in at the Athens 2004 Olympics win a silver medal and he was a hero of mine. I remember just a few months later having a photograph taken with him in the car park and thinking, Oh my God, he’s been on TV, won a silver medal and that’s me stood next to him for a photo – that was awesome.

My hero is now my good friend and was coaching the Kiwi Olympic team, so when he saw me in Rio and said, “You’ve done it, you’re an Olympic Champion, the first man to become Olympic Champion from GB.” I thought to myself, that’s nuts – oh my God!

What does it mean to have access to Lee Valley WW Centre?

Absolutely fantastic, the course runs most mornings and afternoons, Monday through Friday and to have that on my doorstep, literally as I live on the course, it’s crazy, the whitewater time you get here, 75 mins in the morning and 75 mins in the afternoon just really enables us to do what we do at the

Gold medal seems to be a surprise to many in the media, was it to you?

Joe with Mike Dawson in NZ. Photo: Graeme Murray Red Bull Content Pool

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Yes, I think there was a level of being surprised when it’s something you’ve worked towards.You’d asked me about my ultimate goal, well, I’d written it down so many times that it was my ultimate goal to win the gold Olympic medal. I didn’t say which one, but when you get selected for Rio and know you’re in the team and you think, “It could be this one.” To write such a thing down when it seems so far away is absolutely crazy. If they were those who follow form they might have seen there were quite a few young guns going into Rio. I knew I was in good shape and we had a lot of time on the course – it was almost like a second home for me. In the two weeks prior to the actual race itself, I was doing sessions where I didn’t hit or miss a gate or make any mistakes. I was scaring myself in that it was almost too perfect to be true and then as you would have seen, I got a 50-second penalty in the first round but bounced back and then in the semis and won the final, I was the only paddler to finish in the top three in all rounds.

So maybe in terms of world rankings, I was 17th or whatever I at the time, but to go to the Olympics with the form I was in, then in slalom, anything can happen – you just have to put yourself in the mix and I did exactly that.

ww w ww w w...jjoe-cclark w ke e.co.uk

What do you consider to be the hardest manoeuvre in slalom?

Technical wave crossers, in the Rio Olympics coming out at the top, the three or four gate wiggle we had, it was at gate 6 or 7, that wiggle there was the toughest move, quite tight technical moves. In the Men’s K1 when you have the option of a straight or a spin? You know you’re losing time if you don’t take it on so you just go for it.You have to put yourself out of your comfort zone quite regularly because the racing is that tight. In the Rio Olympics just 0.9 of a second separated the top five – it’s crazy.

Would you say that after 70 days practice at Rio, that you knew the course like the back of your hand?

You do and you don’t know it like the back of your hand. When you get to the race I think it’s natural to think, OK I’m ready and then you think, I’d like a few more days.

That’s an inevitability when you are competing at the highest level and you are never going to be 100% ready.You might be pretty close to but you are not going to be like, “Come on lets go.” I mean I was feeling amazing but I still wanted a few more days because everybody feels that way but you take it and run with it.

Which do you prefer: taking part in slalom competitions or getting out onto big water and why?

Bit of both to be honest, I am a very competitive person so even in training I try the practice, tactical side of things. Probably the biggest enjoyment is competing and obviously doing well makes it even more fun as well. However, if you take a look at what I did in New Zealand with Red Bull, stringing a course up in a gorge in and to be on the river at one with nature, not really having a plan of, you’ve got to do this or you have to do that but just shooting some water, that’s kind of what I live for as well.The feeling that you can do whatever you want and that you are pioneering your own way down the river.

Which one river anywhere on the planet that you haven’t paddled would be on your bucket list?

The Grand Canyon.

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Joe in NZ. Photo: Graeme Murray Red Bull Content Pool

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Three photos of Joe in training at the Lee Valley WW Centre. Photos: Pete Astles

Joe Clark ke e

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

Separated from performance side of things, not coaching or that kind of role, away from the scene but just dipping back into racing at times and hopefully still be intact at that point. Maybe based in a job in London, maybe behind a desk, who knows…

What do you do when not kayaking?

Normally try to rest as much as possible around the training sessions. I play a lot of XBox as that’s not too strenuous, take an afternoon nap, nothing too exciting. No other sports because I am too competitive and I would want need do enough of it to be really good, so it’s quite hard to give any time to anything else. At least six hours of every single day you are training or doing something related to slalom and around that you haven’t that many hours left after cooking food and prepped getting ready for training sessions the next day. Really you find yourself a bit pooped and not really up for anything else.

Who are your kayaking buddies?

Ryan Westley from the C1, David Florence, Zach Allin K1, quite friendly with everyone, more of a close friendship group as well.

Every other team I get along with and have a good laugh, which is important out of training but some you hang out with more than others.

Tell us about your work with Red Bull. What does that entail?

Various appearances for them, like the flight school in Manchester last week with the brand ambassadors, and Red Bull girls where they want to find out how best to market Red Bull. So I go and talk to them and let them know how I use the product, etc. I go to events, meeting the people at the company I have to fly out to Salzburg next week to their head office to meet the CEO and talk about my experience of the Rio Olympics and show them the medal. It’s a really relaxed working atmosphere, nothing too serious and you have a lot of fun as well. I’ll be going to see all the planes at the Hanger 7 museum, flying around, playing on a jetski, so work is a very loose term, it’s fun!

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Joe training at Wadi Adventure, Abu Dhabi. Photo: Wouter Kingma, Red Bull Content Pool

Quickies…

If you could paddle with anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be?

Richard Fox.

Pick two celebrities to be your parents.

David Beckham and JK Rowling.

Which one sportsman or woman has inspired you?

Tom Hardy.

Are you a bathroom/shower singer and if so what do you sing?

Shower. Sing anything in the charts.

Name one actor/actress you would love to get naughty with?

Jennifer Lawrence!

Facebook or Twitter?

Facebook.

An ideal night out for you is?

Curry, beer and a few spirits later.

What one luxury item would you take with you on a desert island?

Supercar.

What’s in your fridge right now?

Milk, eggs, avocado, fruit and healthy boring stuff.

If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare for us?

Risotto.

Favourite sport’s team?

Stoke City.

Favourite film?

Warrior.

Favourite musical track?

We are the Champions - Queen.

What three words would you use to describe you?

Funny energetic and friendly.

Finally, any final shout outs?

Parents who supported me all the way through the good and the bad times and coach Mark Radcliffe for helping me achieve my dream.

Many thanks Joe for all of your help and taking the time out of your hectic schedule for us – we really appreciate it:)

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T H E E L U S I V E

“Just Air you say?

Nothing fancy on it?

Isn’t that a little old school?”

Absolutely, it is. I pulled off the first Airblunt back in 1998 in a Glide prototype, and while that single photo was impressive, reality was that they were few and far between because it was so hard to get an eight-foot kayak off the water’s surface. Until the arrival of the Disco when everything changed. What was once the ‘almost unbelievable’ Airblunt is now no more than the staple base-move that leads into all other airs.

Back then we started with immediately trying to turn our Blunts into Airblunts, but this really isn’t the best way to do it. While there are many ways to Airblunt, by far the easiest is what is commonly referred to as the Butt Bounce.Today, we are going to explore the Butt Bounce in these photos.

Words: Corran Addison Photos: Julien Fillion

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Let’s start off with a little physics lesson…

All water craft have what is known as ‘hull speed’. This is the point when a kayaks forward movement through the water starts to make it climb over its own bow wake. At this point it requires massive amounts of increased energy, for incremental increases in forward speed. With enough extra energy, the boat eventually climbs onto its wake, and you are now planing.

Planing speed is of course significantly faster than displacement speed, which is why flat hulled kayaks are so slow to paddle compared to displacement hulls, but are so much faster on a wave compared to displacement kayaks.There is in theory, almost no limit to a planing hull’s top speed – it’s all relative to the amount of energy available to generate that speed.

Thus, sitting at the top of a large steep green wave, looking down several metres into the trough, with the water rushing under you at high speed, is a wonderful opportunity to momentarily create a massive speed burst. You get to combine your forward movement, with the speed of the water rushing under you, with the acceleration created by gravity as you literally fall off the top of the wave into the trough.

This speed burst is short lived. So you need to maximize its effect. Starting at the highest point of the wave gives you both the maximum distance to fall into (wave height) and the most time to generate the bounce.

While invariably my biggest airs come from immediate take off at the top of the wave, where lift is perhaps less than it would be from the trough of the wave, but I get to use the entire wave height to fall into for my move, it is easier to first learn airs off the ‘double bounce’.

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Double bounce Let’s start off by first learning the double bounce. Don’t worry about turning it into a blunt.

What you want to do is learn the timing for the first pump (bounce) and then the explosive second one.

This is where really knowing how to carve a kayak vs just front surf comes into play. The ability to edge the kayak hard and dramatically will pull you to the top of the wave, where you can now start from as high as possible, and with already having some speed.

As soon as you begin the race down the face (quite literally before you have even begun the decent from the top) make the first pump. The idea is to get the boat at least weightless, if not slightly airborne. If your kayak is already slightly Airborne, you have done three things: 1.

reduced drag from cohesive tension, so you can accelerate quicker in the fall

2.

moved yourself upstream relative to the top of the wave so you are now more vertically orientated to the trough and

3.

created an environment where you have more control over the pitch, roll and yaw of the ‘flying kayak’ to set up for the explosive bounce.

If the wave has some kind of a rib, diagonal or lump in it that you can aim at as your point of re-contact with the water, all the better as this will act like a skateboard quarter-pipe ramp and help with your airs amplitude. If you don’t have one you can reliably hit, you’re going to have to make your own. Even if there is a bump or diagonal to hit, you’re still going to want to go thorough this next sequence.

As the kayak lands, you want to point your feet down, so the nose drops like you’re going to face plant into the trough (this is a possibility when you’re first learning). This is pitch. You need to practice this and learn to control this so you get just the right amount to where you can slam the nose into the incoming water, but not so much that you just bury and crash.

At the same time, you’re going to want to change edges. If you were slightly on your left edge at take off, you want to now roll the kayak slightly onto its right edge right before you contact the water again. A good way to decide which (if you have that choice at take off) is that if one rail is slightly more downstream than the other, edge into that slightly more down stream rail (if you’re slightly facing right, then edge onto the right rail).

This is where yaw comes in and why I don’t want you automatically working on airblunts and so on. If you’re over eager to get some sort of axis rotation in, you’re going to introduce yaw into the equation, bringing the centre axis of the kayak out of line with the most energetic recontact you can get. So for now, it’s just a straight forward air. .

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The reason for the forward pitch of the nose, and slight edging is that when the kayak recontacts the water it literally digs a hole into the water. You’re creating a trough. This will now have two desired results.

The first is that the kayak will decelerate abruptly and dramatically, radically increasing the relative speed of your kayak vs the incoming water. The second is your kayak’s planing hull will now be below water level, meaning that it’s going to have to climb out of this hole… up the face of the ramp you’ve just momentarily made for yourself.

The sudden re-acceleration of the kayak is going to make it want to climb its bow wake in a radical fashion. The size of that bow wake is compounded by the slope of the ‘bowl’ you’re also having to climb out of (from the depression you created on impact).

Now, you’re going to ‘ollie’ like a skateboarder. As the nose of your kayak begins to lift upwards, climbing out of the depression, the tail drops into that depression, and you begin your dramatic and sudden re-acceleration, so you want to throw all your weight back to help that nose lift by getting it weightless, and to drop the tail as much as possible into the trough. The boat should quite literally explode into the air with the nose pointing skyward.

Just before you feel the boat beginning to decelerate, throw your weight forward, controlling your roll so that the boat now levels out to flat, without affecting yaw. This forward movement of your body will lighten the tail and cause it to rise up so that the boat flattens out during flight.

You will land, if you do this right, upstream of your take off point, most likely slightly tail heavy (not a bad thing as it reduces the chance of a face plant), with increasing, not decreasing speed.

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Common mistakes:

1 Starting the run up anywhere but the very top of the wave. If you’re having a hard time judging the ‘flush’ point, or getting the kayak to the wave top because you’re being pushed from behind, you need to go back a few editions and read my article on carving.

2 If you’re landing downstream of your take off, you most likely ran into the trough of the wave for your take off, rather than still being somewhat on the wave face. This reduces your ability to re-accelerate coming out of the big bounce, so this going to be one of the focal points to work on.

3 You’re landing off axis (slightly sideways to the wave direction). This is yaw coming into play.

Mostly this will come from either incorrect edging or weight transfer between the take off bounce and the big bounce, and where you’re looking. The boat will invariably follow your eyes.

Look where you want to go, not where the boat is involuntarily going.

Don’t be in a rush to turn this into Blunts. There is a reason the pro’s go big, and your friends that you paddle with are barely getting off the water – get the big bounce figured out and dialled in before you start to add axis rotation to it.

We’ll address thatcarve in thesome nextwaves. edition.

Best of luck. Go

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C O A C H I N G

S A F E T Y

No.4… Get the

AD DA VANA NTG TAGE

S E R I E S In the fourth part of the Paddler safety series we will be looking at recovering pinned boats from the river. If there was one recommendation that I could make that would help you to avoid having to deal with this situation at all in the first place, it would be airbags!

Get yourself some bow and stern airbags and make sure they are inflated before you set off.

By Chris Brain It is important to remember that there is no substitute for professional training in this area and this must be combined with experience in order to effectively use the ideas and techniques contained in this series. This article is not intended to replace formal training.

Our previous articles have focused on preparation, simple rescues, working together on the river and above all avoiding incidents happening in the first place. The techniques covered in this article assume that you have read the previous chapters.

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ThePADDLER 44 Self-team-victim-kit

It is essential to remember that our boats are not as important are we are.This means that we shouldn’t put ourselves in any unnecessary danger to rescue them and we shouldn’t prioritise them over our own safety.Too often I see paddlers getting straight in the river (on foot or even swimming) to try and rescue their kayak or canoe, ultimately putting themselves at risk.

However, in some situations a stuck boat could range from simply being a mild inconvenience to being your only way to get to safety out of a steep gorge.Therefore, having some straightforward techniques which can help you recover your boat can be very helpful.

Stop and think (make a proper plan)

If I am safe, my team is safe and the swimmer is safe, my first thoughts are to stop and think. On many occasions I have seen boats magically free themselves after a few minutes when they initially appeared to be completed stuck. Give the boat a little bit of time and get yourself fully ready for whatever you are about to do, often boats will only need just a bit of physical effort to get them free and the hardest part is probably clipping the line to it initially.

How is the boat pinned?

Take time to consider how the boat is actually pinned and which end of the boat it might be preferable to clip to (if you have a choice). When we are unpinning a boat we rarely have to physically move it very far, it is usually just a matter of dislodging it from whatever it is caught on and allowing the water to do the rest of the work

Clipping

Our hardest job is usually attaching a line to the boat, this is also the part where paddlers tend to put themselves at an unnecessary level of risk by rushing in too soon.

Remember… Stop… Think… Make a complete plan (including what will happen when the boat comes free)! It is important that the team understands what is about to happen and that the individuals know what role they will take. When it comes to pulling a boat, many hands make lighter work.

If it is a canoe that is being rescued, hopefully the paddler has ended up on the bank with their swim line, meaning that a rope to pull on is already attached to the canoe. If however we do need to attach a line, we need to consider our options.

• Is the boat pinned on something (a rock?) that we can stand on to access the boat?

• Can we paddle out to the boat and get out closer to it?

• Is it realistically safe for someone to wade to the boat? (How do we safeguard this person?)

• Can we create a paddle hook to allow us to reach a few metres further?

A paddle hook is a karabiner that we have attached to our paddle (or a canoe pole or tree branch) that we have taped into an open position with our throwline attached.The throwline is then wrapped around the paddle a couple of times to avoid it dragging in the water and passed back to someone on the bank to hold the rope. The paddle hook can then be used to give an extra few metres of reach to the person clipping the line to the boat.

Once the boat is hooked, the line can then be unwound from the paddle and when the paddle is pulled away from the boat, the tape around the karabiner rips allowing the karabiner to snap shut and leaving it attached with the line to the boat.There are certainly a few different ways to attach the karabiner to the paddle, but I have always found that gaffa tape works best. It also means that you don’t need to carry any more specialised equipment specifically for this job (because you were carrying gaffa tape already of course)!

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If we manage to get someone in position near the boat where they can access the handles to clip lines, it is usually best to leave them in that position throughout the rescue if it is safe to do so. This will mean that they won’t be helping to move the boat when the team start to pull, but it does mean that if we need a second line clipped to the boat we ThePaddle r ez already have someone in place to do this job. in

et e

REMEMBER – It actually may not be possible to access the pinned boat safely, we might need to wait for it to free itself or for the water level to drop. Recovering the boat might require higher level skills, equipment and knowledge than we possess in our team. Be prepared to step back from this situation and say no.

