Paddling Planet

Dag to på Vinterpadletreffet 2019. Også i dag skulle jeg være medturleder, men fikk beskjed om at det var først på den andre økta. Så jeg trengte ikke stå opp til skippermøtet klokken åtte. Herlig!

Jeg følte for å ta det litt med ro, kanskje bli med på turpadling, eller rett og slett dra på egen tur til fots for å se på den heftigste straumpadlingen? Jeg var ennå i fundering på det, da jeg ble tilbudt å være med i følgebåten til nevnte straumpadling i Sundstraumen. Gøy! Her er to av de erfarne lederne på den padlingen, Jeff Allen og Thomas Pindard, på vei til straumen.

Nuvel, vi får begynne med det starten på dagen. Siden jeg ikke skulle padle første økta, kunne jeg låne bort vesten min til han som hadde glemt vest. Siden han også hadde glemt vesten han skulle ta med til kameraten sin, så lånte jeg også bort padleklubben sin vest, som jeg hadde i bilen. (Har som turleder ofte med ekstra av både det og spruttrekk, som folk har det med å glemme. Inkludert meg selv fra tid til annen.) Her er vestene mine straks klare for tur uten meg. (Bildet er arrangert, he he)

Straumpadlerne hadde en grundig gjennomgang på camp før de dro av gårde. Greit å vite hvordan man skal gripe ting an dersom det skjer noe. Den Sundstraumen skal visst ikke være til å spøke med, men det var ei erfaren gruppe med enda mer erfarne ledere, og altså en følgebåt i tillegg.

Boyd ble også med i følgebåten, greit å være flere om noe først skulle skje. Om han ser godt innpakket ut, så er det fordi det var veldig kjølig. Rett og slett. Jeg hadde på meg fire stilongser, hvorav en ganske tjukk, men likevel – ganske kjølig.

Underveis møtte vi turpadlerne, Alexia og turleder Anders. De hadde padlet bort nesten til Sundstraumen, men fant ingen padlere der. Eller straum. Den var vel nokså stille nå. Men fint vinterpadleterreng hadde de jo, det tar seg fint ut med denne isen.

Oi oi så fint! Vi har passert gjennom Sundstraumen, på jakt etter straumpadlerne. Hvor er de hen? Foreløpig kun en seilbåt, den skulle neppe leke seg i straumen.

Ah, her kommer de. Det tok litt tid å kjøre, rigge til og så padle bortover.

Straumen var foreløpig rolig, så de fikk en grei into. Her i «hovedbakevja», og ut i hovestraumen etter tur.

Det ble gradvis mer og mer straum, plutselig var det også som den kneppet opp et par hakk i slengen.

Det var forresten stilig stein i området, flere steder. Disse stripene synes jeg var veldig stilige.

Lei av å surre rundt i straumen, så her ligger vi litt i ro en periode. Da fikk jeg også filmet litt, snutt kommer nedenfor.

Som sagt, den kneppet opp litt etter hvert. Jeg synes den så fryktelig rotete ut til tider. Virvler som gikk både opp og ned og i det hele tatt. Rotete. Men det var vel en grunn til at dette var for de mer erfarne, at vi ikke tok intro-straumpadlingen her. Opplagt.

Artig for ungan. Det så ut som de hadde det gøy uti der da.

Fascinerende med straum, og store krefter i sving når de går på sitt sterkeste.

Kameraet mitt køddet det til med filmsnuttene, men jeg har klart å få berget noen av dem. Her satt sammen til en snutt fra straumpadlingen, dog ingen fancy redigering og sånt. Men kanskje artig for noen av de som var med, om ikke annet.

Gruppebilde! Passe mengde is for et vinterpadlebilde?

På vei tilbake, da padlet de samme vei som vi kom opprinnelig.

I hvert fall deler av turen… Resten hang de på. Legg særlig merke til damen bak der, som justerer leppepomaden sin underveis. Den må jo være i orden!

Vi slapp dem av ved campen, og duret videre bort til Saltstraumen. ? Hæ? Nei det hadde jeg ikke signert på at jeg skulle, men jeg var jo i båten og den dro dit, og det var jo gøy nok det, så det var lite grunn til å protestere. Den er kul altså, ingen tvil om det. Mektig greie den straumen.

Så var det varm lunsj klar på hyttene (jeg synes det var å foretrekke framfor å få den ute på tur i kulden, heller komme seg raskt inn i varmen), og så var det ny runde med workshops og turer. Jeg skulle nå være medturleder til Lasse. Vi ble ganske mange på tur, så det var ekstra skøy. Her har vi funnet noe merkelige steinformasjoner.

Sjekk bare her – stilig? Vi hadde med en geolog på turen, men jeg har jo allerede glemt hva hun gjettet kvalifisert på at det kunne være slags steintyper… De var i hvert fall veldig stilige synes jeg.

Det var kjølig på denne turen også, jeg tok på meg storm cagen helt fra start. Det angret jeg i grunnen ikke på heller, den var helt passende. Det er jo vinterpadling da, midt i mars, så det er jo ikke det minste rart. Det er jo nettopp derfor den er kjøpt.

Det var fint bortover her da, men jeg så ikke den turistforeningshytta som skulle ligge her et sted. Mulig vi padlet litt for kort? Fin tur ble det i hvert fall. Hytta må vel være Gjælentunet med Egnarbua?

Returen gikk i motvind, men ikke mer enn at det bare var litt surt i trynet. Sånn rundt om her omtrent tinet også senkekjølen min løs, omsider. Bra jeg ikke hadde fått så mye bruk for den kan man si, he he.

Det ble veldig knapt med tid etter turen, så jeg måtte dessverre droppe Kystradio Nord sitt gode foredrag. Heldigvis har jeg vært på det en gang før, men det er jo alltid nytt å lære så synd likevel. Festmiddagen viste seg å være viltrgyre, riktignok kjøtt stekt i kokegrop men ikke helt hva jeg ser for meg som festmiddag likevel. Men det brødet var så godt i dag også, at det var greit nok. (Gryta lager jeg bedre sjøl, ifølge min egen smak. Det er bedre med kantarell i synes nemlig jeg. Særlig til fest.)

Det ble også foredrag med Jeff Allen, som var veldig bra. Lotteriet vant jeg null niks på i år, men Gunn vant jo et liggeunderlag og det synes jeg var fortjent. Stiller opp i sekretariat år etter år og kommer seg knapt på havet sjøl. Og auksjon! Alltid like spennende. Heldigvis har jeg en mindre utgave av det teltet allerede, så jeg klarte å la være å by…

Det var altså del 2 av Vinterpadletreffet ved Saltstraumen i år. Har du ikke fått med deg del 1 så ligger den HER hvis du vil se.

Pos: 24.9116,-112.1591
Loc: behind Puerto Magdalena
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 40,9 km
Start: 7:40 End: 16:30

The tide was higher than yesterday on launching, and we ended up packing between mangroves. Not sure if we would have found our campsite here in this way! It was amazingly no fog at all today or here, maybe the fog happens rather in the narrow channels. Still, the tent was again soaking wet. It was a dead calm sunny day, life as a sea kayaker could be worse! We aimed for the sea side dunes, but rather stayed in the middle of the channel with another great current in our direction. The man exit if Magdalena Bay dragged us out on peak current with 3,5 km/h.

We had a second breakfast break with fresh pineapple and bananas close to a shell farm where bottle floats kept bags of shells under water in position. Another lunch break with boiled eggs, mayonnaise, chips and ice berg lettuce kept our mood and energy up. Nice to be able to stop almost anywhere without surf break to bother!

When the wind breezed up and the current was on it’s highest, we felt better to go into the wide bay of Puerto Magdalena instead of riding straight to the end of the shore – and maybe get washed/ dragged/ pushed out of the 7 km wide entrance…? Rather not, but paddling close in is just nicer, and it was quite interesting to pass by the small illage clung to the outer mountain shore. It has no road access, but many cars for a maybe 1 km long village with maybe twenty houses…

A whale watching camp – again minus the whales – was set up close by Puerto Magdalena, and in behalf for the lacking live animals here, they had two live-sized skeletons on display sitting high on the cliffs like in Jurassic Park, and a line-up of sit on top kayaks. A handful of guest were visible in some round community building, but no kayak action, probably too windy and too much current. We paddled along until almost the last houses on a sandy spit, but took our own small shingle beach before, not knowing about the houses which looked like a military camp, but rather abandoned. we’ll find out about it tomorrow.

We could check the long-term weather forecast across Puerto San Carlos, and it did not look too bad, but not great either by now for paddling soon offshore again. We will make it to Cabo San Lucas! After that one, all is fine and easy for a bunch of weeks – either this year until about April 10th, or on next year’s section south!

no fog mangrove launch high tide pinapple abnana shell farm Puerto magdalena whale camp

An outdoor company's designation of  "Approach shoe" can mean anything from an ultralight trainer style shoe to a semi rigid shoe almost suited to rock climbing.  A good pair of approach shoes (in my view) should sit somewhere between the two extremes and be suitable in a whole variety of situations They should offer day-long comfort, be reasonably hard wearing and offer good support without feeling rigid.

I've used Scarpa products for many years because they just seem to fit me well and although certainly not cheap the brand does make a quality product.  This review  is based on wearing the Moraine Plus GTX shoes for a full year.  Used daily for commuting and travel, they have also been worn on short walks, on long day walks at lower levels, around camp on sea kayak trips, for shopping, casual wear and just about everything else in between.  My original pair have just about got to the stage of being replaced - and I've purchased another pair of the Moraines.



Up to 2019 the colour scheme was a smart grey with blue trim - the 2019 version is brown with an orange trim.  The uppers are 1.6mm Nubuck leather with a Goretex Extended Comfort membrane lining.  For comparison, the R-Evo GTX walking boot from the same company has a 1.8mm upper.  The weight of a UK size 8 (Euro 42) pair is 930 grams, so these shoes don't fall into the lightweight category, but neither do they seem particularly heavy.

Construction is up to Scarpa's usually high standard.  The midsole is bi-density EVA which gives a good mix of shock absorption and support.  Straight from the box the shoes are comfortable and supportive.  Initially the heel strike feels quite firm but this isn't noticeable after a short time.  The walking action is nice and natural and I've experienced no discomfort or "hotspots" at all.  There's a TPU shank in the midsole under the central part of the foot for lateral support and this works very well - it can be seen clearly on airport X-Ray machines if you are required to remove the shoes at the security search area!

Perhaps the strongest point in favour of the Moraine Plus GTX is that I simply forget I'm wearing them.  They are comfortable even on long days and unlike some Goretex lined footwear I've not felt them to be over warm.  Within the limitations of a low-cut shoe they've also been waterproof; the only times I've experienced a wet foot is when water has come in at my ankle.





The style of the shoe is more substantial than a trainer and probably closer to a walking boot in design -in fact there's a mid height version available too.  The rubber rand at the toe does the job of protecting the Nubuck from bashes and scrapes.  The Vibram Dynatech 3 sole gives great grip on most surfaces (but be careful on shiny floors when they're brand new!) and the well defined heel breast is very effective when going down steep inclines.

After a years wear, I felt that it was time to replace my original pair of Moraines and after saving up a bit (see last paragraph!) I had no hesitation in purchasing another pair. 





In this image the new pair are nearest the camera with the well-worn pair farthest away.  Some abrasion and fading on the uppers is obvious but the shoes certainly aren't damaged in any way - all stitching is intact and there isn't even any fraying on the laces.





The soles have worn pretty well - I walk approximately 50km on a variety of terrain during a typical week (excluding any specific hillwalking) and the Moraines have been in daily use - so the wear shown here represents over 2500km of walking.  I wear the heel of my left foot more than any other part of a shoe due to my gait and (as expected) this has worn significantly; otherwise the level of wear is certainly not excessive.





