Vancouver Island Record Attempt

Well folks I am delighted to announce that I have been given the opportunity to have a go at the record for circumnavigating Vancouver Island by sea kayak. Firstly I want to thank my wife Gina for giving me a pass and my Mum who is flying over from the UK to help look after Shea Bella for the three weeks I will be away.

You can find out more about the expedition by following the links on my expedition website http://www.expeditionkayak.com/ The plans is to start my expedition immediately after the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium on September 22nd 2008.

Thanks once again to Dom Miles of IceTea web design who looks after all my websites. Dom and his family live in Devon, England but will soon be here in California for a holiday and I can't wait to see them and show them the beautiful county of Marin.

I also want to thank Valley Sea Kayaks for their support. I will be using a Rapier 20 for the expedition http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/rapier20.htm

I will be travelling fast and light and hope to knock out 50 miles a day. In theory that means I could complete the 700 mile journey around the island in two weeks but the weather may have other ideas! I will be starting at Port Hardy, up on the north east corner, the idea being to wait for a good weather forecast before starting the 'clock' and knocking off the crux moves around the most northwesterly point, Cape Scott and the notorious Books Peninsular before any bad weather arrives.

September and October are traditionally are good months for weather up there. The land is cooling off so the big thermal winds of the summer will be easing off and hopefully I will complete the circle before the winter storms arrive. I hope to use a Spot messenger:

http://www.findmespot.com/Home.aspx so you will be able to track my progress.

More details will follow soon.

Kelowna Kayak Symposium

Kelowna is described as Canada's best kept secret. Deep in the Okanagan Valley known for its fabulous wine, Kelowna has a wonderful climate and the 90 mile long lake is stunning. Kelowna Kayak and Outdoor is a full service kayak store and the owner Ray Chelini and his staff are extremely knowledgeable and professional. I first met Ray and his family at the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in 2007 and I loved his enthusiasm for the sport and for Valley Sea Kayaks. He has quickly become one of the my best customers and I supply him with Valley kayaks, Lettmann and Mitchell paddles and Barz sunglasses. As a former member of the Venezuelan national kayak racing team he recognizes good quality when he sees it!

Ray and his wife Jacqui were wonderful hosts to Rob Avery and myself and it was well worth the 2400mile round trip to enjoy their hospitality. It was also great to meet Greg Alderson, author of "Sea Kayak -Around Vancouver Island" as well as several other publications including his latest release:

Doug gave me loads of information to help me plan my forthcoming expedition to circumnavigate Vancouver Island (more of that in a later post).

It was also great to meet Nick Castro, owner/instructor of Active Sea Kayaking: http://activeseakayaking.ca/ His sense of humour had me in stitches and I couldn't think of a better guy to go for a paddle with.

I also want to thank the folk from the Kelowna area who came to see my slide show. Hopefully next year I will have some more stories to tell you about Vancouver Island. Kelowna is a very special place and the prefect location to enjoy Lake Okanagan.

Aquanfest 2008

Congratulations go to Vince Pao, owner of Aquan Sports for hosting Aquanfest 2008. It was a great event blessed with good weather and an excellent number of attendees for this inaugural event. With an emphasis on introducing new paddlers to the sport the location on a sheletered lagoon in Foster City was perfect.

I want to thank Randy Kneeland who gave up his Saturday to help me with my booth. He owns a Valley Avocet and a Kokatat dry suit and is a great advocate for both brands. He also 'volunteered' to race the Rapier 18 in the fun race and did really well considering it was his first time in a race and in a racing kayak.


I also want to thank Galen Licht who helped me out on both days. He also easily won the sea kayak class racing the Rapier 20.

My treat for Father's Day was to go kayaking for the first time with Gina and Shea Bella. The picture says it all.

Life doesn't get any better!

Ahnu Footwear

I just want to say thanks to Eric Adams, sales rep for Ahnu Footwear. He has fixed me up with a gorgeous pair of Lodi sports shoes. Not only is Ahnu a local Bay Area company with a great philosophy - check out: http://www.ahnufootwear.com/philosophy/index.html but they also make superb shoes!

Thanks Eric!

Olympic travels

Hi Folks,

It's over a month since my last post which is some indication of how busy I have been. The paddling season is in full swing which means lots of demos and events up and down the west coast. I have travelled well over 20k miles in my trusty Ford E250 van so far this year!

I have just got back from another road trip: this time to Washington State, for the Puget Sound Sea Kayak Symposium near Tacoma beneath the towering 14,410ft Mt Ranier an active volcano encased in snow and ice.

I stayed with Rob Avery and his wife Kris for a few days on Bainbridge Island which gave us an opportunity to talk business and plan for the future. Rob and I then taught a couple of classes for Tammi Hinkle at Adventures Through Kayaking in Port Angeles before heading even further up the Olympic Peninsular to the Hoebuck Hoedown Surf Kayak Festival at Neah Bay close to Cape Flattery, the most Northwesterly part of the contiguous continetal USA.

The surf was uncharacteristically tiny but we had fun all the same. There is a solid bunch of talented surf kayakers in the Pacific Northwest and it was good to hang out with them for a couple of days. Neah Bay is a beautiful beach that belongs to the Makah Tribe whose village lies on the northeast (sheltered) side of Cape Flattery. I couldn't resist taking a couple of photos of the local watercraft. Bald Eagles are as common as seagulls in the busy harbor and osprey regularly flew past the beach, talons clenched around their catch.

I want to thank the Olympic Paddlers for hosting the event and especially Rob Casey and Deb Volturno for their hard work. It was a really worthwhile trip for me and it was good to be able to support Tammi Hinkle, the owner of Adventures Through Kayaking in Port Angeles. I can certainly recommend the Olympic Coast of the PNW as one of the most beautiful I have yet seen.

Shea Bella's 1st Birthday Party

Hi Folks,
Here are some photos from Shea Bella's first Birthday Party on the beach at Sausalito. We were blessed with perfect spring weather and Gina and I want to say a big "Thank you" to Sea Trek Ocean Kayaking Center for their help and to all our friends and family who made this such a very special day for Shea Bella and us.

Update on Container #3

I have just had notification that container #3 has arrived in Oakland and is awaiting Customs clearance. So just when I thought I was going to get a few days at home it seems I will be heading up to Portland next week. I will keep you all updated on the ETA for Alder Creek.