Pull/peel/roll

Once we have our boat clipped and we are back on the bank with our rope, which way to pull is probably our most important question. If the boat is stuck perfectly sideways onto a rock so that the pressure on the boat is fairly even at both ends, we can attempt to pull the boat off the rock from the side. This changes the balance point of the boat and makes the water apply more pressure to one end of the boat causing it to free itself.

. If you want y o tion u rp sta r st

When clipping a line on a boat I would avoid swimming out to it and would avoid clipping from a moving boat. Using these methods there is potential for too many complications and we are probably putting ourselves in unnecessary danger.

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Another option is to peel the boat off the rock, simply by changing our angle or where we clip our line to initially, we can give a greater turning effect on our boat. All we are trying to do is change the angle that the water hits the boat, allowing the water to do most of the work.

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A clever trick we can use is to actually try and empty some of the water from the boat by attaching a roll line. This can be slightly trickier to set up and in some instances it might dle not be practical or safe to do it s -simple because it involves being a bit more hands on with the boat and isn’t ras emaasil uattaching a karabiner review quickly to a grab handle. Using our sling we attach it to one of our rescue points (or sa:thwart if rescuing s@th a canoe) preferably one in the middle of the boat, we then we allow the sling to pass underneath theepaddle rez boat and retrieve it on the other side. Typically, because a sling isn’t usually long to make it back to the ine bank to pull on we then need to attach a throwbag to the other end. We then can pull on the rope which is wrapped around the downstream side of the kayak/canoe which will create a rolling effect, helping it to empty the boat and make it lighter and easier to unpin. (We use the sling in this situation because it doesn’t float and may be easier to send under the boat to retrieve on the other side, however a standard throwline could be used.) In my experience of rescuing canoes, it is usually the roll line that makes a huge difference to the rescue.

Apply some force!

This is the stage where I find most rescuers start to tie themselves up in knots (literally) and start looking for the more complicated methods where simple ones would suffice. Once we have the boat clipped, we should just try some simple pulling to start with. If the boat is really stuck we should get a few people to help, if a few people isn’t enough we should get the whole team on it! If the whole team can’t move it, stop and think…..

• Are we pulling in the right direction?

• Can we change the angle that we are pulling at?

• Could we move further upstream?

• Can we move up a banking or onto rocks to pull it more from above?

• Would a second line pulling from a different part of the boat and in a different direction help?

A team using simple methods that pull in the right direction will have more success than a team with using advanced methods that pull in the wrong direction.

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ThePADDLER 48 What is mechanical Advantage and do we need it?

For paddlers, mechanical advantage systems allow us to increase the force we are applying to the boat to try and unpin it. When we are simply connected to the boat and pulling directly on it with no system between us and the boat, we have no advantage at all (we call this a 1:1 system). However, if we create some simple systems with our ropes, we can multiply the force that we are exerting on the boat, which might give us the little bit extra that we need to make the boat move.

For these systems try not to get too focused on the physics, the ratios or the numbers, but more on what actually works. It is important to remember that the environment that we will be using these systems in is not a science lab, a combination of imperfect angles, ropes running along the ground creating friction and pretty quickly we can start to lose the theoretical advantage we are trying to create.

What kit do you need?

To apply the techniques shown here you don’t need any more kit than you are probably already carrying. Some of the techniques do require more karabiners and rope, but If every member of the team brings a throwbag, two karabiners and a tape then we will have more than enough equipment to use between us. A bit of planning on what kit we are all carrying at the start will go a long way should we ever need to use these techniques.

Prussics? No Pulleys? No Extra karabiners? No Fancy slings? No Specialised pin kit? No For more advanced environments we might choose to carry some of the above equipment, but I find that for most paddlers it is probably not required.

Securing the rope

To start applying more force to the boat we need to secure the free end of the rope. We can do this using a no knot. We need to find a large sized tree (or boulder) that will not move when we start to pull as it will have plenty of force applied to it. Starting at the bottom of the tree/boulder we pull our rope tight and wrap it around neatly upwards. The smaller the tree/boulder the more wraps you will require, the bigger the tree the fewer wraps are needed ( I would suggest always going round at least three or four times even on a big tree/boulder) The end of the rope is now just kept neatly to one side near the tree/boulder. The no knot works on friction and is releasable even when loaded (which might be useful if you want to lower your swamped boat down to an eddy once it is released.)

Vector

Now we have the boat secured we can attach a sling (or rope) using a karabiner clipped straight onto the line and position ourselves so that the two connected lines form a ‘T’ shape (90-degree angles) and we can pull directly away from the rope attached to the boat. The physics of what is about to happen is really simple, when you pull on your sling/rope, the rope attached to the boat and the tree will have a strong force exerted on either end trying to pull both ends together. However, because one end is secured with a no knot all of the movement should be at the boat end helping to remove it from its pin. It is important to stand on the upstream side of the line attached to the boat, because if the boat comes free you will have a tensioned rope heading away from you rather than towards you!

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Team vector

One of the issues with a standard no knot and vector is that once we have pulled on the line as much as we can, the force we are creating starts to fade, so we need a way of resetting the tension back into the line so we can start again.

Instead of having a no knot around the tree, consider having some of the team holding the line which has been taken back around the tree instead to create friction. This means that when the line has had the vector applied to it and the force has faded, the team holding the rope around the back of the tree can pull the rope back in again allowing the system to be reset. You almost certainly need two people holding the tree rope for every 1 person pulling on the vector as the force created is huge.

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This system is one of my favourites and doesn’t require any complicated setting up.

Join ropes

An issue we might face is a boat extraction situation is that our ropes are not long enough, we might need to join ropes and a simple method that I use is a twisting knot. This works on friction a bit like the no knot does and is as simple as twisting two loops of rope away from each other several times and clipping into the top loops (see diagram). If we are using a thinner rope, more twists are needed. This will give us a strong point that we can attach another throwbag or rope to so that we can extend our system. When you start to pull on the rope after tying the twist knot, it is the dle sometimes looks like a bit of a norm for the twists to slip a bit before they bind together. It also rs - e mand tangled mess once it has been pulled on, but the great thing is that it holds undone ail can us:be reveasily iews@th after being loaded. ep

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An alternative system which is also used by paddlers is a 4:1 system (any effort we put in is multiplied by four.) This system can be set up direct to a boat, but is more commonly set up by joining ropes and setting up the system using an extra throwbag or even a tape. To understand how to set this up, it is best to look at the diagram and recreate this in a safe environment before trying to use it for real.

One drawback of this system is that is uses lots of rope and you might feel like you have pulled lots of rope in without the boat moving at all, but the good thing is that the system can be completely reset back to the beginning again as many times as your rope will allow, (have a play with it, you’ll soon work it out). This system can even be used to tension a line (and then secure with a no knot) before you pull using a vector to try and unpin your boat.

Doing this will create an immense force on the system, watch out for things snapping and breaking at this point!

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Alternative systems

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So which system should I use?

This is a really good question and my statement earlier is still relevant…

A team using simple methods that pull in the right direction will have more success than a team with using advanced methods that pull in the wrong direction.

After the 1:1 the simplest system is the team vector but it requires more people to make it work. The 4:1 system is more complicated to set up and you are less likely to remember it in the heat of the moment (unless you are well practiced), but it can give you a very tensioned line that you can pull on using a vector after the line has been secured.

My experience of using these two systems for real has brought me to the following conclusion • Four or five people pulling on a 1:1 system is roughly the equivalent of one or two people pulling on a vector • In use, a vector system seems to create about the same force as the 4:1 system • Four or five people pulling on a vector on a highly tensioned line (using a 4:1 secured with a no knot?) is one of the strongest pulls we can create using the systems covered.

Be safe

Whenever we set any of these systems up we need to understand the limitations of not only ourselves but also our kit. Where possible we should be using our strongest and newest ropes but even these could break under the kind of forces we are creating here. Ropes running over an edge can also easily become damaged and we should avoid this or pad an edge out with a log or boat.

We also have components in the system of varying strength with the weakest part maybe even being your boat. Be cautious when applying your full force on these systems, if they break you will have parts of your system potentially flying towards you.

Time to practice

It is unrealistic to think that you could read this article and then go out and apply these techniques in a real environment effectively without any practice. The good thing is that these systems can easily be practiced in a garden or on the river bank where you can take your time to set them up and work them out step by step.

I know of a paddler who has these systems set up on a crib card that he keeps with his karabiner in his PFD to use as a memory jogger when he comes to use them for real (you could even print this article!) It’s also really important to remember that there is more than one way of doing things and I have only covered a few options here, there is no substitute for proper training.

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Chris Brain

Chris has been kayaking, canoeing and coaching for the last 15 years and runs his own business Chris Brain Coaching, delivering paddlesport coaching, safety and rescue courses and REC First Aid Training. www.chrisbraincoaching.com Email: chris@chrisbraincoaching.com Chris would like to thank Pyranha Kayaks, Immersion Research, VE Paddles and Go Kayaking for making fantastic kit and their continued support.

Photo: Patrick Beavis

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E J ’ S

KA AA YAK

F I S H I N G T I P S A WW paddler’s approach to the fast growing phenomenon of kayak fishing Often I hear whitewater kayakers grumble about my excitement for fishing. Fishing isn’t for everyone, but few whitewater kayakers whom have come along kayak fishing with me, have come back without a changed perspective and a new respect/excitement for it. Fishing out of a boat, or on shore doesn’t require much fitness, or boating skills really.Therefore there is a diverse crowd that can enjoy it – old and young, overweight or fit, male or female can be found fishing.

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In some areas fishermen are big litterbugs, in others they are the caretakers of the creeks/rivers/ponds, etc – to stereotype fishermen would be pointless. One of the reasons is that so many people fish, in fact, the largest sport in the USA, in both dollars spent and people who participate, is fishing.

I can be found fishing around 100 days/year, some of them spent in my super fast $85,000 Ranger bass boat with a 250hp Evinrude G2 on the back of it, and three 12” fish finder screens all linked together, etc, however, most of my fishing is done out of one of my Jackson Kayak fishing kayaks.

Being a whitewater kayaker, I am able to get my kayak to places that few fishermen can get to effectively. I can run down rapids; I know how to portage effectively if needed and can paddle through ocean waves to get out past the surf. Long distances are not difficult for me as my fitness level is high enough to paddle hard all day, allowing me to get to faraway places, such as the Bayou Swamps in Louisiana, far from the nearest put-in and in water far to shallow for a power boat to find big redfish.

Being an active kayaker clearly gives the kayak fisherman an advantage for enjoying the sport, catching more fish, and hitting waters that the fisherman who doesn’t have the skill or fitness cannot enjoy. Everyone, however, regardless of skill and fitness, can enjoy the fishing kayak.

Here are my tips for enjoying kayak fishing Using technology to think outside the box

Explore new waters in your kayak – Google Earth is perhaps my favourite software. I have found so many new bodies of water near me that I didn’t even know existed, as well as anywhere I travel.

The Ottawa River, for example, has hidden offshoots that at high water fill up and then when the water goes down, they get cut-off and can’t been seen from the river. Those hidden ponds are gems for camping, swimming and fishing. The water settles and becomes crystal clear, with beautiful plants growing from the bottom and they can only be reached by kayaking down rapids and a bit of effort to get off the main river and back 500-1000 metres into the woods.

I also use Google Earth combined with my Raymarine Dragonfly electronics or my cell phone, to mark spots that I have no way of easily finding when I am on the water without a map. Satellite view gives you a visual of what you can expect and has gotten me to some new, secluded spots that I couldn’t find otherwise.

Being a whitewater kayaker, I am able to get my kayak to places that

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Learn effective strokes

If you are an avid paddler, you have an advantage already and anyone you go fishing with will have to try to keep up with you most likely. If you are new to paddling and haven’t had much coaching for your forward stroke, draw strokes, etc, I recommend spending some time developing effective strokes. Think of it as investing in a bigger, faster motor to get you from point A to B faster using less energy.

Going long distances is much more enjoyable if you are paddling effectively. Get my ‘Strokes and Concepts’ DVD for whitewater kayaking and apply the forward, reverse, draw stroke, sideslip stroke and Cstroke to your kayak fishing. Standing up and paddling is also a skill set for strokes, so learning about spin-momentum, offside strokes, etc. will help you. Here’s an article about basic strokes for kayak fishing: http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2016/05/24/effi ciency-and-control-paddling-tips-for-kayakfishermen/

Learn to stand up and sit back down easily

Fishing standing up in your kayak is more fun, more effective, and gives you a new perspective visually. You can see deeper into the water, seeing fish, structure, obstacles, etc. You can cast more accurately, further and fighting a fish standing up is just plain more fun. Getting up and down may require

some practice before you start doing it in places you don’t want to fall in. If you are small and fit, you will find it easier than if you are larger and overweight, or not as strong.

However, if you can stand up, you can stand up in a kayak. All kayaks are not created equal, so make sure your kayak is designed for standing and has enough stability for you.

Jackson Kayak makes a wide range of kayaks with a range of stabilities. Our Big Rig handles even the largest people, whilst the Skipper is only stable for kids. Here is an article I wrote that teaches the techniques for standing up and fishing: http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/ story/1562205-master-stand-up-fishingfrom-a-kayak

Learn how to fish effectively

Fishing is a sport that is the most fun when you treat it like an ongoing learning experience. Assume that you are far from perfect when it comes to actually catching the fish you are after and know that the knowledge and skills are available to you if you invest in learning them. Having a friend that is really good at fishing the waters and catching the fish you are trying to catch, will go a long way to improving your skills. Plan on enjoying your time on the water, exploring, being outside, getting exercise, regardless of how many fish you catch and you will have fun either way.

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Catch and release is the best way to fish

Letting the big fish go is how big fish get bigger. If you plan on eating what you catch, try to only bring home as many fish as you’ll need for your meal. Places that have a very active fishing community also have a healthy fish environment.

It is a little known fact among non-fishermen that the fishing community is why there are fish in the rivers, lakes, bays, and oceans. Commercial fishing, over fishing as well as pollution and dams has caused a decline in the number of fish around the world for decades. Sport fishermen, and conservationists are the reason there is a healthy fish population around the USA for sure.

Some of the most populated places in America with the most fishermen are the best fishing areas with a healthy environment for fish. Fishing licenses create revenue to support the Fish and Wildlife Agency, which monitor and manage the fisheries in the United States. Fishing regulations fluctuate according to the needs of the fish and almost everywhere in America the fishing keeps improving with fish growing larger and more plentiful. Unfortunately this isn’t the case everywhere in the world, but it is a great model

to follow where 40,000,000 licenses were sold in the United States last year alone. Even fishing tournaments add to the health of the fisheries as the Fish and Wildlife agents use the fish caught, weighed, and released during tournaments as a measuring method to keep an eye on the quantity and quality of the fish in the waters.

Get some good photos and video

You’ll appreciate it later and be able to share your experiences with others. I almost always bring my GoPro cameras with me when fishing.

There are many mounting areas that capture great shots and while at the moment I might wonder if I need to use my cameras, I always appreciate it when I catch a good fish, or get to a sweet spot that I want to share with others.

OK, that should get you started! Enjoy some of my photos and videos and I’ll see you on the water!

EJ

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Southern Sout u hern ut r African rn Afr Af frican

WHITE

WT W ATR TER

Highlight Highlights hts ht ts1

KwaZulu K Kw waZ wa aZulu Natal Nat ata at tal and the Transkei Photo: Jacob Longridge

This four-part series of articles is a summary of the whitewater highlights of Southern Africa. Apart from the Zambezi, about which much has been written and which most whitewater paddlers have heard of, there are dozens of sections of great whitewater in southern Africa, particularly in the eastern parts of South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, as well as the creeks of the Western Cape.

By Luke Longridge

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Photo: Jacob Longridge

Photo: Adrian Tregoning

As part of the annual Thrombi X Fest - Powered

by RAW Adrenaline, two kayaking tours will be taking place in January 2017. The Thrombi X-Fest is South Africa’s premier whitewater festival, and for paddlers looking to experience some of the classics of Southern African whitewater in the area, it is an ideal opportunity to meet people and enjoy the social scene. Most sections on the kayak tours are class III-IV (with occasional class V drops), and this is an ideal tour for paddlers looking for an amazing kayaking adventure.

Part 1

In part 1, we’ll take a look at the province of KwaZulu Natal and the Transkei area of the Eastern Cape, in South Africa. These areas, with rugged topography between the Indian Ocean and the 3,000m high Drakensberg Mountains, gets some of the highest rainfall in southern Africa. Because of this, the greatest concentration of paddleable rivers in southern Africa are found here, with a huge diversity in both whitewater type (from steep, low-volume creeks to high-volume big water rivers) and scenery. There are a huge number of sections to choose from, but this is my personal selection of the ‘classics’ of the area, rather than a comprehensive list. For those interested, the book ‘Run the Rivers of Southern Africa’ by Celliers Kruger, gives more sections, although it does not include all rivers as some have only been paddled for the first time after 2001, when the book was published.