I've found the Scarpa Moraine Plus GTX to be a well-designed, quality approach shoe which is comfortable on a range of terrain.  They've lasted well - the old pair will be relegated to gardening and will probably still be going for a long time to come.

Retailing at £155 in the UK for the 2019 version, the Moraines are pitched as a premium product.  For me, the quality, performance and comfort of these shoes outweighs the high price. 

Conflict of interest statement:  I purchased both pairs of shoes at retail price (less a small club discount) from a national outdoor equipment retailer and have no connection with Scarpa or the retailer apart from being a satisfied customer.

ETAPAS DIARIAS: 11 millas aproximadamente.  

 Nº de plazas: grupo mínimo de 4 y máximo 6 participantes

• Toma de contacto con la Ría de Aldán
• Curso de seguridad
• Rescates
• Autorrescates
• Remolques 
• Estiva de material en el kayak

Contacto: manolopastoriza@gmail.com

Una propuesta de ruta por la costa brava entre Sant Pol y Sant Feliu de Guíxols, en Girona leer más

Swim with the marine wildlife of the Galapagos and you will never, ever forget it. 

Our holiday with SwimTrek was not cheap.  Yet the experiences of this week will flash across my fading memory years from now.

If you're considering it there were a few practical aspects of this SwimTrek holiday in 2019 which you might benefit from knowing in advance.

I'll add them as we go.  Oh, and if you wish to see more of my photos, check out this album.

The wildlife which inspired Darwin's thoughts on evolution by natural selection now inspire plane-loads of tourists - sometimes up to 9 aircraft each day.

It would not surprise anyone if access to these Pacific islands was soon restricted, either by permit or by price (or both).

Marine Iguana

Despite those numbers, the beauty of the SwimTrek approach is that we rarely saw another tourist during the day.



Our group of 16 swimmers was split daily between two fast boats, each with its own SwimTrek guide and each with it's own Galapagos-born naturalist guide.  This combination of expertise is highly successful.

The swimming is great too

On our second day, heading back from seeing all manner of wildlife, our guide Kelly suddenly yelled "Dolphin!"  Within minutes our boat-load of swimmers was in the water trying to spot and swim with the small pod.  I was making unusual noises under the water, thinking it might make intrigue the dolphin.  Later Tim, the guide on the other boat asked "why were you making goat noises while you swam"?



This holiday is not all about the swimming.  On Croatia and on Montenegro SwimTrek holidays there have been a few folk who were there for the speed, the distance and the training.  Here you leave that attitude at Heathrow.

Here it is not a race

In fact, some of the best swimming was done with a snorkel and flippers.  You want to be head-down looking for the next exciting marine wildlife.  So that's the first tip - take your own fins (training will do) and a snorkel.  The boats have both but tend to be longer fins and can cause cramps.

Distances are short - our longest was 4.5km but it was so heavily assisted by the tidal stream it felt like 2km.  When a shout goes up (eg "Turtle!) everyone stops and treads water face down.  The fins help you quickly re-position and follow what's been sighted.

Another day, another type of turtle

It's a two-island holiday; Santa Cruz is the largest and busiest, while Isabela has more of a Caribbean relaxed feel to it.  That said, the hotel on Isabela is arguably nicer, right on the beach.  I won't say too much more because part of the holiday is to make discoveries.

However, you do need to know about Galapagos Bingo.  I was a Manta Ray short of a full-house.  You get the idea.  There were a couple of land-based excursions too, one of which took us around a colony of flamingos.
Our Naturalist Guides, particularly Pico and Gustavo, were exceptional.  Not only knowledgeable, they clearly had a genuine passion for sharing that knowledge.  They were great swimmers too.

Pico and Gustavo (centre)

Pico's father started the first dive holidays in the Galapagos, using shore based hotels and traveling to different islands daily, much as we did with SwimTrek.  Pico told me this was at a time when almost all tourism was run from live-aboard boats where visitors rarely came into contact with any locals.  The Galapagos was presented as devoid of humans.  Initially, this was thought to be the best way to preserve the unique wildlife.  However, the human community was going to develop regardless of that wildlife, so the best way to preserve the unique nature was to involve the locals, to give them a financial interest in tourism and keeping the wildlife pristine.

So to practical matters.

Flights.  Price isn't everything - consider the type of aircraft used.  We flew across the Atlantic with Avianca because our pilot friend advised the Boeing 767 Dreamliner had much better air quality and seat space than alternatives we considered (KLM).  Plus we paid £100 more for extra leg-room both ways.  The downside of Avianca is an aircraft transfer in Bogota, Columbia.  Technically this is a Yellow Fever country, so to arrive in Ecuador from Columbia one needs a Yellow Fever certificate - fortunately we had these already.  No-one seemed to check.

This is your captain drying the wings

Route.  Some swimmers flew in specifically for the holiday, then flew home.  You can route through the Ecuadorian capital Quito or the coastal city of Guayaquil.  We made a three-week holiday of the Ecuador trip, starting with two days in Quito pre-Galapagos, three days post-Galapagos, added a five-day mountain bike based tour, then two days again in Quito before heading home.  I'll write more about Quito separately.

If you don't want to explore Ecuador, or can't spare the time, a direct flight to Guayaquil missing out Quito altogether is probably a better option.  One of our group who did this reported no queues in the airport for the TCT (see below) and, because the city is at sea level, none of the altitude related headaches and sickness which can come during a short stay in Quito.

Flights to the Galapagos.  I've suggested SwimTrek emphasises the regulatory requirements to fly to the islands, because you need a specific piece of documentation, the Transit Control Card (TCT in Spanish).  In theory you can pre-register but because SwimTrek doesn't provide a hotel code (unlike Booking.com) it doesn't work.

So in Quito you must queue at the domestic terminal for up to 90 minutes (we were early and it was still 45 minutes) clutching your passport, your hotel reservation document, your travel insurance documents, and your return ticket.  It is absolutely essential to have print-outs of these.

It took us 45min from point of step 1 arrow to reach the front so the people at the back would take well over an hour

Tour groups get all this paperwork done for them, and it's their local leaders who delay the queue, as they walk to the front clutching fist-fulls of passports.  We saw a few passengers in a panic who had not allowed sufficient time and were in danger of missing their flight.  After 45 stressful minutes we reached the front of the queue, but when the woman at the desk saw our SwimTrek print-out showing our hotel reservations, she assumed were were part of an organised group.  "Your agent will do all this", she insisted, handing our passports back without the precious TCT.  She took some convincing before we were given the document.

It's knackering

Then are you allowed through to the section behind this kiosk to have your bag checked (for organic material) and sealed.  Only then can you check-in.  You cannot check-in online for the Galapagos.  Some airlines fly via Guayaquil, where some passengers get off/on but through passengers don't.


Other flight.  In the middle of the trip, when we switch islands from Santa Cruz to Isabela, there's a rather loud, somewhat uncomfortable 2 hour fast-boat transfer.  Three of our group elected not to endure this on the return journey but to fly, arranging this locally for about $200.  It cuts out the 2 hour fast-boat, a bus ride across Santa Cruz, and a short, busy ferry to Baltra Island where the main airport is located.


What to take.  Think of how much sunscreen you'll need, then double it.  On the Equator some women in our group suffered particularly from butt-burn.  The flesh below a swimming costume is as vulnerable as neck and shoulders and the sun extremely strong.  Quite serious burns are not uncommon.  Longer length swimming shorts or jammers, plus at least two long sleeve rash-vests (tight ones which won't fill with water) are absolutely essential if you're going to swim 'skins'.

Liz knows she's vulnerable to sunburn, so we spoke to Ben at SwimTrek when we booked.  We both bought 'sting suits', 1mm dive suits that completely cover the body.  These worked well for us when openwater swimming.

I also took a  BlueSeventy sleeveless wetsuit because I'm not a great swimmer and like the extra buoyancy.  However, I had to wear a high-neck rash-vest under that suit because the salinity of this part of the Pacific could easily cause neck and arm burns from the suit.  At no point was I too hot in either the sleeveless wetsuit or sting-suit.  Indeed, swims from Isabela are close to submerged volcanoes where cold water up-wells from the deep. 

Aqua shoes, despite being on the kit list, are pointless because you have to remove your shoes as you get on the boat each morning.  Keen sandals with toe protection or Tevas are more useful as they can be worn elsewhere.  Again, I've suggested SwimTrek update their kit list.

Here's a map of all the swims we tackled.  They're spread out, because the Galapagos Islands are spread out, but zoom into any  you'll get an idea of the amazing scenery we enjoyed.

Sorry if it's not responsive on phones.

 It only happens occasionally, but sometimes I can feel a good photograph going into the camera.

I felt it Sunday when I took the shot alongside of a young swimmer, slightly apprehensive perhaps, before the charity swim I'd helped to organise.

We did the recce swim back in January so she knew it would be great.  Seventy people registered and - fortunately - only 48 turned up to swim.

I say fortunately because the wind was at the limit of what was safe.  It produced challenging sea conditions, especially for people more accustomed to swimming in pools.

Those who started early and maintained a good pace had few problems.  Those who messed about on shore (you know who you are) and/or swam a little slower were drifted by the wind and tide.

With wetsuits (mostly) and tow-floats no-one was at risk. However, our safety team had to collect a few who'd drifted down the coast.

Kayakers had advised off-course swimmers, "don't try to swim to Port Appin now, you can't fight the tide, just swim to the shore", but quite a few didn't listen.

Everyone returned safely and, to the best of my knowledge, everyone enjoyed the day.  We had fantastic support from the local communities of Lismore and Port Appin - the baking was outrageously good.  Our volunteer kayakers and boat drivers were even more essential than usual.

No-one gets paid from this (quite the opposite) and we raised a load of money, this year for the Brain Tumour Charity.  One of our safety team has his own fight with that condition right now.

Here's the video I shot, as well as doing the still images.

We have more swims to suit all abilities, right across the year.  Check the dates at our website HighlandOpenwaterSwim.com  Registration costs just £10 and entry by voluntary donation, you give what you can.

Photo: Ellen Taylor

Everyone who messes about in boats or kayaks
on Scotland's west coast knows this infamous stretch of water.

The tide pours through the narrow gap between the islands of Jura and Scarba, and the seabed topography produces what's said to be the world's third largest whirlpool.

The photos of it are fearsome, and one glance at the photo below shows why.

Of course, it is not always like that.

At slack water, when the tide is turning, things go quiet.  [If you find this interesting/useful please click a few ads - thank you]

Or rather, relatively quiet, and only briefly.  That's when people typically kayak through.  Or in our case, swim.  From Jura to Scarba.

Not my photo!

We booked onto an organised trip run by SwimTrek, who've been taking people on this swim for ten years.  We've done two holidays with them and we're confident of their safety procedures.  (Incidentally, I'm told this is one of their few trips where men regularly outnumber women.)


Along the way I picked up a lot of information which I'll share here, but if you're in any doubt, turn to SwimTrek.  Ours was the first trip of the season and had just 5 of the 8 spaces filled, while most other trips this year are already full.  The swim costs £150 which, for the level of safety cover provided, is a bargain.  The dolphins are free.

Photo: Ellen Taylor

Meeting time at Craobh Haven marina was 08:15 on the morning of our swim.  The time changes depending on the state of tide on the day of your swim.  Neil Bowers is the SwimTrek guide who runs most of the Corryvreckan swims.  Based in Newcastle he's a highly experienced swim coach and the kind of quietly confident figure you want making decisions in a place like this.  Photos from other trips.


