ThePaddlerezine.comInternational digital magazine for recreational paddlers

INTERVIEWwithTAO

Issue 7 - April 2013

Four men paddle coast to coast in open canoesTREK acrossCANADA

Tao Berman

Peruvian WW style

Win a Wave Sport Ethos River Cruise Kayak on page 142

KAYAKINGthe AMAZON

ContentsApril13

Photo of the month for April 2013Rio Clari in Chile, Caracol rapid, Kayaker Jean Baptist-Marie (known as Jean Rigole). By Andraž Krpič

Not all contributors are professional writers and photographers, so don’t be put off writing because you have no experience! ThePaddler.co.uk ezine is all about paddler to paddler dialogue: a paddler’s magazine written bypaddlers. Next issue is May 2013 with a deadline of submissions on April 10th.Technical Information: Contributions preferably as a Microsoft Word file with 1200-2000 words, emailed tosubmissions@thepaddler.co.uk. Images should be hi-resolution and emailed with the Word file or if preferred, a Dropbox folder will be created for you. ThePaddler ezine encourages contributions of any nature but reservesthe right to edit to the space available. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishing parent company, 2b Graphic Design. The publishing of an advertisement in ThePaddler ezine does notnecessarily mean that the parent company, 2b Graphic Design, endorse the company, item or service advertised. All material in ThePaddler ezine is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction without priorpermission from the editor is forbidden.

EditorPeter Tranterpeter@thepaddler.co.ukTel: (01480) 465081Mob: 07411 005824www.thepaddler.co.uk

Advertising salesAnne EganTel: (01480) 465081advertising@thepaddler.co.uk

Front cover: Dragging the canoeover ice under Mt. Lime on theheadwaters of the Yukon River. TransCanada expedition by Pete Marshal.

Huge thanks to: Keith Day, Nick Watt, Pete Marshal, Florian Fischer, Steve Brooks, Scott Edwards, Tao Berman, Simon Everett, Phil Carr, Terry Wright, Werner Ostermann,Claire O’Hara, Marty McCann, Suzie Cooney,Leslie Kolovich, Jason Pereira and DaveRossetter.

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Issue 7

Canada10

Peru24

India40

č

Tao Berman interview58

Canada96

Portugal132

United States115

Where we’ve been…9 OC Paddler10 Trans Canada expedition

Part one of a 2600 mile expedition acrossthe frozen north of Canada.By Pete Marshal

23 Kayak Paddler24 Peruvian Amazon

75 years after their compatriot HerbertRittlinger descended the upper Amazon, aquartet of German paddlers trace hispaddle strokes.By Florian Fischer

40 Beas Gorge, IndiaFrom chillin’ to thrillin’ Indian style.By Steve Brooks

52 East coast USAs the ice retreats, the kayakers come outto play on the River Delaware.By Scott Edwards

58 Interview with Tao Berman By Peter Tranter

68 Kayak fishingA day spent on Loch Ness.By Simon Everett

78 New Zealand adventures By Claire O’Hara

80 Dagger Mamba reviewBy Phil Carr

86 Yak Mavric reviewBy Dale Mears

88 RTM Abaco reviewBy Terry Wright

95 Salty Paddler96 Nova Scotia, Canada

The extraordinary Cape ChignectoWilderness Park.By Werner Ostermann

106 PaddlesurfSurf kayaking and waveski.By Marty McCann

114 SUP Paddler115 Welcome to SUP

Beginners tips to share the stoke!By Suzie Cooney

122 South Carolina, USAOn the road to an SUP winter retreat.By Leslie Kolovich

130 UK Frostbite local race series By Nick Watt

132 Central Portugal SUP, Sardines and Superbock.By Jason Pereira

138 Coaching BCU coaching structureBy Dave Rossetter

ThePaddler 4

For many years Defra, and the agencies that report toit, have adopted the position that there is no publicright of navigation on unregulated waterways andaccess to them by canoeists and others can only bewith the permission of the riparian landowners. In2004 Revd. Dr Douglas Caffyn published his thesis‘The Right of Navigation on Non-tidal Rivers and theCommon Law,’ which concluded that, “In common lawthere is a public right of navigation on all non-tidalrivers which are naturally physically navigable by smallboats and on those rivers which have been madephysically navigable at public expense.”

