The Paddler ezine issue 24 July Salty cover 2015

PADDLER Peter Hutchison

DW15

Ultimate marathon

The International digital magazine for recreational paddlers

ezine

PELION Classical

Greek sea kayaking

ITALY

Life is good 2

Issue 24 June 2015

SERRASOLSES Interview with Aniol

Contents

Norwegian summer Photo: Frode Wiggen Editor

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

Advertising sales

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

Covers

Kayak: Aniol Serrasolses, Puma Falls, Chile by LJ Groth SUP: Chilika Lake, India by Paul Hyman Salty: Patagonia, Chile by Erin Bastian

Additional contributor credits: Aidan Egan Tranter, Tez Plavenieks, Steve Brooks, Dale Mears, Richard M. Harpham, Phil Carr, Brett Merchant, Eric Parker, Jules Domine, Albert Aixas, Dominic James, Ollie Harding, Lee Franklin, Mike Burnett, Christine Pinsonneault and Claudia Van Wijk.

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

Next issue is August 2015 with a deadline of submissions on July 20th. Technical Information: Contributions preferably as a Microsoft Word file with 1200-2000 words, emailed to submissions@thepaddler.ezine.com. Images should be hi-resolution and emailed with the Word file or if preferred, a Dropbox folder will be created for you. The Paddler ezine encourages contributions of any nature but reserves the right to edit to the space available. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishing parent company, 2b Graphic Design Limited. The publishing of an advertisement in The Paddler ezine does not necessarily mean that the parent company, 2b Graphic Design Limited, endorse the company, item or service advertised. All material in The Paddler ezine is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction without prior permission from the editor is forbidden.

Issue 24 June 2015

004 The Paddler’s Planet

By Christian Wagley

006 Two nations separated

By Steffan Meyric Hughes

010 Coaching

Transfer of knowledge by Dave Rossetter

014 Testing, testing

Tons of new kit reviewed and tested

032 South Africa

Triwaters Tour part two by Franz Fuls

040 An interview with…

Aniol Serrasolses

050 The Vikings are coming part 2 Italy-Greece by Chris Paton

060 Russia

The Volga River from source to sea by Mark Kalch

074 United Kingdom

Devizes to Westminster 2015 by Peter Hutchison

086 Chile

The wilderness of Patagonia by Erin Bastian

098 Greece

Mythical Pelion by Apostolos Kontoulis

110 Coaching

Running rapids ‘powered up’ by Corran Addison

118 India

Indian Surf Festival & Lake Chilika by Paul Hyman

130 Coaching

Perfecting static turns by Paul Bull

134 Canada

The Canadian shield by Adrick Brock

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Photo: Joan Vienot

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By Christian Wagley

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

My choice to paddle

I recently thought back to the beginning of my life as a paddler, and I counted the years—22 years of paddling so far. It was one of the best and most life-changing decisions I’ve made—one that allowed me to understand, appreciate and experience the natural world better than I could in any other way.

kayak and I have caused minimal disturbance to the places I love—travelling through quietly and powered by only the clean energy of my muscles.

As a child I loved to go fishing, but stopped in my teenage years. After a decade of paddling I thought about how many fish I routinely saw from my kayak and that I should pick-up a pole once again. In rediscovering fishing I have enjoyed the challenge of luring-in a fish and bringing it alongside to marvel at I grew-up fishing and exploring along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. After college I the perfect beauty of its form. And then to almost started noticing sea kayaks around the Bay, as they always let it go to swim again. It’s also kept me just a little closer to pleasant youthful memories, which is finally made their way south and east from always a good thing. traditional areas of popularity in Canada and the Pacific northwest.

The growth in my skills and passion as a kayaker has paralleled my growth as an environmentalist. When I When I first thought of getting a small boat I had a began kayaking as a young adult, I was more canoe on my mind. But the kayaks looked so sleek, and I was mesmerized by the many magazine articles interested in the science of environmental issues than with kayakers doing amazing things in beautiful places. in advocating for protection of the environment.

After a kayak shop opened near me I showed-up for a demo day and took my first paddle stroke in a kayak. I was hooked.

The kayak moved so quietly and easily through the water, and sitting so close to the water allowed me to really experience it. A friend had a lead on a slightly used kayak that had just completed a trip through the Florida Everglades, and soon it was mine.

I began to explore the Chesapeake and the rivers that feed it, and I saw things I had never seen before. In paddling through the shallows I observed the underwater grasses that had once covered much of the shallow Bay waters but now grew on just a fraction of their former range. One day I paddled just 20 feet or so beneath a pair of osprey perched in a tree, giving me a close-up experience I’d never had from land.

Over the years I’ve paddled alongside massive schools of fish, watched dolphins and sturgeon swim just beneath my kayak, and followed sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. And over many miles of paddling and exploring I have the satisfaction of knowing that my

Over the years I have changed my response to the imbalance of the human relationship with our planet, from just wanting to understand it better to advocating for positive change that brings it back into balance. I credit much of that evolution to my time on the water, experiencing my favourite waterways more deeply than I could in any other way.

When I go for a paddle I’m observing as a concerned scientist, gathering information to help make good decisions that restore that balance. I note the areas that have healthy seagrass beds and those that don’t, the colour of the water, runoff from developed areas on land, and where fish and wildlife are healthy. As paddlers, we are all citizen-scientists to some degree, since we spend so much time on the water and observe changes in our waterways.

Every day I am healthier in mind and body, better informed, and more passionate about environmental issues because I’m a paddler. As a kayaker now for fully one-half of my life, it’s quite easy to know that the joys of paddling and the bonds with nature that it creates for me will keep me paddling for the rest of my life.

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Y

STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

You call it class, I call it grade… let’s call the whole thing off Steffan Meyric Hughes on two nations separated by a common language

American modifications to English used to be a staple lament of the English. We used to complain bitterly that they removed the ‘u’ from ‘colour’, ‘favour’ and so on; that their expression was intemperate and crude, their new words so often rooted in the enthusiasms of the day rather than in the scholarly traditions of Greek and Latin.

These days, most of us just speak in American English – perhaps unconsciously (“I’m good” for instance, has largely taken over from “I’m well”). Nowhere has this backdoor cultural hegemony been stronger than in kayaking, starting with the word ‘kayak’ itself. When I started paddling in the late 80s, we were all canoeists, doing canoeing in… canoes. Our magazine of choice was, of course,The Canoeist. No one went boating, the only sending that was done was of letters and postcards and people did not fire things up.They just got on with it.

This Americanisation is all the more strange in a culture that (outwardly) at least has come to vilify, or even reject American values. Even would-be leaders of Britain lapse into American slang, like Ed Miliband, whose answer to Jeremy Paxman recently, on the question of whether or not he was tough enough to be PM, was the speakeasy-vintage “Hell Yeah!”. Sometimes though, American terms are better than their British counterparts. Even Fowler and Fowler, the best commentators on English usage there have ever been, are fair-minded enough to comment in The King’s English that ‘fall’, for instance, is a superior word to ‘autumn’ in every respect: more descriptive, more Anglo-Saxon, and shorter.

The willingness of English to accept new words is its strength, say some. This is not usually true: new terms usually displace old ones rather than complement them, and growth through ignorance is just lexicographical cancer.

So the challenge for those of us who care about our language is, therefore, one of judgement: if an American word or phrase is better than an English one, let’s use it. “Go big or go home” is, for instance, a lot stronger than “do your best or leave now”. If it’s not, let’s get high on our own (dwindling) word supply instead.

Access, egress/put-in, take-out

Access points and egress points sound like Alan Partridge trying to write the Highway Code. The Americans open their score on this one, with the vastly preferable “put-in” and “take-out”.

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Photos: Steve Brook Steffan has been paddling on and off since 1988, when he first stepped into a Perception Mirage.

He is a keen historian of the sport and author of Circle Line: around London in a Small Boat (2012). These days, he paddles a dark blue Jackson AllStar (2010). He is a full-time yachting journalist in his day job.

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Bony

Shallow… I have no idea where this comes from.

Like most exuberant argot, it has the tang of the new world to it. But then it could be a British expression. Either way, it’s more descriptive than the old terms “scrapy” or just “shallow”.

Bow rudder/duffek stroke/ hanging draw

The bow rudder (UK) or the Duffek stroke (US), is now redundant in all but slalom, although it’s still a graceful and powerful way to turn sharply without adding forward or reverse speed. It is named (in US English) after the Czech/Swiss paddler Milo Duffek who invented it and developed it in the 1950s. The British term, bow rudder, is more instantly comprehensible, but loses the historical connotation. The term ‘hanging draw’ takes a poor third in this race.

Break out/eddy out

Break-out is the English term here. Both seem to describe the move well enough, so we might as well stick with the English.

Gnarly

1970s US surfer slang, by the 80s, it had sprouted a secondary meaning – its antonym.

Like ‘bad’, ‘wicked’ and ‘sick’, it can be used as a term of approbation but rarely is this side of the Atlantic. It’s more often used in kayaking in its ‘noun form’ – gnar, and often used to describe Norwegian creeking – and why not?

Photos: Steve Brook

Grade/Class

Because the Americans lack an evolved class system, they class rivers instead. Actually, that’s probably bollocks, but it makes me laugh. All the same, let’s stick with the word “grade”.

Hip flick/hip snap

Flick is the English term, and it’s more descriptive. So forget about hip snaps.

Inspect/scout

We used to ‘inspect’ rapids in the good old days of wetsuits, beards and long boats. Now, the US term ‘scout’ seems to have taken over.

Kayak/canoe

You could almost write an essay on British usage of the Native American term ‘kayak’ over the years.

The distinction is one that Americans, with their rich tradition in both, have always understood and observed. In reality, Americans go ‘boating’ and British kayakers, these days, go paddling. I suspect the reason is simply that ‘kayak’ although a beautiful word to behold (it’s almost a mirror-image palindrome) is awkward and ugly to voice.This magazine has got it right: the best term is “paddler” and “paddling” even if your civilian friends think you’re at Margate beach with your trousers rolled up to your knees.

Portage

Same word, different pronunciations. The US pronunciation that rhymes with ‘Nigel Farage’ is simply abhorrent, as awful as ‘pasta’ with a long initial ‘a’ or homage (again, to rhyme with Farage). The proper pronunciation is ‘portidge’.

Please never say it any other way!

Sieve/strainer

I’m sure we used to call these things ‘sieves’ in the old days, but ‘strainer’ has become the accepted terms. In the kitchen, sieve is a fine mesh (for sifting flower and so on) and strainer refers to colanders and so on, for quicker, simpler straining of, say, pasta. I suspect ‘strainer’ is the more American term.

Send

This is a strange expression that evolved from climbers (say climbers) and skiers (say skiers). It sounds very weak, as though the perpetrator has sent some sort of agent down the river and is re-living the experience vicariously (“I sent it down that drop”). Stupid really.

Sick

Sick is to now what ‘bad’ and ‘wicked’ were to yesteryear. I suspect it’s US in origin, although urban etymology is famously woolly. It’s powerful, intemperate antonym that works vividly. If I could get away with using the word to mean anything other than vomit, I would.

Spraydeck/sprayskirt

We don’t wear skirts. We wear decks. A point to English

Stopper/hole

A stopper was a stopper until some clever-clogs came alone talking about hydraulics. Then it was all holes – ledge hole, play hole, munching hole, river-wide hole, retentive hole (that’s just plain disgusting), and so on. The glossary of Mike Jones’s Canoeing Down Everest (1976 expedition) refers to ‘holes’ and ‘stoppers’ and even ‘hydraulic jumps’. Whether English or American, ‘hole’ has won. I mean no one is ever going to refer to a “play stopper” are they?

Sweet

Sweet is as weak as ‘sick’ is strong. It has overtones of sentimentality and lacks ambition as a word. It’s American urban English at its very worst and should be avoided by all. For some reason it’s sometimes uttered in a revolting faux-yankee crooning falsetto.

Thankfully the sort of person who’s about to say it usually has it written on his hoodie as a warning so you can avoid them on sight (that’s the ed told:)

Next month: EJ and others explain the history and development of freestyle terminology

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By Dave Rossetter –paddlesport instruct

Transfer of – knowle In a previous article I mentioned the work of Simon & Chase, 1973 about the 10,000 hours rule. Where to become good at a skill, or more especially to become an expert we must put in the time and practice, especially deliberate practice

That article looked at various ways to help us with this practice.This one however, is concerned about building on this and the work of others to aid us in our development.

Sir Isaac Newton back in 1676 stated in a letter about his attempt to, “See a little further” phrased, “By standing on the shoulders of giants.” This built on the writings of theologian and author John of Salisbury back in the 12th century.The meaning behind this seeing further by being taller isn’t about being superior but by using the work of those that went before aids us by adding their knowledge to ours, this in turn moves on our development.

Definition Transfer of learning is the ability to apply knowledge learned in one context to new contexts.

Transfer of learning occurs when the learner: l Recognizes common features among concepts, skills or principles. l Links the information in memory. l Sees the value of utilizing what was learned in one situation in another.

By building up ways to help students with their ability to tap into previous learning, schemas and past experiences we can speed up the learning.

The following are some examples of ways that could apply to us and hopefully give the inspiration for coaches and leaders to look into how they aid their paddler’s development.

Problem solving

Previously I touched on the work of Brymer and Renshaw (2010) about the constraints that we could change to aid in a paddler’s development. This ability for a paddler to problem solve by looking at how the task is

achieved in a different way or in a different environment or seeking ways for the individual to reduce the effort. By changing these constraints the paddlers are continually looking into their past experiences as to how they have achieved the task previously and forces the looking into the internal question of, “What did I do previously?” and in turn therefore, “What do I need to do this time?”

This works well with those that have an outcome already achieved and therefore have the knowledge that they can complete the task a way.When paddling harder waters, newer waters or trying to do something new this tapping into previous knowledge allows the transfer of what is common between the new task and previous.

Tasks can also be set where the paddler hasn’t previously done it. By using questioning with them about how they might go about completing the task with periods of discovery will tap into previous learning. This could be linking to similar manoeuvres from other areas, understanding form other areas such as water flow knowledge etc.

tor at Glenmore Lodge

edge/practice/learning Problem solving at what ever stage a paddler is at forces tapping into existing knowledge and opens up new areas for the paddler to go and explore.

Analogies

These are great ways of piggy backing on previously learnt set of rules or guidelines for similar movements. Lots of sliding, riding and gliding sports follow similar structures. This could be where you look as you are going round corners. Consider the skier looking down the fall line, getting their body into a position where the skis can then follow the arc round. How about the biker taking a corner looking into and beyond the turn could these sets of principles aid you in turning a white water kayak through arcs on a river?

When coaching river running tactics a recent analogy is finding the ‘booster’ pads. If you have

ever played any computer games then you will be aware of these areas that once you pass over them they speed up your character. There are times when you want them and times when you don’t. As you play games you learn the ones that access new areas and the ones that you need to avoid. Tapping into this analogy focuses the mind in looking for these areas.

I am sure that if you have been coaching for a while you will have many that you use. From beach balls between your chest and paddle, billows between the blade and boat in a stern rudder, pushing on sponges during strokes, riding a bike round a corner, paddlers box etc.

The list goes on.

These analogies give the learner something that they can visualise or imagine happening and therefore add to their existing knowledge and develop from there.