Because this swim is not about swimming, it's about decision making.  Just two decisions in fact; whether to go and when to go.  Making those decisions requires a considerable depth of knowledge.

Whether to go?

There's two parts to this question, one pertaining to the weather and one depending on the individual. Can you swim fast enough to cover 1500m before the tide turns?  On booking you're asked your 1km open water swim time, and most of us had given about 20min.  That's not taken for granted - it's tested.

This used to happen in the marina, but now happens in a sheltered bay off Jura.  Our boat zig-zagged it's way south west from Croabh Haven, past the islands of Shuna, Lunga and Scarba, carefully managing its course to minimise passenger soaking.  Well, we wouldn't want to get wet, would we?

First sighting of the Gulf - Jura (R) and Scarba

With wetsuits half-way on and our DryRobes keeping us warm, we got our first glimpse of the Gulf of Corryvreckan.

On the crossing, the sea was rough.  Whitecaps churned from the surface.  The wind was forecast to blow 16mph from the SE gusting 22mph.  "We're quite sheltered in the Gulf itself", Neil reassured me, "so we can swim when it's mainly Southerly.  Still, I have no problem calling off the swim if conditions aren't right".

By then we'd been joined by Tony in his RIB which was our second support boat.

Tony

Moored in a bay off Jura's NE coast, just below Kinuachdrachd Farm where we once stayed, we leaped into sparkling clear waters and swam a short 600m to the shore and back.  Curious seals slipped into the water to check us out.  Particularly the young woman who was swimming skins.

Two of the blokes seemed faster.  Liz could keep up with them but promised to swim with me and the skins lady.  Back on the boat for hot tea.  And to wait...

When to go?

There is no substitute for experience, nor fast-track to attain it.  If you're going to attempt to swim this water, then the man you need on your team is the skipper of Farsain Cruises, Duncan Phillips.  Let me explain the extent of his understanding.

Skipper - Duncan Phillips

I know how to calculate tidal streams.  Using the data from the Imray Guide and the Admiralty Pilot, I came up with three different slack water times, depending on whether I calculated from Oban or Dover high water.  These times were; Admiralty 09:56; Imray (Oban) 10:16; Imray (Dover) 10:29.

"Mother nature doesn't read our tide tables", Duncan told our group, "so we have to wait to see what she wants to do".  I had wondered why spring tides had been chosen as the dates for this swim.  It seemed counter-intuitive to select a time when the greatest body of water would be moving through the gap.  Duncan explained that the sea is more predictable at springs, while at neaps the slack water is much less clear.

He'd taken some swimmers through a few weeks earlier (not SwimTrek) on neaps and while the morning group swam 1.5km, the afternoon group clocked 2.7km as they battled the tide, not unlike the GPS track at the end of this post.

Outside of his SwimTrek arrangement, Duncan himself supports groups of up to six swimmers.  If there are more, the cost goes up because he hires Tony and his RIB to provide additional support.  This would be a budget way to swim the Corryvreckan if there are a group of swimmers.

The Magic

Around 10:30 he dropped the boat into gear and started to motor.  Which is when the magic began to happen.  "Fin", someone cried.  We scanned the sea, searching for a distant porpoise or dolphin.  

With whoosh, the sea right beside our boat parted and a large - and I mean huge - dolphin leaped from the ocean, rotated 45degrees in min-air, and crashed back onto the surface, disappearing beneath the waves.  "Ha!  that shook you", it seemed to say, and certainly knew how to make an entrance!


After that close encounter, too quick to capture on camera, up to five bottle-nose including a calf, played around Tony's RIB, tantalisingly too far for my GoPro to get a decent shot.  As we turned into the Gulf, they seemed to part company with us, but not for long.

About to swim. Close to Jura, Scarba distant

At 10:50 I jumped into the water in a sheltered bay and, with he others, swam to touch the rocky headland of the Isle of Jura.  We would swim from Jura to Scarba, rather than the reverse, to give us a bigger target to hit.  Scarba has a mile of cliffs and, when the tide started to carry us, as it surely would, we'd be unlikely to miss the island.  In the opposite direction it would be all too easy to get swept past a headland.

Leaving Jura

(Which incidentally is what happened on early attempts to swim the Pentland Firth to the mainland.  The first successful attempt by Colleen Blair made landfall near Castle May.  It was further to swim than Duncansby Head but she didn't get swept down the east coast.)


Our repeated instructions were not to pick a spot on Scarba to aim for, just to keep swimming towards the island.  The tide would determine where we finished.  Instead, we should swim towards the person in front and in that way stay as a group.  Spreading out linearly is much easier to handle than spreading out sideways.


As requested we kept stopping to regroup.  At no time were we rushed or told to "hurry up".  Quite the opposite.  I had been prepared to ditch my camera, but Neil said he actively encouraged people to stop and take some photos, "provided you don't hang around too long".  Part way across we divided into two groups with one boat covering each.

Photo: Cathy Smith

I was so focused on the swim and the spectacular location I completely missed the magic happening around me.  The dolphins returned.  Their fins were moving around our group.

A sightseeing boat appeared and its passengers probably thought we were swimming with the dolphins, when the opposite was the case - they were swimming with us.

Liz later reported that one had slowed to keep pace with her, just below the surface, and they'd eyed each other through the deep green water.  Yet somehow I didn't see them!  So much for my all-round awareness.


I started swimming at 10:52 and the 1500m crossing took me 27 minutes.  I'm not that fast, so I'm certain I had some assistance from the tide.  Bear in mind, the GPS only registers every minute or so, so the track is jerky.


That track shows me travelling fairly straight, then bearing into the tide for a couple of hundred meters (following Liz), before being taken by it and drifting west.  When I reached and touched the Scarba shore the underwater kelp was already bent over by the flowing tide.  That last little bit of the track shows me swimming lazily back to the boat, and illustrates how fast the tide was starting to build.

Done it

Back on the boat it was smiles, photos and hot drinks.  We headed back to Craobh Haven to shower and change, then swap email addresses.  Two women had stayed on the boat and shot photos of the swim, so eventually I saw the dolphins I'd missed.

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Now some resources.  First, a screenshot I saw from a GPS track that proves the tide is not always as compliant as it was with us.

Last December when I wrote about my plans to tackle a 'special' challenge each month in my 60th year, I listed swimming The Sound of Harris as a possibility.

We came close.  We swam IN the Sound of Harris. yeah, OK - not close at all.

I was nowhere near swim-fit enough to manage the crossing and I hadn't put enough effort into finding a support boat.

Swimming a big crossing is not something you do on a whim.  It takes planning and training.

We'd been staying on Benbecula to film The Heb adventure race for The Adventure Show.  It'll probably be on BBC-2 Scotland early in 2019.

We stayed an extra few days to walk and swim off the Uists and Berneray.  It felt particularly poignant to take this photo.
The white building is the Gatliff Trust Hostel where I stayed thirty-one years ago on my first visit to the islands.

When I had hair...

I wrote a piece about cycling the Outer Hebrides, a relatively rare occurrence back then, and the story appeared in The Sunday Times the year.  It ran in May 1998 with a photo of me and my then wife outside the hostel.  I later learnt that copies of the article were pinned up in some of the tourist information offices along the route.

I've since been back to the island kayaking and now swimming.  I suspect that wee white building will long outlast me.  Perhaps one day I'll actually swim across the Sound of Harris from it.

The Bonza Bike Box is the best I've used.  You can probably find a nice discount code too.

But there might be an issue regarding rust on its catches which I'll explain in a moment.

It's not the lightest way to transport a bike.  If you have a 23kg allowance, you'll not squeeze in much extra kit.  But if you have EasyJet's 32kg allowance for bikes, you can get most of what you need for a week's riding inside and in hand luggage.

Check Airline allowances on Bonza's website.

Bike Box Alan is arguably tougher as the sides of the case seem to fit together better.  However, it's larger and more difficult to squeeze into a car, especially if there are two of you travelling.  Also the Alan internal strut is detachable (or at least it was on one I rented) and therefore can go missing.  Mine had the strut replaced with a random metal bar.

Polaris - one catch open at Malaga airport

Those two are good.  Now to the bad.

I box I've used most has been the Polaris, and frankly my experience with it has been dreadful.  Reviews online suggest mine is not an uncommon experience.

Two separate Polaris Bike Pods, on three separate occasions, have arrived with their catches open.

If I had packed small items loose in the box along with the bike, they would certainly have fallen out.

The only reason they stayed shut the fourth time was I had it wrapped in plastic at the airport when coming back from Andalucia earlier this year.

I wrote about the experience at the time.

In my view, the catches on the Polaris are flawed.  Squeeze the box together (i.e. load it with another case on top) and the catches pop open, regardless of whether they are locked.

You can do it with the box empty and standing upright.

Earlier this year I visited the warehouse for Bona Bike Box to closely inspect their offering.  Their catches fasten over a loop, through which you can put a lock or a cable tie.  The first generation of Bonzas had a weakness in their catch which meant it could ease open under load, but that has been fixed.

I notice that Pro Bike Kit are selling a bike box which looks remarkably like the Bonza but cheaper.  Is it a Bonza?  Did they buy a load of the 1st Generation Bonza's with flawed catches?  I don't know.  But it's a bit weird when Pro Bike Kit also sell the apparently identical Bonza for £75 more.

Their packing videos and printed instructions are a bit rubbish.  (Hey Bonza - I make videos if you want a decent job).  But the box system is good.  I like the fact the two support struts, that prevent the box being crushed, are attached to the supplied skewers that hold the wheels in place.  These keep the whole thing rigid when shut.

Bonza struts on wheel skewers

There's lots of internal foam and plenty of space.  I still remove my derailleur, bubble-wrap it, and cable tie it to the inside of chain stay.  Remove the stem and handlebars to turn through an angle.  It also helps to tape the brake levers in the pulled-on position because you can arrange the handlebar better.

Bubble wrapped derailleur

I had room for almost all my cycling kit.  Rather than scatter it around, I placed it in larger bags around the bike, just in case the box opened a fraction - which is didn't.  It's more difficult for a larger bag to slip out than a dozen smaller items like socks and gloves.  With essentials like shoes, helmet the first few days riding kit in hand luggage (in case the box went astray and I had to rent a bike) I didn't need to pay for extra hold luggage.

The photo below was taken before the flight home and, as you can see, my helmet is now packed in the bike box to make my hand luggage smaller.

Packing in the security room of a Marrakech hotel

I put a kayak roof-rack strap around the box as an added precaution, plus I stuck lots of white gaffa tape on the outside on which I wrote my flight details, addresses, name, phone number, and pleas to baggage handlers in the hope they'd treat the box gently.

The box and bike survived with barely a bash.  It was easy to wheel through the airport.  In all, I returned thoroughly impressed.  Then I stored it for a couple of weeks in a garden shed.  This is the result.

Rusting catches

The catches are rusting.  Using the box clearly banged then up a little - nothing the eye could see but clearly rust could.  Since we have a small house, too small the bring the box indoors, I'm not sure what I can do about this.

Pos: 24.9116,-112.1591
Loc: mangrove channel
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 38,7 km
Start: 6:50 End: 16:030

We fell asleep late, and woke late. but early enough to realize the tide runs through the low wall of shells and slowly but surely filled our camp spot with water on the rising tide…thank goodness we are already packed!

It was foggy again, and our tent soaking wet in the morning. It usually dries within five minutes in the afternoon wind and sun, so no big deal. we just take car to pack it on an area with no lose sand, like grass or rocks. I the northern area, I have for stuffing a cold sandy wet tent into the bag some special gloves, here Fylkir does the nasty job…

We crossed straight over to the sea side of the channel and paddled along dunes reaching straight into the lagoon sea water on higher tide, and railed along for a while until he fog lifted a bit earlier than yesterday. We had a calm morning again, but amazingly dead calm conditions do not animate me to paddle hard!. We rather strolled along, stopped at a flooded car rash dump on the other side of the channel across the village Adolfo Lopéz Mateos. It still had a few working cars, not sure what they are used for here in the Isla Magdalena dunes. We climbed a high dune for phone reception and called our local contacts Jen, Victor and Ben for future plans.

