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This website tells of my first year’s steps into sea kayaking. I hope to share the freedom, exhilaration and beauty of sea kayaking. The information will reach a critical mass by summer 2005 when I expect to have learned good rolling and bracing skills. Then, viewers will distinguish that texts reach the rapture of a religious vision.

December, 2.004

I was merely incubating the paddling disease at the time. In 2005, as an allergic reaction to adult life, I reached the acute phase and the symptoms surfaced: I visited Scotland. Now, the chronic stage is developing: I carry an aluminium thermos with duct tape wrapped around it.
Cornwall only exacerbated a state of happy, general, deterioration that it is seldom fatal. I now lead a life in a more or less invalided condition that forbids normal shopping habits, and is a source of disapproving embarrassment for friends and family.
Still my thoughts stray now to a bright future: A chronic, terminal plateau of paddling brio.

December, 2007

Pesda Press

Cover%20of%20Sea%20Kayak%20by%20Gordon%20Brown.%20Pesda%20Press.%20Thumb.jpg Sea Kayak. A manual for intermediate and advanced paddlers.
Gordon Brown - my eminent and trusted maestro - is a Bcu Level 5 sea coach and Level 5 inland, based on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The manual covers topics of kayaking history, physiology, boat and paddle dynamics, seamanship and navigation, safety and rescue, weather forecasting, caves, rockhopping and tidal races, expeditions and overnighting, as well as a wealth of tips and resources for the sea paddler. Over seventy photographs and illustrations help to achieve an excellent visual explanation of advanced kayak strokes, and the performance skills and judgement expected at the highest level of the Bcu, and over.
The most essential manual for the committed sea kayaker.
Cover%20of%20Sea%20Kayak%20Navigation.%20The%20Black%20Art%20Demystified%20by%20Franco%20Ferrero.%20Pesda%20Press.jpg Sea Kayak Navigation. The black art demystified.
Franco Ferrero is a Bcu Level 5 sea and Level 5 inland coach based in Wales.
The second edition of the book chosen by the Bcu as supporting text book for their new coastal and open water navigation and tidal planning safety courses, required for the new 4 and 5 stars performance awards.
It tells you only what you need to know, cutting out the confusing nonsense. Clear, concise, and illustrated throughout with new, excellent diagrams and drawings. It excels at its aim of providing a specific, concise, manual of navigation for sea kayakers. It covers what sea kayakers need to know and are likely to use; no more, no less.
The graphic design reaches excellence in this second edition due to the work of Peter Wood. The detailed charts belongs to cartographer Williams, a recipient of the Wallis Award for Cartographic Excellence by the Society of Cartographers.
Bcu Canoe & Kayak Handbook.
The complete Bcu paddlesport reference book, a completely re-written 3rd edition in full colour. Written by the Gold Gotha of British Canoe Union coaches and practitioners, this book is an invaluable source of information for both novice and expert alike. For the newcomer it will provide a firm foundation in their chosen aspect of the sport. The coach or experienced paddler will find it invaluable as an update to current theory and practice, as an introduction to new aspects of the sport.