ThePaddler

Capturing learning

Thinking back on sessions from when I was working in outdoor centres and talking through with those in outdoor education then the ability to capture the learning of whatever the task happens to be is critical for the personal development of the learner. How often at the end of a days boating do we capture the learning from the tasks that we were involved in?

This can be from successful and unsuccessful outcomes. Spend time to talk this over in a way that can shape what you do with the information. Sharing the experience and then planning to do something with the new knowledge the next time out builds the patterns and schemas required to move in our ability. Too often we share what happened but don’t turn this into knowledge that can be accessed at a later date.

Reflections

The previous article looked at ‘if’ and ‘then’ questions as way to be reflecting on the activity.

This works well within the transfer of learning.

What we can also look at though is critical thinking where in our own time we have the opportunity to make clear and reasoned thought out observations of what happened during the performance. Using this as a plan going into the next performance and then reflecting on both of these aids in the decision-making process and build up this bank of knowledge.

With these reflections it gives the opportunity to challenge your thoughts against the different environments and / or different paddlers. This

aids in pattern recognition and what works in one place gives the start of the problem solving for another situation.

Going boating!

That’s what it’s all about after all! Get out there and gain knowledge / experience. Paddle the same rapid a few different ways. Work the river or flow and see what the outcomes are. Then using some / all of the ways described earlier to add to your knowledge.

Without having experience we will struggle to reflect. To ‘see further’ we need to get the information that is available, use it then importantly challenge it and own it! It needs to be yours to move on not just what someone else has said.

Take the practices that you have been shown / working on and put them into context. If the skill should be used on a journey – do a journey. Does it work?

If you are coaching then look to set practices that put the skill into the context of where it will be needed.

Summary

Coaches – what do you do to aid your paddlers with transferring existing knowledge / practices / learning into the new or current task?

Tap into your existing ‘rules’ or ‘guidelines’ and use these to help you problem solve new areas as they unfold.

Happy Paddling!

Dave Rossetter Dave is the full time paddlesport instructor at Glenmore Lodge – Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre.

He has been involved in the development of the new awards and provides expert advice throughout the industry on all things to do with coaching, safety, leadership and personal paddling. He is passionate about all things paddling and specialises in white water kayak and open canoe where he will most often be found. He is supported in his paddling adventures and coaching by Pyranha Kayaks, Mad River Canoes and Palm Equipment.

http://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/ http://www.pyranha.com/ http://www.palmequipmenteurope.com/ http://www.madrivercanoe.co.uk/

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Testing,

Dagger Roam sit-on-top kayak www.dagger.com

By Richard M. Harpham

Available in two sizes at 9.5 and 11.5, the Dagger Roam is Dagger’s new siton-top, which is designed for both flat water and easy going white water.

The Roam is a fantastic sit on top with high quality fittings and a responsive design, it is at home on flat water or surfing on the sea. The mix of strong secondary stability coupled with great handling makes the Dagger Roam a brilliant boat that can be surfed, edged and paddled hard.

It includes plenty of practical features for day trips and micro adventures with a main forward hatch with room for dry bags and camping kit and a smaller rear hatch. There is a small drop skeg allowing the boat to track better in windy conditions. The seat system is adjustable with side straps and a comfortable foam seat and paddlers can increase their connectivity in moving water with thigh straps.

Behind the seat is a net bag system allowing further space to stash luggage and kit. All of the fittings are well thought out with carrying handling with elastic shock cords and side mounted handles balanced for easy lifting. The foot rest system is fully adjustable allowing you to ensure a comfortable paddling position. The

Updated hatch design for improved seal and dry storage

Contour surround seat system with leg lifter and side bolsters

New thigh strips for Multiple storage options improved ergonomic with rubber hatch and comfort and durability attachment points hull also has drain holes located in the leg channels that can be plugged with foam bungs if desired.

The Dagger Roam represents a new generation in high performance sit on tops offering a great blend of manoeuvrability, speed over the water and quality fittings to allow paddlers to explore on rivers and lakes and also enjoy playing on moving water.

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Dagger Roam 9.5 Length: 9' 7"/294 cm Width: 31"/79 cm Max Capacity: 250 lbs/112 kg Deck Height: 18.25"/46 cm Boat Weight: 52 lbs/24 kg Dagger Roam 11.5 Length: 11' 6"/350 cm Width: 30"/76 cm Max Capacity: 300 lbs/136 kg Deck Height: 17.5"/45 cm Boat Weight: 59 lbs/27 kg

At a glance – features

Adjustable foot rest system Self draining hull Knee braces for surfing/white water Carrying handles Adjustable padded back support Front hatch (40 litres) Rear zip bag INTEGRAL

m .co

Specs:

Performance Durability Fixtures and Fittings Responsiveness Value for Money Transportability

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4 4 5 5 4 3

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PeakUK Tourlite Storm Hoody www.peakuk.com

By Peter Tranter

The Tourlite looks quite unique in the flesh. Lightweight, waterproof, abrasion resistant, breathable X2.5 Ripstop Nylon and the individual styling make for a completely different kind of look, which is hard to ignore as signified by the SUP Inflation Day on the Thames in March, where the Tourlite gained plenty of attention from fellow paddlers.

The Tourlite slips on with ease and is a doddle to secure. Wrist neoprene seals with Velcro adjustment, grip as tight as you like. There’s a single neoprene waist and a very adjustable large hood, which has dual sided elastic cords to adjust to a perfect fit with a storm flap to keep the rain out. Everything about the Tourlite has a very reassuring quality feel with smart reflective detailing as you would expect from a company with the reputation and standing of PeakUK. The Tourlite Storm will keep wind and moisture at bay with ease and to ensure excellent levels of performance and comfort, which is aided by the articulated arms and shoulders for greater freedom of movement and a zipped venting front. Two large zipped side pockets allow for decent storage.

In summary, PeakUK’s Tourlite straddles many areas of paddling from sea kayaking, kayak fishing and touring to stand up paddling. Layer up

correctly underneath for chilly sessions and it will protect you from all but the harshest of elements.

The Tourlite is also available in short and long arm versions with an Aquaout neck seal.

The Tourlite Hoody has been granted the Glenmore Lodge Seal of Approval and that should be all the recommendation any paddler should need.

Tech specs l l l l l l

Articulated cut with bent elbows.

Fully taped seams.

Breathable and durable light weight X2.5 recycled polyester with 10m waterproofing.

Zip opening neck and large adjustable hood with easy stow toggle.

Aquaout wrists and waist seals.

Easy access side zip pockets.

Sizes: XS. S. M. L. XL. XXL

Colours: Orange. Green.

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The Royale spraydeck by Immersion Research www.immersionresearch.eu

By Phil Carr www.unsponsored.co.uk

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For the past few years I have been using Immersion Research (IR) decks for both play boating and creek duties. Now they have set out to create a leading Class V spray deck – one that would hold up to the punishment unleashed on it by the most extreme paddlers in the world.

To achieve this, the material used must be robust to survive tough walk-ins/outs, offer superior implosion protection and fundamentally ensure that water has the most difficult of times finding its way into the kayak.

For most of my paddling career (28yrs+) I have used Play boater decks and it has only been Immersion Research who have been able to tempt me away from the brand. Prior to getting hold of the Royale I have owned a couple of IR decks for a number of years.The first is a rand based (more on that later) skirt the Special K and the bungee based Klingon Empire.

Now if you combine the features of the Special K and the Klingon Empire you get The Royale.The Royale features the finned rand from the Special K with the materials and construction of the Klingon Empire.

The rand:

The rand is essentially a thick rubber band that is glued to the neoprene deck material.The rand has a tri fin design profile that allows it to seal really well against pretty much every boat I have tried it on.The rand has a relatively low stretch and can be a little difficult to attach to certain boats. As expected it is harder to attach to a boat than the bungee based Klingon Empire but not overly so. Fitting it to the boat overnight prior to its first use certainly helped.

The system is incredibly dry and the seal even around shallow cockpits is extremely good.The deck has been mainly used on my Dagger Jitsu and Wavesport Recon and I have experienced zero water getting into the boats, which I find utterly astounding.

Kevlar:

Around the high wear areas IR have used a Kevlar based 4-way stretch material. If you spend a great deal of time on the water, find yourself hiking through the bush on a portage or are generally harsh on your gear this extra re-enforcement is a must.

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The material has also been extended beyond the deck to create a dry lip or apron around the front/side edge of the deck.This increases the level of fit of the deck against the boat.

The design reduces even further the chances of water entering the cockpit via the underside of the rand.

HULA

CALYPSO

PARADISE II

STRIKE

The deck also has a number of other good features.These include a nice and bright hi-vis grab loop and a large area of sticky silicon coating on the inner side of the deck that will spend its life in contact with the cockpit. Again this helps prevent the chances of deck implosion and makes the deck stick.

The size I use is an XL deck with L tunnel waist (33-36”). XL or big deck will fit almost the entire current crop of kayak designs from Dagger, Liquidlogic , etc. With the Royale having a low stretch rand it is critical that you get the right size for your boat and if you are unsure of the size you need check out www.skirtfit.com which is a great resource for all paddlers.

SIT-ON-TOPS AND KAYAKS

Pros: l l l l

Tough deck that will take a beating.

Stays put no matter what you throw at it.

Good fit on a wide range of boats.

Really dry.

Cons: l l

Tough to get on initially.

Low stretch means getting the right size is more critical than with a bungee based deck.

New for 2015, the Approach is the do-it-all kayak in our range of sit-in kayaks. Nimble in waves and currents, it can hold a steady track with its retractable skeg, and it has plenty of stow space for longer trips.

Overall the Royale is a very impressive piece of equipment that is unlikely to let you down. Both fit and performance is good.

The Royale will be my go to deck until it wears out, but after well over a year’s worth of heavy and regular use, I’m not sure when that will actually be!

islanderkayaks.com

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Helly Hansen Hydropower 4

www.hellyhansen.com

By Peter Tranter

When unpacked and observed for the first time, I was a little skeptical on the durability of the Hydropowers – they looked a little flimsy and fragile looking.

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out relatively quickly. The shoes have a comfortable internal moulded EVA removable midsole which boasts a quick-dry antibacterial surface.

Summing up, first impressions don’t always count as the very well constructed Hydropowers have been resilient with superb grip making them ideal for all watersports.

Specs:

Upper: However, the saying, horses for courses comes l Synthetic/Mesh for support and breathability. to mind. Unlike the all-terrain shoes I had been l Helly Wear protection. wearing for weeks that were great for traversing l TPU stability and protection frame. slippery rocks, etc, these shoes come into their Midsole: own when working around the quayside and on l Internal, moulded EVA Removable midsole. www.nswatersports.com a

variety of slippery surfaces and that’s owed to l Serdia, Clarino; Antibacterial technology.

the excellent siping traction pattern01642 on the520234 sole.

Outsole: l Ultra Storm Grip.

Their practicality also comes to the fore with the l Multi-directional grip system. low cut design, draw cord lace system and large l Siping traction pattern. heel loops, which makes them a cinch to get on and off. Add to this a purposeful lightness with a generous wider fit than most shoes, which I, and you’re onto a sure fire winner.

The open-mesh construction makes them breathable, adds flexibility and helps to dry them

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New tootega ‘Hydrolite’ Pulse Tootega kayaks have taken their already lightweight Pulse 85 kayak and reduced the weight by almost 20%.

The brand new ‘Hydrolite’ Pulse 85 by Tootega kayaks weighs in at a class leading 14kg, making it one of the lightest adult sit on tops available.

The Pulse 85 is already a firm favourite with smaller paddlers, families, and those who want to play in the surf thanks to its compact size and levels of stability – the super lightweight Hydrolite version will only help to increase the Pulse 85’s popularity yet further!

Tootega kayaks continually work on new material and production process research and Hydrolite is the product of the gains made through some of this research.

Available to order now in either Electric blue or Candyfloss pink.

Specs: Length: Width: Weight: Max paddler: Hull:

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EasyCover Silicone camera cases

http://www.easycover.eu

By Dale Mears

Kayaking photography has moved on leaps and bounds due to the accessibility of digital cameras and their reduction in size, meaning it’s now much easier to carry your camera on the river or the bank. Prices are dropping so more people are buying cameras and catching the bug. However, the big question remains: how do you protect your camera? www.nswatersports.com

520234 On the bank often brings dust, dirt, 01642 damp and splashes of water, now if your buying your first entry level DSLR it’s likely that it’s a plastic body

and not as water-tight as some of the intermediate/advanced DSLRs available.You can carry your camera in a dry bag to protect it when not in use but what do you do when want to use the camera? Maybe you run the drop, get out onto the bank and reach for your camera in your bag? However, you’re wet through and water is dripping off your helmet and kit all over your camera and accessories?

How you install it https://youtu.be/AhJbl9rgJYA

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Maybe this isn’t the case and you’re in Uganda sat on the bank between rides getting some shots of

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your mates. Its’ hot and dusty and everything you own is brown from the dirt.There are many scenarios where your camera is in the firing line for dust, water or dirt damage but there is now a good solution.

Easycover are a dutch company specializing in protecting your camera gear and have a huge range of products available. I recently took ownership of an Easycover silicone case. I have owned silicone cases for mobiles phones for years, it’s nothing new, so when I saw them for DSLR cameras I thought why not? I first noticed them at the NEC Photography Show and went along to meet the guys at Easycover.

Impressive product range

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They were really helpful and the product range was impressive.The cases protect your DSLR body from day to day dirt, moisture, sand, dust etc, and they are custom moulded to fit individual models which they do really well. They obviously add a bit of size to your camera but not enough to cause any ergonomic problems. In my opinion they also enhance your grip, featuring many textured grip panels on the case. I find even when my hands are wet I have a much better grip on my camera than holding the body alone.

To fit these cases you slide your camera body in through the bottom and stretch the silicone case around your camera.To protect the screen they also come with two screen protectors and a built in clear plastic screen guard.The case obviously keeps any splashes off the body yet also allows you to easily wipe your camera clean after use in a dusty environment.

My buttons do not show wear and tear on those I always use and I no longer get scratches form day to day use. I also no longer worry about putting my camera down on the bank or concrete.The camera is protected from most things and better still my camera stays in good condition so will have more resale value.

I cannot recommend these camera cases enough, you can buy them in a range of colours and better still they only cost around £20, which is a bargain!

Easy cover also stock a range or silicone lens rims to protect your lenses from knocks and wear and lens bags.

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Palm Meander Women’s PFD

www.palmequipment.com

By Anne Egan

The Meander is Palm’s entry level touring PFD‚ designed to be lightweight‚ slimline‚ and easy to use. A low profile design with a simple‚ secure zip and buckle closure.

I found the Palm Meander to be a an excellent entry level touring buoyancy aid. There is plenty of adjustment with the low profile design allowing a full range of movement of the shoulder and arms. The light weight construction adds to the comfort.

The Meander has a small internal breast pocket with security ring as well as a much larger front zipped pocket again with internal security ring.

It is an attractive looking PFD that overall gives generous amount of movement with a slim profile and at the moment is my choice of PFD, especially when SUPing.