A high pole caught our eye a bit inland, and we stopped o investigate. It turned out to be a single two meter high cactus. All other cactus here were mini size and rather crooked grown. amazing single growth…we took some funny pics. Two larger fishing boats passed by on their way to Adolf Lopez Mateos, and the usual “whale watching” tour boats. Five coyotes today, many dolphins.

A wide flat area called colina coyotes narrowed our channel, and it narrowed even more to the “Devil’s Bend”. Thankfully, we had the current with us and were riding along with nice 10 km/h, even on the Devil’s Bend where the now stronger afternoon wind blew right against the current and chopped up the surface. The tide turned, but the current ran with us for another while. We left some nice sand dunes behind us, not knowing where and when we might find some fry campsot. Around 4 pm, we thought we should call it a day, also the current was now against us. we found behind some mangrove bushes some accessible sandy flat spot. A perfect privat for this night! No barking dogs, no honking and flashing cars, no noisy music, no roosters crying allover the village in the morning… we just had to clean our sandy spot properly from spiky balls.

Pos: 25.1902,-112.1190
Loc: Adolfo Lopéz Mateos
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 42,6 km
Start: 6:50 End: 16:00

We woke to thick fog, the whole inlet was warm from sunshine yesterday and these are best conditions to develop fog. No reason not to get up and to paddle! We have a GPS…we railed along our side for a while and I spotted a sleeping turtle on the beach in a mangrove gap – I landed to have a look, but sure that was only a shell, eaten nicely clean by some creatures. Humans?

We had to cut across some opening in thick fog and ended up on the other side of the channel on a shallow spit, littered with birds and pelicans. So nice to watch! One pelican was kind of an albino, pure white, but with black underwings. We never saw this color anywhere else!

The inner side of the channel became very shallow, and we crossed over again to the outer side. No view of land at all in still dense fog, it felt really eerie. 200 m before the coast we saw some shadow of a beach, with some high even thicker fogbank on top…no, those are just huge steep dunes! Amazing how they developed out of the mist! We decided to climb them, in the hope to be above the fog, which worked on the sea side, but the channel side was still covered. The surf didi not look all thet bad from the distance, but we are so happy to be paddling inside the lagoon, safeand surf-free!

Many dolphins seem to think the same. A family was fishing from a small boat with a round throw net, three men, one woman and two kids. The men all in Sunday-clothing, not fishing waders or such. A throw net seems to be rather an art of fishing than to be efficient day by day. There are worse ways to spend a calm foggy-sunny morning with the m´family!

Three cayotes enjoyed also the calm Sunday morning on some shallow sand bank, always nice to see wildlife also on land! Between the second and the third inlet entrance, many whale watching boats from the city Adolfo Lopéz Mateos were driving up and down, and in and out of the second entrance. We had seen in the other inlets the same tourist attraction action, but here te pleasure happens minus the whales. Strange, actually…we even passed a whale watching camp and were talking to a girl walking on the beach about it…but as long as the tourists enjoy the boat ride between dunes and mangroves in the sunshine, the locals can probably sell also whale watching without whales. The Lagunas San Ignacio and Ojo de Libre looked different with the whale quantity. The fishermen are probably happy abut their Sunday job!

Some real fishing boat parked close to the dunes before the city and the guys were gutting their catch, kind of a bloody job which attracted hundreds of birds and pelicans! A pile of fish heads and whatever inedible else was on the beach, and we saw pelicans flying away with their beak bag packed, after they fought their way to the pile between hundreds others. Bird’s paradise…

We liked to approach the village from the backside where we saw the beach and boat landing on the satellite image, but couldn’t see for a long while where we had to turn in until suddenly the river mouth opened up like magic. The big jetty for the whale watching boat landing was not really our destination for the night, we needed to get water and some food. The gray whale center looked very modern and seemed to be well visited.

We landed in a corner of the village beach, set up tent and walked into town in search of a shop with a water filter fountain and some reasonable choice of food. We found thee small shops in the vicinity of our beach camp, but none of them had a water fountain like we saw in Bahia Tortugas and San Juanico everywhere. We had to ask, and one of the shop owners told us about a restaurant which sells filtered water out of a fountain. After some effort we found it, and paid 20 Pesos for 50 liters of water without having to dump big bottles. Nice eco-friendly system, I did not come across that in South America anywhere, there I always had to buy the gallon jugs and to get rid of those then…

The choice of food in the dark-dusty shop was rather limited, but we found enough to feed us. Our neighbors close to our beach camp enjoyed some car radio on loudest volume until late night. Torture for my brain and concentration to write…so I postponed it to the next day. We also found out relatively late that we had 4G connection here after minus 1G everywhere else before, and were discussing the not great weather forecast and options for a long while. See how it develops when we plan to paddle out of the lagoon again!

The Tacoma Shoreline Survey is on the calendar for May 18th, two months from today. “What’s that to me?,” I hear you ask. Here’s the skinny:

Tacoma has approximately 13 miles of shoreline, not counting the maze of waterways and canals of the tide flats. In one day, volunteers cover that entire 13 miles, counting each item of debris they find and cleaning it all up. The event goes from 8am until 4pm, but most volunteers put in about an hour or so on their sections of beach, and we try to make it as convenient and painless as possible. The Ikkatsu Project partners with South Sound Surfrider, Citizens for a Healthy Bay and Tacoma Metro Parks to make this a Grit City day of service that is open to all.

On May 17th (the night before), we set up in a room at the pizza place and do a short orientation for volunteers – if you’re part of a group, it’s only necessary for one group member to attend – where we show you the app you’ll use to tally the items you find, as well as make sure you know (and we know) which section you’ll be covering. And there’s pizza.

The 2018 Tacoma Shoreline Survey saw 78 volunteers count and collect almost 700 pounds of garbage from Tacoma beaches in a single day. If we’d had more people, we could have gotten even more stuff… our goal for this year is to get all of the debris we find up and off the shore. If you’re interested in spending part of your Saturday making a huge difference, please send us an email and get your name on the list. Send your contact info to *protected email*

Thank You!

If there’s one thing about early season paddling it is this: your feet get cold. This is especially true if you have the wrong gear and keep sticking your feet into icy water. Over the years, I’ve tried different methods of keeping my feet warm and have settled on using a dry suit, warm socks and the NRS Boundary Shoe, which is a classic piece from NRS. Every year, I think about writing a review for these shoes, but never get around to doing it. So here’s my NRS Boundary Shoe review.

The way that NRS describes the NRS Boundary Shoe makes you think it is a shoe designed for portaging across wet trails and it may work that way, but, for me, it’s the best way to keep your feet warm during the winter months or during spring paddling. The reason it is so warm is that the upper is constructed from 5mm neoprene and the insole is 7mm neoprene. There’s a 2mm plastic insert in there as well to protect against pointy things, and the bottom is a 6mm sticky rubber.

NRS Boundary Shoe Offers Protection and Warmth

There’s so much protection on the bottom of the shoe that your feet won’t feel the chill as you drag your canoe or kayak across the fast ice on your way to open water. It even makes it fun to hang out on the ice, take pictures and enjoy the blue sky, sunshine and first paddles of the season. When sitting in the canoe or kayak, your feet stay toasty. And because the shoes are tight-fitting and have a sleek design, they fit inside your kayak just fine. I have no problem using them inside my NDK Romany and I’m size 11.

The NRS Boundary Shoe isn’t just for the edges of the season though. It’s good through the spring when the weather is just starting to warm up, water levels are going down and the muck is shin deep at the put-in. The 15-inch-high boot keeps the muck off your pants and the tread combined with the sticky rubber doesn’t seem to slip around, especially if it can grip some rock.

As the season progresses or if you don’t need the same amount of warmth, it’s easy to fold the tops down and end up with a boot that’s half the height. That makes the shoes easier to put on and take off and also makes them less warm, which on a warm day can make a difference.

I’ve used this model of shoe for many years now and have to say that they are one of my favorite pieces of paddling gear for the way that I’m using them. Highly recommended.

• Buy: NRS Boundary Shoe
• Price: $89.95 direct

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Que buenos momentos en el Cabo de Gata! Estamos deseando volver a finales de 2019.

Vi stack till Trysil en sväng. Vecka 11 precis som förra året. Vi startade söndagen med kortsovmorgon (bästa sortens sovmorgon 😉 ) och kunde parkera bilen vid Trysil Høyfjellsenter vid 12-snåret och stå i backen tio minuter senare. Gött med en solig eftermiddag till att börja med. I år hade vi sambokat parstugan så bror ... Läs mer...

Inlägget Trysil mars 2019 dök först upp på kajak.nu.

When paddling backward (in reverse), are you leaning back?  

Many paddlers lean back when reverse paddling and stopping quickly.  In doing so, they are decreasing their stability, power, and efficiency.

Instead of leaning back, try keeping your torso centered over your hips.  You will find  that your reverse strokes will be more powerful. Your core will be more engaged, and you will be more stable.

Keep your torso centered over your hips when reverse paddling to increase power, efficiency, and stability. Photo by Jeff Laxier

For even more power, focus on crunching with your abdominal muscles and pushing with your feet.  When I do this, I envision myself as compact and powerful.  Think about punching - you don't lean back to punch.

No smiling here.  I am focusing on crunching my abs and being compact and powerful to stop quickly. Photo by Jeff Laxier

Practice, practice, practice good posture when reverse paddling and stopping quickly for it to become muscle memory.  And especially focus on this good posture when in the surf, whitewater, or rock gardens.  You will find yourself more powerful and stable.

A Liquid Fusion Kayaking student crunching to get good power to back paddle over a wave in the surf.

Try it and let me know how it works out for you.

Pos: 25.1902,-112.1190
Loc: Adolfo Lopéz Mateos
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 42,6 km
Start: 6:50 End: 16:00

I’ll write the update tomorrow, too tired tonight after shopping!

A few years back I tried my hand at canoeing. At the time it was all about developing my paddling skills in preparation for doing some coaching qualifications. At first I was not all that enthusiastic but after a while, I began to enjoy the occasional trip with a single bladed paddle. It was challenging but with, time and effort I began to enjoy the slower pace of life.

Recently I bit the bullet and bought my own open boat. Its an 'Old Town Guide 147. Just big enough for paddling tandem and hopefully small enough for me to handle on my own for solo trips. It was a long drive for me to collect it from Devon but it seemed a good way to use up a Saturday when the weather was pretty lousy.

My next challenge was to do some outfitting. The canoe had no airbags or kneeling thwart. It always seems wrong to start drilling holes in a boat. Especially as I had only just bought it! Some time and some swearing later I had fitted airbags and a kneeling thwart and I was ready to take my new canoe out on the river.

Photo: Andy Hamilton

Overnight rain had brought the River Goyt into condition so I joined a group from Manchester Canoe Club on one of their regular Sunday morning outings. I had a few wobbles with my first tentative strokes but soon got the hang of ferry gliding below the second weir at Brabyns Park. After that, running the grade 2 rapids was fairly straightforward.

Whether I'll try more challenging water remains to be seen. Perhaps I'll leave that until the weather gets a bit warmer.

Vinterpadletreffet 2019! Jeg trodde jo at jeg skulle gå glipp av det, for jeg hadde både jobbhelg og skredøvelse med Røde Kors, i år skulle det også være ved Saltstraumen så det ville bli både en times fergekryssing og en hel del timer å kjøre.