Kayaking in southern Africa is generally an exercise in logistics, and it’s not an easy or quick affair to run most sections. Unlike many parts of north America and Europe, there are almost no 1-2 hour sections, and generally paddling involves big shuttles, long days and often overnight trips. In my opinion, this is one of the great things about paddling in this part of the world – every trip is an epic experience, and no two are the same.

First off, any kayaker visiting South Africa needs to begin with the ‘Triple Crown’ of whitewater in KwaZulu Natal – namely the Waterfalls Section, Thrombosis Gorge or ‘Thrombi’ (both on the Umzimkulu River) and the Deepdale Gorge section of the Umkomaas River. Located within in reasonable proximity of one another (by South African standards – it’s one to two hours’ drive between sections), these sections all have class III-V whitewater (with portages possible for all big rapids) and epic scenery.

The Waterfalls Section of the Umzimkulu is considered the easiest of the three, and is named for the two drops on the section – the first rapid is a 3m (10ft) clean drop, and the section ends with an awesome 5m (15ft) drop that is perfect for running multiple times and practicing boofs and freewheels. It’s a short section (around 5 km), and apart from the waterfalls has a lot of fun class II-III rapids with some awesome surf waves. It makes the perfect warm-up paddle for a kayak trip in the area.

First off, any kayaker visiting South Africa needs to begin with the

‘Triple Crown’ of whitewater Photos: Adrian Tregoning

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Umzimkulu River

Thrombosis Gorge section of the Umzimkulu River (Thrombi) is a South African whitewater classic, and features fairly continuous class III-IV rapids with a number of very fun drops, including the Slot Machine and Supertubes rapids, which are raced as part of Thrombi festival. One of my favourite rapids in the world is found about a third of the way down the section. Known as Ski-Jump, it features an amazing smooth slanted rock that forms as ramp to launch massive boofs.

This rapid can’t be scouted and has to be run blind, and it’s fun no matter how many times you’ve run it. At the end of the Thrombi section is the infamous 9m (30ft) Thrombi Falls, a drop that looks pretty straightforward but which can surprise the unwary, especially at high water.This drop is often run a few times, with kayakers hauling boats up the cliffs below the drop. After the falls, paddlers usually have to endure a long, steep walk out of the gorge, but if they are lucky enough to have a driver with a 4x4 and can do the ‘Long Thrombi’, they can continue for another few kilometres of great rapids and take out at a foot bridge, avoiding the hike.

The third river of the ‘Triple Crown’ is Deepdale Gorge on the Umkomaas River. This is the quintessential South African overnighter (although fit paddlers who know the river can run it in a day). It starts off at the 15m (45ft) Deepdale Falls, which can be run by those feeling up for it, before the river winds its way into a remote gorge with no other people around apart from the odd local fisherman.

Photo: Jacob Longridge

Near the source of the river, the spectacular

Tugela Falls drops 948m over its five distinct free-leaping falls

Umkomaas River

The Umkomaas is a bigger volume river than the Umzimkulu, and has more open rapids with long, continuous boulder gardens that are fantastic to just boogie down.There are a few bigger rapids such as Short Drop and Long Drop that may require scouting (especially at high water), and in the latter part of the section rapids are smaller, with some long wave trains and a few awesome surf spots.The takeout at the Highover Camp is a beautiful spot in an amazing gorge, and the perfect place to relax after two days of epic paddling.

Further to the east, the Tugela River (South Africa’s second biggest river) drains a huge area from the 3,000m peaks of the Drakensberg Mountains to the coast. Near the source of the river, the spectacular Tugela Falls drops 948m over its five distinct free-leaping falls, making it the highest (or second highest, depending on who you ask) waterfall on Earth.The Tugela and its tributaries contain numerous sections of whitewater, including the ‘Canyon’ and the ‘Gorge’.

Most sections are big-volume, class III-V sections in remote parts of rural KwaZulu Natal.

Unfortunately the remoteness of much of the Tugela makes it less frequently paddled than other rivers, but the whitewater is absolutely excellent. The Bushmans and Buffalo rivers are two notable tributaries with great sections, and further up in the mountains the Injusiti River has a fantastic section of pristine, crystal clear whitewater inside the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park, a World Heritage Site.

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Transkei

On the western edge of KwaZulu Natal, is an area named the Transkei (a former homeland of the Apartheid regime), which crosses the border with the Eastern Cape Province. One of the least developed areas of South Africa, this area features a huge diversity of scenery from the towering southern Drakensberg Mountains to the pristine Wild Coast. In between, the landscape is dominated by a number of huge river gorges, and these promise world-class kayaking experiences.

The three ‘must-run’ classics of the area are three creeks in the highlands near the small town of Maclear.The Tsitsa, and it’s two tributaries the Pot and Inxu, have rapidly become South African whitewater highlights in the decade since they were first run (in the early 2000s).The upper Tsista is a short Class V section below the unique Tsitsa falls, which can be run in less than an hour, but packs some scary, continuous rapids into this short space.

It’s generally the introduction to paddling in the area and can easily be run multiple times (although the hike out is a bit steep). The Pot is a longer section of continuous class II-IV creeking, and the Inxu is a full day paddle

through a remote gorge, and features two of the most spectacular runnable waterfalls anywhere in Southern Africa, a 17m (50ft) drop followed by a 13m (40ft) drop. Both can be portaged, and the rest of the section is fun class III-IV action.

Further downstream on the Tsitsa is another, deeper gorge that has only been run a few times. This fantastic piece of whitewater features two big waterfalls and numerous fun rapids, but its extreme remoteness and lack of road access means it’s a 3-5 day paddle, which is why it’s not paddled often. The Tsitsa is a tributary of the mighty Umzimvubu River, another of South Africa’s major waterways and also one of the last wild, undammed catchments (although this is unlikely to stay the case for long).

The lower section, from confluence with the Tsitsa to the coast at Port St Johns, is a relaxed three-day paddle with only Class II-III rapids, whilst upstream from this there is a gorge section that can be paddled in 2-3 days with bigger rapids (Class III-IV) and the spectacular Umzimvubu Falls, which has two big, runnable drops for those looking for excitement.

Photo: Adrian Tregoning

Photo: Adrian Tregoning

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Owing to the fact that the Transkei was only discovered as a paddling destination in the past decade, as well as it’s extreme remoteness, there remain dozens of sections that have only been paddled once or twice, including numerous sections on the Tina River (another major tributary of the Umzimvubu), other sections of the Tsitsa and Umzimvubu, and many other rivers that have yet to be discovered. One of the most recent discoveries is the Hawespruit, a beautiful creek high in the mountains that features half a dozen waterfalls in short succession. I suspect this will also become a classic run in the years to come.

Southern African whitewater is all about warm water, long days on the river and stunning scenery. Hopefully you’ll be inspired to visit soon.

The 2016-2017 summer season is promising to be a good one, with good rains forecast. The weak South African rand also makes this a pretty cheap place to visit. Thrombi X Fest - Powered

by RAW Adrenaline is happening on the 2223rd of January 2017, and the kayak tour of KwaZulu Natal and the Transkei will happen the week before (from the 14th of January).

Photo: Adrian Tregoning

https://goo.gl/maps/6xfHJYvJuEQ2 In part two, we’ll be exploring the whitewater that will be paddled as part of the second kayak tour – the eastern escarpment rivers of South Africa and the classic bedrock granite whitewater in the mountainous kingdom of Swaziland… stay tuned.

Kayak expedition to one of the most r mot re ote ot te rivers rive v rs ve r on Earth Eart r h– rt remote

SARA RYJAZ RJ ‘ T H E

E Y E S

O F

G O D ’ Thirty-three year old Tomass Marnics from Latvia put together a team of the World’s best extreme kayakers to descend the legendary Saryjaz River.The expedition will take them directly to the ‘Eyes of God’ – the mystical cliff with an enormous human face in no man’s land between Kyrgyzstan and China.

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The team members will spend 10 days cut off from civilization in deep inaccessible gorges, sleeping under the open sky at night.They will also have to overcome the countless rapids at the absolute limit of what is possible in a kayak leaving no margin for error.

Tomass Marnics is one of the most experienced whitewater expedition paddlers on the international kayaking scene and has undertaken numerous expeditions, completing many first descents around the globe. In recent years, the explorer has been drawn time and again to Central Asia.

Tomass goes on to say, “Since I was a kid I always wanted to travel and mostly I wanted to travel to some remote corners and then when I started paddling, I was hooked up with expedition kayaking from my very first travels. For me this part of kayaking is the most interesting because you can see many different remote places, untouched rivers and interesting people. “You know when you start kayaking you always hear these magic stories about big waterfalls, deep canyons and remote rivers. This happened to me as well. One of the first stories what I heard from the kayaking world was about the Saryjaz River. From the beginning it was just a dream for me, but some years later it started to become a goal.�

Eleven kayaking experts joined Tomass including three-time extreme kayak World Champion Sam Sutton from New Zealand, Russian kayak master Egor Voskoboynikov, 2015 Adidas Sickline Champion, Spaniard Gerd Serrasolses, German multiple kayak slalom World Champion Fabian Doerfler, as well as two time prize winning filmmakers Jared Meehan from New Zealand and German Olaf Obsommer.

Expedition team: 1 Tomass Marnics (Latvia) – expedition leader 2 Egor Voskoboinikov (Russia) – organizational help 3 Olaf Obsommer (Germany) – videographer 4 Jared Meehan (New Zealand) – videographer 5 Sam Sutton (New Zealand) 6 Thilo Schmitt (Germany) – expedition doctor 7 Erik Boomer (USA) – photographer 8 Gerd Serrasolses (Spain) 9 Fabian Dorfler (Germany) 10 Philip Baues (Germany) 11 Ivan Kozlachkov (Russia)

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The expedition took place in the Tian Shan Mountains – a large system of mountain ranges located in Central Asia.The Saryjaz River takes its roots on the north west slopes of Victory Peak (Jengish Chokusu), which at 7,439 metres, is the second highest peak in Central Asia and highest peak in Kyrgyzstan. Starting from its glacial beginnings in the high peaks of the Tian Shan Mountains, the Saryjaz cuts east through the 7,000m peaks before it fans out into the massive Taklamakan Desert of Xinjiang province in China.

Slicing through these mountains, the Sarijaz River creates gorges thousands of metres deep, full of incredible and intimidating whitewater. One of the sources of the Saryjaz River is the Engilchek (Inylchek) Glacier. It ranks amongst the largest nonpolar glaciers in the world and is the largest and fastest moving glacier in the country with a length of 60.5kms and an ice thickness of roughly 150– 200m in the bottom parts.

“The Saryjaz River is special because it originates from the highest peaks of Kyrgyzstan and flows into China.To be able to get to this river you have to have a permit, so you just can’t drive there and start paddling, you have to organize the papers in advance.The area is very remote, there are no roads, no people and no villages. Basically you are in the middle of nowhere, where you have to deal with many different weather situations and water levels.You can’t just say that you are tired and don’t want to paddle today. From the very beginning it was difficult to convince people to go to such remote place.”

Tomass Marnics

Slicing through these mountains, the Sarijaz River creates gorges thousands of metres deep, full of incredible and

intimidating whitewater.

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“Our goal was to paddle one of the most unique and remote rivers on the planet as well as to enjoy the team spirit and essence of expedition kayaking.

The ‘Eyes of God’ expedition is very special and one of the most exciting projects for me. I have heard about the Saryjaz River since my first day in a kayak and knew that it was time to go there.We had an incredible team of very experienced paddlers and great personalities who were willing to look into those ‘Eyes of God’.”

Tomass Marnics

We didn’t have Google maps, we didn’t have

satellite images but we managed to paddle the Saryjaz River.

Before going to the river, the team did receive valuable information about the river and the region from Sergey Papush who completed the first descent of the Saryjaz in a cataraft he designed specially for his expedition in 1990.

Sergey said,“The plan to go to the Saryjaz River was born in our minds in the middle of 1980s. My friend Sergey Kryukov told me about this river.We asked mountaineers and climbers for information about the region, after they had climbed peak Pobeda (7,439m) and peak Khan Tengri (6,995m). From what they told us we began to understand how special this river must be.

“If you wanted to paddle the Saryjaz you have to get permission to enter the border zone as at that time nobody knew what was going on there.The area on the border between the USSR and China was absolutely unknown.

So we had to contact the KGB secret service of the Soviet Union to get a permit.We had to run such a difficult and undiscovered river without any idea of what was waiting for us around the next bend – it was paddling on the edge.

“We all knew the slalom technique and were using it on the water. At that time we had modern equipment such as neoprene wetsuits. Back then, it was one of the first expeditions with such equipment and we were really the first people ever on this river.We didn’t have Google maps, we didn’t have satellite images but we managed to paddle the Saryjaz River.That was an amazing and significant expedition which opened and explored something completely new in the paddling world.”

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Central Asia’sTian Shan Mountains

It also has the bonus of flowing through the heart of

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“We all had heaps of respect for the river and knew there would be some serious rapids and must-make moves. Just like the Stikine River, the Saryjaz has an ultra-deep canyon full of challenging rapids. It also has the bonus of flowing through the heart of Central Asia’s Tian Shan Mountains, meaning that almost every bend in the glacier-fed river revealed another snow-capped alpine view.”

Erik Boomer “This was quite an experience not only because the river is super remote but also how we felt on the water.

We had so much gear in our kayaks that I couldn’t even lift my boat and had to drag it to the river every morning. And it took me a good few kilometres to figure out how the boat was moving in the white water. I just felt very weak paddling the 50kg heavy kayak, which means that you don’t have that much of control and sometimes you are not going where you want to go 100% of the time. It is completely different style of kayaking than we usually do.”

Sam Sutton After only four days of paddling the Class V whitewater, the team got to the old weather station, which had been abandoned around 30 years ago. This was the team’s base camp for the next couple of days, because the entry of the last canyon – ‘The Eyes of God’ canyon was just around the corner…

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Saryjaz River,

Kyrgyzstan

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This place is something completely special and

very spiritual, you just can’t find it anywhere else

“We figured out a way to paddle the rapids of tight canyon all the way to the Chinese border and still managed to get back to the weather station afterwards, saving a huge over-canyon hike.The catch was that we had to set up some Tyrolean (rope traverses), ferrying the kayaks back and forth, then climb back up to the abandoned weather station where, supposedly, the helicopter would come and pick us up.”

Erik Boomer “I can’t describe the feeling that I had when I started to see the ‘Eyes of God’. I was preparing this project for many years and have seen these eyes many times on different photos and satellite images, but it is completely different feeling when you look into them down there from the river.This place is something completely special and very spiritual, you just can’t find it anywhere else.You know it is a fantastic feeling when you have something in your head for more than six years and then when you finally achieve the goal, you can’t really believe that it just happened to you..”

Tomass Marnics

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https://goo.gl/maps/hFJ28s12ajy “To really reflect on expedition like that is to understand why we do it. It is a quite unique interaction with nature what we can have in our kayaks.We used these rivers to travel and to explore. For me it is amazing to see these places, because we have the skills to access them and to see places that almost no one else on the planet can.”

Jared Meehan “As we flew out, I immediately started thinking how much I want to go back. Kyrgyzstan has it all: culture, adventure, welcoming people and very few tourists.The river? Some of it must just go underground but, the going theory is that all that powerful water evaporates in a desert in China.”

Erik Boomer One of the most mysterious rivers on Earth, hidden deep in the mountains of Central Asia had been successfully descended with only one portage. Saryjaz – the river where God is watching your every step, will stay in our hearts forever!

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R E T U R N I N G

T O

ECUADOR LarryVe Larry V Ve Vermeeren rmeere r n stepped re s epped offfff the brightly painted local bus st r the dirt re r ‘highway’ rt ‘highway a ’ crossed ay cro r ssed the Rio Jondachi. Amidst ro s st where fro fr rom the driver to, to “Darse prisa” (hurry up), up) he shouts from scrambled up the rusty ladder onto the roof, untied his kayak and handed it down to the bus helper. The next moment he was standing alone in a cloud of dust as the bus sped off to its next destination. It was early January 1993.

Larry had no information about the river in front of him.

By Darcy Gaechter

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He ran into one little girl after an hour of walking but when he tried to ask about a bus,

she screamed and ran away.

Don Beveridge, 3 Huevos. Photo by Chris Emerick

He just thought that the Jondachi looked like a good river in the fading daylight and, after nine hours of being rattled around on the bus, he was ready to be on solid ground. It was getting dark, and as was usual in those days, Larry had no plan besides to just “work it out.”

A curious indigenous family tentatively walked up to inspect this strange being. Minutes later, they welcomed Larry into their home for the night. No one could talk to each other very well and the night crept by as the family handled all of the bizarre kayaking gear – everything from the fibreglass paddle to the neoprene spray skirt was alien to them.

As they fed him and gave him a place to sleep, Larry sat on the dirt floor in a state of wonderment about these people’s generosity.