Defra whilst aware of this research, have steadfastlyrefused to engage with it or form any opinion on itsvalue and the credibility of its conclusions. They havehowever clearly taken on-board enough of theevidence to recognise that their traditional stance wasunsustainable and they have now modified theirposition to, “There is no clear case law on whether a‘common law right of navigation’ exists on unregulatedrivers. This is widely accepted to be an unclear andunresolved issue.”

This can only mean that there is no compellingevidence to support the notion that navigation canonly take place subject to the ‘permission’ of riparian

landowners and therefore this part of Defrastraditional thinking must change too.

Defras position should be that, “Those who believethat navigation under certain conditions may impactnegatively on the protection of the environment andthe rights of riparian landowners or those with a rightto shared use of the river can work with canoeingorganisations and others to find an equitable solution.”

River Access For All is not asking for the creation ofnew rights of navigation or for the extinguishing of anyrights enjoyed by others. We are merely asking forrecognition of the public rights of navigation that haveexisted from time immemorial. All rights come withresponsibilities and we accept the need to exercisepublic rights of navigation in ways which achieve abalance with the rights of others and the needs of theenvironment.

We are a free people! Under our legal system, it islawful to do anything not made unlawful by statute orcommon law. The notion of any party giving (orwithholding) ‘permission’ for shared use of our rivers isclearly unsupportable unless it can clearly be shownthat a statute or the common law requires it.

KEITH – RIVER ACCESS FOR ALL

The campaign forRiver Access For All

Peter TranterEditor

www.riveraccessforall.co.uk

The websiteinvites those

that contest thepublic right of

navigationto challenge

these assertionsand in particular

to say whichlegislation orexercise ofstatutory

authority endedthe historic rightof navigation.

No suchchallenge hasbeen received.

Defra have changed theirposition but not their thinking

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ThePaddler 6

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Greenland SUP 2013

Snow Kayaking

Chili : épisode 1

Oasis at Rock Run

Coolcara

Frontier movie trailer

Pete MarshalNorthern Territories, Canada

Nick CastroBritish Columbia, Canada

Paul HymanGreenland

Ian SmithPennsylvania, USA

Warren MillerNorway

Nathan BarbierChile

Rush SturgesInternational

Xaver WalserInternational

http://www.perception.co.uk

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OCPaddler

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From seato

Fromseato

Steve Keaveny

Matt Harren

Winchell Delano

Pete Marshall

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Our four-man team: Winchell Delano, Steve Keaveny, Matt Harren, andmyself, Pete Marshall, all had extensive wilderness canoe experience. We hadpaddled rivers in the Arctic, across Labrador, and to the Hudson Bay.Together we had thousands of miles of combined experience. But when wegot off the ferry at Skagway Alaska, we knew that nothing we had gonethrough would be like the next few months.

sea seaA mari usque ad mare

“He shall have dom

inion from sea to sea and from

the river unto the ends of the earth.”

three heights of land, and 2600 miles of some of themost remote and wild country left in the world laybefore us. On paper, it was an ambitious route. Mostpeople who knew better told me so. I knew it wasambitious, and to be honest, I had serious doubts aboutcrossing the Rocky Mountains in a canoe and reachingthe end of the trip before the winter storms began. Inmany ways, I knew better than to set out on thisexpedition. But when you have big dreams and big goals,willful ignorance is a powerful thing.

ThePaddler 12

Twomountain ranges,

Hike through the Coastal Mountains of Alaska

Did you know:

At 3,855,103 square miles, Canada is

the second largest country in the world,

behind Russia.

The expedition was conceived with imaginationand from there took form. An afternoon spentwith maps and trip reports led to a drunkenconversation at the bar that was followed by ahung over phone call that then resulted in a planthat involved many more phone calls,coordinating resupply points along the route,raising money, booking tickets on a ferry, andultimately to the point where we were now at.