Men som alle sikkert skjønner, så var jeg der likevel. Skredøvelsen ble nemlig avlyst ganske tidlig i uken, og det var lite som skulle skje den helgen. Ergo, lite å skrive om, og stor sannsynlighet for fri tross vakt. Så det endte med at istedenfor å jobbe i helgen, så avspaserte jeg det meste av fredag, og kjørte nedover etter jobb torsdag. Hurra!

Jeg kom ned ved leggetid, og ble installert på ei hytte sammen med Helgeland-gjengen. Trivelige folk, de fleste hadde jeg møtt før. Ja, de var faktisk så trivelig at de lot både meg, Marion og Alexia bo der da det var blitt krøll med bookinga, selv om de egentlig skulle ha den for seg selv. Takk for det! Før lunsj dag 1 så jobbet jeg litt, sånn at det ikke skulle bli alt for mye å ta igjen på mandag.

Andre tok derimot turen til diverse shopping, her en bunke med padlevotter… (Joda, fullt seriøst så bruker noen sånne her til vinterpadling. Det er ikke tull, faktisk.) Men de fleste tror jeg nok var på havet eller annen padleworkshop før lunsj også.

Dagen var nemlig delt i to økter med workshops på tre timer. Første økt var det både turpadling og straumpadling, og den kule «Hvor farlig er det, egentlig?». Da måtte jeg altså jobbe, men mange var på havet og det så ut for at de hadde det aldeles fortreffelig der.

Andre økt var jeg satt opp som medturleder for Morten, på «på tur med fremdriftstak». Den startet med kosteskaftpadling på land! Ser unektelig komisk ut, men var faktisk en av de absolutt bedre metodene for å få folk til å forstå hvordan det henger sammen med rotasjon og greier.

Etter gjennomgangen på land kom også vi oss på havet, her passerer vi Jeff Allens gjeng som lærte om å bruke taueline.

Der burde jo jeg også vært, jeg har jo kjøpt meg en sånn taueline som jeg egentlig ikke skjønner bæret av ennå… Men han viste meg i hvert fall senere hvordan jeg kan montere den på meg sånn at den ikke er i veien.

Anyhow, jeg var jo medturleder så der kunne jeg ikke være. Vi skulle padle en liten tur og øve mer på de tingene vi hadde lært med kosteskaftene. Så her har vi god dreis bortover langs land.

Brua over selve Saltstraumen til venstre i bildet her. Vi skulle ikke dit nei.

Vi padlet bort til Tuv, der vi senere skulle spise middag i en jordgamme. Dere kan såvidt se røyken opp her, av en rund haug. Tuvsjyen har et flott steinalder-opplegg, skulle vi senere få oppleve. Artig å ha sett det fra sjøsiden på lys dag når vi senere kommer bort på kvelden. På Tuv skal det være funnet ni boplasser som sannsynligvis nesten er ti tusen år gamle, så her er det en del historie.

Et glimt av maten fikk vi også, en 16 kilos torsk som de nettopp hadde vært ute og fisket. Stilig.

Nuvel, skulle vi rekke noe middag så måtte vi snu i tide, og vi padlet med mer tempo tilbake.

Snart tilbake ved camp, de første er snart framme. Turen ble ikke så veldig lang, men det er alltid kjekt å komme seg på havet uansett. Nå var det lenge siden sist, så det var ekstra stas.

På Tuvsjyen var det fint, og fint steinalderpreg. Ikke at jeg har peiling på steinalderen, men.

Maten var god, og det var heldigvis påfyll. Den store torsken var blitt til fiskesuppe, som absolutt var god. Brødet var rett og slett kjempegodt.

Absolutt en flott dag på Vinterpadletreffet.

Pos: 25.5349,-112.0952
Loc: Bahia Magdalena between 1+2
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 45,0 km
Start: 6:35 End: 15:40

The surf this morning looked once more not really inviting – I reckon it is because it is the higher high tide of the day, though it was one hour after. Sure we still wanted to go out, Fylkir made it out well, and I was following also dry despite quite a high crashing jump over a wave crest. The outer breaks could be quite trashing…but like yesterday, the swell calmed down by the hour, and we felt quite confident about the inlet entrance.
The closer we came, the calmer was the sea. We saw literally no breaker zone for a long while, but at some point it came…we had four options to get in:
The first was to land on the open beach before the inlet and to sneak in inside the soup zone – hoping the landing won’t be too bad.
The second option was to follow the wide berth around the breaker zone until we found an unbroken channel. If we would find one…one boat was just going in, but too ar away to follow it up. And also, it was two hours before low tide…bad timing.
The third option would be to land behind the breaker zone on the open beach, and sneaking inside the soup zone from behind.
Option four: To land a bit further down on the open beach where the dunes are the narrowest and to carry over, about 150 m.

We decided on option one – rather a maybe rough landing, but then being safe in the soup zone, without the wide berth, without the option to maybe capsize in the wide opening, far away from shore…like on day three.

I went in first, and halfway, it started to break monsters just about 100 m besides me towards the inlet opening…I watched it for a while, slightly back paddled, but then decided to keep on paddling in, trusting here where I was it is less shallow and therefore not breaking far offshore. Wishful thinking…Ii was halfway in, when I saw behind me rolling in some monsters…too late to paddle backwards! I now sprinted in, hoping the trashers would break behind me, which they did, but the rushing in foam reached me and I had to high brace hard and long. Maybe too long on the 19 km/h sideways ride in (GPS!), as at some point I gave up bracing and just rolled in, half at least…means I preferred to bail out on the last meters close to shore. No big deal, just the soup zone had deep holes and was quite confused.

I was also a bit concerned about Fylkir waiting out there, but when I had control over my kayak and looked out, I already saw him actively paddling in on his own decision. Good man…he had a smooth ride in! Ok, our capsize numbers are balanced now…

We dragged our kayaks up a bit to check on our situation. This beach was quite more steep than our other open beach landings, but it had a deep wide soup zone where we could paddle around the corner into the calm inlet water. Still, when we climbed a dune to have a broad look, we saw the mangrove channel not in far distance, and it looked like a flat meadow was leading to the water. we had a closer look, but the last maybe 10 meters were blocked with mangroves. So no portage here. Soup zone paddling was the way to get inside!

We launched again, and this time the ride was really fun, deep water, not too violent breakers washing us up, I had only to side-broach once. Some confused criss-cross waves everywhere, but allover no big deal! We had fun! And were soon inside the calm inlet water, though with current against us of about 2 knm/h. I changed into a dry shirt, and we smiled at each other to have the surf behind us and can enjoy the calm water for the next few days!

Some fishing boats were passing us, none of them stopped to have a curious chat. No big deal, we were “talking” to three coyotes strolling along the muddy low tide coast. Some fishing nets were strung across a shallow sand flat, maybe the coyotes liked to check on the catch? A bunch of dolphins seemed to enjoy also the calm water here. We stopped for lunch at a muddy shell bank, and had fun watching the many squirting mussels in their action. Plenty of small fountains everywhere!

It was not possible to land everywhere here in the mangrove channels, so I had previously made some way points where I was hoping to find sandy spots to camp. The first one were rather vertical sandy cliffs than horizontal beach spots, but had some sand upfront. The next ones were all secluded small spots behind some little mangrove rows, they would have been nice to camp!

But then a broad sandy spot was lurking fro the other side of the channel, this was our place for the night! the tide was just high enough to land with not much mud under the feet, and a flat sandy spot was just waiting for us. Perfect!

We couldn’t help but have a walk across the flat to the dunes on the sea side to check the surf – quite nasty…is hat 1 meter swell? Never land across inlet sand bars and dunes…
we were happy to be safe inside here on calm water!

Pos: 25.8979,-112.1623
Loc: somewhere on the beach
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 26,8 km
Start: 6:45 End: 12:05

Yesterday evening, after our walk we found a crab hole in our main vestibule. Ok, this sub-tenant was allowed to live there…but the second sub- tenant who was hiding in one of our gear bags was kicked out of his new home!

We were hoping this morning’s surf would be as mellow as last evening on high tide, but it was somehow occasionally quite nasty. I launched Fylkir afloat, and he could luckily almost run through easy with only one high jump over a steep wave and he was safe.

Now me…I got afloat all right in the soup zone, but I could launch my rudder only half. Good enough for steering, and I decided to go as it looked once more rather flat-ish. I had to do a double jump over a 1,5 m and a 1 m steep wave, quite a funny hop, but all good finally – before I pressed with my right foot into nothing. Fuck! My rudder line broke…where? I checked inside the cockpit, all looked fine there…maybe the f…… knot at the end of the rudder line slid once more through the hole of the steering unit? I had that issue one one kayak, and I guessed I made fat enough knots to prevent this? The last possibility was the line broke anywhere in between. Fylkir unscrewed the lid of the steering unit and saw the knot was slid through – only. Ok, we can fix that on the water…

Not by opening the knot on the kevlar line, this was a useless try without two pliers in each hand, and useless to try to thread the original line though the hole. I rather undid the connection of line and pedals inside my cockpit which is within my reach to give Fylkir a bit of line length to tie a knot to a short piece of spare thinner kevlar line which easily goes through the hole. I joint the line connection inside the cockpit again, and the pedal was fixed for now – with limited rudder angle, but good enough to paddle. Thank goodness I did not had to land here gaain with the unfunctional pedal!

We started paddling on calm seas with 1.20 m swell. The wind was unfortunately today quartering on both halves of the day, first offshore north east up to 17 knots, then west up to 18 knots. we noticed slower progress and rather aimed to stay closer to shore in case things did not feel comfortable any more. we rounded the river mouth entry in a wide berth, nothing but breakers to see. There was another village after about 15 km on the way which had kind of a reff protection to land, but when we came there, all what we saw were breakers…and the beach before and after looked rater landable. But we were not planning to land yet!

We paddled once though a turtle infested area, at some point we had four turtle heads simultaneously out on the surface, and they are so shy! The wind breezed up, and I was wondering when the water became unfriendly today, and the landing not as calm looking any more…? I reckoned this beach is rather breaking heavier on lowest tide, which was in half an hour, a it was so flat…a steeper beach is rather breaking worse on higher tide. But it could be anything…after some point with breakers far out which we rounded in respectful distance I sensed an area with break only close to shore. Should we already go in, before things became worse? My rudder was only fixed temporarily with limited steering possibilities, and I did not like to challenge it too much. We had 24 km left to the lagoon entrance, and we did not fancy another landing before tomorrow. But 24 km we could easily do on tomorrow morning’s lower wind, and who knows ow the shore break develops later in stronger onshore winds but higher tide?

I decided we go in here where it looks still rather ok. We just had to avoid the not always breaking outer line, and then go in behind a moderate breaker into the thee lines to possibly have a clean run in. I did exactly that, few rudder action necessary, and Fylkir followed a bit later on my signals. Good jobs!

It was just feeling like a bit early to call it a day already, but rather safe than doubtful. I fixed the rudder properly, and I went for a shorter walk up the dunes. Fylkir preferred to sleep inside the hot tent while I preferred later to sit outside with my Kindle. Next days I like to paddle a bit longer!

We have no idea yet how we might get into the lagoon entrance. swells are only 1 m tomorrow, but we are absolutely not sure if thee is and if we find the unbroken deep water channel. if not, we just land through hopefully moderate surf on one of the corners and sneak in the soup zone along the sides. also, the tide runs up only from 13.15 h, and this is rather later for us to arrive and the wind might already higher by then. we’ll see! Once we are in, we have 5 or six days of shletered paddling inside some mangrove channels. Nice!