They had next to nothing, but seemed happy to share it all with a stranger.

Larry kayaked the Middle and Lower Jondachi into the Hollin River over the next two days.

These sections of river are still remote by today’s standards, and 24 years ago, I’m sure Larry was beginning to wonder if he would ever see a road again, or if he had committed himself to paddling all the way to the Amazon.

He had no choice but to keep these thoughts to himself – he had no paddling partner to sound them off of after all – and to keep paddling in the hopes of finding a village, a road, or even a single person to talk to.

He reached a dirt road mid-afternoon on his second day of paddling. He waited a while for a bus, but it gradually dawned on him that waiting was futile. He was at the end of a one-way road and still hadn’t seen any signs of another human being. Reluctantly, he started walking, carrying his kayak and everything else he owned at the time.

He ran into one little girl after an hour of walking but when he tried to ask about a bus, she screamed and ran away. Likely he was the first white person she’d ever seen, but undoubtedly the most oddly dressed. Larry arrived in the town of Archidona after more than four hours of walking. He was drenched in sweat, tired and hungry, but had an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction at the same time.

These were the humble beginnings of Small World Adventures.

Larry couldn’t have possibly imagined that a quarter of a century later, the Rio Jondachi would rank as one of the world’s best and most iconic creeks; that the road from Quito to Tena would be paved and what took him nine hours on a bus now takes three hours in a Toyota Hilux pickup truck. He didn’t know that Ecuador would become one of the world’s best winter paddling destinations, but he knew he’d found something special and, on his hike out of the Hollin, he decided to put down roots.

Darcy Gaechter and Alex Dent – Middle Jondachi.

Photo by Don Beveridge

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Liam Kirkham on the Jondachi.

Photo by Darcy Gaechter

Larry surrounded himself with good people and slowly built up both his company—Small World Adventures—and the kayaking scene in Ecuador. He brought in Don Beveridge and me (Darcy Gaechter) as partners and the three of us built SWA into a successful kayak guiding business. Anyone who has tried this knows it is no small feat. We owe much of our success to our team—our driver Memo who has been with the company for over 15 years, our cooks who feed us delicious food and keep our energy levels up and our team of guides who work incredibly hard to make sure that kayakers paddling with SWA truly do have the trip of a lifetime. Of course, we also owe it to our guests, many of whom come year after year to paddle with us, others who tell their friends they simply have to go. It’s a team effort, to be sure, and SWA has the best team out there!

In a complicated series of events, Don, Larry and I sold SWA in 2013. In 2016, Don and I, plus our newest partner Liam Kirkham, bought it back. As the Small World turns, we are back to the country we love after a short retirement.

The ‘next Ecuador’

During our three-year hiatus from both Ecuador and the business, Don and I travelled extensively, hitting as many classic kayaking destinations as we could and trying to explore some lessor known places as well. I guess you could say we were looking for the ‘next Ecuador.’ We went to Peru three times, Brazil, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Russia, and British Columbia. We had unforgettable adventures in all of these countries and found amazing whitewater; but we undoubtedly found ourselves saying over the course of each trip, “It’s just not quite as good as Ecuador.”

The high concentration of so many world-class rivers is what makes Ecuador stand out from all the other kayaking destinations we’ve been to around the world. That and the huge variety of

Don Beveridge – Confanes River.

Photo by Darcy Gaechter whitewater, the stunning rainforest, abundant birdlife, friendly locals, year-round paddling possibilities, and ease of access. Ecuador is a paddler’s paradise; that’s simply the best way to describe it.

Napo Province

Driving north to south through Ecuador’s prime paddling zone—the Napo Province—you will cover a distance of roughly 250 kilometres. Only once will you be more than 5 kilometres from a runnable river and that is the stretch between the Cosanga River and the Upper Jondachi (23 Kilometres), but the gap is well worth the travel for either of these gems! Over the 250-

The high concentration of so many world-class rivers is what makes

Ecuador stand out

from all the other kayaking destinations

Liam Kirkham, Anders Gustafson and Guy Erb – Upper Jondachi. Photo by Darcy Gaechter kilometre span, you’ll pass 20 major rivers, 41 sections of whitewater and a total of 539 kilometres of whitewater. If you were lucky enough to have a month in Ecuador, you would have to paddle 17.9 kilometres every day in order to complete every run in the Napo Province listed in The Kayaker’s Guide to Ecuador. Seriously, how can you beat that?

Plus, if you are the exploratory type looking to get off the beaten path, Ecuador still has an incredible amount of potential that is untouched.

There are tons of first descents yet to be discovered – all you need are some topo maps, a machete and a willingness to suffer a little bit.

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Group on the Lower Jondachi.

Photo by Chris Emerick

Variety is the key

Another great thing about Ecuador’s whitewater is that you can paddle a super low volume creek (5-7 CMS) one day, then hop on a big volume river (140-160 CMS) the next. Variety is key to making Ecuador so special.

Low water and high water can offer equally awesome paddling opportunities as long as you know where to look for the wide open river beds during floods and the impossibly tight box canyons during the lowest water periods.

Ecuador will keep paddlers on their toes with its Amazonian weather patterns and torrential down pours. It’s common to have the lowest flows imaginable in a rainforest one day and wake up to flooding rivers the next. Having the river rise three metres in a couple of hours is commonplace. With the right attitude, this volatility is a dream come true to kayakers – you will never be bored kayaking in Ecuador.

Despite the closeness of the rivers and the relative ease of access, Ecuador’s remoteness and jungles are not to be taken lightly. Life is great if you successfully make it to each put in and take out without incident, but an unplanned

Darcy Gaechter Papallacta.

Photo by Chris Emerick

hike out due to a flash flood or an injury on the river could quickly turn into a nightmare. The jungle that lines each river are typically so thick that walking through it without a machete is a completely hopeless endeavour. Even with a machete, you’ll be lucky to travel two kilometres per hour, and that’s if you have a strong arm and flawless machete technique. Don’t hike out unless you’ve found a trail! Even then, be prepared for an epic.

Larry Vermeeren walking to the put in on the Rio Quijos at the lodge he built.

Photo by Chris Emerick

The 2016/2017 season will be my 14th season in Ecuador, Don’s 19th, Larry’s 25th (Larry will be guiding for SWA for the month of November) and Liam’s third. Even after spending so much time in the small, Andean country, we can’t wait to get back. Talk of boofing down the Jondachi, dodging big holes on the Oyacachi, surfing ‘The Thing’ at flood levels, and enjoying a cold Pilsner at the end of a long day of paddling pervade our conversations.

Whatever your kayaking ability from beginner to expert, Ecuador’s whitewater will make you happy. It truly is a paddler’s mecca and anyone who considers themselves an international kayaker should put Ecuador on their list of countries to visit!

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INFORMATION

WHEN TO GO: November through March offers the most stable weather on the eastern side of the Andes where most of the good paddling is.You can paddle year-round in Ecuador, but if you are there between March and September, you should be prepared to deal with a lot of high water.

KAYAKING VALLEYS: The Quijos Valley (towns Baeza, Borja, El Chaco) and the Napo Valley (towns Tena and Archidona) are the two most popular kayaking valleys. Kayakers are spending a lot of time in the Pastaza Valley these days as well (near the town of Banos). Check the guidebook for other, more remote paddling destinations.

https://goo.gl/maps/AHUBECdBmQJ2

Ecuador

GETTING THERE: Fly into Quito, Ecuador. From there, it’s a two-hour drive to Baeza, or a 3.5-hour drive to Tena.

Darcy Gaechter on the Upper Misahualli.

Photo by Chris Emeric

TEMPERATURE: Ecuador offers tropical paddling in the rainforests and cooler paddling up in the cloud forests.The Quijos Valley is higher elevation and tends to be a little colder. It’s 5,0009,000 feet (1,500-2,700 metres). Day time temps will be 70-80 F (20-26 C). Night time temps will be 50-60 F (10-15).Tena is much lower in elevation and much hotter! Around Tena you’ll be paddling between 1,600-3,000 feet in elevation (480-900 metres). Daytime temps will be 80-90 F (26-31 C). Night time temps will be 70-80 F (20-26 C).

GUIDEBOOK: The best and only is The Kayaker’s Guide to Ecuador. Available at Small World Adventures, Amazon, or at AS Watersports.

LOOKING FOR AN OUTFITTER? Contact Small World Adventures at info@smallworldadventures.com

The Team: Darcy Gaechter, Tarquino Yanguez, Don Beveridge, and Larry Vermeeren. Photo by Chris Emerick

CONSERVATION: Ecuador, like many other South American countries, is facing a dire situation in terms of poorly planned dams affecting the whitewater rivers.The Ecuadorian Rivers Institute is the sole force fighting the destruction of Ecuador’s rivers. If you are in a position to help, whether via donation or volunteering, please do so! Please visit http://ecuadorianrivers.org.

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PADDE DLR LER Canoe Ca C anno an oe oe

104 United States & Canada Paddlequest 1500 by John Connelly

116 Guyana

A wildlife extravaganza by Cato Elnaes & Ashley Holland

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I N S P I R E

PADDE PD DLQ LEQUS UET EST 1 5 0 0

I heard it before I saw it. It was bearing down on me like a freight train but way more powerful and completely unavoidable. Wind whipped the surface water sideways even before the first wave was formed. It stung my face.The temperature plummeted as horizontal rain morphed into sleet. In less than ten minutes the calm surface had erupted into three-foot whitecaps threatening to sink my loaded expedition canoe.There were four miles of open lake water to go when the snow began. “Best vacation ever,” I said aloud to myself. “Not!” I vowed that my next expedition would be in the tropics.

By John Connelly

O U T D O O R

D E S I R E

An attempt at a course change toward the nearest shelter from the angry cold front resulted in a gallon of 45-degree water over the rail adding a sloshing eight pounds to my load, so I had to stay on course toward the far end of the lake and remain exposed to the onslaught for the duration. No correction strokes! I had to maintain speed to get this over with ASAP. Hipping the boat away from breaking waves to keep from filling up, I ignored my body's complaints at the relentless strain while maintaining laser beam focus ahead to the day's takeout and start of the next portage. Screwing this up was not an option. That is not the kind of publicity I want for this expedition and my wife, Nicole, would kill me if I died out here!

Little did I know that there would be more days like this on my 1500-mile 75-day solo canoe and kayak expedition. I was calling it, ‘PaddleQuest 1500, An Expedition to Inspire Outdoor Desire’.

Today's ordeal was unlikely to provide much inspiration for replicating what I was doing. Most shouldn't be out there at all in these conditions and most wouldn’t fair so well. But I have to say, I love venturing out to the ragged edge, putting myself out there. I thrive in that space.

I’m president of the specialty coffee company, Adventurous Joe Coffee LLC, and in addition to being a past member of the US Canoe & Kayak Team and former leader of L.L.Bean’s Outdoor Discovery Schools for over a decade, I’m also a risk management consultant. So if there was ever something I needed to get right, it was planning for, and executing this trip successfully and without incident.

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ThePADDLER 106 The big SIX-O

‘The Big SIX-O’ was coming up. I was feeling like I had to do something really epic. Not just something fun or exciting, but something that would be meaningful and would test my metal.

To my knowledge, nobody had ever paddled both the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and the Maine Island Trail. I've always wanted to paddle them, but never made the time.

Paddling both would be awesome, but with a substantial shuttle between the two it didn't feel very ‘epic’ to me. However, connecting the two by continuing down the Saint John River, through the Reversing Falls and down the Bay of Fundy?

Now that’d be ‘epic’! So that's what I would do – 1,500-miles over 75-days, going as early in spring as possible to catch high water flows and be finished in time to enjoy the Maine summer with my sweetie.

This journey would take me through two countries, four states, two provinces, 22 streams, 54 lakes and the North Atlantic Ocean. Now that sounded like a great plan, so I set out to organize sponsors, gear and funding. Taking a leave of absence as president and chief experience officer from Adventurous Joe Coffee LLC, our specialty coffee business was a big deal.

But the team could make it through just fine.

Leaving my incredible wife, Nicole, would be a much bigger deal. We hadn’t spent more than ten days apart since we met and it looked like I’d be spending our tenth wedding anniversary in a canoe somewhere in the North Maine Woods.

She’d be taking up my slack at home and the coffee company in addition to her career work at Maine Coast Heritage Trust, the state's largest land conservation organization where she raises

This expedition has the distinction of being the first to link The Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Saint John River, Bay of Fundy and

Maine IslandTrail

funds for preserving the nature of Maine’s coast.

Without her undying support, the expedition never could have happened.

It's all about timing. Everything in your life needs to sync up in order to drop off the grid for two or three months. For me, it took until I was 60 for that to happen. My mantra is, “Do it all, and do it NOW!” But of course, ‘now’ has to be, when you ‘can’.

Paddlequest 1500

According to the EPA, Americans spend 93% of their lives indoors. Half of those waking hours are spent parked—eight hours a day—staring at a screen. This information comes at a time when a growing body of evidence confirms the physical and mental health benefits that come from communing with nature. And further research suggests that time outdoors also has a

profound effect on the personal sense of stewardship for our natural resources that stands as our best hope for saving the planet. Such knowledge should serve as a wake-up call for anyone who’s ever stared into the night sky and yearned for a deeper connection to the world beyond ourselves.

This expedition has the distinction of being the first to link The Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Saint John River, Bay of Fundy and Maine Island Trail—with the goal of garnering increased support for the organizations that maintain these world-class water trails and dedicated to raising awareness of the mental, physical, and spiritual renewal that awaits those who experience outdoor adventure of any kind. Check out my journey at www.paddlequest1500.com where I posted journal entries, photos and videos throughout the expedition.

John canoeing through New York state by Brian Threlkeld

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I had two success measures for the expedition.

One, engage as many people as possible with the adventure to hopefully inspire more folks to get outdoors and to use these Water Trails. And two, was to complete the journey unscathed! I wanted to share the experience with others and create as much of a media event as possible. So I partnered with the branding and marketing firm, Pulp and Wire, in Portland, Maine to create a robust website where I would provide a platform for my content and a place where my progress could be tracked.

sponsor, the mapping and navigation company, DeLorme, a Garmin brand.They set me up with their inReach Explorer satellite navigation and communications transceiver that I paired with my iPad Air 2 using their Earthmate app.This enabled me to have an easy-to-read nine-inch screen in front of me with maps, charts, all of my previously input waypoints and notations. It also provided me with realtime tracking and 160 characters of texting as well as access to wilderness rescue services should I run into a dire emergency I was unable to manage on my own.

I promised Nicole that she would know where I was and that I would be able to communicate regardless of cell signal availability. In fact, it was her only condition for my heading off into the wilderness. So I immediately signed up my first

Adventurers should loathe to put rescuers at risk to save their butts. I feel strongly that if people are going to head into the wilds that they need to have the knowledge, training, and practice of the skills necessary for staying safe

expedition with my community. So I never felt lonely out there.

Alone, yes, but lonely, no

and for self-rescue if they get into trouble.

Calling 911 should be an absolute last resort.

I may be in the middle of nowhere, but with this technology, everyone, especially Nicole, would know exactly where I was! I had realtime satellite tracking on the website and you could watch the line move every ten minutes. I have been told that it was addictive to follow my blue line on the map. In some ways, it felt like the expedition version of ‘The Truman Show’! Due to all of my followers and my postings for them, I was sharing the expedition with my community. So I never felt lonely out there. Alone, yes, but lonely, no.

Going early

I believe that my launch date was the earliest, or one of the earliest, recorded for the Northern

Forest Canoe Trail. I discovered some negative aspects to heading out ‘pre-season’. It was preseason in just about every sense. Some of the Trail infrastructure had not been repaired from winter damage. NFCT kiosks and logbooks hadn’t been maintained or waterway obstructions removed because crews simply were not out there yet. Some grocery stores and other support services weren’t open for the season. A few mornings, I’d wake up to my clothes and gear frozen stiff as a board. The water plants had not yet matured to provide feed for moose, so sightings would be rare. I saw almost no other paddlers out there and it would snow and blow for days on end. Other than that, going early was awesome!

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John camping by Brian Threlkeld

I was sharing the

ThePADDLER 110 NORTHERN FOREST CANOE TRAIL Old Forge, NY to Fort Kent, ME 740 miles SAINT JOHN RIVER Fort Kent, ME to Saint John, New Brunswick, CAN 295 miles The morning of April 16th, 2016, I launched my fully loaded Wenonah Voyager canoe into the Fulton Chain Of Lakes in Old Forge, New York. It was the second earliest ice-out in recorded history and the unusually warm winter resulted in no snowpack to feed spring rivers. If I didn't get some rain, the 63 portages and carries totalling 54 miles along the 740 miles of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail would be increased significantly both in number and miles. I love paddling and I hate walking with a 17'6" canoe and 60 pounds of gear. I needed to get going and I needed some help from above!