The beginning of the expeditionThe first part of the trip didn’t even involvecanoeing. It was a hike through the CoastalMountains of Alaska, via the famous ChilkootPass. We had our canoes and paddling gear pickedup by an outfitter on the other side of the Pass, onthe headwaters of the Yukon River, where wewould pick them after hiking through the pass.

By our second day, we learned that winter hadnot begun to leave the mountains. This was a riskwe had to chance form the outset. There onlyhad a brief window, between ice-out and freezeup, in which we could do the trip. It was better tostart too early, rather than too late. It was earlyMay and the thirty-feet of snow and fifty-mileper-hour wind that blew on us for three days wasa clear indication that spring was a long way off.We hiked over avalanche paths, passed snowed inshelters, wowed by the beauty, and when wereached out canoes, we were eager to beginpaddling.

However, the lakes we hoped to paddle werechoked with rotting ice. They were impossible towalk on and impossible to paddle through.

ThePaddler 13

However, the lakes we hoped to paddle were choked

with rotting ice. They were impossible to walk on and

impossible to paddle through

Rain on the Ross RiverIn the mountains, it was snowing

We were able to travel, but only because we wereequipped with Kokatat Expedition Drysuits. Thesefully waterproof and fully enclosed bodysuits keptus safe from hypothermia and the freezing water.

we broke leads and pushed the canoes overunstable ice. It was slow work. We fell in manytimes, and like a seal crawling out of a breathinghole, had to pull ourselves out of the ice. Ratherthan being a life-threatening incident, with thedrysuits on, we laughed, took photographs, andcontinued with the day.

This went on for a week until after 40-miles ofbreaking through and pushing across Lake LaBerge,we came to the open waters of the Yukon River. Forthree days we enjoyed the ice free current, happyfor the rest, for the sunshine and the easy paddlingdown stream. The river was low. The snow thatcovered the surrounding mountains had not beganto melt. This would happen in the coming weeks.And when it did melt, the river would swell, thecurrent would double, but we would not enjoythese benefits. We would be going the oppositedirection, against the flooded current.

Pelly and Ross RiversWe turned our bows east and began to ascend thePelly and Ross Rivers, on route to the ContinentalDivide. This was the major challenge of the trip, inmany ways, its defining feature. I had littleknowledge of what lay ahead, mostly becauseeveryone who had paddled these rivers told methat going up them would be next to impossible.The last person to ascend the Pelly was aprospector almost one-hundred years ago, and hehad made the trip in autumn, during low water. Wewould have to see the river for ourselves. None ofus had any idea how difficult it would be.

At first it was interesting, even fun. We walked andpulled the canoes, paddle hard and made littledistance. But we experienced something of a minorthrill as we threw ourselves into this challenge. Bythe third day, that novelty had worn off. The snowthat made the mountains so beautiful in thedistance was melting. Each day the river rose andswelled. The shoreline disappeared. We traveledbeside submerged trees, entire forests looked likethey were growing out of the flooded river.

We ferried back and forth across the rive, chasingthe small stretch of slack water on the inside bend.Everyday we woke and hoped for a bit of relief, fora point in the river that the current would slow andgive us a break. But the Pelly flowed like acontinual, and exahsting treadmill.

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Mile after mile of ice

By the third day, that novelty that made the mountains so

Cliffs, La It's easy to se

ThePaddler 15

had worn off. The snow o beautiful in the distance was melting. Pa

ddling on Marsh Lake, Yukon River

Did you know

:Canada has the longest coastline of anycountry in the w

orld at 151,600 miles.

ake LaBerge ee why this is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.

ThePaddler 16

John Lake, Ross River, Yukon

Canada

ThePaddler 17

well earned break when we reached our firstresupply point, 41 days into the journey. This wasthe first of three resupply points we had set upalong the route, every 35 to 40 days of travel. For36 hours we rested and didn’t paddle, but like allvacations, it came to an end too soon. With apacks full of replenished food food andequipment, we left the hospitality of our host, thekind couple who held our packages, and returnedto the river.