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Nylon 420D ripstop Entry YKK front zip entry Fit l Reflective details l 3D anti ride-up waistbelt l Adjustable straps l Front zipped pocket with clip-in point l Small inside chest pocket Colours: Purple, red and blue Sizes: XS/S (40 N)‚ M/L (45 N)‚ XL/XXL (50 N) l

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PalmVantage Women’s jacket

www.palmequipment.com

By Anne Egan

The Palm Vantage is a beautifully designed jacket for use in both paddling and off the water. It’s 3D cut facilitates comfortable movement along with the pre-bent elbows.The wind and the rain are kept at bay by the waterproof outer layer and heat is retained whilst also being breathable from the inner layer construction.

Style wise the jacket really has that look which allows uses in a variety of environments including the pub! Personally I used it on my SUP whilst paddling on the Thames and also to keep the cold wind out whilst walking on a typically chilly walk through St James Park in March. The hood is generously constructed and adjustable and the peak allows great visibility whilst staying dry. The dropped hem at the back is helpful in keeping one's behind dry whilst paddling or walking. The wrist cuffs are easy to adjust to keep the water out and the waist adjustment again helps retain the heat and keeps the wind and water out.

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The Vantage comes in only one colour combination of purple and turquoise but it’s one that I like. All in all an perfectly lightweight to wear and carry, with an essential large front pouch in which to store large items or to warm your hands as it is fleece lined and very cosy. A very impressive practical jacket.

Colour: Sizes:

Specs

Materials: Pockets:

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Handwarmer pocket with fleece lined backing 406 g (WM) Female specific 3D cut 1/4 zip opening Velcro adjustable cuffs Drawcord adjustable waist Dropped rear hem Volume adjustable‚ helmet compatible storm hood

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The Sweet Wanderer – the poor man’s Rocker? www.sweetprotection.com/whitewater-kayak/

By Phil Carr www.unsponsored.co.uk

Since the launch of the Sweet Strutter baseball type helmet Sweet have been at the forefront of kayak helmet design.

As a result is very rare not see at least one Sweet helmet when you meet a decent sized group of paddlers on the water.

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For the last few years the Sweet Strutter (2012 model) has been my main helmet but I wanted one with a little more coverage and without a peak.

Now it is important to note that to really get a helmet that offers you the right level of comfort and protection it is important to try a number of them on. It would be very easy to select a helmet based upon what your mates wear or what see you see on the many video edits online. But everyone has a different shaped head and the most expensive helmet on the market may not be the one that offers YOU the best level of protection. After trying on everything that was available and retrying them all I settled on the Sweet Wanderer.

Additional comfort

The Wanderer is made from an ABS shell with carbon inserts for additional re-enforcement in key areas. The carbon can be seen around the four vents on the top of the helmet. EPP padding inside the helmet is moulded within and is covered in a removable Coolmax liner for additional comfort. The straps are also fitted with a press stud system that allows the optional ear pieces (available separately) to be used when it gets a little colder.

The Wanderer provides excellent all round head coverage and is also very comfortable when worn. Personally I find that the Wanderer is a much better fit for me than the Rocker, as it doesn’t seem to press uncomfortably against my forehead. This is an important point and really highlights the need to try helmets on.

The Occi-grip which has upgraded internals does a really good job, the helmet feels snug but comfortable and stays in placer even when the straps are unclipped. Importantly the Wanderer is certified to CE EN 1385 - which is white water use up to Grade 4.

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The Sweet Wanderer Helmet comes in at around £120, which is around £50 cheaper than the Sweet Rocker and a search around the net can find Wanderers for less than £100.

The small visor (now fully integrated on the new model) keeps water and sun (if it’s around) out of your eyes so you can focus on the task at hand.

Style wise I don’t think that the Wanderer is the prettiest helmet around and the Rocker is certainly better looking. The Rocker also has the option of using a large visor, which offers a little more flexibility.

So how does the Wanderer compare to the Rocker. The Wanderer is cheaper than the Rocker, but I don’t think that this is the whole story. Is it a poor man’s choice? No, I do think that the Wanderer offers Sweet’s excellent quality and protection at a more reasonable price than the Rocker range but the big thing for me is the fit.

I could own a Rocker and I did for a short period of time but the fit wasn’t comfortable for my head. The Wanderer is shaped slightly differently and for me is the smarter and better choice. I am secure in the knowledge that Sweet offer some of the best looking and more importantly, functional designs in the market place and I am very happy to have my head protected by a Sweet Wanderer.

Sweet Wanderer helmet features: l l l l l l

Carbon fibre reinforcement keeps your head safe without added weight.

High impact ABS shell offers great durability and protection.

EPP padding w/Coolmax liner.

Occi-grip tensioning system.

Direct ventilation keeps air flow on the head.

Self adhesive fit pads can be placed between the shock absorbing liner and the stitched liner for fit perfection.

Forget your PFD PEYTO TOURING PFD

Smooth looks and sculpted foam hide handwarmers, pockets to swallow up every trip essential, and rear storage for your drinks bladder. This one’s so comfy you can forget you’re wearing it. palmequipmenteurope.com/peyto

ThePaddler 30

Kayak Paddler 032 South Africa

Triwaters Tour part two by Franz Fuls

040 An interview with‌ Aniol Serrasolses

050 The Vikings are coming part 2 Italy-Greece by Chris Paton

060 Russia

The Volga River from source to sea by Mark Kalch

074 United Kingdom

Devizes to Westminster 2015 by Peter Hutchison

DRY TOP+ DRY SUIT

IDOL

into the water

www.kokatat.com l www.systemxeurope.com

ThePaddler 32

Phase FI

TA

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VE:

AKING ONTHE

ORANGE Triwaters journey part 2 Written by Franz Fuls To read part one – click here…

The Orange was a beast of a different nature.

Prior to this time Troy received some bad news, and had to return to Canada for an emergency. Brett and I were sad to see him go, especially with all the effort Troy has put into making this dream a reality – but also because it meant that the science equipment and other common load now had to be redistributed between just two people.

The day before entering the Orange, I chatted to a friend of mine who works in the national water distribution network. He explained that the Van Der Kloof Dam just upstream of the confluence with the recently deceased Vaal River was releasing only about 100 cumecs (cubic metres per second).

But, since there was a cloudburst in Kimberley recently they expect that they will be able to start up their hydro turbines within the next few days and will then release up to 600 cumecs! In reality we probably had only 200-ish cumecs when we started the Orange, because the massive cloudburst was not enough to start all the turbines.

Now compare that to the ten cumecs we had below the Vaalharts weir, or the one cumec at Grootdraai Dam. We were in heaven!

Brett looking back on the Vaal Dam ThePaddler 33

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Even though the Orange was quite ‘low’ it was pumping relative to the Vaal.

We navigated into almost deserted wilderness on the first day, pushed along by good flow. We achieved up to eight kilometres per hour by just floating!

Occasionally we would see signs on deserted diamond mines and irrigation farming but life was good!

We passed by Prieska, where two school kids escorted Brett to the shops for some supplies and we continued onwards to Boegoeberg Dam. Once again the long dam stopped all flow and we battled headwinds to make it to the dam wall. Thunder and rain brought mixed emotions, with fear and excitement. But the rain did not last long, and we landed tired but happy at the campsite next to the dam wall where we spent a good rest day.

Whenever we crossed a dam wall more water was diverted for farming and Boegoeberg was no exception. Suddenly the river became smaller, but there was still enough flow to continue. Just above Upington the Nose Weir took more water. We became worried, but remained in high spirits.

Below Upington waited an intricate maze of channels around Cannon Island. Local Kayaker Danie van den Heever offered himself as a guide and escorted us through, choosing the right channels to show us the best rapids and channels with the best flow. Without him, even on very high levels this half day trip could have turned into a multi-day nightmare.

We said our goodbyes to our benefactor at Keimoes and continued onwards past Kakamas.

At Augrabies Falls National Park we needed help again, and pre-arranged with the chaps from Kalahari Outventures to escort us. At this point the river splits into channels again, and picking the right one makes the difference between another epic drag and a fun time on

welcoming commercially run rapids. But missing the commercial take-out spells certain death. The rapids gradually increase in intensity as the channels come together again. The commercial Class II rapids step up to Class V sections that are seldom run, followed by the waterfall. Augrabies Falls is certain death to anyone stupid enough to run it.

It saddens me that there are currently plans to divert water from the falls for a hydro scheme.

Nobody can say for sure whether this will realize, but it may have detrimental consequences for the small tourism community established around the falls. We camped in the park grounds from where Kalahari Outventures picked us up for a drive to a put-in below the National Park.

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Phase six: When the Orange becomes a trickle Our world slowly started transforming into a proper desert; the water we were paddling became the only lifeline to the region.

By now water users have decreased flow from the 200 cumecs at the confluence to 13 cumecs flowing over Augrabies Falls. Every day the river level dropped a little.

The day before hitting Onseepkans was one of my batty days. We have started dragging boats again and our spirits were trampled into the mud. Through sheer determination and Brett’s tenacity we reached the Gravity Adventures camp at Onseepkans.

Below Onseepkans awaited another network of channels, followed by Ritchie Falls – which has the same severity as Augrabies. Gravity Adventures allowed us to tag along on a commercial trip past the tricky sections to Ritchie Falls, one of the most beautiful remote waterfalls in South Africa.

There are currently plans to divert all water around Ritchie Falls for a hydro scheme.

Below Ritchie Falls, Brett and I had to make some tough decisions. The water has risen slightly due to a local thunderstorm, but has already started dropping again. After the commercial take-out point the Orange splits into a myriad of channels for more than ten kilometres before joining up, and then repeatedly splitting and joining all the way to the ocean.

With the low levels we were guaranteed of long boat drags. Considering our experience from the multi-day drag at the beginning of the expedition, where help was close at hand, we decided it would be unsafe to repeat this in the wilderness.

It is very cool to survive an epic, but running willingly and headlong into one is stupid. Besides, kayaks don’t paddle well on exposed rock, sand and mud banks.

Cycling, as we did at the start was not an option either because of limited roads following close to the river, with the little existing road infrastructure regularly forcing you back inland. We were not prepared for a 500km wilderness hike either.

We took out with the Gravity commercial group and transformed into an overland 4x4 expedition, trying to stay as close as possible to the river.

It is very cool to survive an epic, but running willingly and headlong into one is stupid.

Ritchie Falls

Photo: Deon TerBlanche

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Phase seven:

Reaching the Atlantic

With the kayaks loaded on my trusty Defender we headed into the desert. First inland to Pofadder, then to Pella. We followed the river on a 4x4 track to Klein Pella and Goodhouse. We must have been a strange sight to the handful of rural locals we met, with two large kayaks loaded on a 4x4 driving through the desert!

We drove back inland to Steinkopf and then to Vioolsdrift where the team from Bushwhacked hosted us while we did our miniSASS assessments and took diatom samples. Next was a massive detour taking us back to Steinkopf, to Port Nolloth and into the Richtersveld National Park. We spent a few days there, driving rough tracks to the river for sampling. Eventually we drove out again, sleeping over at Brandkaros campsite and then to Port Nolloth where our advance reception group met us.

Now that we had a driver again, we decided to float our boats on a rising tide just above the tidal section of the river at Pachtvlei for our last day of paddling.

The Orange River estuary is a very special place.

Finding freshwater wetlands so close to the Ocean is really special and UNESCO clearly agreed when they declared this a world heritage site a few years ago.

As we paddled closer to the ocean the headwinds returned for a final goodbye, but the end was in sight and we were ready for it. Massive rip currents pulled the Orange river into the ocean and we caught the river’s ocean eddy for a little bit of Atlantic saltwater before beaching.

Back to reality Returning to society was a lot rougher than I expected. All I wanted to do was to keep on travelling and live in the cyclic rhythms of raw nature. There was no way out. Society demanded my return.

It is about three months later and I still feel like an outsider, although I don’t feel like running away anymore. I am ready again to contribute to society.

That brings me back to our dilemma

As paddlers we need water. We know better than anyone that we cannot survive without it.

But what are we doing about it? What is society doing about it?

Are we all acting like a flock of sheep waiting for the shepherd to open the gate so we can eat and drink? For how long will we continue making our water crisis somebody else’s problem?

Without everyone’s involvement in using water sparingly, and preventing pollution we are heading for a disaster. The scale has become too big for governments to solve the problem while we sit back in the comfort of luxury civilization.

Sixto Rodriguez composed a set of interesting lyrics in his song Rich Folk’s Hoax. How long will you continue living with, “those illusions you claim to have going?” When will you come back to reality and become part of the solution?

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BIG ThePaddler 40

An interview with Aniol Serrasolses…

A

personality for the…

Photo by Eric Parker Photography (http://eparkerphotography.photoshelter.com/portfolio

BIG

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river‌

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W

here and when was your first paddle?

My first paddling session was in the Ter River.

Totally flat river most of the time. My first descent was Puma falls in Chile.

What got you hooked on white water kayaking?

My brother Gerd got me hooked up as he started a few years before. We used to do water polo and lots of swimming. Hard boring training days everyday… finding out about kayaking was amazing – I couldn’t believe you could have so much fun doing a sport!

Early doors but what is the biggest accomplishment in your career to date?

Aniol Serrasolses by Jules Domine

My biggest accomplishment has been finding the support through sponsors to make a living out of such a sport that isn’t in the mainstream – all I have to do is get out there everyday, go kayak and film it. There’s a lot of bad-ass paddlers out there who don’t get the recognition or support they deserve but in the end it involves way more than just being a good kayaker. Media exposure, internet updates, filming/editing your own videos – there has to be a balance with the two.

What would be your ultimate achievement?

Before we start – just let our readers know a little about you, your family, background, etc.

I’m Aniol - 24 years old. Born near the coast of Catalonia its funny to think that I ended up doing white water kayaking when all we had were the flat water rivers haha. I’m a nature enthusiast and have lived in a house in the countryside for all my youth, surrounded by many animals, forests and beautiful scenery. When I was 12 we moved to Bescano, where there was a kayak club called salt-ter, and that’s where it all started.

Successfully run a 100 metre waterfall! Paddle the Tsangpo and run all of the Californian best rivers in one season. So much amazing stuff out there to be done in a kayak.

Have you ever been scared and if not – what would it take?

I’m never scared! Haha f**k no, actually I am scared 90% of the time, I’m just good at pretending and hiding it haha. I like fear, it makes me concentrate harder, makes me think of the consequences… what I hate is panic. That’s the worst feeling, losing all control in a difficult situation.

Photo by Eric Parker Photography (http://eparkerphotography.photoshelter.com/portfolio

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ThePaddler 44

Photo by Eric Parker Photography (http://eparkerphotography.photoshelter.com/portfolio

o

Any advice for those starting out in extreme kayaking?

Have fun! Push it step by step and don’t be a beater. Style what you run and take care of your friends.whole range of different soups!

Apart from extreme kayaking – are there any other areas of paddling you would like to explore?

I always thought that big wave freestyle is so sick. I want to do some more surfing on the sea with big ass waves and a really long expedition involving paddling source to sea with creek boats and then sea kayaks – that would be so cool!

When preparing for an expedition to a far away place in challenging conditions – what are the qualities you look for in a fellow team mate kayaker?

I want them to be as good or better than me.

A team is only as strong as its weakest member, so when getting into expeditions in the middle of nowhere, you don’t want to be worrying about whether your friend is ready or not.

What are your plans for the next 12 months?

Back to the USA for the North Fork Championships (https://www.facebook.com/northforkchampi onship), then off to Iceland for a few weeks with the @wells brothers and @eparker for some shooting. Russia expedition with my brother @gerd Serrasolses and the locals @egor voskhonovky @tomass marnics early mission to chile to get all the high water of September and Peru for my beloved friend Juanito’s memorial.