NeoEarth

Squarespace

Reading Now

Ocean Paddler.
In the summer of 2007, Graham Beckram and Richard Parkins reinvented themselves and formed Masik Publishing. Ocean Paddler Magazine is published 12 times a year, featuring 84 pages of excellent quality that comprise trips and expedition reports with accurate advice on tidal directions, prevailing winds et al, technique articles, interviews, notes on the latest equipment, and reviews of real kayaks.
Already the most prominent sea kayaking magazine, Ocean Paddler is revered by its legendary contributors and its visual panache, and is set to function as the holy scriptures for anyone that worships paddling at the altar of the British style.
Outside Magazine.
Here it is adventure journalism at its best. Outside is the only magazine to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence three years in a row. I first heard of it when reading “Into Thin Air” by John Krakauer, one his regular contributors. Soon I found that Sebastian Junger’s “The Perfect Storm” began as stories in the magazine.
Now and then, it is possible to stumble into those beautiful tales of epic silliness that I love.
Buy at Amazon.com.
Sea Kayaker Magazine.
The best known sea kayak magazine. Its kayak reviews are a work of reference for both manufacturers and paddlers. Staff is most amiable and efficient. Contributors are well known paddlers and expeditioners. Printing quality should be though, improved. Perhaps as a direct marketing consequence for the broader base of the purchaser’s pyramid, the magazine has lately focused in recreational boats. Sea Kayaker Magazine is still a compulsory subscription for its technical reviews and original stories, changes should be introduced as better information is already available in paddling forums and other internet resources.
Buy at Amazon.com Keep Australia on your left.jpg
Keep Australia on your left.
A self-searching Manhattan kayak salesman teams up with a rowdy Australian male model to circumnavigate Australia by kayak. Eric Stiller, now a professional New York fitness trainer and founder of the Manhattan Kayak Company, was raised in a family that sold Klepper kayaks, the German folding expedition boats known for their resilience in violent conditions. His mate in a two-man kayak on very rough seas, the Australian Tony Brown, a fashion model who refused an arresting offer made by Donna Karan, is the son of a surgeon and a natural athlete filled with joie de vivre whose navigational strategy was simply, “Just keep Australia on your left, mate.” The sorrow for his native New York and the concern of his father’s Union Square shop, being closed by a new management of Klepper, grieved Stiller, a talented man brought up with expectations to succeed in a city full of them. His worries contrast sharply with the elan of Brown who began paddling a few months before with Eric as his trainer, who endures marathonian paddling sessions, rogue waves, wild landings in high surf and strong winds, straining always to push for a few more miles. Stiller, a Navy Seals trainer, a thorough expert on paddling and the technical details of the equipment and for what I know from Nyc paddlers, a terrific coach, strives to keep up with the novice’s joie de vivre and disdain for navigational strategy.
The expedition encounters in one of the most beautiful and treacherous coastlines on the planet, an impressive variety of harrowing sea conditions. The inhospitable Tasman Sea is rife with deadly creatures as crocodiles, sharks, sea wasps and a toxic jellyfish with tentacles several meters long. At one point the team must cross the Gulf of Carpenteria, the most arduous leg of the trip, requiring seven days on the water with no land in sight. Relief is found occasionally through their friendly Australian hosts, the striking scenery, the wild nights in isolated cities hundreds of miles from anywhere and the personal honour that comes with such a valiant effort.
Buy at Amazon.com
Southern Exposure.
From the Back Cover
Experience the full power and beauty of the wild seas off the largely uninhabited coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Southern Exposure is the firsthand account of how Chris Duff accomplished what only one man had done before. Not just a tale of physical endurance and determination, this epic sea kayaking adventure reveals the philosophical and psychological life of a man who has chosen the sea as his spiritual master. Southern Exposure’s stunning photos and vivid descriptions of Duff’s setbacks and triumphs will captivate the armchair adventurer as well as the seasoned ocean traveler.
About the Author
Chris Duff has traveled more than 15,000 miles by sea kayak and was the first person ever to solo circumnavigate England, Wales, and Scotland. He is the author of On Celtic Tides (St. Martin’s Press, 1999) and has contributed articles to Sea Kayaker magazine and the anthology Seekers of the Horizon (Globe Pequot, 1989). He lives in Port Angeles, Washington.
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Listening Now

