Kajak en Route

New adventure for the Fat Paddler

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:24:37 +0000

If you have read his book (review of his book) won’t be really surprised when I tell you Sean Smith (Fat Paddler) has an idiotic (sorry Sean) new plan. He is racing in the Mauritius Ocean Classic Classic in about 6 months. This is a surfski competition and not only does this mean a lot of practicing (try sitting on a surfski yourself) but also 20KG weightloss needs to be achieved. Don’t know if we can call him the Fat Paddler anymore after 6 months, but time will tell. If you want to follow his team and adventure look at http://mauritiuspaddlers.com.

Paddling for Smiles

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:09:38 +0000

Getting attacked by a shark, get your surfski split in have by the surf and getting robbed on a journey that supposed to be 2600KM around the coast of the Southern part of Africa to raise money for children to get their cleft lips or palates operated on. Richard Kohler started in December from Mozambique and was attacked by a shark on day three damaging his surfski and especially the rudder. After some help he could continue his journey and not many days later the surf broke his surfki. After some help he got on his way yet again only to get mugged along with his supporting team just befor Christmas. The saddest part being that money collected while on this journey got stolen as well. This part of the raised money was enough to operate two children. Richard now hopes to finish his journey later this year.

For more information go to his website or facebook page.

The Kayak Essentials DVD’s

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:07:22 +0000

Kayakessentials.co.uk has two excellent instruction DVD’s. The Kayak Essentials and Sea Kayak Essentials. Two DVD’s full with information.

Kayak Essentials (£16.95)
This DVD will give you a good knowledge of the basics. How to paddle, keep balance, brace, etc. The instructions are given in wildwaterkayaks and most of the times repeated in seakayaks. This DVD should be in every kayakkers collection. Just to up the basics or to review you skills to see if you are doing it correctly. Below you will find the index of the DVD:

Balancing: Edging + Leaning
Balancing: Low Brace
Balancing: Hi Brace
Balancing: Sculling Support
Forward Paddling: Long Boat
Forward Paddling: Short Boat
Forward Paddling: Reversing + Stopping
Moving Sideways: Draw Strokes
Moving Sideways: Sculling Draw
Moving Sideways: Hanging Draw
Steering Skills: Stern Rudder
Turning Skills: Sweep Strokers
Turning Skills: Short Boat Turns
Turning Skills: Long Boat Turn

Two chapters of the DVD:

Sea Kayak Essentials (£21.95)
This DVD covers all the essentials for seakayaking. It starts out with the basics and works up to advanced skills like kayaking on a tidal race. Even if you are not a seakayakers the basic covered on this DVD can help you improve your skills a lot! Below you will find the index of the DVD:

Introduction
5 Essentials
Fundamentals
Core Skills: Balancing
Core Skills: Turning
Core Skills: Forward Paddling
Boat Awareness
Use of the Skeg
Turning in Wind and Waves
Open Water Forward Paddling
Moving Water Skills
Surf Launching and Landing
Rock Hopping
Tide Race Skills
Surfing Skills

Two chapters of the DVD:

Conclusion
These DVD’s are a great asset for any kayaker. It’s great to get to work on yourself or to study after you followed lessons from a instructor or people at you club.

More information: http://www.kayakessentials.co.uk/dvds/

Frey Hoffmeister around Cape Horn

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:14:02 +0000

First things first: Happy 2012!

Freya Hoffmeister has reached Cape Horn after 128 days and 3925KM. That is an average of 31KM a day!

Gifts for paddlers

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:20:27 +0000

The season is coming and now you have to think about buying something for that mad-paddler. Does he/she need gear; don’t know? So what else is around to buy?

Book: The Fat Paddler
This book is a good read for anyone (so not limited to paddlers) however kayaking plays a big role in the story. The book reads really easy, so even your non-typical-reader will enjoy this one. You can read my review here. It isn’t for sale globally but it can be bought as an e-book.

You can order the e-book via Itunes for E6,49 (the Dutch price)

Book: Around Madagascar On My Kayak (ranging between E20-30)
Riaan Manser paddled around Magascar alone an unaided in 2009. Read all about this great adventure in his book.
You can order it through bol.com and delivery should be within a week.

Book: Crossing the Ditch (ranging between E20-30)
A book from 2009 about the adventures of James Castrission and Justin Jones crossing from Australia to New-Zealand.

You can order it through bol.com, it has a 2-3 week delay!

Book: Sea Kayak: A manual for Interm. and Adv. Sea Kayakers (£ 15.99)
Gordon Brown is an expert and any sea kayaker can learn from his great book.

You can order the book at http://www.seakayakwithgordonbrown.com/Buy.html

DVD: Sea Kayaking with Gordon Brown vol.1 and 2 (£ 19.95 per volume for PAL and £ 29.95 per volume for NTSC)
Gordon Brown is an expert and any sea kayaker can learn from his great DVD’s. The second volume was released 13^th October so changes someone already has it are slim.

You can order the DVD’s at http://www.seakayakwithgordonbrown.com/Buy.html

The first volume is also available as download at http://www.seakayakwithgordonbrown.com/DigitalVersions.html

DVD: Kayak Essentials (£ 16.95)
If your paddle-mad person has a lot to learn about kayaking (his/hers experience is limited to easy water) than with this DVD they can become a better paddler.