If you could capture just one moment in your kayaking exploits which would it be and why?

It’s really hard to choose one. Personal moment I guess would be Big Banana in Chile, completing a Stikine lap with my bro Gerd without portages! Group moments I guess would be getting out of the Black Hole in the Jalacingo, Mexico (fell off a 90-foot blind with five other friends), some moments on the Apurimac River – I don’t know, there’s been so many good moments that it’s hard to say just one.

Can you talk about your training?

Greatest inspiration? Who/what keeps you motivated?

Yeah, I try to be out every day. Always aiming for the 300+ days out on the water each year. I don’t do much physical training out or in the water. Seeing some improvement in the water gets me really motivated. My bro Gerd has been a huge inspiration, he’s a beast and I’ve learnt so much from him.

If you could head anywhere in the world to paddle, where would it be and what appeals about this location?

I really like living in the USA (White Salmon, WA) – awesome rivers, great communities and plenty of other sports to play. Also Idaho, California and British Columbia are just right there too.

What river would be on your bucket list?

I really want to go to the Indus, Pakistan and the Tsangpo River in Tibet – the biggest whitewater on the planet. Massive expedition – the place, the river, the huge mountains surrounding you, everything about it is so damn appealing.

If you had to choose one last thing you wanted to achieve within WW paddling before giving it up what would that be and why?

Scoring a huge first descent waterfall (probably a new world record).

The Stikine by Eric Parker Photography ThePaddler 45

Aniol Serrasolses

What are the advantages of being a Red Bull team paddler?

Red Bull gives you the wings to fly – they have been a huge help for me and so many other athletes. I love the company and the way they support extreme sports – great people working there – thanks!

You are quite a whizz with the camera - what inspired this?

Yeah, since the beginning I liked playing with cameras and doing funny videos… we just kept doing it and we are starting to produce some good content these days. I just love creating memories of our lives and being able to see it afterwards.

First descent of Truful Truful Falls, Chile.

Photo by Albert Aixas Photo by Eric Parker Photography (http://eparkerphotography.photoshelter.com/portfolio

What rig are you using and why?

We are using a Panasonic GH4 Lumix. Great for video, Sick slow mo and super light. In my opinion it’s the best camera to bring with your kayak right now.

Where do you see your cinematography heading? Do you have any particular aspirations for your work?

We’ll produce better movies and yes I would like to get way more into the film industry once I’m done with professional paddling.

Instead of being the guy being filmed, I’ll be the one filming and getting the big $$$$$ haha.

White Water | Sea Kayaking | Touring | Freestyle Open canoes | Sit on Tops | recreational | Fishing

BOBY FRIESER LIKES IT SPORTY. HERE AT THE DEVILS SLIDE AT THE SORBA RIVER HIS STIKINE BENTSHAFT IS HIS LOYAL COMPANION. LEARN MORE ABOUT BOBY AT SPORTBANDE.DE

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Quickies…

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

Juanito…

Pick two celebrities to be your parents…

Mmm I don’t know maybe Brad Pitt and Megan Fox? That way I would be so good looking and rich that I would get all the women I ever wanted! Haha.

Favourite iPod track?

La Mala – Quien Manda aqui. Sick Spanish song! Play it you’ll like it.

Cats or dogs?

Big dogs. Hate those little loud Chihuahuas!

Facebook or Twitter?

Facebook.

Tea or coffee?

Tea.

An ideal night out for you is?

Get wasted on a sweet spot with good friends and music, dance, get laid, wake up destroyed and go beat that hangover with some cold water kayaking! That’s pretty ideal yeah!

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

A SPOT Personal Tracker, so I can call for a ride back once I’m bored of that island – hehe.

Favourite paddling spot?

The Stikine!

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

I would make a lasagna! So good… you would love it!

Any broken bones?

Broken back , one time each side of the ribs, my arm and dislocated shoulder.

If you could be a superhero for one day, what superpower would you choose and why?

I would just love to be able to transform myself into an eagle and be able to fly all over the place… or that power where you can move to anywhere in the world instantly.

Favourite sport’s team?

Barcelona – best football team in the world!

Who are your kayaking buddies?

The people from my hometown of Pallars Sobirà, Catalonia, my brother, the SBP boys, Substantial team… just to name a few. I paddle with so many different people throughout the year.

What’s the most boring question you are often asked?

Are you crazy? Why? Aren’t you scared? What does your mom say? So over these questions haha.

Fill in the blanks: I am ______?

I am Aniol, I love white water and being in the outdoors. I try to live my life to the fullest. I want to die exhausted with no regrets about not having done what I really wanted with my life.

Final shout outs?

To my sponsors for believing in me and giving wings to my dreams… Red Bull, sweet protection, Werner Paddles, Waka Kayaks, Watershed Drybags and Smith Optics.

Many thanks Aniol for all of your help on this – we really appreciate it and all the very best for a successful 2015.

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The Vikin

are coming

ngs

g,

Southern Comfort: kayaking Italy’s coastline Part 2: Italy-Greece

By Chris Paton Having captured the hearts of the Italians, the intrepid Viking family is approaching the heel of Italy in their Hobie kayaks, and not a drop of blood has been spilled.

Suffering from a bad back and bad weather, father of two, Lars Simonsen was having a tough time when I caught up with the family earlier this year. Kayaking in the early months of 2015 was at the whim of the weather, a frustrating situation had it not been for the hospitality of the Italians. Lars, Suzi and the kids have spent just as many nights in hotel beds and in sheltered accommodation, such as sailing schools, as they have under canvas.

Following their progress along the coastline, local politicians, Italian schools and sailing clubs in particular, have received the family on beaches, welcoming them with pizza and helping hands to pull the kayaks onto land.The police and the mayor were amongst the people receiving the family with champagne in Mongelia.

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From the very first landfall in Italy, the Simonsens have been treated like family, on and off the water. Supported by the coastguard and followed in the media, they are now paddling the most famous kayaks in Europe – certainly in Italy.

land your kayak like you eat pasta,” suggested Maurizio, “and you will be fine.” Hundreds of landings later and the family know just how to cope with surf breaking on the beach, but Lars still cuts his spaghetti with a knife.

Good advice and gentle teasing is par for the course, as is getting to grips with spaghetti. “Don’t

As they kayak further south, the kids are also becoming more adventurous. After filming several

Whereas anytime spent at sea with children requires

extra vigilance,

spending a year or two aboard two sit-on-top catamarans requires even more

free-running videos through the cobbled streets of Italy, and recording their own nature television spots, seven-year-old Tiuri and Liva, five, swam alongside the kayaks during the family’s longest crossing yet of 35km. It was their idea.

Crawling inside survival bags when sheltering from the wind and waves on the deck of the Hobie catamaran kayaks, the kids can’t escape homework. Propped up against a drybag, pencil in hand and peering over their lifejackets, it’s a necessary hardship. Getting their sums out of the way when at sea though, means more time on land hunting wild boar in the forests and discovering dolphin vertebrae on the beaches.

Safety is the Simonsens’ top priority when paddling with two small children. Whereas anytime spent at sea with children requires extra vigilance, spending a year or two aboard two siton-top catamarans requires even more. Luckily for Lars and Suzi, the Italian Coastguard has them covered. Escorting them out of busy harbours like Piombino, the coastguard has the Simonsens under constant surveillance, not a bad thing when entering the Italian Military’s live-fire sea ranges. A quick phone call to the Coastguard Headquarters in Rome is enough to arrange a ceasefire and the Simonsens paddle on.

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Long days to make the most of the wind can be tiring and trying, but the Simonsens have a goal that lies beyond Italy. The long-term goal of reaching Istanbul, Turkey is still foremost in Lars and Suzi’s mind, the logistics of which sometimes prove a little baffling to the people they meet. “I can’t understand why you didn’t plan everything from home,” was Giovanni’s comment. “You should have.You are crazy, but I like you.”

While it might sometimes be tough to spot the details in the family’s grand plan, travelling such a long way with two small children is all about being flexible. The family does have a routine, and it is often the wind, as much as the children, that determines their plan for each day.

But there are days, good days with perfect conditions, when it is the family that comes first and Lars must bite his tongue and try not to think about the kilometres. Istanbul is a long way off yet, but it is a secondary goal for this family project.

Excursions

Tiuri has inherited his father’s restlessness when it comes to days off. “I don’t want to do nothing for three days. Can’t we go out and see something?”

The answer is almost always a very definite yes. Excursions into the coastal towns and cities have included guided tours of Rome and motorbike rides through the streets of Naples.

Back on the water, highlights of paddling down the Italian coast have included incredible wildlife and nature experiences in Cinque Terre National Park and Parco Naturale Della Maremma, being invited aboard Napoleon’s ship on the island of Elba, sailing in the shadow of Mt. Etna and kayaking alongside dolphins..

Beyond the hospitality and warmth of the Italians, it is perhaps the wild areas and secluded beaches that the family have enjoyed most.

Having received so much positive attention and interest from the Italian people they have met along the way, getting away from it all is sometimes harder than one might think. But it is on the many sandy beaches that the family has time to relax and be themselves. The kids play with bugs and thread seashell necklaces while Lars and Suzi relax in camp, taking a well-earned moment to enjoy the simple life.

A short reprieve

Such moments are important, increasingly so, as the constant planning and re-planning of the expedition requires a lot of effort. When out of range of the nearest mobile phone signal, the Simonsens are given a short reprieve from checking the weather, or coordinating the next television or newspaper interview. They can’t write a new blog post or update their Facebook status, and for that short period of time, it is just them, the family enjoying family life.

Back at sea, when the conditions are favourable, and even when they are not, it is business as usual, something that the children understand and have adapted to. When peeing over the side of the kayak one day, Liva boldly announced, “I’ll just wait until the next wave comes.” And when it did, “I won’t do that again, it was cold.”

Beyond the hospitality and

warmth of th

it is perhaps the wild areas and secluded

he Italians,

d beaches that the family have enjoyed most.

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As the family continue their journey, the children become more and more confident, bringing a smile to lips of their parents. Like when Tiuri commented on the campfire being tended by a group of soldiers camping nearby. “Dad,” he said, “those wimps over there don’t know how to make a real campfire.”

The family project is of course also the makings of a career for the two adventurous parents. As soon as they make camp in an area with Internet connections, after the children have been put to bed, it is time to connect with the world and satisfy the interest of a growing community of appreciative and curious people connected by this intrepid family. Riding the wave of social media can be just as satisfying as kayaking at sea as the comments and greetings online set up connections along the coast and spur the family on their way.

Greece is next, or will it be Albania? The family is keeping their options open and paying close attention to everything from the weather to the current political and social climate in each of the countries they must visit to achieve their goal.

Maintaining the gear and sourcing spare parts, buying fresh food, obtaining clean water, planning the route, all things that most paddlers do when undertaking an expedition, be it a weekend break or a multi-day trip, things the Simonsens are very familiar with. Having just passed the one year mark of their expedition, the family is still going strong, taking things in their stride and enjoying more than a few moments of reflection, something Lars has a tendency to do, as he did earlier this year in Levanto.

Placing a hand on his son’s shoulder, Lars pointed out to sea. “That looks like it would be an exciting stretch of coast to paddle, don’t you think?”

Tiuri looked up at his father with a questioning look. “But, dad, we have just done that.”

“Yes,” said Lars, a huge satisfied smile spreading across his face.

As they near the heel of Italy, the Simonsens are preparing for the big crossing to Greece and the adventures that await them as they continue on their amazing journey.

Links

http://lifeisgoodfollowus.com/ https://www.facebook.com/lifeisgoodfollowus https://twitter.com/lifeisGOODfolus Hobie Mirage and all Hobie models available from Hobie Catcentre http://hobiecatcentre.co.uk or 01202 671661

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VOLGA

Mother the national river of

RUSSIA

solo. From source to sea

Russia’sVolga River is not only the longest in Europe at some 2,300 miles in length, it is also the continent’s largest river in terms of discharge and drainage basin area. For hundreds of years this giant waterway has been utilised for transportation, irrigation, trade, energy and recreation. It has witnessed the rise and fall of empires, world wars, the break up of the Soviet Union and Russia’s twenty-first century emergence.

By Mark Kalch

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The ultimate source of MotherVolga ThePaddler 62

sits amongst the green, rolling Valdai Hills, 250 miles northwest of Moscow. Unlike the Amazon and Missouri-Mississippi River sources I had approached before, access to the river’s beginning is a breeze and is marked by a small shrine, an imposing church and a scattering of houses.

Like big rivers the world over, the Volga’s source is auspicious in it’s humble beginnings. Just a small pond-like body of water over which had been built the aforementioned shrine and which a few weeks earlier had been frozen over. As I set off to follow the waterway, rain began in ernest. It was cold, bleak and once more I found myself alone in a strange land ready to undertake another big river descent from source to sea.

The river’s drainage is contained in a small, marshy valley. I walked on it’s sides, across its middle and along its course. A few hours in, thigh deep in very recently thawed ice water under a heavy grey sky is not great fun, but it is what it is, necessary. After almost a full day of bush whacking, I burst out of the dense, wet forest on to the shores of Lake Sterzh and made my way to the nearby hamlet where my kayak lay waiting, just as I had left it, in a family’s front yard.

This first large, meandering lake is alternately populated by rustic, grey villages of wooden houses and enormous luxury holiday homes, surely owned by that infamous character, the Russian oligarch. All styled with their own decorative lighthouses, pirate themed boat houses, marbled columns, Ibiza style gazebos and fire pits. I paddled by, studying them all in differing awe.

That beginning week, two weeks of a long journey are always the same. A period of adjustment from comfort, warmth and cleanliness, to, well, the opposite of all those things. To me, long kayak journeys, no matter the hardship are really just one big holiday, so I try not to complain too much. Life is simple. Stay dry, stay fed and watered, stay upright.

The upper Volga, indeed the entire Volga is akin to one giant lake. A total of nine large dams choke the river and reduce its flow to a near standstill. No mean feat over a couple of thousand miles.The first two dams are portaged at Selishche and Dubna, my kayak carried by my hands and alongside new friends.

The upperVolga, indeed the A total of nine large da

Fact: The drainage basin of the Volga includes most of Western Russia, an area that is home to 11 of the 20 largest cities in Russia.

e entireVolga is akin to one giant lake. ams choke the river and reduce its flow to a near standstill ThePaddler 63

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Each dam portage on my journey Each dam portage on my journey would take on average a hard hour. From landing on the concrete wall of the dam to putting in below, I unpacked, did multiple carries, dragged my kayak trolley over busy train tracks, busy roads, through dry scrub, down steep hills, repack and away.

From start to finish I pushed as hard as I could.

Portages are never much fun.

At every stop made, I longed to stay. Just sitting, drinking tea, eating, laughing, talking with these

Fact: The Volga delta is the only place in Russia where flamingos and pelicans be found.

people of the Volga was incredible. The Russians I had met were so full of life and so friendly. A start contrast to the brainwashing I had been given since birth, of life behind the Iron Curtain, its dreariness and it's underlying anger towards the West.

As my descent continued, the river grew wide and wild. Powerful winds whipped up breaking waves. They crashed on steep shores and on concrete embankments in front of towns,

creating confused water. Miss a stroke or a brace and I would be wrong side up in an instant.

