January 9th, 10th & 11th will mark the first Symposium of it’s kind on the west coast. With a quiver full of Professional Coaches and a format of the finest instruction possible, this event will rock the US Sea Kayaking Community with professional education and enthusiasm everyone has been waiting for.
Don’t miss this one of a kind event, in a one of a kind location!
Pilot Island is a small dolomite outcrop that sits in the middle of the Death’s Door Passage off the tip of Door County, Wisconsin. It makes a great day trip…as long as you remember that you aren’t allowed to land. Read the rest of this entry »
As explorers mapped the worlds Oceans and coastlines they discovered certain major headlands that were formed by countries and continents extending into great oceans. These headlands became known as ‘Capes’ and around the world there are a few that stand out – Cape Farewell is one of these. The southern tip of Greenland can be an inhospitable place and heading south into the Atlantic from it the next stop is Antarctica. This mass of water, frequent storms and ice have sculptured Cape Farewell into a formidable line of cliffs, mountains and turbulent reefs and skerries.
Last year, P&H launched their new “kink-free” skeg system. The system combines the best of both worlds: the ease of maintenance of a rope skeg with the precise trimming found in cable skegs. Moreover, the system is lightweight and fully field maintainable. While some kayak companies are making things more complicated (pneumatic skegs, for instance), I think the P&H approach of simple solutions for simple problems makes a great deal of sense.
Like anything new, however, there’s a bit of a learning curve involved as people learn how the new technology functions. In my travels this summer, I’ve come across a few paddlers who’ve said they find the new skeg difficult to deploy. As it turns out, every one of those individuals was engaging the click slider on the skeg the wrong way. As soon as I showed them the correct technique (pushing forward to unlock the slider, not squeezing the trigger!), they were thrilled.
To get the word out, I put together this little video going over the system, how to deploy it, and how to adjust the tension on the skeg. Considering I was able to remove and replace the skeg system with one hand, while filming with my digital camera in the other, I’d say it’s pretty easy…even for a guy with two left thumbs like me! Enjoy!
After producing the award winning film Pacific Horizons in 2007, everyone kept asking “so what are you doing next?” This is always a difficult question to answer right after a big expedition, film project, or trip, but we had an idea brewing. Lise-Anne and I were keen to come east and document the maritime culture, great sea paddling and people of the east coast. So we started to brainstorm destinations and people to film. Everything from Florida to Newfoundland was on our radar and eventually we honed in on several key locations. With the gracious support of several sponsors and lots of logistics coordination, we had what we needed to hit the road and start filming our next adventure sea kayaking DVD. Eastern Horizons was born. Starting with a trip to Newfoundland to paddle with the icebergs, followed by a 2 month long road trip from North Carolina to Quebec, we were blown away by the hospitality, wildlife and scenery along the way. Here are a few details from the journey and information on the film to come!
For the fifth year running, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the midwest’s largest paddle shop–Rutabaga in Madison, WI–at the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium (July 11-13, 2008). Door County is narrow finger of land that stretches about 70 miles out into Lake Michigan, dividing Green Bay to the north from open water to the east. It’s a picturesque place to paddle, dotted with small fishing towns, B&B’s, rocky harbors, and bluffs.
One highlight for me was the chance to test paddle the new Scorpio.
P&H Sea Kayaks was on hand for the Mountain Equipment Co-op Paddlefest in Toronto, Canada June 13-15. The P&H Great Lakes Squad was mobilized for a border crossing, as Kelly Blades and I made the trek to this always fun event.
Kayaking pictures are normally too special to have a chance of winning a “normal ” photo contest.
I was astonished as several days agao I was one of 10 winners in a photo competition with the topic illusion. The picture shows the Capella of my wife in the hand of a “giant”. I guess normal people don´t get that perspective “so often”…that was the reason…
In late spring me and my friend Sebastian went for a trip along the German west coast. Our route was always changing between the chain of island in front of the coast and the inner wadden sea. We where quite lucky with the weatherкомпютри втора употреба except a three days period of thunder storms. Here are some pictures of that trip. My boat of choise was the Quest with it´s high volume for long touring and nice beahvior in more interesting waters.
Read more about that trip here: http://liquidmedicine.blogspot.com/
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