The trip started off with a string of record warm weather. My incredible wife, Nicole, paddled the first day with me from Old Forge, NY to

Racquette Lake; 20 miles with three portages and crossing the highest point of the NFCT at 1,825 feet. That next morning, Nicole headed back to Maine and I continued alone.

A couple of days later, entering the Saranac Lakes, a cold wind blew and the temperature dropped. It became more seasonable. I had been on the trail for a week with chilly but otherwise good weather. Now, a series of cold fronts would blast through dropping the temperatures further, providing me with raucous whitecap conditions and blowing snow.

Happily, I was travelling with the change of seasons and would eventually be paddling in warm weather with some spectacular, calm conditions mixed in!

http://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org http://www.mita.org

Portages and carries

Most portages and carries on the NFCT are short and many of them are improved trails or roads. Whether a kayak or canoe, I highly recommend a super-durable wheeled cart. It means about ten pounds added to your portaging load when you can’t use them, but they are indispensable! I tried a lightweight wheeled cart that failed on day three but acquired a three-pounds-heavier wheeled cart

by Suspenz that turned out to be bomber! Not counting as “portages or carries” are the countless beaver dams and blowdowns impeding progress. You quickly learn which are “jumpable” with enough speed and which require getting out to hoist the boat over. Getting over logs in current can be dangerous and requires deliberate strategy and careful execution.

The most memorable portages are the unimproved Racquette Falls Carry in the Adirondacks, the 5.7-mile Grand Portage in Quebec going from the Missisquoi watershed to Lake Memphremagog, the steep climb at the Sheldon Springs Hydroelectric Project in Vermont, the 7.2 miles of logging roads from Fish Pond to the Moose River in Maine and the infamous Mud Pond Carry into the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, which is pretty much self-descriptive.

But topping the list as the worst, would be the 20mile walk from Rangeley to Stratton, Maine if the South Branch of the Dead is too low to paddle. My reason for an early start was to catch this river with water so I could paddle instead of walk. I just made it, having a beautiful run at a minimum boatable flow! Two days later? I’d have been walking!

John bailing by Brian Threlkeld

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Beyond the Eastern Terminus of the NFCT, on the Saint John River are three portages around major dams, Grand Falls, Beechwood and Mactaquac. Access below Beechwood is about five miles downstream of the dam. Somebody needs to do something about that! The Mactaquac portage on river right is down an unimproved road and through riverside boulders. But it’s better than wheeling across the dam’s busy, shoulderless roadway to the parking lot below the dam on river left.

challenging in places at higher flows with little eddy hopping opportunities. Walking the paralleling roads is faster, but it’s walking and not paddling! There are days of hiking your boat up riverbeds in slippery cobble and boulders, so I used the sturdy NRS Velocity Water Shoe. I had a 25’ tracking line on my canoe’s bow and a 15’ line on the stern, thinking I might be using them ascending any steep rapids, but the only time I used these was for lining around Long Falls Dam on the Allagash.

There are 162 miles of upstream travel with two-thirds being within Vermont and Quebec.

The longest single stretch is Missisquoi River from Lake Champlain in Vermont to Mansonville, Quebec, about 74 miles. I had good water, so paddled up much that would be tracked (walking and dragging your boat) at lower flows.

Paddling the 19 miles up the Upper Ammonoosuc and several miles of the Androscoggin in New Hampshire is very

On the NFCT and down the Saint John River in New Brunswick, I met incredibly generous people. Modern life and media bombardments that only show us the worst of our species could make you grow cynical and develop a guarded mistrust of our fellow human beings.

This expedition has given me renewed faith in humanity. Random acts of kindness were everywhere. Through-hikers talk about the ‘Trail Angels’ they encountered; people willing to

Upstream travel

Trail angels

the ‘Trail Angels’ they encountered. I’m here to say that the Trail Angels on our water trails are alive and well, too

help you in any way they can. I’m here to say that the Trail Angels on our water trails are alive and well, too!

There were too many Angels to mention them all. A family in the Adirondacks drove a friend I was paddling with to get his car and then fed us an amazing cookout dinner. NOT from that dinner but something else, I came down with an awful intestinal bug in the Adirondacks that sapped my energy and turned me inside-out for 72-hours. I took a cab to a pharmacy in Plattsburgh to get Immodium AD. The taxi driver waited for me and then wouldn't let me pay. “It’s your lucky day and good luck!” he said. I was portaging a falls in Maine and bumped into a man and his wife who invited me for dinner and their guest room at their lakeside home downstream. A couple in Grand Isle, Maine on the Saint John offered saved me from severe thunderstorms offering me dinner and to overnight in their riverside gazebo. I could go on!

Whitewater

I installed thigh straps in my Wenonah Voyager so I could wear the canoe in the more stable kneeling position for challenging whitewater, rather than the sitting position for all other conditions. I also switch from a bent shaft paddle to a spoon-bladed whitewater paddle for running rapids and upstream paddling.

Almost every state and province had memorable whitewater and some of it you have to go up. I’ll talk about downstream. I like it better! The Racquette and Saranac Rivers in New York have fun sections of Class II rapids.

Vermont’s natural flow Nulhegan River. The Nulhegan dramatically shifts from meandering marshland with nesting waterfowl in the Silvio Conte National Wildlife Refuge into two gorges requiring portaging and challenging Class III+ rapids. The river was extremely pushy because it had rained the previous two days while I laboured up the Clyde River. I felt very alone as I approached the first horizon line in a loaded

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Adirondack morning by Brian Threlkeld

Through-hikers talk about

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Planning I needed the right gear for this expedition. I would be paddling and camping in freezing spring conditions in New England, early summer bug season in the North Maine Woods and June warm weather on the frigid North Atlantic.

I’d be both canoeing (with portages) and kayaking; everything had to be lightweight and high performance, from a titanium fork to fly-weight expedition boats and everything in between. I had to carefully plan my route, with all contingencies. And I had to raise money, approaching all of my favourite gear manufacturers and distributors to sponsor my expedition. This would be a huge project unto itself!

Funding Cash and in-kind gear and services would be required; a combination of gear and funding from sponsors and GoFundMe to raise needed cash.

canoe that doesn’t permit abrupt changes in direction. So I told myself I was leading the boaters behind me and showing them the lines, but I didn’t bother looking behind to see if they were there, because they weren’t.

The South Branch of the Dead is beautiful, continuous and loaded with fish and bald eagles.

It was low, technical and required intense focus paddling a loaded kevlar canoe. A couple of drops were sketchy at low water, but the rest was very approachable and the view entering Flagstaff Lake is amazing.

The infamous Chase Rapids on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway is pure Class II fun with the morning dam release. It’s continuous, super readable on-the-fly and a pure joy! But the biggest, chaotic whitewater on the trip was the Reversing Falls in New Brunswick, Canada, about 280 miles beyond the Eastern Terminus of the

Route planning •

Delorme’s online trip planning tool at explore.delorme.com to create my route using waypoints and notations.

•

Northern Forest Canoe Trail Guidebook and ‘ThroughPaddler’s Companion’ book, as well as the series of 13 water and tear resistant maps covering the 740-mile Trail.

•

Maine Island Trail Association Guide book and robust App.

•

For the Saint John River and Bay of Fundy I’d use a combination of online and paper map and chart resources to create the trip plan for these segments.

NFCT, at the mouth of the Saint John River where it dumps into the Bay of Fundy.

Follow John’s story in the Winter issue of the Paddler as he switches his canoe for a kayak and enters the Atlantic Ocean via the Bay of Fundy.

https://goo.gl/maps/c59fF22qjpN2

Gear and supplies

NRS (Northwest River Supply): All of my top-notch paddling gear and apparel as well as safety equipment. I spent 70-days in their Zen personal flotation device, dry suits and paddling boots; like all of their products, definitely designed for paddlers, by paddlers.

FOLDING Canoes & Kayaks

Wenonah Canoes: The high-performing 17'6" Voyager solo expedition canoe in Kevlar, weighing just 32-pounds. And I used their almost weightless bent shaft carbon paddles for flat water and Solo Yoke for portaging that attaches to floor mount seat.

Stellar Kayaks & Surfskis: The S18R kayak. At 18'0" long and 21.5" wide, it's only a little tippy when loaded and is extremely fast for expedition paddling.

Werner Paddles: Spoon-bladed Bandit carbon canoe paddle for whitewater. For ocean kayaking, I used the Cyprus neutral bent shaft carbon paddle and their straight shaft Powerhouse whitewater paddle as a spare and for the rockier, gnarly landings and launches.

Hyperlite Mountain Gear: Echo II Shelter; waterproof weighing just 1.87 pounds, their 5500 cubic inch capacity Porter Pack; waterproof weighing around 2.5 pounds and their waterproof Roll-Top Stuff Sacks.

Quest Folding Kayak

The Quests combine great looks with comfort and efficient cruising performance.

Quests are ideal travel kayaks. Very light, yet ruggedly-built with space-age polyurethane materials which contain no toxic chemicals – the planet will thank you!

Puffin Saranac

MSR (Mountain Safety Research): MicroRocket stove and ISOPRO fuel canisters, HyperFlow water filtration, Quick 2 System for cooking and more.

Thermarest: Antares HD Three Season sleeping bag with Hydrophobic down and ThermaCapture lining that reflects heat back on you; super warm and super lightweight. Neo Air Xlite mattress; fast to inflate/deflate, compact and light.

Delorme/Garmin: inReach Explorer satellite navigation and communication device and Earthmate app.

Apple: iPad Air 2 with eCase waterproof case and iPhone 6S with both eCase waterproof case and Lifeproof case ReVision Energy: Goal Zero Nomad 7 solar panel and Venture 30 charging battery for off-the-grid device charging; waterproof and can live on your kayak deck or canoe gear bags.

Good To-Go: Gourmet dehydrated food for camping. Good enough to eat at home even if you don't have to! Easy, filling and always something to look forward to. I add a 6- or 8-oz pouch of tuna or salmon at the end of preparation for more protein.

GrandyOats: A wide selection of delicious organic granolas, trail mixes and oatmeal.

Puffin Kayaks are perfect travel companions.

Great stability and paddling performance make Puffins enjoyable on the water. With good looks and light-weight price, they are a pleasure to own.

PakCanoe 170 in PakCanoes the Arctic The folding PakCanoe is your ticket to remote wilderness travel - and is equally at home taking your children for a spin closer to home!

Shipyard Brewing Company: IPAs at day's end whenever and wherever possible.

Adventurous Joe Coffee: Epic Organic Fair Trade coffees to fuel all 75 days.

PakCanoes are excellent for remote wilderness trips or adventures closer to home. Light-weight, compact for easy travel and storage, yet rugged, dependable and easy paddling.

https://youtu.be/a8lGbhdiEE0

www.pakboats.com Enfield, New Hampshire, USA (603)632-9500 • info@pakboats.com

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P A K

Y O U R

B A G S

F O R

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WILDLE WD LIFE E X T R A V A G A N Z A

By Cato Cat a o Elnaes and Ashley Holland at I first f rst went to the Rupununi region of Guyana in fi 2010 with a group that was offering off ffe ff fering a two-week tour of the eco-lodges in the area. area.Whilst Whilst at Caiman House, a community-owned lodge and ofYu Y pukari, I Yu research centre in the Amerindian village of Yupukari, wildlife f , wilderness and river guide fe heard about a local wildlife, who runs camping expeditions into some of the most remote rivers and forests in Guyana by the name of Ashley Holland (ashleypholland.com).

Ashley and his crew of Amerindian guides have been running these specialized and custom-built tours for many years, catering for people keen to fish and explore pristine wilderness and to see and photograph wildlife. He has run trips for a number of film crews and researchers, but his main clients are eco-tourists, birders, sport fishermen, wildlife photographers or clients who have a very keen interest in the natural world, such as myself. At that time, Ashley who lives in Yupukari, was away on a month long expedition with some guests, so I did not get to meet him, however, what I heard about his trips intrigued me.

Staying at a lodge is a good way to see a country and gives one the opportunity to look for wildlife but what I really wanted was to experience something different‌ something wild and untamed, something unique, to try to get away from civilization and truly experience the wilderness in its raw form, to go somewhere few have been.

Shortly after I returned to Norway, I contacted Ashley and subsequently booked a month long trip with him on the Rewa River the following season. The idea was for us to travel slowly, about a 100 miles up the river to a series of waterfalls in two small aluminium boats powered by 15HP outboard engines, camping along the way.

According to Ash the Rewa was a remote, beautiful and unspoiled river, teeming with wildlife and birds, and as an added bonus it has great fishing, which whetted my anticipation of the trip as I am also a keen amateur angler.

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ThePADDLER 118 A year later I found myself back in Guyana again, this time with Ashley and his small crew of guides. We spent a fantastic four weeks on the river and the trip surpassed my expectations. Ash and his crew were professional and extremely knowledgeable, yet at the same time so relaxed, laid back and friendly, they made me feel like an old friend of the family.

The river was everything I expected it would be and I loved every minute, from sleeping in the comfortable hammocks under the tarpaulin, listening to the howler monkeys calling in the dawn, to siting around the flickering light of the camp fire cooking the fish we had just caught for our dinner whilst exchanging stories of our lives… mine in Norway and the guides of their lives and experiences in the forests and rivers of Guyana.

Fishing

The fishing was indeed fantastic and I caught my share of dinners including some stunning red tailed catfish although these we would always put back. According to Ash they are too pretty to eat. And besides there were better eating fish like peacock bass and tiger catfish. To be honest though there are so many species that it is a fisherman’s paradise.

Wildlife of course being ‘wild’ can often be hard to see particularly South American species, many of which are nocturnal but true to Ashley’s word we had some great sightings as the river slowly gave up many of her ‘secrets’.

I returned to Norway feeling that I had just had a trip of a lifetime and over the course of the next few months started dreaming of a return.

The following year I did another trip with Ashley to a different river but this time I asked my partner Ute, who is a nurse, if she would like to join to which she gladly agreed.

The second trip was a great success too and I would have to admit we are ‘hooked’ on the Rupununi and have now returned a number of times over the years each time doing a river trip with Ashley and his crew.

It was whilst sitting around the fire one evening, sparks whirling up into the darkness, sipping a cup of hot cocoa topped off with a ‘healthy shot’ of Guyanese rum, prepared for us by Jose the camp cook and comedian, that we got to talking about our next adventures and the suggestion of a canoeing trip came up.

THE START

True to Ashley’s word we had some great sightings as the river slowly gave up many

of her ‘secrets’

One of our camps along the river

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After some discussion Ash suggested we return to the Rewa, the site of my first expedition with him. But this time he suggested we travel further than before, portage the series of falls, and paddle to the very headwaters of the river.

As the total length of the Rewa River is close to 200 miles and as we could only afford a month away from work, we realized that we could not do it all paddling. To make the trip feasible we would use two aluminium boats powered by outboards to get us far as the first falls. From there we would start paddling, but the first hurdle was going to be the series of even bigger falls and rapids, all of which would need to portaged and navigated. This would take a few days of hard work, but once past these we had smooth water and we could slowly work our way up the river, camping, exploring, fishing and looking for wildlife.

The fire had died to glowing coals and the level in the rum bottle had gone down alarmingly by the time we had formulated the whole plan.

The thought of the trip excited Ute and me so much that we maybe indulged in a wee bit too much rum that evening much to the amusement of Jose, who had been quietly refilling our mugs to keep our throats lubricated with all the talking and planning we had been doing.

Ashley already had one 17-foot fibre glass canoe, so upon our return we researched suitable canoes for extended wilderness trips, and came across the Pakboats web site.They looked perfect: light, strong, could handle whitewater, and were big enough to accommodate everyone, including the equipment and food for a month long expedition.

Pakboats

The greatest bonus is that the boats are foldable. They can be dismantled and packed into a bag, which can be carried by one person with relative ease, ideal for travelling. After reading reviews and doing some additional research, including contacting an operator in nearby Suriname who uses Pakboats, we went ahead and ordered two Pak 170 canoes.

These were shipped to Guyana a few months in advance, so as to avoid any hassle with customs upon entering the country and to reduce the risk of lost baggage, so by the time Ute and myself arrived in Guyana, Ash had already been in possession of the canoes for several months and had tested them out.

In March 2016 Ute and myself flew to Guyana.

After a day spent in Georgetown, the capital, we flew down to the Rupununi and met up with Ash in his home village of Yupukari. For the next couple of days, we relaxed at Caiman House lodge to acclimatize and recover from the air travel and to sort ourselves out.

The morning we departed Yupukari we loaded up two aluminium boats with all our gear, food, the two Pak canoes and the one fibre glass canoe. The group consisted of six people: me and Ute, Ashley, Brian and Jenkins who acted as additional guides and of course Jose the cook.

El Nino drought

The first leg of the journey, 80 miles down the Rupununi River, then 100 miles up the Rewa to the first falls, was supposed to take three days; however, the region had been in the grip of an El Nino drought for two years, so the river levels were low, making travel very slow. In many places it was only a few inches deep and we had to jump out of the boat and push and pull over the sandbanks, always wary of stepping on freshwater sting rays that are greatly feared by the locals for their potent sting.