The large city of Nizhny Novgorod loomed ahead. From start to finish the urban centres on the Volga stretched for some way. With masses of tankers, cruise ships and small boats about it always took longer than expected to clear them.

As the slowest moving vessel, I played chicken with all the other boats. Jet skis roared by, expensive speed boats complete with bikini clad models, cut across in front of me.The city itself was clearly divided into ancient and modern. It’s impressive Kremlin dominated a green hillside,

while in front and behind modern apartment buildings loomed. As I floated by I wished for more time to explore. Slowly, very slowly the days left on my visa had started to enter my mind.

Personality disorder

All my journeys suffer from a personality disorder. With two goals on every descent source to sea and the gathering of images and stories from the river - it is supremely difficult to find a balance. Ensure the success of one and jeopardise the other. Turning down an invitation to stay the night, to talk, to drink in order to paddle some more always grates. But failing to reach the river’s mouth and the sea is finite. A difficult decision to make.

Some of the weather I encountered on the river so far was brutal. Storms which creep up from behind the low mountains which line the Volga and then unleash rain, wind, lightning and thunder have been both exciting and unnerving. Multiple times I have completed big open water crossings with minutes to spare before the water is whipped up into a white foaming mass, waves breaking in every direction. Good assessment of conditions on my part or just luck?

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Fact: Huge sturgeon fish can be found in the Volga River. One of the most famous Russian delicacies, caviar comes from sturgeon.

The river twisted and turned,

the left bank disappeared from view as below the wonderful city of Kazan another mighty river, the Kama joined it.

Wind blew hard from the West. The sheltered bank was almost entirely stark and steep cliffs. Hardy vegetation filled any small break in the rock. Finding a camp site as night rapidly approached became an unsettling task. I crossed to the other side, exposed to wind and waves but with more camping options.

Then the right bank vanished.The water stretched for almost 20 miles from side to side. As I high braced into overhead crashing waves and surfed sometimes down their open faces I wondered if perhaps I had erred in judgement.Too late now I pushed on.

Russian sauna

At the city of Ulyanovsk as darkness set in, I had resigned myself to a camp beside an old factory. Before I had a chance to make landfall a voice called out. A man waved to me from the bank.That night would not be spent in my tent at all. Instead I slept inside a Dacha or summer house.

I also experienced my first Banya or Russian sauna complete with being flogged with birch branches and running naked into the Volga. Dinner was a huge event with new friends, discussing the Volga and the similarities between Russia and the West.

The river, as usual, provided for me.

I left early the next morning straight into a day of the hardest paddling of the entire descent so far. Weather reports suggested that the day was about to get pretty windy indeed. From the edge of the city to the next point was 25kms in a straight line of open water. Following the river bank would add another 10kms on top. I had been through some difficult paddling in the week previous and felt up to most things the river could throw at me. The crossing turned

into a seven-hour affair. Not once could I dare to miss a stroke or a brace. I fumbled when I could with a chocolate bar for energy. For over six hours I needed to pee – no chance! Relieving myself in my boat, in my drysuit was a serious consideration. As I collapsed on shore in midafternoon under a grey sky I swore never to make myself as vulnerable again.

From the Tolyatti dam to the city of Samara, the river continues its brilliance. In one day I saw hundreds of sail boats and catamarans, kite surfers, paragliders, mountain bikers, campers, fisherman and people simply making the most of the resource they had on their doorstep, the wonderful Volga. It was amazing to witness. At Samara proper, the city lines river left. On river right hundreds upon hundreds of semipermanent encampments exist. Come the weekend thousands of Samara citizens cross the river in taxi boats, bus boats or their own boats to spend a couple of days relaxing and often partying. I struggled to find an empty spot to erect my own little camp.

The World Cup

Eventually I did and set to work. As I finished, a couple of young Russians walked by and greeted me hello. I replied in my best Russian and of course it became immediately apparent I was not one of their own. Upon hearing I was an Australian paddling the length of the Volga River they literally dragged me back to their party camp. The World Cup was showing on tv, speakers blasted Russian electronica and the vodka flowed. I spent the night dancing, singing, laughing and talking with yet more beautiful people of the Volga. By now the welcome I had received on my descent was becoming surreal.

How could it always be so amazing? How could every single person I met be so friendly? On all my travels I had not experienced such a thing. I left Samara early the next morning trying to convince myself I had no hangover after the previous night’s festivities. Amazingly it kind of, sort of, worked.

Upon hearing I was an Australian

paddling the length of the Volga River they literally dragged me back to their party camp ThePaddler 67

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Another dam at Balakovo The portage took 80 minutes with hauling over multiple railways tracks, through scrub and mud to emerge beside the dam’s guard post. I dragged my kayak up behind a security officer toting a machine pistol and his civilian buddy.They hadn’t spotted me and I was compelled to announce my presence. I attempted to allay their confused looks with my by now pretty polished Russian language explanation of my journey. I also present my letter of introduction from the Russian Geographical Society. It has become my ‘magic letter’. It’s air of authority and liberal covering of government stamps works wonders.The guard stepped out onto the busy road which crosses the dam and waves his baton. Cars speeding in both directions come to a screeching halt and he motioned me across. I thanked him and waved somewhat embarrassed to the motorists who had stopped to let me cross.

Above the city of Saratov the river is pitted with hundreds of islands, big and small. A refreshing break to paddle amongst quiet backwaters and

not a gargantuan waterway for a while. Again it’s a weekend and the river was alive with people.

Unfortunately the two windiest days of my entire journey so far are forecast at Force 10 and stronger. Even tracking down small side channels offers little respite. I just grind out the miles as best I can. A boardwalk in front of the city hosts a skate competition, small beaches are full with taxi boats ferrying people to and from small islands and camps close to the city. I resupplied at a shop and chewed down on

crisps and fizzy drink. The wind continues to send the river into a fit. Waves pushed my boat from all directions. It is hard work to stay upright and all this with an audience of hundreds.

The treadmill

For the next few days the river is straight and wide. Hours and hours of paddling every day and at times it felt like I was on a treadmill. The high banks like cliffs change little. I stopped in an ancient village where nine out of ten crumbling wooden houses seem deserted. Searching for water, I would occasionally spot a babushka or grandmother down a side street. The village has a bunch of wells lining the main street. Most are not functioning. One thankfully was all I needed. I arrived to the well at the same time as an old lady with her own wooden bucket to fill. I motioned for her to go first but she would not have it. Embarrassingly, I need her help to figure out how to control the water flow. We chatted about the Volga in Russian and walk together back down the road before saying our goodbyes.

Watch Mark’s video: https://youtu.be/kiQSOnYr3hQ

Watch Mark’s second video: https://youtu.be/coG5qNXf3y4

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FinallyVolgograd is in sight The ninth and final dam separates me from this city (formerly Stalingrad) where in WWII, the Battle of Stalingrad cost some two million lives. A difficult one hour and 15 minutes of lifting, dragging and pulling sees me put back in on the Volga. After failing to get any sense from a boat crew who are well past simply drunk, I spent the night on a floating cafe with my new Armenian brothers. I was welcomed aboard with huge smiles and as usual stuffed full of food and vodka.

We talked, danced, laughed and swam in the Volga late into the night and some of the morning.

For a time on the lower Volga, villages that touch the river became less frequent, as briefly did the number of fisherman and river users. For consecutive days I am trapped in the open when huge electrical storms hit the river. I could see small towns in the distance high atop sheer cliffs.

Creeping up behind them and headed my way, enormous black cloud mass, lit by lightning in quick succession. As the storms hit with a harsh mix of rain, wind and electricity it was hard not to duck lower in my cockpit, as if that might make me a less appealing target. Each time I pushed on and in between squalls find stunning camps on huge forest covered, river islands.

I took out above the delta city of Astrakhan one beautiful Saturday afternoon. The entire day spent talking and waving with Russians playing by

the river. Sometimes entire beaches are packed with swimmers and campers. A jet ski here and there, boats too.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the Volga was lit up in gold. I ate my dinner of pasta and sardines looking out over the river, my mind preoccupied in thought. Soon my journey would be at an end.

The following day below this final city, with the river flowing reasonably strongly, channels began branching off on river left. The delta was growing wider and more convoluted. Thousands of small channels now snaked their way to the sea. My route left me on the main channel heading south west. At times less than 100m across I shared the waterway with enormous petrol tankers and the like.

My final evening on the Volga was joyously low key. I pulled out at a small boatyard and jetty. Two rustic houses amongst recently mowed grass.

Still in PFD and paddling gear I wandered up to the smaller of the two. Inside was Alek, a bear of a man who oversaw the place. Gruff at first, once I explained my presence he was pleased to have me camp by the river on his land. Another glorious sunset came and went. How many of these have I been fortunate to witness on my big river descents? Hundreds, surely.

Fact: Pollution has affected the Volga River, and especially the caviar industry. Several thousand factories dump 10 billion cubic yards of waste into the river every year.

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Now the channel I was on became ram rod straight, at its end lay the sea. Indeed, now, on either side of this man made stretch lay the Caspian, reached by even narrower channels. On my maps the area should have been deserted but still I would see old abandoned fish processing factories, crumbling houses and rows of light poles.

After navigating a confusing maze of tiny waterways and thick jungle like vegetation all of a sudden I paddled out into open water. Was this the sea?

There was some islands a mile south of me but excepting them it was indeed the Caspian. A half mile to my right I could make out the town of Vyshka, a name and spot on a map of which I had dreamt for many months. I slowly paddled toward it.

After 71 days I had kayaked the Volga River, Europe’s longest river, from source to sea. I had paddled a river so beautiful that it was almost unreal. Picturesque lakes, pine forests, rolling hills, rocky cliffs, open dusty steppes, huge cities and small villages. It was stunning. But what really had made my descent so special were the people of the Volga. From beginning to end the Russian people had welcomed me, cared for me and extended a hospitality I had never expected as a stranger. As I neared my final takeout I was genuinely sad to be finished. My time on the Volga River was over, it was time to go home.

Men's Journal 50 Most Adventurous Men 2015 Sign up for my monthly newsletter full of all the best expedition paddling, exploration and adventure news. www.markkalch.com www.7rivers7continents.com Continues 2015 - 7 rivers, 7 continents - paddling 35,000km source to sea https://twitter.com/MarkKalch www.facebook.com/MarkKalchPaddler

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THE LONELINESS OF THE

LONG DISTANCE PADDLER Text by

Peter Hutchison Photography by

Dominic James www.dominic-James.com & Ollie Harding www.olypics.co.uk

A very British classic

The year‌

Devizes Westminster 2015

‌

women did ThePaddler 75

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Lizzie Broughton and Keith Moule won the 2015 Devizes Westminster International Canoe Race over Easter becoming the first mixed crew to win the Senior Doubles class in the 67year history of the race, crossing the line in 16 hours 40 minutes and 31 seconds.

It’s a phenomenal individual achievement for Broughton who last year took silver in the Marathon World Championships and is currently ranked number one in the International Canoe Federation marathon rankings.

“I still can’t quite believe we won,” says Broughton in typically understated style. Broughton’s achievement takes places in a year that saw another mixed crew finish third – pushed out of second by just 24 seconds – and women in five of the top ten Senior Doubles boats. 2015 was the year that women stamped their mark on DW – this year, the women did.

Rewriting the record book

Broughton, from Richmond Canoe Club, and Moule from Chelmsford gave notice of their DW intentions in early January winning the Frank Luzmore Race – the first race of the year from Elmbridge to Richmond – and continued to demonstrate their focus, application and strategic planning by breaking records throughout the DW build-up Waterside and Thameside Races.

As Easter approached, Broughton and Moule’s build-up turned DW fans and paddler pundits into weather watchers in the hope that conditions would support a fast time. For all the planning, the weather didn’t play ball.

“It was great to win,” says Moule who like Broughton is in the Team GB Marathon Squad, “that was the main target at the beginning of the winter.” Reminiscent of Ivan Lawler and Ben Brown’s 2011 attempt to break the 37-year course record, Broughton and Moule shared their progress courtesy of YouTube. It’s a bold crew that set out to win DW and break records. To do it publicly lets more people enjoy the experience, increasing support but also adding pressure.

The profile and pressure didn’t seem to matter, the support all along the course was welcome: race strategy and implementation went as planned delivering a winning margin of 80 minutes.

DW commentators are unanimous in their praise for the achievement. Before the race, course record holder Brian Greenham wished them well for the race, enthusing “they’re an incredible pair.” Long-time DW observer Paul Ralph said the crew were, “looking beautiful all the way down,” while Brian Greenaway of Fowey Canoe Club and a DW veteran of many

decades commented that Broughton and Moule are, “one of the fastest crews to ever do the race.” It’s the second fastest winning DW time this century.

It’s testament to the crew’s calibre that people talk of their achievement and records in the same breath.

Can the record be broken? Moule and Broughton agree time can be taken off in small chunks, but it would need a year with good flow to break the record. Moule suggests that with a few more strong crews competing in DW, and favourable conditions the record might go in the next few years.

Both paddlers expect to return to DW at some point in the future. However, immediate thoughts are on the marathon season, assessment races and using the solid foundation of training over the winter for the European Marathon Championships in Slovenia in July.

Junior Doubles crews setting out

By Dominic James

Broughton and Moule’s build-up turned DW fans and paddler pundits into

weather watchers

in the hope that conditions would support a fast time

Junior Double crews working down the canal

By Dominic James ThePaddler 77

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K1 – a 125-mile race

Outside the Senior Doubles, there was an incredible 125-mile race in the four-day K1 class. After day one, Samuel Plummer (Leighton Buzzard) and Daniel Beazley (Leaside) were only a second apart, with Tom Sharpe (Richmond) six minutes behind. By the end of day two, Sharpe had converted the deficit to a 20-second lead over Plummer. Day three was a battle of wills, with Sharpe extending the lead to 59 seconds, and day four turned into a 17-mile adrenaline fuelled race down the tideway with Sharpe and Plummer crossing the in the same group. Quite a DW induction for two first timers!

“It was close,” recalls Sharpe, “I thought Sam would have a bigger lead after day one. But with a lead of six minutes, I thought I might be able to make it up.” For Plummer, day two didn’t go so well; racing on his own was unexpected and when the blistering wind on the Henley Straight took it out of him, it was a struggle from that point. Both paddlers are very well respected with their DW performance adding to that and the prospect of promising futures. But for now Sharpe has the euphoria of victory, while Plummer has the reflection of a race well run with the frustration of finishing second.

Everyone – with perhaps the exception of Sharpe and Plummer – enjoyed the tussle. Greenaway said it was, “A real race all the way to Westminster.” Sam was expected to be good down the canal, taking advantage of being a good runner, while Sharpe – being used to the bumpy water that he once paddled down in Exeter – was going to be better on the river. For everyone else, it was great watching the race all the way.

Teddington early morning portagees by Dominic James

These girls did – more girls could

Broughton’s victory tops a year when women achieved on many levels. James King and Thomas Diaper of the Army Canoe Union finished second, just 24 seconds ahead of Reading Canoe Club’s Alexandra Lane and Radek Zielski. Three other mixed and female crews were in the top ten.

The Junior Veterans four-day stages race was also won by a mixed crew with Amber Owen and James Treadgold from Reading CC taking the honours.