The Boldly Went show this week was a great event, a mix of adventurous folks from all over, telling stories and tipping back a few beers. Thanks to all who came out to Tacoma Brewing for their generous support – a portion of the proceeds (and some kind donations), went to help fund Ikkatsu Project programs in the Pacific Northwest and southeast Alaska here in 2019.

A good time was had by all. Thanks to Lush and Klean Kanteen for the material support, and thanks to Dave Viens and Dean Burke for the photos.

I forgot to include several products that I saw at the Canoecopia 2019 show in my last Canoecopia Trip Report. I shot these products on my phone instead of my real camera and didn’t realize it until today. These two products surprised me more than any other at the show.

The first is the Kitigan Cross Canoe. It’s like a combination of a stand-up paddleboard, canoe and a sit-on-top kayak. You can walk on the deck, move seats around, stand up, carry gear, fish or even do yoga. It has hatches for dry storage. I has a retractable skeg. If it feels as stable on the water as a stand-up paddleboard, it would be more efficient because it uses an actual boat shape under water instead of a flat board shape. When talking to the owner of the company, I asked him for a two to three sentence elevator pitch. He said something like, it’s designed so that the canoe adapts to you and you don’t have to adapt to the canoe.

This is one of the more innovative boats that I’ve seen in a while. While I don’t think it would replace a canoe for me, I’d really like to try this out at some point. I think if you are into SUPs, you’re definitely going to want to check this out.

The second and last item from the show that caught my eye was the new Current Design’s Sisu. This is a Danish-designed kayak that is designed for rough water, but like many rough-water kayaks, it also is beginner friendly. It has a hybrid hard chine, which looks like a combination of a rounded chine fore and aft and a rail along the center of the kayak. I really want to paddle this kayak and probably in the LV version. It wasn’t a kayak that I had expected to see from Current Designs, which I usually think of as a company that produces American-style kayaks.

The post Canoecopia 2019 Trip Report Part 2 appeared first on PaddlingLight.com. You can leave a comment by clicking here: Canoecopia 2019 Trip Report Part 2.

Pos: 26.0662,-112.3013
Loc: before La Bocana
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 28,8 km
Start: 7:00 End: 11:55

One is wondering about the manners of our neighbors in the hostel – at 11 pm, they played two damn loud music songs before it was silent again, and then once more at 4 am – as if their alarm clock was going off…strange…

We slept anyway halfway good, and carried the boats down to the beach first, then the bags in two runs. No lift available this morning, but no big deal. Fylkir seemed to have lost his sea legs in the last two days in the city where we were watching big surf rolling in. We had 1,20 m seas and very low wind all morning, still he felt kind of uncomfortable since last night, having too many bad thoughts about the landing. We had basically three options, one lower surf landing between two headlands, then a river mouth with unknown unbroken opening or none, and the last one was a village landing behind a reef which looked promising. Still, as the wind breezed up with the tide change at 11 am, we tried the first landing.
After a straight crossing of the bay far offshore, we gave the first headland a wide berth, not seeing any shelter straight behind the reef break as I was hoping. I carefully approached the lower and much more narrower surf in the middle, and was slowly but surely working my way in. Nothing broke before the last maybe 20 meter where I paddled behind some moderate breakers into confused shallows. I had a dry landing. I waved Fylkir in, and he also made it in upright. He just had to do a deep high brace into a wave after a brace to the wrong side. Still well recovered! He was quite relieved to be safely in for the day…the wind just reached over 15 knots and paddling further might have made the landing in the river mouth or behind the reef more confused.

We made a long hike with our poles over sandy dunes and drive ways to the river mouth to have a look, but we could spot no real unbroken channel. So far so good for our landing choice! A small cow herd lingered in the low shadows of some spiky bushes. The village was on the other side of the river.

On the way back, we found a fresh fin – torn off from a dolphin? It had a dark and a light colored side…how the heck did the fin got off the poor animal? A full dried dolphin head was also one of our nature studies of the day. Not much else to find besides a new black and white species of mussels and a bunch of coral fans.

A recent listing on LiveAuctioneers.com featured two vintage paddles and a snowshoe style folding canoe seat.


Closeup of the short painted paddle shows the blade has split, a very common feature with old maple paddles, but has undergone some sort of repair with large metal fastenings (bent nails?) holding the pieces together.


Unfortunately no dimensional info is given.

Last weekend, I attended Canoecopia in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s the world’s largest paddlesports expo. I gave a couple of presentations. One on paddling the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande River and the other on Photographing Seascapes. When I wasn’t giving presentations, I was in the Northstar Canoe booth helping out as a Northstar sponsored paddler. I did manage to walk part of the show, but not the entire show. When you know so many people in the industry, it is hard to make it from one side of the show to the other and up and down all the isles quickly. I wish I had gotten to spend a bit more time checking out all the new products, but it is what it is.

The place I spent most of my time was in the Northstar Canoe booth. Northstar has a new canoe this year called a Firebird. It’s a smaller Phoenix coming in a 13’6″. There are three families of solo canoes from Northstar and the Phoenix and Firebird fall into the moving water, playful family. Personally, I like a canoe that maneuvers well, so I also use my Phoenix on flat water in the Boundary Waters.

Northstar is also offering a new layup. You can now add a ruby red or emerald green layer of fabric to the outside of the canoes instead of gelcoat. Gelcoat is dead! Hopefully, kayak manufacturers will figure that out soon. The ruby red on the Starlite layup absolutely glows and I have a ruby red starlite Firebird coming this summer. I can’t wait to photograph it.

Gelcoat is dead!

The stealth black carbon layup and the E6 carbon gunwales also stands out. Check out the all-but-the-logos-black canoe in the picture above. We tried to talk them into using black logos to murder that canoe out — crossing my fingers that that becomes an option.

If you are a Boundary Waters lover, how many times have you desired a wall-sized map for planning in your basement? For me, it’s all the time. The way you usually achieve it is by pasting a bunch of maps together. But, you don’t have to do that anymore. True North Map Company offers a 8’x3′ map made from Tyvek and you can get it coated to work with dry erase markers for planning trips. They also offer fabric maps which I’ll be reviewing in the near future.

It’s always nice to see friends volunteering at nonprofit booths. These folks don’t get paid to be there, so they should get some love. Here are two of my favorite groups in the Midwest working to promote safety, instruction and paddlesports. Thanks, Jeff and John!

One thing that surprised me more than anything is the price of kayaks these days. You can now pay $1500 for a sit-on-top kayak. Back in my retail days, we looked at sit-on-top kayaks as low-end, cheap things. Not anymore. And glass sea kayaks are running $4000. I hope someone picked up this show special Cetus for $2999. That’s a good deal these days.

One of my favorite boats of all times is the Dagger Meridian. I own two (and am probably going to sell one this spring). So, I have a place in my heart for Dagger. They were whitewater heavy with just a couple of touring kayaks. These are the Stratos model, which replaced the Alchemy — the last plastic boat I owned.

Wilderness Systems had a couple of changes (changes since last time I looked, which is a couple of years. Last I looked is when I owned a kayak guiding biz). I like the new Polaris. It looks like a nice tandem. These were the bread and butter boats for guiding out of when I had my biz. The other change is the new deck mess on the Tsunamis. The mesh deck bags will allow you to carry stuff on deck and I guess that’s what people want these days. At least, by using the mesh bags, they prevent a yard sale in the surf.

I really wanted to get into Kokopelli Packrafts booth and talk to them, but they were busy. I mean jam packed every time I walked by. I really want to try a packraft and combine it with the biking I do in Superior National Forest. I think there could be some really fun day trips to be had when using a raft and a bike.

Council Tool had a selection of quality Made in the USA axes at the show. It’s so hard to pass up a quality ax even if I seldom use them, except for splitting wood for heating our house. The one that I would love to take home is the Council Tool Wood-Craft Pack Axe with the 19-Inch handle. Ax lust going on here.

Subaru has done a good job of making its name one with the paddlesports industry. I bought a 2017 Subaru Outback because of their relationship with the ACA. But, the roof rack is terrible on the Outback. It would be much better just to put a set of Yakima Tracks on the car and call it good. The flexibility is increased and the wind profile drops when not using the rack. I looked into having a body shop remove my factory rack and putting on a set of Yakima Tracks and it was close to $1500 in work. The rack is so bad that I was tempted. Instead, I’m going to trade it in for a car that can take real racks. The new 2019 Toyota Rav4 looks pretty good in comparison. Just waiting to see how Yakima builds a rack to fit it.

Anyway, ending rant now.

Chesapeake Light Craft had their teardrop kit on display at the show. I so want one of these!

I wish I would have been able to walk the show a bit more and visit with other vendors and friends, but at least I was able to get around and see some of the show. If you came to one of my presentations or stopped by the booth, I want to say thanks!

The post Canoecopia 2019 Trip Report appeared first on PaddlingLight.com. You can leave a comment by clicking here: Canoecopia 2019 Trip Report.

Pos: 26.2546,-112.4771
Loc: San Juanico
Acc: Mike’s hostel

no paddling today

It’s still 1,70 m swell today, to much for us without a real safe landing. The afternoon wind is coming in also too strong, and our coughing can have another day of rest. We’ll launch again tomorrow into 1,20 m and winds not ove 15 knots. The whole week after will be low swell around 1 m and low to moderate winds – for us of limited us, as after two or three days, we will be paddling inside a large lagoon for about five or six days. We can take it slow, as with normal progress of 40 km per day, we would just reach the last lagoon exit when the swell and winds come up again for at least two days – as long and as good as a long-term forecast goes. So we also can spend those higher swell-wind days instead of waitin at the exit by taking things inside the lagoon slower.

Today, we made a long hike along the coast and saw some impressive breakers out there hitting the reefs around our headland. Only a few SUP paddlers and one surfer were playing at the inner sheltered rolling breakers, the other corners seemed to be too high also. As we were thinking on our paddle up here, all fancy looking houses at the sea shore belong to white US or European people related to surfing. Locals were living as usual in smaller houses with a tad bit less organization around their yards. In between, there are many smaller and larger trash dumps which are stretching out along the sandy track with many thorny bushes alongside through the bush to the other side of the headland. That was our way back…yes, trash disposal could also be a bit more organized here.

We found some cough drops in a small shop, and feel like we are getting better. The next sunny paddling week will hopefully help also!

Pos: 26.2546,-112.4771
Loc: San Juanico
Acc: Mike’s hostel
Dist: 21,5 km
Start: 8:10 End: 12:05

Glad we knew we would have at least Tuesday off with swell up to 2,5 m and winds up to 5 knots. So we could afford to take today a shorter day with 20 km and to start a slight bit later with no big seas or winds (yet) threatening for the afternoon. Yesterday, Fylkir has somehow lost a contact lens after launching, and tried to paddle for a while “foggy” but which made him only “groggy” means sea sick not to be able to focus on the horizon. I had to dig in his hatches for the right bag and he could get a new one in. So we learned better to pack all bags always in the same spot – and to have a pair of spares handy in the reachable bags…which he did this morning.

We launched through some larger surf than last night, but managed with not too much problems. 20 km felt longer than expected, as the wide headland to San Juanico is endless…we made some bets if the next visible corner would be the last one or not. Later we learned this headland has the second longest of the world with 1,7 miles. We saw already in the outskirts of San Juanico that his village is occupied by many tourists in RV’s and busses, plus some villas which kind of looked not Mexican but like holiday homes of rich US people.

We felt like we deserved again a room, and in lack of some personal hosts, we signed up again for a hostel for 25$ per night. This one was nicely, lovingly and very clean run by Mike and his wife, who is an old traveler, surfer and sailor with many stories to tell. he helped us to get off the beach with bags and kayaks, and we settled into a friendly small room, all surfer-decoration everywhere.