The Sea Kayak volumes are available only in PAL format.

DVD: Sea Kayak Essentials vol.1 and 2 (£ 21.95 per volume)
If your paddle-mad person goes on adventures in sea-like water or the sea itself this DVD is a must-have. Volume two was just released this October so changes someone already has it are slim.

The Sea Kayak volumes are available in PAL and NTSC format.

You can order the DVD’s at http://www.kayakessentials.co.uk/

In the future there also will be a boxed set containing Sea Kayak Essentials vol.1 and 2.

Gear is a no-go unless you have a list or are in kayaking yourself.
What does someone already have, what does a certain paddler need. What size, etc. etc. I would only advise buying gear to people that either have a wish list or kayak themselves.

Celebrating the end of the season with Snert

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:55:47 +0000

Snert

On the 5th of November it was time for the annual Snertjourney to celebrate the end of the season. Now you are probably wondering what ‘snert’ is. Snert is a Dutch version of Pea Soup (read wiki). Snert normally is associated with bad weather and winter. But on this day it was beautiful weather. A BBQ would have been more appropriate. In the morning I finally could pick up my kayak at the shop after it went away for reparations.
At 15.00 we began at the local water with 15 boats. Both kayaks as canoes. Always a beautiful sight when a group op kayaks and canoes are on the water. After a good paddle it was time to eat snert. Afther snert it was time for a tradition within this tradition. Honorary member mister Giel tells a story. As it was a good story I want to share it with you.

Mister Giel and his wife went on holiday to Scotland, while eating at the local pub the met other canoe paddlers and where invited for a paddle. Mister Giel and his wife did not have any gear with them and do not like fast flowing rivers but that was no problem. It would be a nice paddle and the local couple would bring extra gear and canoe. The next day mister Giel and his wife where wondering why the canoes where so robust as they would go on a nice and calm paddle.. While paddling the locals told mister Giel to stay behind them at all times. Another mystery, but mister Giel decided to just follow orders. After a while the locals seem to fall of the earth. There was a ledge they had to go over. One that would drop your canoe. Mister Giel and his wife decided to follow and went over the ledge, but very carefully. After doing so mister Giel decided he wanted to take the ledge again but now in a more sporty manner. Now they understood why the canoes had to be robust.
After the paddle both couples returned to the pub and there it seemed this adventure was one the locals took tourist on very often so they could mock on them in the evening. Well, mister Giel doesn’t like to be mocked so he told the Scottish locals a nice story: ‘Very long ago there was a Scotsman that went to the Netherlands. There he drank Jenever, or as you might know it Holland gin or Dutch gin, (wiki) and he was hooked immediatly. When he had to return to Scotland he decided to build his own Jenever distillery. Years passed but he never could create Jenever. He never came further then making whiskey.’ Only seconds later mister Giel was thrown out of the pub!

Two other pictures from the Snert journey.

Het water op

Varen, varen ...

Is it a kayak, a sled, a sailboat … or just expensive

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:48:52 +0000

The people at Klepper came up with something new called the backyak. A kayak for two (or three when you bring a child) kayak that you can carry on your back. Well two backs. For as little (grin) as 3790 euro (about 3300 pounds, $5200 or 5000 Aus$) it’s yours. Yes, you think it’s cheap because you can transform it in so much fun things like a sled, sailboat and what more. But sorry, everything will set you back more. Let’s go sledding for an extra 3350 euro. I don’t know what a amateur bobsled goes for…. Sailing, add an 4090 euro. Don’t know what a simple sailingboat goes for…. And a raft for only 3120 euro. I don’t know if you want to spend 3120 euro just so you do not have to put some trees together to make one yourself. Ok, it looks like a Ferrari but it seems as pointless as having a Ferrari while living in a neighbourhood with 20 speedbumps.

So unless you want to show off how well you are doing… Well just watch:

Something for the weekend

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:42:42 +0000

When strolling on the internet I came along these movies for you to watch:

We’ve seen paddling with sharks, dolphins, whales, but what about alligators?:

Making a kayak tour commercial, how it should be:

this one is nice as well:

What if you combine windsurfing and kayaking?

And something to drewl about:

Freya Hoffmeister South-America journey update

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:52:57 +0000

Freya Hoffmeister paddled almost 1500KM in 46 days and arrived in Punta Durazno Chico. Untill now there where some small set-backs like; a defect on the rudder, days that she could not paddle because of bad weatherand a sore lip. Her rudder fin broke when she got hit by a big wave that made her even bail. Yep, also advanced paddlers like Freya Hoffmeister have to bail sometime (read her blog entry about what happend). The best stuff to read about on her blog are stories like the one where a babyseal sees a good foster-mum in Freya’s kayak.

One Man Epic finishes kayak stage

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:20:52 +0000

After 1172KM of paddling the first stage of the One Man Epic journey is completed. He now will enter the dessert, somewhere a kayak has no use. If the stories from Tom Smitheringale will stay as amusing as they where during his kayak stage it will be worth the follow the other stage as well even if there is no kayaking involved.