Back to Brian Greenaway who first completed DW in 1965. He recalls pushing to allow women to enter Devizes Westminster in the 1970s when he was part of the organising team, suggesting that one day a woman will win. The official first female entries were permitted in 1976 with the entries rising to allow awarding of trophies from 1980. Thirty five years later the Devizes to Westminster Challenge Cup will be picked up by a mixed crew.

But for all the increasing success at the top, female DW competitors continue to make up just one fifth of the entry field. Organisers hope that the success of women in DW2015 will start to push entries higher.

A fair wind blows - DW2015 weather

For newcomers and seasoned DW watchers, the conditions always play a surprising hand. The weather was fair for the time of year. Slightly cooler than ideal, a steady northerly wind – particularly strong on the Saturday – was the greatest obstacle to progress.

TV presenter and Strictly Come Dancing competitor Steve Backshall recalls the fierce headwind that slowed him and partner George Barnicoat to a snail’s pace along the canal section. A snapped rudder wire after 17 miles slowed progress further, and another broken cable required a 30-minute run to get it repaired. Despite the obstacles, they still finished with an impressive time of 23 hours and 17 minutes. Hopefully the pain and frustrations of a troubled race are softened by raising over £45,000 for the World Land Trust to save rainforest in Colombia.

Paddlers on the four-day race endured the worst of the head wind from Reading to Henley, and had to contend with standing waves along the Henley Straight. Paul Ralph called the conditions on day two “hideous,” reporting some chose to portage rather than fight conditions along the mile long Straight, made worse by cruisers making the most of the long bank holiday weekend.

Steve Backshall and George Barnicoat raising over £45,000 Hopefully the pain and frustrations of a troubled race are softened by

for the World Land Trust to save rainforest in Colombia ThePaddler 79

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Over four days, Junior Doubles winners were Daniel Palmer and Connor Peters from Fowey River Canoe Club who, as with last year, beat second place Matthew Hayward and Harry Shearer from 8th Norwich Sea Scout Group. Across the Junior Doubles numbers of entries and improving quality across the class continues to show through as more schools and clubs link up. Some will also be benefitting from the National Schools Championships organised between DW, Canoe England and Marsport every November.

But while conditions were fair, retirements were still at just under one third, with most drop-outs coming from the Senior Doubles.

Greenaway suggests the tide times at Teddington may have played a part. Beyond the physical and mental endurance that’s key to DW success, the schedule has to hit Teddington (mile 107) at high tide. This year’s early high tide may have pushed crews to be too ambitious in leaving Devizes, when aiming for the second tide on Easter Sunday afternoon would have been a safer option.

Sam Plummer on a speedy running portage at Shepperton Lock by Dominic James

Fitting the GPS tracker at Devizes by Dominic James

Broughton and Moule at Westminster Steps by Dominic James ThePaddler 81

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Lizzie Broughton and Keith Moule crossing the line at Westminster By Ollie Harding

Following the race

While it’s great to be in the race or alongside supporting, the introduction of GPS Tracking technology across the Senior Doubles opened up the race to hundreds more. As well as helping support teams to link up with their crews, the tracking technology pulls in people who wouldn’t normally follow the race. What Greenaway called the ‘brilliant technology’ had people from across the world watching on desktops, tablets and mobiles.

Tom Sharpe, Samuel Plummer and Jan Laenen pushing for the finish in K1

By Ollie Harding

But while the technology makes it easier for supporters to follow online, there is simply no short cut or reduction in the dedicated training that’s required for a crew to successfully finish DW. It remains one of the toughest personal challenges of physical, mental and strategic endurance.

The low down on DW

What: Devizes Westminster International Canoe Race is a 125-mile marathon from Devizes in south west England to Westminster in the heart of London. It travels along Kennet & Avon Canal to Reading joining the River Thames to the tidal Thames at Teddington. There are five races: the non-stop Senior Doubles and the four day stages event for Senior Singles, Junior Doubles, Junior Veterans and the touring non-timed Endeavour class.

When: DW takes place over Easter weekend. Next year this is 25-28 March 2016.

Where: It starts from the Wharf in Devizes, finishes just downstream of Westminster Bridge, central London.

Preparation and Training: The race is open to all. Dedicated training is essential and would ideally start at least six months before the race.

More information: Visit www.dwrace.org.uk

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Salty Paddler 086 Chile

The wilderness of Patagonia by Erin Bastian

098 Greece

Mythical Pelion by Apostolos Kontoulis

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{ Sea kayaking is just an excuse to travel the world, access hidden wildernesses and explore the corners where no one else goes. It offers the opportunity to take on a challenge so huge, even you question whether you’ll reach the finish line. I now have a bad case of the sea kayaking expedition bug. When I look at maps I see new routes, when I see islands, I have an overwhelming desire to explore them.This is how I ended up, in the remotest region of Patagonia, toughing out blizzards and eating freeze dried food, for weeks on end.

By Erin Bastian

Accessing the hidden wilderness of

Two nations

Did you know: The area of Patagonia spans a massive 1,043,076 km², occupying almost half of each country and yet only home to less than two million inhabitants.

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Patagonia is an incredibly hostile wilderness, known for its rugged landscape, inhospitable mountains and rapidly changing weather. A region, which is shared by both Chile and Argentina, yet divides Chile almost in two, due to the untameable barrier it creates for roads and transport.The west coast consists of an intricate maze of fjords and islands, where a single tiny village is the only civilization for thousands of kilometres.

Puerto Eden is a brightly coloured fishing village patched together with wooden walk ways and bodge materials scavenged from goodness knows where. The people eek out a simple living by fishing, collecting muscles and shear determined toughness. The village has a grand backdrop of towering mountains all still caped in thick snow; spring was only just settling in. We somehow persuaded the only tourist ferry to drop us off there, so that we could continue through the fjords to the nearest town Puerto Natales, still some 600km further south as the crow flies.

Excitement buzzed around the village with the sight of crazy strangers and brightly coloured kayaks. Enjoying the atmosphere, we chatted away to interested locals, in a classic mix of

world recognised sign language (pointing), and broken English. Attempting to pack the five weeks worth of food and gear into our boats was no easy feat and with the nod from the Port Captain we were ready and raring to take our first few paddle strokes.

The nerves bubbled away at each stroke we took as we paddled deeper into the heart of Patagonia. I knew only in theory what lay ahead, icebergs and glaciers, whales and sea lions, violent storms and swift tides. This adventure was to be my biggest test yet. To reach our goal we needed to paddle a distance of 800km over the course of five weeks and tough out some of the harshest weather I have ever witnessed.

I knew only in theory what lay ahead,

icebergs and glaciers,

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Lee Franklin, Mike Burnett and myself made up our small team of three. Jokes and stories entertained our rainy first few days and the landscape fascinated me – it was like nothing I had ever seen before. Bushes so thick that access to the land would be limited only to the rocky banks below the trees and steep sided mountains framed the channels with intimidating stature. For hours we paddled with no possible landing opportunity, as the mountains seemed to fall directly into the sea.

Streams would pump down the steep inclines creating white creases through the rocky crags and above the tree line, lingered the still melting winter snow.

Our journey would take us to the heart of Patagonia, as close to the ice fields as it was possible to approach from the sea and to the very tip of a fjord called Estro Peel, where glaciers flow directly into the sea. The first week was littered with blizzards and hail storms as we began to learn the difficulties of locating a possible camp spot and thanked our decision to invest in our toasty Palm Dry suits. The first taste of Patagonia's unpredictable and powerful weather had us realising the state of play for the next four weeks.

We woke one morning to blue sky and mirror still waters where hunting dolphins broke the glass-like surface, sending circular ripples for miles. The reflection of the mountains in the water added immense depth to the already dominating landscape.

The rhythm of paddling continually ticked along like the second hand of a clock as time was now measured by light and dark, hunger and fatigue. Our goal was to paddle 30km a day and in the calm condition this was a pleasure. During this period of high pressure weather, we reached one of the largest Glaciers in Patagonia, Pio XI. Standing about 60 metres in hight and 5km in length it was colossal!

Chunks of ice regularly broke from its front surface and crashed into the calm water below. Shock waves would travel out, thrusting the large floating icebergs around with an unnerving amount of ease.

The dry weather was short lived and the inevitable wet weather soon greeted us again. Winds helped and hindered us in equal proportions, but always with fierce strength. Gusts would hurtle down the steep sides of the fjords, rumbling as they grew closer, before knocking us sideways as we griped our paddles tightly. When the waves picked up the Albatrosses would come out to play. They provided endless acrobatics and performed breathtaking manoeuvres on the face of the growing waves. At least they distracted out attention from the unnerving winds and occasional open water crossings.

The reflection of the moun added immense depth

Did you know: There are six national parks located in Patagonia, each with their own unique charms: Torres del Paine (Chile), Los Glaciares (Argentina), Laguna San Rafael (Chile), Nahuel Huapi (Argentina),Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) and Alberto de Agostini (Chile)

ntains in the water h to the already dominating landscape

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the tip of Estro Peel, the more testing the weather conditions became as the cold seeped into our bones through our now damp thermals. Slipping into our cold wet fleece each morning, took incredible amounts of motivation and by this point we had not felt the warmth of the sun in over ten days.

dodged the hefty icebergs that were all being swiftly carried by the currents. We weaved our way through the crunching, grinding and clashing motorway of ice, until we reached the bowl where the western side of the ice field flows down off the mountains.

As the fjord began to narrow the currents controlled our forward progress and the pinnacle of our trip was now within touching distance. The last corner of this dead end channel narrowed to around 20 metres. The ebbing tide nearly always dominated due to the influence of the melt water flowing through. Moving onwards we carefully

What met us here was staggering. Five colossal blue glaciers dropping into the sea, steep jagged rivers of ice, cracking and booming ricocheted around the natural amphitheatre, this place was certainly alive with activity. Chunks fell regularly off the glaciers front wall, creating yet more icebergs to choke our escape passage. A single night was incredible but

The next morning we headed west, retracing our steps through the narrow ice choked channels. Once out of the high mountains there would be a possibility of dryer weather, but an increase in wind.

The wider channels offered less protection, but the breeze was dry enough to air our damp kit. The low level islands didn't build rain clouds as much, and we enjoyed warm evenings by drift wood fires. The luxury of washing cloths was now on the cards, and I took full advantage of one dry breezy evening.

It amazes me how much you appreciate the tiny things in life when on expedition. Clean dry socks or finding that long lost mars bar, does wonders for moral. I strangely enjoy the simplicity of the daily expedition routine and the things to stress over, such as the route we to navigate and the weather forecast. We floated past colonies of loud smelly sea lions basking on the rocky islands and started to spot previously rare sights of local fishing boats, an early sign we were getting closer to Puerto Natales.

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steep jagged rivers of ice, cracking and booming ricocheted around the natural amphitheatre

certainly enough, it was hard to sleep with the noise of the ever moving ice, and the cold and wet was now becoming intolerable.

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The biggest highlight of the trip was when we bumped into an old red fishing boat, which didn't look much more than a floating garden shed. The fishermen greeted us with excited smiles and curios eyes, undoubtingly questioning what we were possibly be doing out here. We explained our journey and they seemed suitably impressed with our efforts. The next thing we knew they were swinging a king crab over the side, offering us this spiky and very much alive creature. Our eyes lit up with the thought of our fresh food in weeks. We feasted that evening on meaty crab legs, it is easy to say that it was the best seafood I have ever tasted.

Time had hurtled by, and distance had gradually been swallowed up by our determined paddling.

Before we knew it we only had days left to go.

The pushy winds now truly on our side, thrusted us ever closer to our finishing destination. We dreamt, talked and thought of only pizza and chocolate. The finish was so close now we could almost smell our celebratory pizza.

Did you know: Ushuaia is the world’s southernmost city and is a busy port and adventure hub; cruises and tours to Antarctica also depart from this seaport for individuals yearning to explore the world’s seventh continent.

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As if it were a reward on our last day we were greeted by blue sky and silky still waters. Our final hurdle was crossing a wide open gulf but in this weather is was a total pleasure. Fishing boats tooted and waved as we approached the fishing harbour and it felt as if word had got around of our travels (although that may have been my imagination). Stepping out of our boats to take in our first taste of civilisation in weeks, was mindblowing. People, roads, cars and buildings overwhelmed our senses and a feeling of utter achievement soon flooded our bodies.

Links

www.erinbastian.com Twitter & Instagram: @erinbastian

Its almost unbelievable to me that a journey I’d dreamt up, just by looking at a map, was now engraved into my memory as life changing experience. It is crazy to think of the amount of wilderness you can explore from a kayak and I can’t help but think this will not be my last sea kayaking expedition.

Watch Erin’s Patagonia video: http://vimeo.com/117658247

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P

Expl

Apostolos Kontoulis

BY

PELION

oring Mythical

In north east Pelion, Greece, between the villages of Veneto and Pouri the locals since the 1950s have observed quite a few tourists – mainly hikers, wandering around this forgotten even by God area. Most were German and if somebody asked them what led them in this remote and deserted area, which is not mentioned in any tourist guidebooks, they would probably mention a little book named ‘In the jungle of Pelion’ from Werner Helwig.

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The book was first published in Germany for the first time in 1939. Main character of the book is Klemens or Xenofon, the legendary Alfons Hochhauser (1906-1981) who lived from 1926 to 1938 as a shepherd, fisherman and tavern owner in Pelion. The descriptions of the book enchant the reader and urges him to explore Pelion by himself and the areas that are so analytically described by Helwing & Hochhauser.

A big part of the area is accessible only by boat and in my case it’s a sea kayak. For the last three years we’ve been exploring the area, which is great for multi-day kayak trips. On this occasion we’ll be a group of four paddlers, two Greeks and two South Africans.

We’ll start from Sea Kayaking Pelion Secrets at Damouchari, to get the kayaks and the camping gear. Up to Koulouri where our journey will end its 15 nautical miles. The plan is to cover the distance with some stops at the points of interest along the way on the first day and on the second after an early start to explore the sea caves of Veneto (25 in total)!

Day one

After loading our gear and supplies on the kayaks, we head north and quickly pass the first village of Agios Loannis. Immediately after, the scenery changes and the more north we head, the less houses we see on the steep slopes of the mountains. Sea conditions can get challenging with the infamous ‘Meltemi’ (north, north-east wind)

Immediately after, the scenery changes and the more north we head,

the less houses

we see on the steep slopes of the mountains

but in May it's usually flat, so we enjoy the marvellous deep blue colour of the crystal clear Aegean Sea. An hour and a half later we arrive at Chorefto village and we make the first stop at Analipsi beach and head to the taverna Plimari for a cold frappe and a sandwich with feta cheese, tomato and home made bread. After this point the wilderness starts and we won’t meet any civilization (maybe some fishermen only) until we return.

Eager to continue we’re back in our kayaks. The coastline is great for developing skills and has many fine rock-hopping spots. We see a lot of small churches popping like mushrooms on the rocks above the sea along the way. Most of them are over 100 years old and were built by donations from locals, usually at points were fishermen had an accident. This is an indication of how rough and dangerous the sea can get to be here in relation to the landscape.

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Soon we arrive at Ovrios, a long white sand beach, which is the south border of the old village of the ‘thousand thiefs’ Mitzela. Greece was under Ottoman rule for a long time and in Pelion only Mitzela was independent because the terrain was harsh and inaccessible. The area of the pirates of Mitzela was between Ovrios to the South and Limnionas beach to the North. These people were living in a natural fortress made of rock. Behind them they had the forested slopes of Mount Pelion, the steep coastline to the sea on the front and to the sides the wild valleys of the mountain.