We are actually looking quite much forward to have two city rest days!

Pos: 26.2546,-112.4771
Loc: San Juanico
Acc: Mike’s hostel

no paddling today

We had a typical city day with repair chores, pampering our bodies with body lotion allover against our peeling sun burnt skin and office work with some useless internet try at a local electronic shop. The internet is just enough for email and messages, no pictures uploading or internet calls possible, very sorry! We will have to wait for a better connection in maybe Puerto San Carlos or latest at Cabo San Lucas.
Not much else to tell today!

A triathlon coach once told me, "early training gets easier after Valentine's Day because that's when we start noticing the mornings getting lighter again".

He's right.  Early morning trips to the pool are much easier after 14th February.  But why?

The Winter Solstice falls between 21 and 22 December in the Northern Hemisphere.  It's also known and "midwinter" or the "shortest day".

For a moment let's ignore the meteorological and other definitions of winter.  In terms of daylight, we feel the lack of it when the clocks "Fall Back" at the end of October (28th Oct in 2018).  Now let's do some simple maths.



The number of days between the clocks going back and Midwinter in 2018 was 54 days.  What comes 54 days after Midwinter?  Valentine's Day.

Daylight Saving is significantly asymmetrical around Midwinter, with the "Spring forward" happening around 100 days after the 21st Dec.  Quite why this happens, I'm not sure.  One explanation I've heard is to do with matching temperatures, but that seems unlikely.  In 2008 there was an Early Day Motion in the Westminster Parliament aimed at reducing this asymmetry, but like most EDMs it got nowhere.  Maybe the idea of starting "summer" time in February, with snow on the ground, just seemed daft.

I'm just pleased the lighter mornings are starting once again.

Pos: 26.2546,-112.4771
Loc: San Juanico
Acc: Mike’s hostel
Dist: 21,5 km
Start: 8:10 End: 12:05

Glad we knew we would have at least Tuesday off with swell up to 2,5 m and
winds up to 5 knots. So we could afford to take today a shorter day with 20
km and to start a slight bit later with no big seas or winds (yet)
threatening for the afternoon. Yesterday, Fylkir has somehow lost a contact
lens after launching, and tried to paddle for a while “foggy” but which
made him only “groggy” means sea sick not to be able to focus on the
horizon. I had to dig in his hatches for the right bag and he could get a
new one in. So we learned better to pack all bags always in the same spot –
and to have a pair of spares handy in the reachable bags…which he did
this morning.

We launched through some larger surf than last night, but managed with not
too much problems. 20 km felt longer than expected, as the wide headland to
San Juanico is endless…we made some bets if the next visible corner would
be the last one or not. Later we learned this headland has the second
longest of the world with 1,7 miles. We saw already in the outskirts of San
Juanico that his village is occupied by many tourists in RV’s and busses,
plus some villas which kind of looked not Mexican but like holiday homes of
rich US people.

We felt like we deserved again a room, and in lack of some personal hosts,
we signed up again for a hostel for 25$ per night. This one was nicely,
lovingly and very clean run by Mike and his wife, who is an old traveler,
surfer and sailor with many stories to tell. he helped us to get off the
beach with bags and kayaks, and we settled into a friendly small room, all
surfer-decoration everywhere.

We are actually looking quite much forward to have two city rest days!

NAUTILUS Roberto Yañez Vargas, Santibañez, Cádiz – 10 de Marzo de 2019

PAZ BEY CAMPEONA DE ANDALUCIA DE 5000 METROS VETERANOS 2019


Campeonato de Andalucía de Invierno
C.E.A.R LA CARTUJA (02/03/2019)

RESULTADOS CLUB DE PIRAGÜISMO SAN FERNANDO


HOMBRE Veterano 45-49 K-1 5000 metros: PUESTO 19: CARDOSO MACIAS JUAN Tiempo 32'23'

Woman on Water

In 2008, I led my first sea kayak adventure with a friend and her mom. Both were long time whitewater kayakers.  We had an awesome afternoon paddling my home waters of the Mendocino Coast. It was my first time paddling without my significant other (Jeff), first time leading on the sea, and my first time paddling with a team of women. At the end of the paddle, we celebrated with take out beers. My friend’s mom offered a toast “To Women on Water.”

Pos: 26.3148,-1122.6265
Loc: behind Punta Santo Domingo
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 57,1 km
Start: 6:40 End: 16:15

We just launched into the dead calm low tide inlet outflow, when the sky started to burn in all colors of red on the sunrise. What a magnificent view! It lasted for about 3-5 in, then it was all back to normal, and another rather gray morning. Still missing the Mexican spring and summer with sunshine all day. Nights are still mostly chilly, despite the new blanket Jen sent us with the paddles.

The ride out of the outflow was as calm as it can get on slack low tide, low following wind and 70 cm swell height. The conditions for today’s long day are perfect, and we are making good progress. We were staying quite offshore, especially when we came to another inlet outflow with some wide breaker field. A boat was just riding out where we were thinking the calm exit would be, just in case.
Enough entertainment once more out here, a whale every ten minutes spouting, spy hopping or showing his back or fluke, pelicans diving for fish, the odd huge sea lion coming from the final headland colony and our favorite dolphin show. We are feeling so privileged to be out here in the middle of the wildlife!

Still it was a long paddle today on following seas, though wind and seas stayed relatively low. Lumpy for 70 cm, but we had it worse already. We could have landed likely safe anywhere on the beach along our way in these conditions, but we liked to get as close to San Juanico as possible as tomorrow will e likely headwinds and maybe Tuesday off in the city.

The headland was finally a relief to turn around, and we enjoyed for a while the sounds and views of quite a large sea lion colony. A motor home parked on the cliff top point, nice place to camp! Besides that vehicle and the boat, no signs of civilization all day.

I marked a quite promising looking beach after 55 km, but it was likely it had still the ever-lasting high cliffs behind it, and so it was. We had to paddle a slight bit further to find the sandy beach again with a low surf to land.

This beach was the first to have a lot of drift wood, but rather small bushes than huge logs. It looked quite wild, and I was eager to explore it for glass balls. But nothing to find, not even much of the regular trash. High on the cliffs, we found many piles of probably donkey shit, old and fresh, but no animals anywhere. In the distance, a wide but shallow river bed gave them probably their home and fresh water to drink.

I’m feeling still a bit sick with stuffed nose, head and coughing, and Fylkir is coughing already since ten days. Maybe we are a bit under dressed and under equipped for Mexican winter conditions…still we can paddle 57 km…

 Hoy día primaveral por el Corredor Verde Dos Bahías, en su tramo inicial.



 
 Sirva esta reflexión para los que nos movemos solos por ahí. Atentos al piloto rojo.

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En estas Jornadas que organizó el Club de Kayak de Mar de Cádiz el pasado Octubre, podemos encontrar palístas con niveles muy diferentes. Gente que acaba de empezar y gente con mucha experiencia….unos con muchísimas ganas de aprender y los otros con muchísimas ganas de compartir lo que saben. No os perdáis la próxima este año.

Click aquí para visitar la página del Club de Kayak de Mar de Cádiz.

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En Noviembre comenzaron las clases de Fitness Kayaking en el entorno de Santibañez, Cádiz….el mejor entorno para practicar esta modalidad y mejorar las maniobras de kayak de mar.

Cosumnes Fire Department crew practicing rough water rescues on Lower American River (2017) Many Northern California paddlers are dusting off their boats....   ….but before that first launch of the...

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Pos: 26.6054,-113.0608
Loc: camp Los castros
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 33,7 km
Start: 7:00 End: 14:00

Fylkir is writing:
After sleeping quite well, we woke up at around three o´clock by a visit from the cayote we saw yesterday. It sounded like he had taken a friend with him. Both gave a big hooowl noise and some smaller ones, quite impressive sounding, even though it did not last all that long. We understood it like “hey its our teritory, not yours” – we got the message and slept on for couple of hours.

It was crucial for us getting to the Baja Discovery whalewatching camp as early as possible, to be able to get through the inlet on high tide. We started with the tide coming into the bay, but strong headwinds of 25 knots. Still we could paddle in good speed, and crossing some moderate tideraces was no problem. An hour of paddling and we arrived at the camp, and were greeted by the man in charge. Pepe knew we were comming and has been waiting for us. After introducing us to the whole group of people in the camp, we were invited to refreshments as much as we wanted – what a welcome! Thanks! We got the parcel with our paddles, and also some chocis from Jen Kleck – thank you so much to arrange the shipping! And thanks to Lorna Hill to fly them down!

We spoke with some of the guests at the camp, people from different places of the world were present, all very eager to hear about the trip, and how we were doing things. After photoshooting and saying thanks and goodbye, we were back in our kayaks at 9am.

We had decided to paddle the inside of the lagoon, but just had to find the entrance! Not that much of a problem, a little bit of dragging was needed to get inside, as the tide was still rising. Reaching mangrove areas was a pleasant sign, and our speeds were quite good as we now had tailwind pushing us to the other end of the lagoon. It was still a little bit unclear where the outlet of the lagoon was, and if we still had to drag over shallows. As we got closer and closer to the end, it came clear we had enough water under the keel until the end., thank goodness. The outlet is small, just besides is a large fishing camp. It looks quite easy and open when we will paddle out the exit tomorrow. It has a deep narrow channel with unbroken water. The tide turns at 6 am, so we have to hurry to get out!

We saw again plenty of whales in the section before the whale watching camp (where else…), it looked like these were different ones to what we have seen before with the Gray Whales. These here are black and white spotted, larger, and seem to be more actively spy hopping out of the water. What a sight! Many large dolphins were feeding in the last entrance upfront our camp. A dozen sea turtles floated past our paddling path. Allover not too much of a bad wildlife day, in wonderful mangrove wetlands in the lagoon.

Ecco il corso adatto a chi vuole imparare ad insegnare!
La FICT ha pubblicato il bando per il corso istruttori marini 2019: è un'ottima occasione per incontrare altri appassionati di kayak da mare, per perfezionare le proprie competenze tecniche e soprattutto per migliorare le proprio conoscenze didattiche.
Non tutti coloro che vanno in kayak sono capaci di trasmettere ad altri i fondamenti della pagaiata sicura ed efficiente, non tutti coloro che accumulano chilometri in mare sanno trasferire ad altri quel che il mare ha insegnato loro, non tutti coloro che trascorrono lunghe ore tra le onde sanno spiegare ad altri come sfruttarle senza temerle ma anche senza sottovalutarle.
Ma tutti posso imparare ad insegnare!