Once in the Rewa it got even shallower, and we had to pull over logs and stumps, often resorting to partly driving the boats over semi-submerged logs, and then pulling the boats over by manpower.

Cato and Brian

‘Sneaking’ up

The thought of canoeing, where we could silently glide along the water, ‘sneaking’ up close to wildlife got our interest and attention immediately. It would be the ultimate way to travel and explore a remote region and there would be a romantic and adventurous feel to the trip harking back to the days of the early explorers. We were sure that without the disturbance of outboard engines, it would improve our chances of seeing and approaching wildlife and an added bonus was that it would be great exercise.

Ute and Ash Stopped for lunch in shady spot

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ThePADDLER 122 So much wildlife

On the way up we saw lots of wildlife, including some huge black caiman, several groups of giant otters, capuchin and squirrel monkeys, and a multitude of bird species including five species of kingfishers, lots of herons, a number of species of hawks and raptors to name a few.

Of course there were lots of smaller species of birds, too many to name here, but Ashley and his crew knew them all and would often stop to point out something that was rare or special. We also had great sightings of two different species of brocket deer.

Normally these are hard to see along the river as they prefer to stay deep in the forest but due to the drought many animals were forced to come to the rivers edge to drink. One afternoon we also came across a group of capybara with some babies which allowed us approach within a

Cato and Dracula fish for dinner

few feet before they dashed into the river and submerged below the surface, a tactic used to escape predators.

Despite the low water we had an adventure, and after four long days of tough travel, we arrived at the cataracts below Carona. We pulled the boats up through the rapids and set up a camp overlooking the river a couple of hundred metres below the main drop.

We decided to spend two nights at Carona to recuperate and to get ourselves ready for the next leg of the journey. This would also give us a chance to do some fishing, for which I gladly volunteered and I spent a couple of mornings fishing in the flowing waters of the rapids for pacu, a vegetarian type of piranha, and also for a large silver fish with huge fangs, called pyara or sometimes, the ‘Dracula fish’.

Cato and Wolf fish for lunch

I spent a couple of mornings fishing in the flowing waters of the rapids for pacu, a vegetarian

type of piranha

Electric eels

Left: a rapid we had to pass.

the remainder of the equipment and food though a trail the crew had hacked through the rainforest.

One evening whilst having dinner Ash called us to the water’s edge and with his spotlight showed us a couple of six-foot electric eels swimming around the boat…an amazing sight. We were glad we already had our daily bath in the river a couple of hours earlier although Ashley assured us that generally electric eels are non-aggressive and not as dangerous as often is reported.

Everything required for the expedition fitted comfortably in the canoes… in fact we were surprised at how much more they could have taken. We opted to have the old fibre glass canoe transport most of the food and some of the camping gear, paddled by Jenkins and Jose.

The morning we departed Carona Falls in the canoes was a bright and sunny day. Ash and Jenkins spent an hour or so setting up the two canoes at the top of the falls whilst we portaged

That left the two Pak canoes, Brian and myself in one, Ash and Ute in the other, together with all our personal baggage, hammocks and tarps, cameras and the balance of the camping gear.

Above: one of the large falls we had to portage.

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Despite some rough handling we never had any issues with

punctures or tears and suspect the flexibility of canoes greatly reduces the chance of rips

A rum christening

Before setting off we christened each of the canoes with a splash of rum, not forgetting to pour a drop or two in the river for extra good luck. And luck we would have a couple of hours later.

As both Ute and myself are not experienced canoeists we made a decision that for the first afternoon we would pack away our cameras and valuables in watertight containers in case of a mishap -- until we got used to how the canoes handled. We ended up regretting this decision as an hour and half later we came across a magnificent jaguar that lay sleeping next to a log on a small sandbank.

Unfortunately, as it was semi hidden we did not spot it until we were 20 metres away, when it stood up, most likely startled by our unexpected approach. We all watched in awe as it looked at us for a few seconds and calmly walked up the bank and disappeared into the forest. Of course our decision to have our cameras packed away was one we regretted, but despite the lack of pictures it was a spectacular sighting that will live in our memories forever.

After another hour of gentle paddling we set up a camp overlooking the base of the next falls, and that evening sat in the glow of the campfire, dining under the stars with the rumble of the falls in the background, each of us reliving and retelling the sighting of the jaguar. To celebrate we all had a double shot of rum and lime juice and that night crashed into our hammocks happy and tired, dreaming of what the rest of the trip would bring.

The next few days were spent portaging the remaining falls and I must say that we found the canoes handled really well in the rapids. On a number of occasions, we had to pull them up through fast flowing water on ropes and they slid over and between rocks without any problems.

Despite some rough handling we never had any issues with punctures or tears and suspect the flexibility of canoes greatly reduces the chance of rips. We did however manage to bend one of the poles in the bow of one of the canoes when it crashed into a log that was semi-submerged. The slight bend did not affect the canoe in any capacity however and we did not even bother to try and straighten it.

In addition to several shallow rapids we had three large portages to do as well. For these

we had to completely unload the canoes and carry everything several hundred metres through the forest and up over the falls. It was tough work but all part of the adventure. The Pak canoes are so light, they presented no problems portaging, especially if we carried them two persons to a canoe, one in front and one at the back.

Once we had portaged the major falls we had some long stretches of flat water with no rapids. We set up base camps every few miles and slowly explored the river. On travel days we would typically depart camp after an early breakfast, slowly paddling up the river and stopping off in the middle of the day for 2-3 hours to have lunch in a shady spot and a swim, then doing a couple more hours in the afternoon, before looking for a suitable site to set up a comfortable camp. Usually we would paddle about ten miles and then spend a couple of days in a ‘base camp’ to recover and to search for wildlife.

Impressive Pac canoes

We were impressed by how well the Pak canoes handled. Even with a lot of weight in them, we found that they actually paddled easier and faster than the fibre glass canoe, although the fibre glass canoe may have been a bit more responsive due to its more ridged hull.

Life in the base camps was relaxing and peaceful but we kept ourselves busy looking for wildlife and exploring. In our spare time we went fishing for a large prehistoric-looking fish called himara which are also known as the wolf fish. They are great fighters, powerful and very aggressive, with a mouth full of one-inch-long teeth – hence the name. Apart from being great fun to catch, they are also fantastic eating, and we ate fresh fish most days just barbecued over an open fire with salt and seasoning. Jose would also make fish stew, or fish broth called ‘boily boil’, usually with hot peppers, onions and garlic. Sometimes to change the menu he would make a curry, and occasionally fried fish.

We would go early in the mornings and late in the afternoons quietly drifting down the river, listening to the sounds of the forest and keeping our eyes peeled for giant otters, caiman, tapir, monkeys and of course hoping for another jaguar. Often we would stop at sandbanks and search for tracks which the crew would point out and identify.

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were incredibly lucky to get a fantastic view of the world’s largest and most

powerful eagle for several minutes

In the evenings after dark we would go out on the river again with a spotlight, looking for nocturnal species like paca, ocelot or Amazon tree boas, frogs, toads and opossums.

Silently drifting down the river, cloaked in darkness under the glittering Milky Way, hearing the nocturnal sounds and calls of the forest is a surreal experience.

Forest walks were another activity, looking for snakes, lizards, monkeys, insects and birds, anything that was of interest. The guides would point out plants that could be used for medicine or weaving, vines that produced drinking water and trees that could be used for construction or other useful applications.

Amerindians

All of the guides working for Ashley are Amerindians; their whole lives spent in the forests and savannahs, so their knowledge is vast. They are experts at finding wildlife and will often imitate calls or point out tracks and signs, so we were constantly learning and we never once got bored.

One morning whilst sitting in camp a harpy eagle swooped in and landed low down in the forest about 40 metres away.

We all rushed for our cameras and were incredibly lucky to get a fantastic view of the world’s largest and most powerful eagle for several minutes.

Swimming

We saw lots of tapir, usually bathing in the river or feeding along the edge, and once even had a mating pair swim up and down past our camp multiple times, totally oblivious to our presence. I guess they had other things on their mind. Tapirs are usually hard to see, especially in areas where they are hunted, but we were so remote they seemed unafraid of people.

They are amazing to see but I don’t think they would win any prizes for intelligence, or as Ash with his amusing list of quotes would say, “They are not the sharpest tool in the box.” Their eyesight seems very poor as often when walking they seemed to just bump into branches and logs and would typically just use their great strength to ‘bulldoze’ their way through obstacles.

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ThePADDLER 128 Like capybaras, of which we also saw lots, tapir are capable of swimming underwater.

We had to exercise caution when approaching them closely with the canoes, in fear of them submerging and resurfacing underneath us, tipping us into the river.

In the canoes we managed to get very close to many species, especially when drifting downstream. We would just silently glide up to the wildlife, snapping away with our cameras. Usually if we moved slowly, the animals would hardly notice us at all until we got within a few feet, so it was perfect for photography.

One afternoon whilst on a river drift we again had a slice of luck to spot a huge anaconda coiled up on the bank sunbathing. We slowly drifted to within a few feet and managed to get some amazing pictures.

Whilst we never did get to see another jaguar, we certainly saw lots of tracks, and one night we heard a group of capybaras giving out alarm calls and diving into the river to escape. In the morning we checked the little sandbank not 50 metres from our camp where we would go for our evening bath and found fresh jaguar prints overlapping our tracks from the previous evening. It appears the jaguar had been on the prowl but the capybaras had sensed it and dashed into the river to escape. We had heard the whole episode from the comfort of our hammocks.

On the way upriver Ashley had set out a number of camera traps in the forest and along the river which we collected on the way back down. He does this on many of his trips as it is a great way to see what wildlife is in an area. One trap got a picture of huge male jaguar walking along the river’s edge in the middle of the morning.

Whenever Ash collected a new trap we would sit around the laptop craning our necks to see what the camera had picked up. Seeing this huge cat arrogantly walking about in broad daylight brought back memories of our first sighting a few weeks earlier and got our hearts tingling with excitement at the possibility of seeing another. But the river does not always give up her treasures easily.

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The days slowly slipped by, one into one another into weeks. We lost track of time and the days. Our lives revolved around the river and the forest and slowly we felt as though we were becoming as one with the wilderness. Not once in four weeks did we see another soul. The only evidence of the outside world were satellites spotted overhead whilst we lay on the rocks or sandbanks looking up and stargazing before retiring to our hammocks.

As is so often said when one is having fun, time flies, and it wasn’t long before we had to turn around and head back. We had managed to paddle up 60 miles from the falls and whist we could have gone a few miles further, time ran out on us.

Portaging one of the canoes through the forest to pass the falls.

A few days later we started our return journey.

Of course heading downstream was much faster and easier so it only took us a few short days to get back to the falls and then our subsequent return to ‘civilization’. It had been an amazing trip, the best one yet, and we were filled with a deep respect and humility for the forests and the Rewa.

How lucky we were to experience such a remote and pristine wilderness, something that is ever shrinking around the world as tropical forests are destroyed and ‘development’ creeps and spreads her tentacles into the last untouched corners of the globe. Without the Pak canoes the trip would have been much harder to accomplish and they certainly proved themselves worthy for this kind of extreme expedition.

Our last base camp was named after Ute as the day we arrived there was her birthday. That evening we celebrated by sitting in our chairs on a sandbank next to the river as the sun slowly sank down over the forest, smearing the sky with a dazzling spectrum of colour – gold, blood and malachite. Of course no wine was available but we made up for it by savouring the last bottle of ‘man’s best friend,' Guyana’s ‘legendary’ El Dorado rum, which we had kept hidden for this special occasion.

Heading home with pakcanoes stowed in the boat

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134 United States

The romance of rolling by Chris Crowhurst

140 Norway

A teenage perspective on Lofoten Islands by Ellie Young

156 Scotland

The Glenmorangie Kayaking Challenge by Nicola Greaves

164 Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro Eleven day record breaker by Natasha Lindley

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T H E

R O M A N C E

O F

RO OL LLING

By Christopher Crowhurst

F

G

This summer I was on a mission – a mission to get a new roll. For several years my rolling repertoire had been stagnant, my efforts focused on helping others learn to roll, through mentorship, my work for Qajaq USA, and running Qajaq Camp. Last year I was suffering from burn out, too many rolling clinics and not enough focus on what was important about rolling to me. Rolling is not just an act of recovery, as I described earlier this year, rolling is a craft and is becoming an art for me.

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This past winter

I spent a few pool sessions trying, with little success, to get an elbow roll. I thought I could build my way there, a narrow, low, rolling qajaq, perfectly fitted using all the concepts I could imagine to ease the rolling process. Whilst all these mechanical aids helped me roll, none of them made the elbow roll come to me. I could with luck achieve a dynamic roll one in 20 times, but it was thoroughly unsatisfying.

I say to many people, that I love mentoring now more than I love rolling. I am not sure that is always true, but this year it was true. I have had the privilege of getting to know a very special paddler. Someone who came to the pool this winter with no roll and, in fact, barely any paddling experience. Subsequently, they learned a hand roll, in a matter of minutes.

Since then they have gone on to learn all four hand rolls and stretch my rolling mentorship to the limits of my imagination. Working alongside them as their skills developed this summer, I saw the passion for rolling ignite within. Their passion became mine and my desire to progress was reignited.

Mentoring

Mentoring has illustrated for me, many times, a few of life’s lessons: if you keep practicing and failing, you are going to get really good at only one thing, failing. Sometimes you just need someone else to point out what you are doing wrong, you can’t always spot your own mistakes. Last but not least, other people know a hell of a lot more about rolling than I do.

With no small danger of being labelled sexist or accused of over-generalizing I think it is worth pointing out something that rarely gets

I have written little about what to do with the rest of your lower body, which brings me to the romance of

Latin dancing

talked about. It relates to the varying body weight distribution between men and woman.

Men (generally) carry their weight higher up in their torso and woman (generally) carry a greater proportion of their weight in their hips.

Why is this important? Consider, if you will for a moment, the impact of the weight in your hips, low in the kayak, potentially helping to right you. Compare this to the weight of your torso above the deck potentially trying to capsize you. Now I am not asking for sympathy from all the great female kayakers, I am simply pointing out that men and women may have to roll differently because of their varying weight

distributions and this is variation is often overlooked by mentors. Having less weight in my hips made me think more about what my lower body weight was doing.

Cuban motion

For many years I have focused on the power leg, the one that drives the kayak upwards righting it. I have written little about what to do with the rest of your lower body, which brings me to the romance of Latin dancing. Cuban motion, as my dance instructor calls it, involves the weight shift from one hip to the other, commonly used in dances like the rumba. One challenge with rolling with no hands is how to

get your weight to transfer from the support of the water to the support of the deck.

Obliques

Dragging your head first will leave behind your torso. What is needed is to move your torso first and lag your head behind. The easiest way to describe it is to imagine heaving yourself on the back of the kayak using only your obliques – the stomach muscles that run along the side of your body. However, for me it is wholly unrealistic to expect these muscles to pull my large mass onto the deck, I simply don’t have the strength. Instead what I discovered is the role my hips and legs can play in this motion.

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ThePADDLER 138 Non-power leg

Much like during Latin dances if I drive my nonpower leg forward it has the same effect as tensing my oblique’s – it pulls my torso across the deck. So rather than thinking about my obliques, the answer for my body has been to use my non-power leg to drag my torso forward. I keep my toes in contact with the deck and drive my heel forward, creating tension on the far side of my body which pulls me up and allows the roll to complete gently.

The motion in my hips is very similar to the Cuban motion of the dance floor, it’s hard to believe that ballroom dancing classes have helped my rolling, but they did.

Head motion

Another area of focus that has increased my consistency has been how low I keep my head.

The elbow roll forced me to re-examine my head motion. I discovered I was tensing my neck keeping my head higher than it could be. I now have the expectation that my head connects with the gunwale and consciously raises up to get onto the kayak deck. This process has helped me keep my head low and supported by the water until the last possible moment.

Applying both the opposite leg driving forward and the more relaxed neck to all my layback rolls has dramatically improved them. My hand rolls now don’t use my hands, they simply come along for the ride, my layback rolls with the paddle have improved to the point where the paddle just sweeps along with my body and there is no effort applied to the blade.

I like all my rolls to be done slowly, I feel that rushing them and making them be dynamic is somehow incomplete. This opposite leg drive concept has allowed my elbow roll to become very consistent and very slow. I gently inch my body out of the balance brace position and across the back deck with no dynamic thrust just a gentle transition from the waters support to the back deck.

I am a romantic at heart, I think that is why rolling a kayak is more than a matter of survival, for me, it is becoming an art form for me to express myself. Be that through sharing my passion with or performing myself, rolling takes me to a happy place.