Charles Aznavour performing on stage.jpg Aznavour 2000.
Trust me on this: Gallic sentimentality and stylish lounge music deludes. Let Aznavour leak out slowly from the Bang & Oluffsen loudspeakers. He and a wooden paddle rack will make up for whatever failures in your interior design. Set the music low as to give the illusion of ebbing slowly if listened. Plain sexy.
Charles Aznavour recorded these 14 new songs when he reached the ripe old age of 73 years. His throaty voice stirred by veritable emotion is a delectable treat. Marvellous Orchestrations by Yvan Cassar.
My favourites tracks are "J’ai Peur", "Quand Tu M’aimes" and of course, "Apres L’amour" from which I cannot resist to offer this segment:
"… Poussés par cet instinct,
Qui unit les amants en se fichant du reste,
Tu glisses tes doigts par ma chemise entrouverte,
Et pose sur ma peau,
La paume de ta main,
Et les yeux mi-clos nous restons,
Sans dire un mot,
Sans faire un geste, …"
It should be illegal to perform this on dates.
Charles Aznavour was born Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris, the son of Armenian immigrants, on May 22nd, 1924. His parents were temporarily based in France awaiting an American visa when their son unexpectedly arrived in the world. His father Micha Aznavourian, had been born in Georgia; his mother, Anar, came from a family of Armenian tradesmen who were based in Turkey. Soon Micha, a talented baritone whose father had been a chef to Czar Nicholas II, opened a small Armenian restaurant in Paris. Every evening he would perform to audiences of Central European exiles nostalgic for their homeland, while his wife Anar, an actress, attended to the guests. Charles and his elder sister, Aïda, grew up in the atmosphere of the restaurant in la rue de la Huchette, a favourite haunt for musicians and actors from the local theatres.
The great recession in 1929 forced the Aznavourians to abandon their restaurant.
Aznavour won Time.com’s on line poll as "Entertainer of the Century". It was well deserved.
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Paddling friends

My fellow paddlers' web sites
- Derrick A. Mayoleth
  
  Derrick lives in Baraboo (Wisconsin). He is a web designer, an all around good guy, and a 4 star paddler, attached to British kayaks, who runs the most known and visited kayak blog.
- Frogma
  
  Bonnie A. is not your average paddling Jane but a sophisticated Bcu 4 star paddler raised in Hawaii who does pilates, yoga and sushi. Only in New York.
- Douglas Wilcox
  
  Douglas Wilcox is a well known paddler from Glasgow. His reviews for Paddles magazine are very, very good.
- Cailean Macleod
  
  Cailean who is working towards his Bcu Level 5 Sea Kayak Coach assessment, grew on the Outer Hebrides, passing his 4 star sea kayak award at age 14. He lives in Inverness and regularly contributes technical articles to the UK Sea Kayak Guidebook website.
- Richard Cree
  
  A Scottish Canoe Associations awardee for merit for coaching, Richard Cree is a Bcu Level 5 aspirant coach, a director on the board of the Scottish Canoe Association, and the advertising manager of Ocean Paddler Magazine.
- Lifeboat Scrapbook
  
  John Gilmour is a teacher from Swanage who volunteers as a Deputy 2nd Coxswain for the Rnli, at the Swanage Lifeboat Station.
- South West Sea Kayaking
  
  Mark Rainsley, the teacher from Corfe Castle, Dorset, who runs the UK Rivers Guidebook forum.
- Hans Heupink
  
  A Dutch coach from Woerner.
- Freya Hoffmeister
  
  Freya Hoffmeister lives in Husum, where he owns an ice-cream local emporium. She is lively, athletic and having changed her life as in a whim, is an inspiration to us all.
- Keith Wikle
  
  A native of Yoknapatawpha County, Michigan, Keith is an international sea kayak artist under a family man and editor cover.
- Terra Santa Kayak Expeditions
  
  Omer Singer and Saggi Nechushtan, both level 4 Bcu coaches, run Terra Santa Kayak Expeditions, located in Israel.
- Mark Tozer
  
  Mark Tozer is a Level 5 coach based in Colwyn Bay, North Wales.
- Si Tadhg M'Congaile
  
  Somewhere in the Isle of Skye, Si Tadhg follows the flow of tides at night.
- The Dash Point Pirate
  
  By day a mild-mannered anesthesiologist - by night the Dash Point Pirate!
- Louisa Rolandsdotter Bichard and John Paul Bichard
  
  Louisa and John live in London. They keep an excellent website. A 2.200 km around Sweden expedition.
- Erik Sjöstedt & Pia Fransson
  
  Erik Sjöstedt & Pia Fransson keep a fine blog in Swedish. Dazing photos of Scandinavian splendor.
- Alex Pak
  
  Alex Pak, the Greenland style evangelist from Appleton, Wisconsin.
- Simon Willis
  
  Simon Willis lives in Strontian, Argyll. He works for BBC Scotland as a reporter and presenter on Newsnight Scotland. He writes about sea kayaking and lightweight hiking, broadcasting iPod interviews through Seakayakroutes.com.
- Peter Unold
  
  Peter Unold is a very driven kayaker from Denmark. He is now into racing.
- Kayak Victoria B.C.
  