They were brave seamen and with their small boats they were raiding anything that was moving between Athens, Thessaloniki and Istanbul. They had a reputation of being fearless, courageous, and sometimes violent. Eventually the Turks managed to bribe a traitor who led them to the village and they destroyed it completely. Boats passing by could see the fire sparkling at night for three weeks with strong columns of smoke during daylight. Since then the village lies abandoned and the people moved to another area close to the town of Volos.

There is a path from the beach to the ghost village and everyone’s curious to see how it will look like after two centuries of no human presence. We are soon into the jungle and we pass through the arch bridge of ‘Diakoumis’. We arrive at the village, which nowadays is only ruins of rocks. We managed to find the main square of Mitzela with the ruins of the church but the vegetation has

overgrown and not much is evident now. After a quick snack we head back to the kayaks to continue our journey.

We arrive at Limnionas beach the north border of Old Mitzela and decide to make a stop for a swim and photos. We’re into the wild now, this beach is really one of my favourites of the area. There is a hole between some rocks at the entrance of the canyon behind the beach, which is blowing cold air and can be used as a fridge (came in handy to cool our water and drinks).

Veneto

We continue and now we have a clear view of the 25 sea caves of Veneto. Since is almost five o'clock in the afternoon we skip them and head for Koulouri our final destination.There we arranged to sleep in Alfons’s hut, which is maintained by a German couple who live in Veneto.They restored the abandoned hut and saved some of the items Alfons was using during the second period that he lived in the area.That was when he returned back here and made a bold move by building several stone little huts for tourists. It was basic without electricity, had food from the land and sea (he had a boat and was fishing), milk and dairy products from goats. Simple but the foreigners loved that. In a way he opened an Eco-lodge many decades ago. Nowadays it's a jungle, apart from the restored hut.

Greece was under Ottoman rule for a long time and in Pelion only Mitzela was independent because the terrain was

harsh and inaccessible

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Limnionas beach, Pelion

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Day two

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Next morning we prepare a quick coffee, pack out gear and head to the caves. The mountain looks at the East thus enabling us to explore with great light conditions. It's here that according to the Greek Mythology the marriage of Pileus and Thetis took place. Pileus was a mortal son of a king and he married Thetis a nereid (female spirit of sea water) after lots of failed efforts. Their wedding feast was attended by many of the Olympian gods. As a wedding present, Poseidon gave Peleus two immortal horses: Balius and Xanthus. During the feast, Eris produced the Apple of Discord, which started the quarrel that led to the Judgement of Paris and eventually to the Trojan War. The marriage of Peleus and Thetis produced seven sons, six of whom died in infancy. The only surviving son was Achilles.

The proper caves are about 24-25 and there are several smaller ones that depending on the conditions someone could go in. We stop at the biggest one called the ‘Archbishop’s’ cave. There is a monastery on the mountain and long time ago when the archbishop of the area was visiting the monks he used to come down to the coastline and had breakfast in that cave. We do

the same and land in a natural little harbour inside. The rocks here have spectacular colours that match the sea, which its very scenic.

We head back to Damouchari for the end of our trip, left with many beautiful images from the area which was the summer resort of the Olympian gods. A journey full of myths but real history as well, which sometimes is not so pleasant.

Apostolos Kontoulis Sea Kayaking Pelion Secrets Damouchari – Pelion, 37012, Greece. www.pelionsecrets.com

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SUP Paddler 110 Coaching

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Powered Up vs Low Br

There is a good reason for this. Most people are on boards which lack the initial and secondary stability that is needed to have the confidence in your ability to stay on board while paddling, or are on boards which have a lot of spring in them (inflatables) which lends itself to a ‘nervous’ feeling and instability, and so the low brace steps in brilliantly as that crutch substitute to give the paddler the confidence needed to run rapids.

Wo rds C orra n Ad diso n.

Pho tos C hrist ine P inso nne ault

To say the debate rages about the advantages and disadvantages of running rapids ‘powered up’ with a vertical and active paddle blade, verses the supportive ‘passive’ alternative of resting on a low brace, would be an incorrect statement.This is primarily because most SUP paddlers in white water have not even thought about it – the ‘go-to’ is simply a low brace, and that’s the end of it.

race

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The problem, as any decent kayaker will tell you, is that when you’re bracing, you’re not paddling, and when you’re not paddling you’re entirely at the mercy of the current and where it wants to take you – you’ve handed over control and you become a passive passenger whose goal it is to survive the ride standing, rather than control the ride.

This is why whitewater SUP paddling has been restricted for the most part to running rapids where the ‘line’ is where the water was going anyway. So Whitewater SUP hits a cap. The drops might get a little bigger, or the waves larger, but for the most part the SUP paddler relies on running rapids where all the manoeuvring is accomplished at the top of the rapid prior to being in the mess itself and then hanging on for the ride to the bottom.

Great – that takes us to Class 3. But how to progress beyond?

For that to happen, you need to get off the brace, and your reliance on it, and move towards a vertical ‘powered up’ technique.

This is not to say you will never brace. Quite to the contrary – quick moments of low bracing on both on-side and off-side are currently an important and necessary part of running harder rapids, but you want this to be as limited as possible – an instant quick power brace, and back to being powered up.

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So what is powered up?The term itself is fairly self-explanatory, but how exactly do you get there?

The first step is to get your balance from your stance, not the paddle. Standing in a kung fu stance, where the toes of your back foot are just behind the heel line of your front foot, staggered open about shoulder width or less, gives you enough side to side stability mixed with front to back stability for you to take ‘hits’ from any direction.

Standing too square (sideways) or too ‘surfer stance’ exposes you to being potentially off balance in the case of a hit that’s perpendicular to your stance (so if you’re standing sideways, a hit from the front knocks you off balance, and if you stand too surfer stance, then a hit from the side knocks you off balance).

Most people tend to go to a default wide long surfer stance. This gives you the impression of stability as waves and rocks collide with your board from the front. But any unexpected side hit throws you off balance – and thus the needed low brace. The paddle blade acts as the third foot in a tripod, giving significant stability advantages.

Problem is – you can’t use the paddle as a paddle because it’s being used as a balance substitute.

This is not to say that I don’t ‘step back’ into a surfer stance. Indeed I do right as I go off the lip of a drop or when punching through a large hole. But I stay there as little as possible. I step into it at the last instant, and out of it as soon as possible, back to my de facto Kung Fu position.

Where this becomes important is when you’re running rapids with multiple drops, and the second or third drops are ‘out of the natural flow line of the initial current you’re in’.You step back boofing a drop, land, and then have to use the paddle as a motor to change direction and paddle yourself

into the new line for the next drop.

The next part of this kung fu stance is a very active and lively rear leg. I refer to it as gumby knee – where the back knee is in a constant movement moving towards and away from your front leg, like a pumping piston. It allows you to absorb hits and the rock and roll of the board under you, without your upper body being thrown off.

In this position, I can allow the board to roll over almost 90 degrees, and be able to bring it back using mostly leg and ankle movement (some paddle support is usually required too if it’s that extreme).

Once you have this balance sorted out, you can work on your paddle strokes. A high top hand, well over your body centre line so it’s on the same side as the active paddle blade is optimal, so the paddle shaft is as vertical as possible. This gets the blade closest to the centre line of the board, and your energy goes into making you go forwards, not turning the board. Like this I can do 95% of my paddle strokes all on the same side of the board, using cross bow strokes only from time to time (I almost never switch hands).

Now here is the magic. If you’re powered up, the force being generated by the paddle acts just like a brace. I can in fact use the power stroke as a brace most of the time, in all but the most dire circumstances where I am compelled to use a low brace. So you get to have your cake and eat it – the power up stroke gets you moving in the right direction into whatever line you need, and it also gives you the ‘third leg’ effect of a tripod for stability.

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ThePaddler 116 From time to time, of course, I’ll drop that top hand from a power-up stroke to a low brace for an instant before reverting back to a power up. But here is my take on that; I’m doing that because even I have not yet developed the skills/confidence in all situations to rely entirely on a power up stroke as active a supportive stroke rather than the passive low brace. If you watch slalom C1 paddlers, no matter what they’re going through they’re using active strokes, not low braces. There is no reason we can’t do so as well in my opinion – we just need the time to develop the fine tune skills to make that a reality.

So, to recap. Step one is to get into a kung fu stance that is neither too wide side to side or front to back.

Step two is to get those knees bent, the ankles flexed, and to work on stability from rubbery, jellylike legs that work as pistons.

And then step three is to use the paddle like a vertical pulling brace rather than a lower leaning brace. As you get step three wired so you’ll be able to adjust the blade angle and pull direction so that it’s an active stroke powering you, turning you, or pivoting you – as needed.

All too easy!

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A team from Active360 returned to Odisha in east India on the Bay of Bengal in January for the second time. We were asked by the India Surf Festival creator Sanjay Samantaray to organize SUP at the three-day festival and to look in more detail at how we can together develop SUP tourism on Chilika Lagoon. Half the team arrived early and spent a week preparing for the festival, sorting out equipment etc and of course paddling in the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal.

By Paul Hyman

SUPing at the INDIAN SURF FESTIVAL

(ISF) ODISHA, INDIA

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The festival went very well with three days of surf, music, SUP races, beginner lessons and more. The festival was pretty full on for us as we were overwhelmed by the constant stream of people wanting to try “walk on water” as they call it.

Over the three days we met many fascinating people including the Home Secretary, the Tourism Minister of State and the local Odisha Police Chief.

We also met many locals and people who had travelled across India to take part.

Chilika Lake part one

Lake Chilika was everything we expected and more. Our aim was to find out more about the lake and to understand how we could in future take small groups to experience Chilika and its ecology without a negative impact. Chilika Lake is the world’s second largest lagoon at around 1,100 square kilometres, and sometimes it’s not possible to see both shores at its wider points. It is home to many species of migratory birds including flamingoes, kites, pelicans and fish eagles. Spirits were high – we set off from Kamala beach and we headed north towards Surin with the sun gradually beginning to rise over the awakening tropical island to our right.

The SUP Cup

A 2km SUP race event, which attracted 40 competitors and on the first day. We didn’t have evenly matched boards, so to get around this issue we turned up the heat and made the competitors run for their boards. The quickest were rewarded with the best boards!

Mirzapur

We started at Mirzapur with a group of 20 SUPers from the India Surf Festival (ISF) and Active360 including Sebastian the official ISF filmmaker. We hired two fishing boats manned by a few pilots and set off to make our first camp on an Island on the seaward side of the lake.

The kids were attentive students and learned very quickly. In a few hours we had taught them all the basic skills needed to SUP, including how to use the safety equipment and showed them how to teach their new found skills to others.

This work is part of a project called 'Cruisers of Chilika' led by Sanjay Samantaray, which aims to provide knowledge to a local community about how SUP tourism can be developed on the lake to create jobs with financial benefits and reduce the carbon footprint in this poor and ecologically fragile area.

On the second day, after sunrise, we taught SUP skills to a group of six young fishermen from Mirzapur. We had negotiated with their village to have use of the two fishing boats as our support boats at a lower cost in return for some SUP coaching.d we headed north towards Surin with the sun gradually beginning to rise over the awakening tropical island to our right.

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That evening we set up camp on a stretch of land inhabited only by free range goats, whom seemed unconcerned by our presence. Luckily we found a well with water that was clean enough to wash with.

On day three we left the goats behind and set off towards the south of the lake on the fishing boats and spotted a lone Irrawaddy dolphin. On the way we met a group of local officials carrying out a dolphin census whom with their clipboards and cameras recorded the dolphin sightings as part of their tracking of this endangered species.

As darkness closed in we set up camp in a deserted area on the western shore beneath the eastern Ghat Mountains.This part of the shore was empty for a reason, there was no drinking water.

So we set off at dawn on our fishing boat to Ghantasila – our destination near the southern most end of the island.

As we approached we could see the stunning Beacon Island in the distance. This a small rocky outcrop on which Thomas Snodgrass, an Englishman working for the East India Company back in 1791-7, built a small room and a spire. Snodgrass was the tax collector of Ganjam District during this period and quickly worked out that he could make best use of his time by enjoying a lavish lifestyle on the mainland with shooting, trapping and entertaining his visitors. He built a big lakeside mansion with space for his all horses and elephants.

Though his lavish lifestyle was not to last he was removed from office. Snodgrass did not go quietly and as a result lost his company pension. Not a man to take such a thing lying down, he got a job street sweeping next to the company’s head offices in London and insulted its pompous directors everyday.

After a time they relented and gave him back his pension!

Farmer with prawns

We made our final camp on Ghantasila and our group broke up. The main group headed north after one night while seven of us stayed for a further three nights. We explored the area

by SUP and bought tomatoes, onions and more from a small farm near the lakeside and prawns from the fishermen.

Getting to the only nearby village meant a 12km round trip around the headland and back. The alternative was to cross the steep rocky hills by a high path used by farm workers to take produce to market.

This part of the lake is remote, beautiful and far from the tourist track. The villagers and fisherman were pleased to see somebody from outside of their small community and warmly welcomed us. They came to sit and chat and to give SUPing a try. Accompanying us were two surfing yogis who helped with the translation, however we did find one English speaker in the village – a young farmer who had worked in Singapore for three years whom was fluent and keen to chat.

Chilika Lake part two

The Eastern Ghats, an ancient mountain range, provide an impressive backdrop to Chilika Lake, which is ideal for swimming. The waters of Chilika have a relatively low salt content unlike the very salty Indian ocean and if anything it’s slightly warmer. So you can swim for hours without feeling cold or getting your eyes irritated by salt.

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The six days we spent there exploring and chatting to the locals confirmed our thoughts from last year that Chilika is a beautiful place to explore by SUP and the villagers too seem interested. They came to visit us every morning and were always friendly and keen to interact. They asked if they could try out SUP and we were happy to teach them. One of the teenagers used one of our boards to inspect prawn traps and collect them. It was easier and quicker to move around than in a motorized or sail boat and faster than the poled fishing boats, that look a little like a punt you would see at Cambridge or Oxford.

A small fleet of SUPs would be no doubt be very beneficial to the villages as it would enable them to fish more efficiently as well as generating new income from teaching and guiding.

What makes Chilika Lake a great place SUP is that it's consistently calm from dawn to late morning. Winds that come from the Indian Ocean to the East pick up from midmorning and make the lake choppy, even forming small waves, thus making it ideal for long downwind paddles. With minimal effort you can cover many kilometres in a few hours.

Paddling against the wind though was tough and slow – but possible.

Local fishermen are happy to pick you up at an agreed end point and carry a small group back to base for a very reasonable price. Their boats are sleek and fast and most can easily carry six people with boards. They are in our experience friendly and skilful boat handlers.

Chilika’s shores seemed very safe with no dangerous animals around or in the lake. Bears live in the area but we heard no reports of them attacking people and there were no sightings and we slept out on the shore with and sometimes without tents. I personally preferred not to use a tent as lying back and watching the stars was the perfect way to fall asleep and waking to the sunrise was pretty good too.

Chilika is vast, in six days we only just scratched the surface but it at least gave me some understanding of its potential. Odisha is a poor state and there is very little tourism – other than visitors from Bengal. It does mean accommodation is often very basic and food is simple (but very good).