Il corso per istruttori marini organizzato dalla FICT serve proprio a questo: imparare ad insegnare.
I formatori Gengis Arcangelo Pirovano, Enrico Brentana, Mauro Ferro e Tatiana Cappucci mettono le proprie esperienze al servizio degli aspiranti istruttori che vogliono dedicare queste sei giornate all'apprendimento delle più aggiornate ed innovative tecniche didattiche.
Il corso si svolge per la prima volta a Pedaso, sulla costa adriatica, e risponde all'esigenza di raggiungere gli aspiranti istruttori nei loro luoghi d'origine.
Il corso è articolato in una prima parte introduttiva con sessioni teorico pratiche nelle quattro giornate dal 9 al 12 maggio 2019: dopo un periodo di tirocinio estivo da svolgere sotto la guida di un istruttore marino qualificato, gli aspiranti istruttori dovranno partecipare agli esami finali previsti per le due giornate del 9 e 10 novembre 2019.
Per informazioni ed iscrizioni scrivete al segretario generale FICT a questo indirizzo mail: andrearicci63@gmail.com

I joined a SISKA paddle led by Edgar H. Edgar, six others and I went out and around the islands in excellent conditions. We had a chance to play in the current between Vantreight and East Chatham island and I ran into Alan and Linda in their canoes as well as Dennis and Sue who were exploring by dinghy from their sailboat. We had a nice lunch in Rudlin bay.
My birdlist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53654669

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playing around in the current - click to enlarge

16 km, YTD 106 km

A quelques encablures de Cannes, ce petit archipel de 4 îles offre le dépaysement du large et une vue panoramique sur le Mercantour. Embarquement Au Cap de la Croisette, à la plage Gazagnaire, l’embarquement se fait très facilement et le vaste parking est gratuit toute l’année. Après quelques coups de pagaie en direction de l’archipel, […]

Pos: 26.7529,-113.2669
Loc: entrance point Laguna San Ignacio
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 31,6 km
Start: 6:40 End: 13:20

We were up very early, and on the water on first light. The morning wind will be calm, but in the afternoon, it would be up to 20 knots – headwind. And we liked to cross the whale bay to reach at least the lagoon entrance. I was also hoping to get in there today, but we simply were too late. The crossing was calm until 10 am, many fishing boats, whales, dolphins, pelicans, some sea lions, the regular lush wildlife.When we came closer to the lagoon entrance, it was not really looking scary breaking, just small patches here and there, and not high at all. We planned to stick to the northern entrance, which was basically correct. But the wind breezed up simultaneously to the tide change at 10.30, and paddling against the outrunning current and 20 knots headwind with some threatening offshore breaker area where we might get blown and washed in was finally too much. We just about made it to the middle of the double headland where the shore break was moderate, and decided to land before the strongest current corner came. A good idea!

Still we liked to check if we can drag our kayaks to the corner and paddle further in the non breaking water. We dragged with lines on both ends each kayak separately for maybe 150 m, but had to realize the current and wind without breakers were also here too strong. Ok, then we have to reach the whale camp tomorrow with again low winds and in-going current to pick our paddles!

We decided to make camp, and watched a coyote passing by in some distance. We were both just butt naked after changing clothes in the quite warm wind, and I was in hunting mode with my binoculars to see more of the coyote and quickly walked to the waterline, when we spotted a fishing boat coming silently up pretty close behind us…oh…fauxpas…quickly back to the tent to get dressed! The fisherman was probably thinking *he* is also in hunting mode…two naked kayakers…LOL!

We will paddle tomorrow up to Punta Piedras to the Bahia Discovery camp where our paddles should be. Hope it will work out!

Dan and I went for a morning paddle out to the islands. Conditions were excellent with little wind and favourable currents. Lots of birds as well as seals, sea lions and river otters.

click to enlarge

15 km, YTD 90 km

I might have mentioned something previously about the possibility that Tacoma’s curbside recycling system is on the way out… may have even written a thing or two about the complete breakdown of the basic concept of recycling, which is sort of the real story. If you don’t read any other articles about this new reality, read this one.

The piece makes a lot of good points and it’s well written, but there’s a line in there that stuck out to me more than any other. “Most recycling programs in the United States are now single stream… The popularity makes sense given that single-stream is convenient and a full 66 percent of people surveyed last October said that they wouldn’t recycle at all if it wasn’t easy to do.” (Italics are mine.)

There it is. That’s what will end up doing the most damage, that addiction to convenience and ease, planet be damned. And we’re not just talking about recycling here – you can see that same can’t-do spirit almost anywhere. Take a look at the line of cars in the drive-through, their drivers idling for ten minutes to avoid actually having to get out of their vehicles. See the overflowing trash can near the coffee shop, single-use cups cascading onto the pavement, each of them used for ten or fifteen minutes and then discarded. I could go on.

We know what needs to be done. It’s not 1958 anymore. We’re not stupid or uninformed, just lazy. We know the right course to take but we’re not going to follow it if doing so requires any level of exertion, real or imagined. At least, that’s what 66 percent of us are thinking, if Harris polling is to be believed. Clearly, there is work to be done.

It’s a grim statistic, no doubt, but there is also another way to look at it. You can turn it around, use the numbers as motivation. For example, I see 34 percent of people who have said that recycling is worth some effort, that the impact we have on our surroundings is something that we need to consider. We have a ways to go and damn little time to get there, but there is hope in this.

Pos: 26.7150,-113.5695
Loc: Punta Abreojos
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 54,5 km
Start: 7:05 End: 16:35

Fylkir writing tonight:
After a wonderful nights sleep, we got up quite early and were ready to paddle just before 7 o´clock. The weather was fine and our first way point was 32 km away. We had to cross a bay to reach it. With rather calm seas, the music was ON for a few hours which always improves the speed in our paddling. On our way we saw the largest number of dolphins hunting in a big group, always impressive to see these friends at sea. This day also became the record day of seeing sea turtles, one we got rather close to see though the are very shy. Sleeping sea lions and seals were also to see on our way.
We had a good and safe landing in Punta Abreojos. After setting camp, I went to town to find more water. One of the reasons for landing here was, that there should be an ATM in town! The village is rather small, and our previous investigations had given us a quite good picture of where things were placed. The ATM was easy to find, but it was in a “not able to provide service at this point” mode (it probably ran out of cash…) so that visit did not take much time. Finding a water filter machine also went well and I carried 30 liters to our tent.
Freya feels a bit sick this evening with the same sore throat I had already since a few days, she also got quite chilly on this paddle. Some hot drinks hopefully help.

Jen Kleck was so nice to organize or spare paddles (which got lost on the plane) to be sent to the next whale watching camp, where Lorna Hill is taking care about them and we will pick them up tomorrow or later if weather and health tells us. See how it goes tonight!

Ed eccoci alle prese con il nuovo corso introdotto dalla British Canoeing: il "Coastal Sea Kayak" che ha arricchito i New Personal Performance Awards lanciati al principio del 2019.
Pensato per offrire un'ulteriore occasione di migliorare le proprio competenze tecniche e di valutare le condizioni meteo-marine ed ambientali, il Coastal è anche un'utile momento intermedio di studio teorico-pratico per poter affrontare con maggior slancio e sicurezza il corso da Leader.
Ci siamo incontrati a San Felice Circeo con tre allievi di esperienze e livelli differenti: Duilio ha già seguito il Leader training dello scorso dicembre all'Argentario, Giulio era interessato ad un ripasso generale dopo il training di qualche anno fa ed Antonio ha invece scelto il Coastal come tappa intermedia prima del corso da Leader. Tutti e tre hanno quindi già conseguito il titolo "Sea Kayak Award" ma la loro percezione del mare e del kayak è naturalmente molto differente. E non è stato difficile capirlo: dopo una bella chiacchierata introduttiva al bar sul porto, ci siamo concessi una prima parte del corso per "ripassare ed analizzare" i diversi livelli di competenza e anche i diversi modi di apprendimento, dal riflessivo all'imitativo all'iperattivo; solo più tardi siamo entrati nel vivo del corso e ho potuto differenziare l'insegnamento a seconda del contesto e delle esigenze...

Il primo approccio con la zona di surf alle spalle del porticciolo di San Felice Circeo...

La sosta nella spiaggia della villa privata, poco prima che venissero a chiedere di andare via!

Antonio ancora titubante con le idee già più chiare sul timing!

Giulio sorridente alle prese con l'uscita dalla zona di surf...

Momento emblematico: diverse condizioni per diversi livelli di competenza!

Prove di autosalvataggio nel vento: poche onde ma risacca "antipatica"...

Un classico esempio in cui il paddle-float è di intralcio!

E' stata per me un'occasione unica e preziosa per sperimentare la nuova linea introdotta dalla British e concentrare la mia attenzione sulle esigenze individuali dei singoli partecipanti. Ho così avuto modo di insegnare utilizzando diverse metodologie didattiche, unendo "delivering & coaching" e soprattutto mettendo a frutto quel processo di individualizzazione che riveste una parte centrale del percorso Level 3 Coach. Per seguire da vicino i piccoli e grandi miglioramenti dei diversi allievi, l'insegnante deve calibrare ogni sessione del corso sulle diverse esigenze dei pagaiatori, così da mettere a fuoco quel che davvero serve ad ognuno per migliorare le proprie capacità di conduzione del kayak.
Così per lavorare sul controllo del kayak in spazi ristretti, per esempio, abbiamo pagaiato per qualche ora lungo la scogliera rocciosa del Monte Circeo e ho suggerito ad ognuno dei tre un esercizio diverso, sia tecnico che tattico: Duilio doveva studiare la risacca per capire quanto poteva avvicinarsi agli scogli, Giulio doveva invece approfondire la conoscenza di un kayak poco usato che non sempre risponde ai suoi voleri, ed Antonio doveva aumentare la sua confidenza usando tanto il corpo quanto la pagaia in maniera più efficiente. Anche nella zona di surf abbiamo lavorato in maniera differenziata: Duilio provando diverse velocità, Giulio provando diverse direzioni ed Antonio provando diversi momenti di ingresso ed uscita...
Sooooo speed, direction and timing: what could a coach ask more?! :-)

Pos: 26.9933,-113.9760
Loc: Play Oceano Pacifico
Acc: tent Hilleberg Keron 4
Dist: 47,7 km
Start: 7:30 End: 15:55

It is not necessarily also a human’s sleeping paradise when it is an animal’s sleeping paradise…really no idea what kind of birds (or other animals?) were making some really nasty noises all night. I finally put earplugs in which did only partly the job, Fylkir was sitting it out (or rather sleeping it out…). We also are both still suffering a bit from some really stupid nasty sunburn on our whole front of our bodies when we dared to lay in the sun on the day off three days ago. We caught the sunburn like some Mallorca tourists on the first day on the beach…LOL…hope today’s long day paddling it will be not that bad any more on rotating the body inside the spray deck on a good stroke.

We plan to paddle almost 50 km to the village of Play Oceano Pacifico. The forecast was for low winds and seas, though mostly headwinds. When the low chop stopped, we once more enjoyed a hard paddling session with music. Fylkir’s technique is getting better and better, and I finally will have a hard time to keep up with my strong man! The last 10 km without music and again a light headwind were tedious, and getting around the low rocky headland seemed to be endless until we finally could land on a shallow sandy beach with tiny surf. We saw whales spouting all day, seals, sea lions, dolphins, pelicans…the whole bunch. But today was rather a fitness paddling day with little sightseeing. So will be tomorrow, in even lower wind and seas, until we reach Punta Abreojos.

Tides and weather are the keys to whether we have can conduct a successful bird survey. Tides are predictable; the weather has been anything but this year.

The post Despite Record Snowfall A Successful Beach Survey appeared first on Essex Media & Explorations.

Vi er nogle stykker i NKC der er begyndt at ro fredag formiddag. Første tur blev Mølleturen på 25 km. Denne tur blev knap så lang, men vi kom da lidt omkring
Sammen med Lis og Knud roede vi først Vejløskoven. Undervejs fortalte jeg om tågeturen, og vi snakkede lidt om at ro ligeud uden at kunne se. Lis prøvede at lukke øjnene, og inden hun havde roet et par hundrede meter var hun dreje 90 grader. Godt vi har kompas på vores kajakker.

Jeg havde aftalt en tur med Jes - og så står den på hotdog.
Vi lagde fra klubben i solskin, men kunne godt se at der var diset for enden af kanalen. For ikke helt at forsvinde i tågen, valgte vi at gå i land for enden af kanalen og lave et lille grillbål.

Grillen blev monteret, og da der kort efter var gløder, blev pølserne lagt på den.
Det blev til nogle gode hotdogs.
Tågen lagde sig tættere og tættere, og da vi satte i vandet kunne vi næsten ikke se over kanalen.

Vi roede til Gavnøbroen..
 ...og tilbage i tæt tåge.
Turen blev på 10 km