In three days we left the Pelly River and turnednorth onto the Ross River. The Ross was a smallertributary of the Pelly. We had unrealistic hopesthat less water would mean easier travel. But asthe Ross ascendeddeeper into themountains, things onlybecame more difficult.The river was moreviolent. Mile after mileof steep drops. Wewalked more than wepaddled. Most dayswere spent plungedwaist deep in water that20 hours before waspart of a glacier or asnowfield.

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We came to a

Did you know:Cryptozoologists claim that Canada is the hom sloth-like creature known as the beaver-eater, a number of lake monsters, such as Ogopogo in

Pulling through ice and snow

Ferry across the Flood Plain Pause before Mt. Wilson

As travel became more difficult, the weatherdeteriorated. We woke to rain and went to sleep inrain. Snow fell on the surrounding peaks and moralslackened.

This was the point that we all began to question thetrip. How is it that we thought this trip waspossible? There was no answer. We kept movingand continued the desperate struggle. The furtherwe went the thinner the river became. Themountains were closer. And while moving againstcontinual stretches of almost 20-feet per miledrops, we came closer to the point where we wouldfinally be able to go down stream. It was a prospectand a reward that was hard to imagine.

And then it happened.On a cold and rainyafternoon, 64 days afterwe began our journey, wewere portaging through aseries of ragged moosetrails that would bring usover the ContinentalDivide. The reward forour effort was before us:the justly famous, SouthNahanni River.

ThePaddler 19

Part 2Next month

e of several cryptids, including Sasquatch, a giant

cannibalistic wildman named Windigo, and a Lake Okanagan, British Columbia.

Negotiating the flood

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ThePaddler 23

KayakPaddler

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dventure a

By Florian FischerNils DipponPirmin DlugoschSepp Cetinköprülü

ThePaddler 25

dventure Rio AmazonFollowing the tracks of Herbert RittlingerIn 1937, Rittlinger, paddled the Amazon from its sourcerivers Marañón and Huallaga, solo with his folding kayakfrom 3,845 metres. After a year of serious planning andthree weeks of acclimatization, the team of four paddled inhis strokes to kayak the upper Amazon.

The preparation for the descent of the upperAmazon is coming to an end. In the past fivedays, we have managed a first descent of the RioSalka and spent three days on the Rio Apurimac.

On the Rio Salka we put in at 4,200m above sealevel. This was a test to see how our bodies dealwith paddling on these altitudes.

Considering everything, the river isn't a realhighlight for us whitewater kayakers. Steepcanyons are full of siphons and the fast runningriver disappears suddenly under the mountains ofPeru in a cave to appear after a few hundredmetres. Leaving out the aspects, caves and siphons,the river compensates you with beautiful steep andremote canyons with a wonderful panoramic viewonto a glacier and big mountains.

Our multi-day on the Rio Apurimac was our lastpoint of preparation. It contains several rapidsup to class V whitewater in a steep canyon withthe only exit by kayak. Help is far away and thereare no options if something goes wrong.

On the afternoon on the 15th November 2012they started their 1,100km long journey to theirfinal destination: Laguna Lauricocha close toCero de Pasco.

First descentvery upperAmazon done!Absolute despair and total exhaustion can beseen in our faces... The entire creek disappearsunder a huge rock fall – no way to continue thejourney by kayak. Initially, we are still motivatedto rope up our boats with pulleys to the top ofthe first big rock. The whole dimension of theblockade can hardly be seen from this point andwe're asking ourselves if it makes sense tocontinue our journey. What will be around thenext corner?

Our local contact person, Alonso, has organizeda car for our expedition to the most upperAmazon. In front of the house we're living in,there's a taxi of the type ‘Toyota Probox’. A roomycar with enough space for four people with alltheir baggage. We're just not sure about its cross-country mobility but soon we're on our waynorth to the Laguna Lauricocha.

ThePaddler 26

Our preparation for the project

In the past five days, we have managed a

first descent of the Rio Salka and spent

three days on the Rio Apurimac

ThePaddler 27

Just before the entry into the first tunnel

Entry into the big canyon

ThePaddler 28

Cordillera Raura

Peru

ThePaddler 29

us 56 hours to get from Cusco to the LagunaLauricocha, our put in for the descent of the RioLauricocha.