Watch ‘Rolling practice before breakfast’

A sequence of layback rolls leading up to the double elbow roll. All a constant work in progress.

https://youtu.be/80K0-ye6sfc

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K A Y A K I N G

I N

T H E

ARCTIC AC

CIRCE CC CLE A T E E N A G E P E R S P E C T I V E

Over the past while have put together articles that have been around a few psychological principles and how we might go improving our coaching and/or paddling.The last couple have also been co-written with coaches that I have previously mentored.

This one is different!

Going out and paddling aids my coaching. I love to see paddlers get the same enjoyment and thrill from paddling as I do.At the start of this summer I worked with a group of young paddlers from Edinburgh and paddled with them in Norway.This article isn’t really an article – more of a report from one of the paddlers.

The important aspect though for me is the long term development and bringing the joy of paddling to these young people and seeing them grow.What a thrill as a coach!

So over to EllieYoung to tell the story of an amazing trip to Norway!

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Five months ago, as my school friends were jetting off on end-of-school holidays to Magaluf, Malia, and the beaches of southern Europe, I arrived at Edinburgh airport ready to board the first of three flights, on my way to Svolvær, the Lofoten Islands, Norway, 68°N.

Nine other teenagers and I had spent a year preparing for an eight-day, seven-night kayaking trip to the Arctic Circle. Plucked from three schools in Edinburgh, and shoved into sea kayaks on the Union Canal, we were told this was to be an opportunity of a lifetime. Our first few sessions were spent crashing into each other continuously, but we learnt quickly the way to store Haribos in our lifejackets so they didn’t get wet; to always make sure the hatch covers were fully on and to never underestimate the power of a good stern rudder.

Fully-fledged expedition

What was at first an excuse for an exciting overseas adventure with our new friends turned quickly into a fully-fledged expedition, complete with fairly disgusting boil-in-the-bag meals (I’m never eating beans and sausages again…), beautiful, breath-taking scenery, and a distinct lack of mobile phone signal.

For ten Scottish teenagers, this was incredible, and we spent much of the first 24 hours after we arrived in Norway there taking pictures of either the sky, the water, or the food – I don’t think any of us were quite expecting to be served whale steak on our first evening in the country!

It’s difficult to look back on the experience now, nearly three months later, without just a hint of sadness that next time I look out of my bedroom window, I won’t be looking at the pure white sands and clear water that was my view then, but instead my next-door neighbours slightly shabby looking back garden.

Dave ‘the legend’ Rossetter

I would like to say that for the first few hours in the kayak we were stunned into silence by the clear, calm sea, which reflected the blue sky like a mirror. However, I know that in actual fact, we spent most of our time singing (very badly) 80’s classics, and nagging Dave ‘the legend’ Rossetter for another epic life story.

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I couldn’t have ever imagined looking up from the end of the boat to see huge cliffs

rising skywards from the shoreline, with sea eagles flying overhead

We did make it to our first campsite

though, camping beside an idyllic beach in a tiny bay that was our own private harbour. Enjoying the peace, we explored the rocks by the beach, rolled down a few mossy banks, and played a large game of Frisbee on the sand. Clearly, however, this place wasn’t a well-kept secret, a fact we found out all too well when sixty 10-year-old children appeared over the brow of the hill.

Turns out not only had they come to see the beach, they’d also come to camp. Luckily enough, it turns out Norwegian children quite like playing Frisbee. In fact, they also like practicing their English on strange Scottish sea kayakers, and chasing them around the campsite at great speed.

One child was even carrying (and eating) a Reindeer heart, which he proceeded to wave rather menacingly whenever we got too close. The first night of wild-camping had turned from idyllic getaway to Norwegian school camp…

Exceptional

Fortunately, we had the ability to simply paddle away from the school children when the morning came – over the white sand, past jellyfish and seaweed and out to sea. The kayaking was exceptional – I couldn’t have ever imagined looking up from the end of the boat to see huge cliffs rising skywards from the shoreline, with sea eagles flying overhead. Scotland may have some amazing scenery, but the rarity and excitement of being in such a different environment, trumped anything it could have offered.

Our first paddle was to the town of Henningsvær, a gorgeous fishing village situated (literally) on the water. Many houses in Norway are built on stilts – the lack of flat land in the country means this is the easiest way to create space to build, and this was a whole town suspended on wooden stilts high above the water. Paddling into the harbour, flanked on both sides by quaint wooden houses, was an incredible experience.

For the first few days of the expedition, we were blessed with incredible weather – the sun shone, and the sea was flat calm. We made several large crossings from ‘mainland Lofoten’ to smaller islands off the coast, and at some points we found ourselves on water that was as flat as the canal back home – though infinitely less disgusting, and a million times more impressive. Every so often now, I look back at the pictures from some of those moments, and I wonder how they can actually have been real. The boats and mountains are reflected like a mirror in the sea, and the sun is shining so clearly.

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Lofoten Islands

Norway

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group work each night. Many of us found it hard to always be patient, and helpful, whilst constantly interacting with the group. We couldn’t retreat to our rooms or our phones when we felt overwhelmed. Everyone needed to be working for the team to run smoothly, and in some ways this challenged us more than any of the kayaking ever did.

Rolling perilously

Ultimately, our expedition was dictated not by our physical capabilities, but by the weather.

From the hill we climbed on a rest day we could see the white caps on waves out at sea, and ‘The Caribbean’. watched as a ferry rolled perilously from side to We camped one night beside a beach we side in the straight. Hugging the coast, the nicknamed ‘the Caribbean’. It was a wide curve following morning, we attempted to leave the of white sand, with a sheltered bay and shallow shelter of the shoreline behind and move into waters. Of course, we went for a swim, and the sound. However, no matter how hard we although it ranks as one of the most amazing paddled, getting around the next headland was places I have an unobtainable swum (not goal. Each time Every paddle stroke was like walking up many people someone tried, can say they their boat would have swum rise up on a huge inside the Arctic that was running in the wrong direction wave, high above Circle). I don’t our heads, and think the feeling returned to my fingers and toes sink down, backwards. No matter how strong we for at least three hours afterwards. That evening, were, or how hard we paddled, the weather had we climbed the hill nearest the camp to look beaten us – we weren’t going anywhere. around. We could see for miles, and our tents Highs and lows followed – the next 24 hours and kayaks looked like a little toy village next to were marked by a return to camp again, a soggy the beach. It was an idyllic first few days to our night in a wet sleeping bag, followed by breakfast Norwegian adventure. in the tents – the rain was lashing down, and this Soon the kayaking was to get a bit more exciting was now a waiting game. Eventually we moved – the weather was closing in, and although the on again, finally making the crossing that had sun was still shining, the wind picked up. The next evaded us the day before and we made it to day’s paddle was a long one, and marked with another campsite where the sun shone once white capped waves and a few hats lost to the again, where a fire on the beach dried (and sea. For most of us, this was a physically burnt) most of our shoes. challenging day, although we were fit, it was tough, and mentally, we were struggling with the enormity of how much ground we had to cover.

an escalator

The frustration of paddling into a headwind got to all of us – every paddle stroke was like walking up an escalator that was running in the wrong direction. We were exhausted by the end of a long day. It was moments like this that tested us the most. We knew we were capable of pushing ourselves each day, but the difficulties of dealing with such a challenge really lay in the

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Did you know: Due to the temperate waters of the Gulf Stream, Lofoten has a much milder climate than other parts of the world at the same latitude, such as Alaska and Greenland.

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Fishing was the next task at hand and our next paddle delivered – soundly.

Fifteen huge fish caught within the space of just about as many minutes was pretty awesome and we returned to ‘Caribbean Beach’ for the second time. The last 24 hours kayaking flew by – literally, because the wind was still blowing, hard. With each wave we would drop down low into the trough between two peaks, and from there would only see the tips of the mountains around us, alone in the sea.

Later the rain started, and very quickly, we were soaked to the bone. This was a bittersweet moment – no longer was the weather to be feared, as each wave brought a new excitement and a new challenge.

However, very soon we’d turn the corner back towards home and we’d be stepping out of the boats for the last time.

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It was an abrupt ending

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to a process that had dominated my life for the past year. Saturdays had been spent, without fail, down by the water and my friends and family were completely sick of me nagging them for more sponsorship money to get us where we wanted – thanks guys!

I can’t sum up the experience that I had there in 1,500 words, and I’d love to say that I’m going to return to Lofoten as soon as I can. I won’t though – as it couldn’t ever quite be the same. Without my friends around me, the kayaking might still be as spectacular, and the weather just as challenging, but it wouldn’t truly be the same experience – nothing

Did you know: January and February are the coldest months, with an average temperature of -1°C.

will. I know my kayaking journey doesn’t stop there though, this is just the start of a lifetime of adventures in a boat.

As I turned to my friends on that final paddle home, who only a year ago had only been strangers in the corridor at school, it was hard to imagine how far we had come, and what we had achieved. I am so proud of what ten teenagers from Edinburgh did this June, and I know we all had the time of our lives.

Norway is an amazing place, and kayaking is an incredible sport. I will always look back on my 11 days in Norway as an incredibly special time, with amazing people, doing something that I truly love.

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INFORMATION HOW TO GET THERE Fly: If you are flying to Northern Norway from abroad, you will almost certainly have to change planes in Oslo. However, there are round 250 flights a week from Oslo Gardermoen (OSL) to Northern Norway and around 100 international airports have direct flight connections with Oslo.

This should ensure quick and hassle-free flight to Northern Norway. Car: The E10 motorway connects Luleå in Sweden with Å in Lofoten. Many choose to arrive by ferry from Skutvik, Bognes or Bodø, while others drive from Sweden and enter Norway at Riksgränsen. See Ferries and express boats for information on timetables and prices.

https://goo.gl/maps/Y7FdM2n25312

Lofoten Islands Arctic sea kayaking expedition 2016 The project involved 12 young people in fifth or sixth year (five female, seven male) who were selected from Craigmount, Forrester and Royal High Schools. Selection was based on application forms and interviews with staff. The young people undertook a 15-month training and preparation programme which culminated in an eight-day sea kayaking expedition to the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway in June 2016. Lofoten (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈluːfuːtən]) is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland on the Northwest of Norway and located within the Arctic Circle. Lofoten is known for a distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands.

West Edinburgh – Pathway to Outdoor Learning & Education Over the last two years Community Learning and Development (CLD) West Edinburgh has developed a highly successful programme involving outdoor learning for young people across West Edinburgh working in partnership with Bridge 8 Hub, Glenmore Lodge, Fet-Lor Youth Centre and local high schools. These programmes have been running during school, in the evenings and at weekends involving young people aged 11-18 years from West Edinburgh and from across the city. Participants came from a diverse range of social and economic backgrounds and turned up in all kinds of weather to take part and learn new skills.

Dave Rossetter Dave is Head of Paddlesports at Glenmore Lodge – Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre. He has been involved in the development of the new awards and provides expert advice throughout the industry on all things to do with coaching, safety, leadership and personal paddling. He is passionate about all things paddling and specialises in white water kayak and open canoe where he will most often be found. www.glenmorelodge.org.uk www.peakuk.co.uk.

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A P E R F E C T B L E N D O F W H I S K Y ,

KA AA YAKING &

By Nicola Greaves

C O N S E R

Following the huge popularity and success of last year's event, this August saw the second Glenmorangie Kayaking Challenge take place on the west coast of Scotland, to raise funds for the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

V A T I O N

The Glenmorangie Company distills some of Scotland’s best loved single malt whiskies and is focused on creating a long term sustainable future for their business. The lifeline of any whisky production company is of course water, so it was a natural choice for them to choose the Marine Conservation Society as their charity partner to help them improve the quality of Scotland’s marine environment.

Their work with MCS is about supporting a sustainable future for both the marine environment and their whisky. To strengthen the bond between the two organisations even further, another fun but challenging kayaking expedition was called for. Therefore this August, six members of the Glenmorangie team invited a few staff from MCS to take to the seas once again in a bid to raise money and indeed, spirits on a joint kayaking adventure. As it was a fundraising challenge, each person had to ensure they independently raised at least ÂŁ250 in sponsorship in order to take part.

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The common thread was a love of the sea, beaches, wildlife, adventure and a

good sense of fun

So on a very wet Friday 20th August, four MCS staff – Bev O’Kane, Ian Fraser, Nicola Baker and myself made the journey up from the MCS base at Rosson-Wye to the Linnhe Lochside Holidays campsite in the Scottish Highlands.

Just five miles from the ‘Outdoor Capital of the UK’ – Fort William, the campsite is in a superb setting overlooking the dramatic scenery of Loch Eil and the mountains beyond. Miraculously, the rain that had followed us for our entire road trip had stopped by the time we arrived at the site.

Normally this would have been good news, except, in the Highlands, it can only mean one thing – midges! Yes, the little blighters were everywhere seeking out the tiniest pieces of flesh. We covered ourselves with Smidge and met up with the lovely folks from Glenmorangie: Elise Darque, Sylvie Escalona, Jack Laird, Paul Ross, Jill Sparkes and Kasia Kogut – who were to be our kayaking adventure buddies for the next 24 hours.

Midges

It’s fair to say that I’m not a seasoned camper and, as I struggled with ground sheet, fly sheet, pegs and poles, in a miasma of midges, I’ll confess to looking longingly across at the chalets. However, with some help I eventually managed to get my tent up. So, with stomachs rumbling we headed to the pub for some good Scottish fayre.

The conversation, food and refreshments flowed throughout the evening as we got to know each other better. We learned that there was a mix of kayaking skills among the group from the complete novice (including me), to those who had kayaked once or twice, to others who had been paddling many times before. But the common thread was a love of the sea, beaches, wildlife, adventure and a good sense of fun.

Ian Fraser

After a patchy night’s sleep, we got ourselves set for the day thanks to a Morrison’s full breakfast and then headed to the Rockhopper Sea Kayaking base to meet up with instructors Stuart and Nigel. After the previous day’s heavy rain, we were rewarded with glorious sunshine, warm and no wind – perfect conditions for the kayak adventure ahead.

The Rockhopper base is just three miles west of Fort William and they offer half, full or multi-day sea kayak trips around some of the most spectacular scenery in Scotland. Led by skilled professionals, many of their trips take place around the Arisaig and Glenuig areas – well known destinations for some of the best paddling in the country.

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On a sunny day it has golden sands and crystal clear waters.

With the backdrop of the isles of

Rum, Eigg, Muck and Skye it is a truly magical place

Our kayak adventure was to be around the Sound of Arisaig, an area noted in several kayaking books as a favourite destination. ‘Scottish Sea Kayaking’ (Doug Cooper and George Reid) says, “This area is the nearest you will get to paddling in the Caribbean when in Scotland. On a sunny day it has golden sands and crystal clear waters. With the backdrop of the isles of Rum, Eigg, Muck and Skye it is a truly magical place.”

As a kayaking virgin, my doubts were soon dispelled with the expert guidance and reassurance of the Rockhopper pros. In no time at all 12 of us got into our kayaks and were away.

The Sound of Arisaig truly is the perfect spot to begin a kayaking adventure. As a marine Special Area of Conservation, it is one of a network of areas designated to conserve natural marine habitats and wildlife, which are considered to be rare, endangered or valuable. One of the most distinctive features of this part of Scotland is the unbelievably clear, azure Caribbean-like seas and the amazing, sparkling white beaches. The white sands here are made of maerl, a form of

seaweed known as coralline algae which is an important habitat for lots of sea life. It’s a beautiful purple-pink when alive in the sea but ends up as a hard white lime-rich skeleton, crushed into small pieces by the waves when washed up on to the beach.

There are a multitude of small islands dotted around Arisaig known as skerries, which are home to a variety of wildlife, benefiting from its protection under a marine Special Area of Conservation designation: seals, otters, dolphins, basking sharks can all be seen, plus lots of birds such as heron, white-tailed sea eagles, gannets and golden eagles.

You are also surrounded by some stunning mountain and coastline scenery. The distinctive peaks on the Small Isles of Rum, Eigg and Muck, the distant Isle of Skye were clearly visible, as well as the Adnamurchan Peninsula.

I was thoroughly enjoying paddling around, taking in the views and peering below into the crystal clear water where swathes of kelp weaved back and for with the motion of the sea. It wasn’t long before inquisitive seals bobbed their heads up to see who the newcomers were.

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Silver Sands of Morar

https://goo.gl/maps/WaopeFBre4M2

After a couple of hours, we paddled over to the famous Silver Sands of Morar where we settled down for some lunch. The Rockhopper guys had thought of everything and we tucked in to delicious salad wraps, fruit, chocolate and cake.

Bev and Nicola even went for a dip in the sea – well it would have been rude not to on such a glorious day.

www.rockhopperscotland.co.uk www.theglenmorangiecompany.com www.mcsuk.org

With energy levels back up and a pretty wellestablished confidence in our kayaking abilities, we set off again with renewed vigour. It was a far more boisterous kayak during the second half with the bilge pump causing much hilarity and many soakings and resulting in one person ending up in the sea.