  The new kayak blog of Snorri Gunnarson after leaving Reykjavik and settling in Canada.
- North-West Atlantic
  
  Jamie Lewis is a freelance photographer and cameraman from St. John, Newfoundland.
- Bertie
  
  Bertie is a Bcu Level 4 sea kayak and surf coach from Dorset, England.
- Eiichi Ito
  
  Most beautiful Greenland kayaks' website that I have come across. Eichi is an animation designer. He runs Qajaq Jpn. World class design and friend.
- Justine Curgenven
  
  Justine lives in North Wales. Coming from a kayak surf background, she is the most instantly recognizable sea kayaker. Justine runs Cackle Tv.
- Snorri Gunnarsson
  
  Snorri Gunnarson works part time in a kayak shop in Reykjavik and freelances as a writer for magazines and newspapers covering computer games and news from the computer industry. He also writes articles on sea-kayaking, technique and travel-stories.
- Lifejacket Adventures blog
  
  Shane Braddock from Australia, runs Lifejacket Adventures in the Croatian Adriatic.
- Sea Kayaking in Japan
  
  Kieran Gaffney, an architect from Edimburgh, lives in Matsushima. A paddling gaikokujin.
- Wendy Killoran
  
  Wendy Killoran, a school teacher from London, Ontario. Wendy has undertaken alone expeditions in Iceland, Sardinia and Canada.
- Napoleon Kayaker
  
  Richard, on close examination, a husband paddler from Napoleon, Michigan.
- Keirron Tastagh
  
  Keirron is a Level 4 sea Bcu coach, trained by Nigel Dennis, who runs his own company in the Isle of Man.
- Purple Mirage
  
  Susan Hicks -aka Susanita- is a surf ski racer and sea paddler who lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
- Adam Bolonsky
  
  Adam Bolonsky from Gloucester, Massachusetts, paddles a Chesapeake Light Craft Patuxent. He guides kayak fishermen on Cape Cod, for striped bass and bluefish. Adam is a founding board member of the North Shore Paddlers Network (nspn.org).
- Alison Dyer
  
  Alison is a freelance writer and audio journalist. Born in the New Forest, England, Alison now lives in Newfoundland.
- David H. Johnston
  
  David lives in Toronto. He is a web designer and a paddling instructor trainer.
- Ron Olsen
  
  Ron is an aircraft technician and Aca instructor who lives in Minneapolis. The Thor of the paddling sport, he would look equally comfortable if swinging a battle-axe.
- Pamela Forsyth
  
  A delightful, married Forsyth living in the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll.
- Michael
  
  Michael lives in Hatley, Quebec. He is a traditional paddler who lived with the Inuit in the wondrous Canadian Arctic.
- Biffle French
  
  The author of a paddling book on the area, Biffle lives in Vashon Island paddling every day in Puget Sound, amidst large tug boats, sea lions, eagles, orcas, gray and minke whales, even the occasional humpback.
- Robert Woodard
  
  One of the best kayaking journals on the Web. Woody is an experienced paddler who lives in old Manassas (Virginia).
- FH2O: Kuching Kayaking
  
  Francis Ho, an architect by proffession in Kuching City, Sarawak (Malaysia), who paddles unarmed and defenseless in Objective, Burma! landscapes.
- Sea Level: New York
  
  Sea Level is a writer and broadcast journalist who lives in Brooklyn. An early roller.
- Joel W. Rogers
  
  Roger's expedition photographs have been featured in National Geographic Adventure, Newsweek, Outside, Sea Kayaker, and other publications.
- Glenn Mackay
  
  Glenn Mackay, has been paddling for 30 years on a budget in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.
- John and Lynn O'Kane
  
  John and Lynn are based in Ely (Minnesota).They run canoe trips and expeditions in the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Ontario.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Banner photographs by www.kajak.nu

Paddling friends