For Westerners, most things are inexpensive there which is a nice bonus.

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Projects in Odisha

We are working on a few projects in Odisha including some manufacturing of kit. The first will be a paddle bag, hand-made from local sustainable materials in the villages. We are also hoping to work with Sanjay and his team on some clean-ups of a few parts of Chilika Lake blighted by plastic waste, which has become a Worldwide problem and in Odisha some very beautiful areas have been spoiled. We hope to start generating awareness of the problem there and setting up clean-ups just as we have on the canals in London, where plastic are also spoiling things. Clearing up is of course just part of the solution and we hope by raising awareness of this issue we can also encourage people to buy less plastic packaging and when they do to dispose of it properly.

Inhttps://www.google.co.uk/maps/@19.7677328,85.3574742,10z Odisha plastic disposable plates are increasing being used for picnics instead of the very sustainable banana leaf plates. They are often discarded there and become a terrible eyesore and a danger to wildlife. We have already planned one clean up event in London this year and more are in the pipeline.

We plan to go back next year and paddle Chilika lake again and we will offer the opportunity for others to join us. So if you want to share our next adventure contact info@active360.co.uk

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Canoe Paddler 130 Coaching

Perfecting static turns by Paul Bull

134 Canada

The Canadian shield by Adrick Brock

FOLDING Canoes & Kayaks

Quest Folding Kayak

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

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

Puffin Saranac

Kayaking is fun…

Bruce Jolliffe Kayak Coaching Kayaking Catalonia – Spanish Pyrenees In 2015 we will be offering our: Revolutionary Week – for budding freestylers, freeriders and freedom fighters. Focussed on playing, both park and play and downriver fun. (Freestyle 3 Star and possibly 4 Star available on request). 4-11th July.

Improvers Evolution Week – for river runners that wish to push their grade in as forgiving a learning environment as is possible.

11-18th July.

Learn to Guide Week – for those that wish to grow their river sense and look after others on the water, this includes the BCU WWSR and 4 Star WW Leader course. 18-25th July.

Puffin Kayaks are perfect travel companions.

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

PakCanoes

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

http://brucejolliffe.com

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

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By Paul Bull –UKCC Level 3 Coach at Paul Foundation Open Canoe Skills

In our paddling history, at one time we will have all been taught the forward and reverse sweep stroke - a big wide stroke, starting at the front of the boat and finishing at the rear - “like you’re painting a rainbow in the water”!

However, have you ever questioned whether the sweep stroke is the best way of statically turning an open canoe?

Does your boat travel forwards when attempting a turn? Is there something that’s more efficient and effective? When paddling solo, once my students have grasped the concept of a sweep and reverse sweep stroke I’ll then introduce them to “Pivot Turns” and the affects of heel and trim.

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Bull Coaching Lets say we want to turn our canoe towards the side that we’re paddling on. In terms of strokes we could use a reverse sweep, or we could use the “Inside Pivot Turn. Lets explore the two in more detail:

The Reverse Sweep:

Kneeling on our thwart in an offset position, facing a little towards the side we are paddling on, we windup our core muscles as we reach to the back of the boat. As we unwind our core, sweeping the paddle in a wide arc from the back of the boat to the front, with the back of the paddle blade active and used throughout the stroke. If we were to use our thumb as a flag or marker, it would be pointing upwards. As a consequence of this action the front of the boat turns towards the paddle. If we need the boat to continue to turn then we take the paddle out of the water and repeat the stroke until the desired amount of turn has been achieved.

turns

The Inside Pivot Turn:

For this stroke the initial wind-up, paddle position and kneeling position is the same as for the reverse sweep stroke. However, after the first half of our reverse sweep has been completed (as the paddle reaches an angle of about 90 degrees to the boat) we roll the top hand towards our body and downwards so that our indicator thumb is now pointing down. This action has switched the active side of the paddle from the back of the blade to the power face. We now continue the arc towards the front of the boat - almost like a long bow draw. In the case of an inside pivot turn, if we want to continue to turn the canoe we can neutrally slice the paddle through the water from bow to stern and repeat the stroke.

So what’s the difference?

The paddle has travelled the same distance - all we’re doing differently is using both sides of the paddle blade with the inside pivot turn versus the back of the blade with our reverse sweep. The differences may be subtle but they are significant:

With the reverse sweep stroke, as the stroke nears the bow, our muscles have already unwound to their fullest extent and the stroke loses power.

With the inside pivot turn, once we switch the active blade side at 90 degrees, we engage a different set of muscles and wind up our core again, making the start and finish points of the stroke equally as effective and powerful.

I often set this as a guided discovery task for my students to go and find the differences. The feedback speaks for itself as they feel the differences for themselves. Go and try it if you haven’t already done so!

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ThePaddler 132 Spinning around…

When discussing open canoeing, I often hear that one of the barriers to this discipline is how hard people find canoes to manoeuvre.

Well there are a few things we can do to make it all a lot easier for ourselves. If we continue our breakdown of the inside pivot turn then there are a number of options:

We can heel (or edge) our boat towards the side we’’re paddling on. This changes the shape of the boat in the water and makes it much easier to turn. The more we heel the boat over, the easier the boat will turn.

We can also change our position in the boat, or trim, for the desired outcome. The more stern heavy we are for the inside pivot turn the tighter we will turn, or spin on the spot. The more neutral to bow heavy we are the wider our turns will be and the further the boat will travel backwards with each stroke

Paul Bull Paul is an enthusiastic full time UKCC Level 3 Coach who’s passionate about helping people to develop and enjoy kayaking and canoeing whether thats more advanced skills on the more technical or bigger volume rivers of the UK and Europe or grass root sessions nearer to home. Paul delivers a range of BCU and personal skills courses in both canoe and kayak. More information about Paul and the courses he offers can be found at www.paulbull.co.uk or via Facebook at www.facebook.com/PaulBullCoaching

Turning the other way…

We could use the forward sweep to achieve this, but let me introduce the more efficient “Outside Pivot Turn”. This is essentially a cross deck bow draw, followed by a forward sweep stroke. To set up for the cross deck bow draw we reach across the bow towards our “offside”, and with our indicator thumb pointing up, plant the paddle as wide as we can, and draw the bow of the boat to the paddle. We then lift the paddle out of the water and move over the bow of the boat and start the forward sweep.

The initial bow draw maximises our turning potential by initiating the turn, with the sweep completing it. To make the turn more effective you can heel or edge your boat towards your cross deck draw by moving the knee nearest the centre line of the boat into the other bilge, before changing the edge back and completing my forward sweep stroke.

What will different trim positions do to this turning stroke? Well, why don’t you go and explore and let me know your findings…?

Happy paddling!

© Kelvin Horner, 2015 Argentiere, France

BUILT WITH PASSION

COVERT 9.3, ARGENTIERE, FR ANCE

MODERN TOURING AND WHITEWATER CANOES PROUDLY DESIGNED AND MADE IN THE UK.

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A week of rivers in the

CANADIAN SHIELD The Canadian Shield is made up of some of the oldest rock in the world. The region forms a horseshoe around Hudson Bay, roughly three-million square miles between Labrador and the Northwest Territories, the Arctic Archipelago and central Ontario. Glacial ice has scoured its surface and left it strewn with countless lakes and rivers, making it a top whitewater destination for kayaker and canoeists.

This spring and summer promises to be one of the best in years. Heavy snowfall and a winter that won’t seem to go away means high run-off levels well into the warmer months.

Rivers in Ontario and Quebec will be prime for boaters looking to push their limits and explore new routes.

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“It’s a lot of fun to paddle a river for the first time,” says Claudia van Wijk, owner of the Madawaska Kanu Centre (MKC). “You don’t know what’s around the corner, and after you’ve completed a rapid you get to look back and say, ‘Wow.’” Logistically, however, the rivers of the Canadian Shield are not all easy to access. Like any river, they are often best tackled for the first time with a guide.

This is rationale behind MKC’s Week of Rivers, a five-day river running retreat in the southern Canadian Shield.The program is offered to experienced kayakers and canoeists looking to explore five of the region’s best rivers in a compact, all-inclusive road trip/whitewater getaway.

Extensive arsenal

The program has an extensive arsenal of rivers to choose from, depending on water level and skill set: the Upper Madawaska, Upper Petawawa, Ottawa, Gatineau, Lievre, Batiscan, and Rouge are regular destinations. This year’s canoe course will be led by wilderness canoe guide, Stefani van Wijk, and Echo Paddles guru, Andy Convery. The kayak course will be run by MKC Head Instructor, Stef McArdle and Argentinian pro-boater, Fidel Moreno.

MKC has been offering the program since the mid-90s to their advanced students who wanted something more than the regular five-day course. At first, they tried to include canoeists and kayakers in the same itinerary, but found that splitting the group by boat-type made more sense. In the words of Claudia van Wijk,

“Canoeists and kayakers run different rivers and play in different spots…

and boy do canoeists like to scout.”

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The best part about Week of Rivers, according to Claudia van Wijk, is that all the logistics are taken care of so that guests get to enjoy the fun part of being on the water. Rapids are scouted and run with the guidance of the instructors.Vans are shuttled to the take-out, so that paddlers are greeted at the end of every day with snacks, cold beverages, and warm clothes. They’re then driven back to the MKC base camp for dinner, showers, sauna and lodge-style accommodation. For more remote rivers in Quebec, the group often spends the night at a local bed and breakfast.

Gail Shields is long-time Week of Rivers canoe instructor. She says the best part about the program is getting out on the road every day, stinky neoprene and all, “The group really gets to bond and enjoy the feeling of freedom.”

She’s seen how the Week of Rivers program gets those would-be river runners into their boats, so that they experience the rugged beauty of the Canadian Shield, miles of whitewater that never seems to end.

The 2015 instalments of Week of Rivers have just been completed for both kayakers and canoeists.

“The group really gets to bond and enjoy the feeling of freedom.”

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Outfitted with extra-durable plastic seats, these canoes are ideal for canoe liveries and rental shops since they will give many years of faithful service at an attractive price. For a family looking for a canoe they can leave knocking around at the cottage, they'll have a canoe that should last a lifetime.

White Water Consultancy

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www.wwc.co.uk Tel: 01267 223555

WWC still hold stock of Royalex canoes

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SUP Mag UK is your one stop shop for all things stand up paddle related from our green and pleasant land. Awesome travel features, spotlight focus interviews, with the stars of the sport, grass roots level reports, gear reviews and everything else in between. BIG savings over the printed version also comes with support for mobile devices - no need to install apps at all with HTML5! Optimized for all major mobile platforms including iOS, Android and Win8. And it’s available in print. Printed on top quality matt paper with thick laminated covers - it’s top notch!

To subscribe to the digital copy visit: http://joom.ag/dopp Prefer the app? Download the Joomag app from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/joomag/id454833442 and read your purchased ezine through the app on IOS. To subscribe to a printed copy visit: www.supmaguk.co.uk Pre-requisites Compared to flat water paddling, SUP surfing takes place in a more demanding and dynamic environment. With regard to both water movement and the behaviour of other water users, you need to take this into account. For safety and to ensure a good time it’s advisable to have your basic skills well pinned down before getting stuck in. You’re going to need a good, effective paddle stroke and be able to use a variety of strokes with confidence.

First strokes to SUP surfing stoke

In sheltered flat water and ideally also in more exposed conditions your balance should be well honed and you’ll need the ability to move your feet from a parallel paddle stance to the classic surfing stance with one foot leading and the other back towards the tail.

Being able to complete a pivot turn in both directions (clockwise and counter clockwise rotations) will come in very handy manoeuvring your board in the surf and also help when we actually start to ride waves, as the movement patterns are very similar to some used whilst surfing.

Words: Rob Small Pics: Julie Small SUP surfing, stand up paddle boarding, sea sweeping; whatever you call riding waves on a SUP board with a paddle in your hands, it’s a dead certain that it’s almost too much fun. Tiny ripples or booming o v e rh e a d S U P s u r f i n g i s o n e o f t h e m o s t fu n o c e a n a c t i v i t i e s e v e r.

Here’s a guide to getting your first waves safely and stylishly.

If you’re not confident that your SUP skills are up to scratch don’t rush it; take a little more time getting prepared for your first SUP surfing sessions – it’ll stand you in good stead in the long run.

Equipment Ok so we’re up to speed skills-wise but we’re not sure what sort of equipment will work best for us. What shape and size of board? How long should the paddle be?

What other specialist kit will I need?

Let’s check it out: Boards: SUP surfing boards come in a dizzying array of shapes, sizes and constructions and it can be a bit of a minefield making sure you’ve got the right one. Broadly there are three ‘classes’ of surf SUP boards: Pro Wave or Surf: Shorter, lower volume boards that resemble enlarged, regular shortboard surfboards. These are often available in 100% carbon constructions as well as regular epoxy builds. Their design is primarily about performance on the wave face, which leads to a definite reduction in stability and paddle efficiency. Unless you are very light (50kg), have years of open water SUP experience or are a professional level surfer/windsurfer/kitesurfer etc then in all probability these types of board will be extremely frustrating and won’t facilitate progression at this stage of your SUP surfing journey.

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All Wave or Surf: Wider surf dedicated shapes that are often offered in both regular and premium constructions. All Wave boards will be notably more stable than the skinnier Pro Wave ranges and are easier to paddle and catch waves on. They also provide the rider with the possibility of an impressive level of surfing. Experienced SUP surfers will often enjoy the lower volume versions of these full template boards in smaller, weaker surf. If you have some surf sports experience and are relatively confident then a longer, higher volume All Wave type of SUP can be a good choice as a first board.

All round: All round SUP boards are the most popular choice for the great majority of SUP paddlers in the UK. With a similar ‘lollipop stick’ shape to a surfing longboard, parallel rails and a round nose, this style of board will have more volume and length than the surf specific models. This results in much more comfortable flat water paddling, a nice level of stability and lovely ‘gliding’ surfing in smaller waves. Being available in all constructions, you will find all round SUP boards under the feet of both beginner SUP surfers and experienced riders who prefer a style of riding more akin to longboard surfing than the cut and thrust of the shortboard influenced Pro and All Wave models. The higher volume and longer, straighter templates also work well on flat water. All round SUP boards give great value, work in varied conditions and are often the ‘go to’ board for riders getting into SUP surf.

Note that there are many fantastic inflatable versions available. Whilst they will surf just fine in small, gentle conditions, they won’t give the performance that rigid constructions do in bigger or more challenging surf.

Paddles: Your paddle is going to be your best friend in the surf so it pays to take a little time and get it right (see a theme developing here?)

Over the last couple of years paddle lengths have dropped and nowhere is this more evident than in SUP surfing. Whilst flat water paddles are hovering at 6-8 inches above height, surf paddles are trending at around height. This allows for an easier paddle switch whilst in the compressed surfing stance and more comfortable paddling in the surf zone and line up. A good idea is to have a few try out paddles with an adjustable shaft before settling on a length that suits you.

Blade size is important too. Many dedicated SUP surfers like a lower area, narrower blade.

This allows a higher cadence and helps with the sometimes arrhythmic nature of surf paddling. You’ll feel as if you’ve dropped a gear or two if you’re used to longer, higher blade area paddles.

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If you have any queries please call: 01480 465081 Email: subs@thepaddler.co.uk

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Due to demand, next year there will be four issues starting in late February 2015. Please check the website for details and yearly subscription rate.