The day was over too soon and we were hauling out the kayaks onto the beach. A genuine and heartfelt thanks was given to the Rockhopper guys for their expert guidance that underpinned a fabulous day of marine adventure.

We then headed to the Glenuig Inn on a huge high, chatting about what a fantastic sea kayaking challenge we had experienced. We couldn’t believe it, as the minute we sat down with our well-earned refreshments, outside the rain came down like stair rods.

The Glenmorangie and Marine Conservation Society staff all raised a glass to continuing friendships and combined efforts to improve our country’s precious marine environment.

W E N 2017

E C A F S R T I SUDRYSU

HYPERCURVE +44 (0) 1642 486 104

EZEEDON

sales@typhoon-int.co.uk

Professional kayaker wears Typhoon surface drysuit

PS330 www.typhoon-int.co.uk

Typhoon is part of the 3Si Group

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RECOD RC ORD BRA REAK C R O A T I A

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Even though I had never sat or even seen a sea kayak before, it didn’t stop me when I woke up one morning and decided to kayak three countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro. Luckily for me, my boyfriend Julian was happy to join and we set off to do a self-navigated, unsupported trip down the Adriatic coast.

By Natasha Lindley

AKR KES ERS

O N T E N E G R O

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Whereas I was excited and eager to embark on our adventure, Julian’s nerves had set in and his practical side was coming out, thinking of the potential dangers and problems we could face.

Nevertheless, we arrived in Split and set off in our kayaks, each holding about 25kg of packaged food, camping gear and water.

The Croatian scenery was breathtaking and we were in constant awe. We paddled past vast mountains, discovered turquoise lagoons and stumbled across numerous hidden religious monuments.You don’t realize just how much more immersed you get within a countries culture until you're away from mainstream tourists and by yourself, floating past silently without any harsh chatter from the usual city atmosphere.

Early mornings became our favourite part of day.

We would set our alarms for 3:30-4am so that we could get onto the water while it was at its calmest. At its best, we felt like we were paddling on a lake, with our paddles slicing through the water easily with no other sounds to be heard until a few hours later when small fishing boats started to lazily trundle past us. Those first couple hours were the most peaceful, being the only people we could see for miles and the only signs of life being the birds that would fly past and around us.

We encountered pods of dolphins that swam right in front of us and this momentous experience was one of the main highlights of the expedition. Being so up close to such a graceful and elegant animals is something that I will never forget, hearing the soft blows spraying into the air while they past us. Another highlight for us was kayaking Montenegro's Bay of Kotor, being surrounded by heritage towns, shipwrecks and beautiful mountain backdrops.

The North winds

At its worst though, we would paddle through what could only be described as thick tar-like mud, the currents getting stronger and the winds becoming harsher, exerting so much effort until our muscles ached with little to almost no progress. We were recommended against paddling when the North winds struck, however, being the young, naïve paddlers we are, we decided to push through. Water would fill our boat, the winds would threaten to take our paddles from us and locals would get out of their cars to watch us battle the worst of it.

We paddled from anywhere between six and 12 hours a day, depending on where we could get ashore. Each place was unique and beautiful; it felt surreal, visiting locations that the majority of tourists and locals alike wouldn’t venture to. We found ourselves camping in caves, on nudist beaches, on abandoned rock slide sites and small villages and hamlets. Without our kayaks, we wouldn’t have been lucky enough to see the countries we visited at its most raw and natural state.

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The highs of the trip were unbelievable; the crystal clear waters, the thick dense forests, the pebbled secluded beaches, and the quaint villages we passed that possessed ancient beauty that was hard to ignore.The lows, however, were extremely low and we soon realized how unprepared we were for the mental wall that we were to face.

Water became rationed and we quickly became dehydrated, taking only one or two sips an hour in over 37-degree heat. There were days when we saw no signs of civilization, the heat was becoming a silent killer and our bodies were becoming evidently weak and things seemed to start going wrong one thing at a time.

Our bodies, getting smaller and more tired from rationed food led to more and more injuries and paddling through strong winds began to make them worse. Eye infections set in from the abrasion of sand getting under my contact lenses and there were times where my eyes were in too much pain to open. The only comfort was from using the already limited water supply to clean them and prevent further damage.

A few days later, I had an allergic reaction to a spider bite. I would consider this to being one of my lowest points, we were in the middle of nowhere

and we calculated that if my throat did completely close up, it would take too long for emergency services to get to me without me suffocating.

Started to suffocate

We considered kayaking that night to get to the nearest village, however, winds had picked up and the sea was too dangerous to venture into with little to no vision. It was about 0200 hours and I started to suffocate. It felt like it lasted for half an hour, with my thoughts too panicked to do anything else. In reality it was possibly 30 seconds or less before my throat opened up again. I was too scared to go back to sleep that night and the trip felt more dangerous than ever.

We reached Dubrovnik the next day, it was supposed to take us two more days to get there but urgency had creeped in and Julian was on a mission to find someone who could help me.

“We went against a lot of locals and family advice, with many asking us to stop there but

we made a pact to reach our goal no matter what”

Dubrovnik, it is easy to see why this is one of the most popular cities in Croatia. As much as we wanted to stay, we had to carry on to Montenegro.

We went against a lot of locals and family advice, with many asking us to stop there but we made a pact to reach our goal no matter what.

As soon as my throat opened up enough to take in bigger sips of water we set off once again. It was here that the mixture of stress and worry took a toll on Julian. His main focus that day was to find somewhere we could get into, he exerted even more energy paddling farther ahead to see if there were any nearby villages and then back again countless times to me to see if I was okay. Some people may wonder why he didn’t tow me to the nearest town, however, he knew that every single paddle stroke of this trip I wanted to take myself and my stubbornness kicked in, refusing the offered help.

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Our trip to Montenegro was even harder than we imagined.

Without surrounding islands shielding us against tough winds, we were beginning to get pushed towards the sharp and harsh rocks. The heat was becoming suffocating and I ended up holding onto Julian’s kayak while he threw up over the side. His energy was drained and we both wanted to give up, quit and head back to Dubrovnik and finish there.

It was the messages from friends and family that pulled us through and the support we gave each other was what kept us going through the hard times. We wanted to reach Montenegro and we knew we would look back and regret it if we quit. We started to dread the days ahead, I

became the enthusiastic one in the mornings, motivating Julian to get back into the kayak each day. He became the rock while we were out at sea, telling me not to give up and to keep going when the currents became frustratingly difficult.

We reached Montenegro on our eleventh day and to hit 1000km we decided to paddle around the entire Bay of Kotor. Hurdles hit us again, with my body going into shock after slicing my foot open on coral reef rock. We managed to make a bandage out of one of the t-shirts we had and carried on with our journey, morale was becoming increasingly low and our conversations less as we tried to conserve any energy we had left.

So used to the scorching sun, as soon as night fell the sea became

ice cold and the wind unforgiving on our skin

We paddled through the night to reach Kotor town, following the lights of the surrounding towns to guide us. So used to the scorching sun, as soon as night fell the sea became ice cold and the wind unforgiving on our skin. The sea at night also welcomed unwanted visitors. During our night paddle I kept feeling my kayak being bumped and I had to keep steadying myself to avoid capsizing. I was insistent to Julian that some twigs or something had been caught at the back.

He kept replying that it was just my paddle getting caught in the water.

Creatures of the night

I was pushed and bumped again. I looked up to see Julian’s eyes wide and he had gone completely silent and without saying a word he started to paddle faster.The mix of fear and adrenaline was the only thing that pushed my already sore body forward and we found the nearest place we could to get out of the water. We still don't know exactly what it was that attacked the boat but we decided we would rather not know.

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That last evening paddle was thankfully, our last paddle we had to do. We finished, we finally finished one of the most exhilarating, challenging and amazing experiences we have ever done.

Before this trip, I had people laugh at the idea. I had locals call us crazy. I was told it was impossible to do on our own with such limited experience. Julian was the first person to encourage me. He was the strength; physically and mentally of the expedition and he said that, “No matter how bad you feel; motivation, happiness and laughter will get you through the

hardest of challenges.” As for me, before this I always thought of myself as an ordinary person who would never amount to anything however all I needed to do was to step out of my comfort zone to find out what I was capable of.

We have decided to continue with our kayak adventures next summer, paddling Sweden’s 2,300km coast to gain the famous paddler’s blue ribbon status.

We paddled from Split, Dubrovnik to Kotor town, Montenegro – 1,000km in 16 days.

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Testing, The camera is supplied with two sticky mounts, a frame system to hold camera and a USB-C lead. The only access door on the camera is for the USB-C connection and Micro SD card.

There is no way of replacing or swapping out the battery.

Waterproof

GoPro Hero5 Session http://www.gopro.com

By Philip Carr www.unsponsored.co.uk

Since the first launch of the GoPro camera a few years ago it is very rare to see a group of kayakers at your local whitewater run or play park and not have at least one paddler wearing one..

At Unsponsored HQ we have used the GoPro range since the first HD version hit UK shores.

After a pause in updates, GoPro have launched the new Hero5 range of cameras. The Hero5 Black edition (£349) takes on the similar cuboid form factor of previous versions but has dispensed with the housing. The Hero5 Session (£249) takes the Hero Session (now £179) cube form factor and packs a bigger punch.

For last year or so I have owned two cameras, the Hero Session and the Hero4 Black Edition.

If we took a camera out it tended to be the Session. So the increase in features in the same small package really appeals.

Like the Session, the Hero5 Session does not require a waterproof housing as it is already waterproof to 10m. To utilise the GoPro quick release system the camera utilises a frame mount which is supplied in the box.

Interestingly the frame includes a facility to attach a tether, which is a great feature and one that I have needed to use in anger a couple times already when the camera was knocked during an ad-hock boater cross race.

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A small but very bright white text on black LCD screen keeps you up to date on the cameras settings, although a small button is present on the back for minor setting changes, the vast majority of setting changes need to be carried out via the App or GoPro Remote (not included). Setting the camera this way is far easier anyway.

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Camera setup

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Not having a waterproof case and therefore additional lens protection may be of worry.

Some potential users may be concerned that the glass may get damaged. Yes, in theory it could, but replacements can be purchased direct from GoPro and are relatively cheap. I am not overly concerned about that at all. At the end of the day it’s been purchased to get hammered.

The Paddle r ez ine te

dd lers - email us: review s@thep addle rez ine

m .co

Commands:

GoPro Start Recording GoPro HiLight GoPro Take a Photo GoPro Stop Recording GoPro Shoot Burst GoPro Start Timelapse GoPro Stop Timelapse GoPro Video Mode GoPro Photo Mode GoPro Timelapse Mode GoPro Burst Mode

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The single button on the top of the camera activates video recording (one quick press) and takes stills (one press held for a few seconds). To stop recording and switch the camera off the button is pressed again. If you are used to the older GoPro models having only one main button does take a short while to get used to.

Where the Hero5 Session really starts to differ from the Session is the additional capabilities that are hidden within the unit.

Just like the bigger Hero5 Black Edition, the Hero5 Session has hands free control through the use voice commands, which may be useful when mounted on longer boats where reach is an issue. I have tested this a great deal and the system can handle my north east England accent without issue, even in noisy whitewater environments.

GoPro turn off

Now to the media. The big thing is that this small package is capable of shooting in 4K and can take 10MP images. It also wraps some image stabilisation in there as well, which is missing from the Hero 4 Session. Since 4K shots are

now possible, the camera will happily accept a Class 10/U3 micro SD card with a capacity of up to 128GB. There is a clear difference in the performance of the two Session cameras. The video and still images are much crisper on the Hero5 Session and it can handle difficult lighting situations much better despite only having a prosumer grade lens. It’s a very capable package that produces media that is much closer to that produced by the Hero4 Black edition.

Conclusion

All in all, the Hero5 Session packs a powerful punch but yet is extremely easy to operate. It is super light and is hardly noticeable when sat on top of your paddling lid. Editing the video is also much easier with a number of new GoPro apps that allow you to quickly create that next sick edit.

At present I don't think there is much out there than can actually beat it.

GillThermogrid Zip Neck Fleece www.gilluk.com

By Peter Tranter

Sailing accessory company Gill produce a range of clothing for both him and her with a variety of technical features.

Strong and respected in their own marketplace, Gill’s marketing company approached us to see if they would be applicable to the kayaking/canoe scene.

The Thermogrid fleece is a technical, smooth face fleece with a brushed waffle interior providing excellent stretch, warmth, wicking and breathability. The interior grid structure enhances compressibility, airflow and dry time whilst the smooth outer face allows non-binding layering.

Having it hardly off my back for the last three weeks, I can say without any doubt, the Thermogrid fleece is warm and hard wearing with a lush warm feel, perfect to combat the first chills of Autumn. Featuring a slightly oversized style, in terms of length, it re-ignites the body’s furnace both on and off the water.

The top features Pill resistant fleece, a YKK front zip for ventilation. with discreet thumb loops to hold sleeves in place and reduce heat loss.

Raglan sleeves designed for increased mobility and comfort with a zippered chest pocket with mesh lining for those little things.

The Thermogrid fleece’s technical abilities, attention to detail and build quality makes it a worthy choice for all types of paddler.

TECHNOLOGY l

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Four-way stretch thermogrid fabric with a brushed waffle interior providing warmth, wicking and breathability.

The interior grid structure enhances compressibility, airflow and dry time whilst the smooth outer face for improved layering.

Stretch side and underarm panels for improved freedom of movement.

the fleece is designed for use as a mid-layer or warm base layer next to the skin, so If you’re looking for something new to add to your layered system then search no further. The Thermogrid fleece is a very comfortable lightweight and breathable thermal ayer offering outstanding performance.

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Rooster AquaPro Glove and Polypro Glove Liner www.roostersailing.com

By Anne Egan

The Rooster Aqua Pro gloves are made from a similar material to the Rooster Aqua Fleece, the material is thin and stretchy with a thin layer of fleece on the inside. the AquaPro Glove is pre-shaped to hold onto sailing ropes, which as it goes, works just as well on paddles, whether kayak or SUP orientated.

Add to that the neoprene wrist band that makes it nice and supportive on the wrist.

If they do get them wet whilst using them in cold conditions, they can make your hands start to feel colder. However, a cure for that comes in the form of the Polypro Glove Liners, which repels the water, the improved insulation is perfectly suited to keeping your hands warm with comfort whilst giving you plenty of grip as listed above.

https://youtu.be/RMT-GKBWGrM They are soft, supple with good build quality and an expensive feeling to them. For me and my paddling, they are the perfect pair of gloves that keep the fingers warm, grip well and are not too bulky. not only on the water do they excel but just as good on the bike as on the board! Well done Rooster. I would thoroughly recommend these gloves to everyone, and I will certainly be wearing them this winter.

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Developed using the same principles as the Aquafleece - Combines the wind protection of a Polyurethane outer layer with the insulation of a fleece inner layer This combination virtually eliminates the wind chill whilst retaining the control and feel necessary for competitive dinghy sailing Super Grip coated palms for a positive feel on tiller extensions, sheets and control lines Velcro wrist fastenings for added security and to reduce water ingress Layer up with Rooster Hot Hands or Poly Pro Hands when it’s really cold!

Rooster pro laced boot www.roostersailing.com

By Lynne Anderson

portaging, good, grippy footwear is invaluable for safety reasons and when back in the boat or on the board, the water that invariably seeps into the boot creates an insulating layer to keep the feet warm in the same way as a wetsuit.

So it is then a matter of personal choice as to whether we prefer boots that merely cover the foot or stretch up to give ankle support. Another area of choice is manufacturer and who we trust to do the job. My personal favourites are Palm, however, there is an increasing amount of competition and Rooster have a boot they feel is worthy of mention.

The Pro Laced boot was developed for sailing and all those ideas and strengths built into the boot apply just as well to paddling.

Let’s face it we don’t wear boots to keep our feet dry, whether kayaking or SUPing but more for security in a number of key areas outside the boat or off the board.

Entering any water in bare feet has its unseen hazards and cuts and scratches can also lead to nasty infections. For

Feet don’t glide effortlessly into the boot as the side support on the outside edge, correctly resists any bending but loosening the elastic lace system does provide assistance – and when the foot is inside, can then be tightened to give the necessary fit all round the ankle. All in all it gives a massive amount of support around that ankle area if that is what you need, secure in the knowledge that these boots will not slip off.

Once fitted the neoprene boots are extremely comfortable. A soft squishy sole and fleecy interior delivers a high level of comfort.The upgraded neoprene provides a high level of support and warmth and adaptability, especially with the inside gusset that allows all sizes of ankle plus the decision to wear socks,wetsuit or not.

I thoroughly enjoyed using them as much as any other shoe or booty that I’ve used in the past and the lacing system held out just as well as any velcro strapping, though I would say the velcro does have the edge in speed and simplicity making the laces seem a little over engineered for paddling. If you get the chance - try them for yourself and see.

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