After 21 police controls and uncountable mileson gravel road we are finding ourselves in a smallIndian town of Yanahuanca, where we took a lastgood meal in a Polleria – roasted chicken withFrench fries, soup and salad for round about 4$.In a small shop we bought food for theupcoming seven days.

The road map gives us an idea what's comingnext: The really bad roads have been markedwhite; the upcoming road is just grey and waythinner. Also the junction to the road can be onlyfound with the help of the local people.

A thin steep dirt road, as wide as a car, iscurling up to the high sierra of theCordillera Raura.

Initially we haven't been sure if it'spossible to run the road without 4WD. Allthe locals told us not to try without, butwe did it and it was unbelievable what aToyota Probox is able to handle. We spenta lot of time filming, photographing andjust enjoying the landscape.

On the map it was looking like just 10kmbut after a few kilometres on the gravel roadthe driver told us, there are still 30km to go(3-5 hours in 4WD car) to the LagunaLauricocha and it's impossible without 4WD.With super slow speed it's going over big rocks,super steep ‘roads’ and muddy pools. After asmall village with five Indian huts the road wasmuch better. We are still on a gravel road butnow with road signs and less pot holes. After acouple of hours we decide to camp at anelevation of 4,500m.

After a cold and rainy night we reach the lagunaLauricocha.

75 years ago, Herbert Rittlinger wanted to start hismission here, but he had too little water and so hewas forced to start about 50km downstream. Sonow it's our turn to do the first descent startingfrom the Laguna of the Rio Lauricocha (thebiggest source river of the Amazon).

ThePaddler 30 We are leaving the Laguna Lauricocha

as the first people on the waterway to do the descent

of the upper source river of the AmazonAll in all it took

Food for three days, stove, waterpurifier, cameras and muchmore and the kayaks weighabout 40kg. After a good farewellfrom the local Indians, we areleaving the Laguna Lauricocha asthe first people on the waterway todo the descent of the upper sourceriver of the Amazon – the biggestriver on the planet.

The river is flowing throughamazing scenery in the middle ofthe Cordillera Raura with easywhitewater class II and III. A hugesiphon allows the river todisappear for 10 metres and atthis point the difficulties are

rising. On the followingcouple of kilometres we

found whitewater classIII-IV with some classIV+ rapids. Anotherportage is necessarybecause the river isflowing completelyunder a rock fall for200 metres.

Upon reaching the littletown of Cauri, the river'scharacter is not reallychanging in contrast tothe weather, where a bigthunderstorm isdeveloping and paddlingis becoming harder.

Our first descent ended up inCauri after 30km of white waterin an unbelievable landscape.Rocky Contos discovered thefollowing 20km only threemonths ago. Our nextdestination is the confluencefrom Rio Maranon and RioVizcara. On the upcomingsection to the confluence ofthe Rio Laurcocha and RioNupe, where the Rio Maranonbegins, we find 20km ofwhitewater class IV in a largecanyon with many siphons

and undercuts, which requires attentive paddling.

ThePaddler 31

We are leaving the Laguna Lauricocha

as the first people on the waterway to do the descent

of the upper source river of the AmazonDid you know:The Amazoncollects waterfrom just over 40per cent of SouthAmerica'sLandmass,through thethousands oftributaries thatjoin the mainbranch of theAmazon river. Of thesetributaries, 17 areover 1,600kms(1,000 miles)long.

ThePaddler 32 Yeah, der Wasserstand ist perfekt!

Yeah, waterlevel is perfect!

ThePaddler 33

Yeah, waterlevel is perfect!

ThePaddler 34

After 50km we are super happy finishing our first part of theexpedition while reaching the meeting point ofRio Nupe. At this point Sepp has to leave thegroup, to get his flight back to Germany.

Another 50km of unknown whitewater lie inwait for us. Many Indian locals recommendednot to continue paddling the Rio Maranonbecause the river disappears in a huge rock fall.We don't understand much of the languagebecause the people in this area don't speakSpanish - just Quechua.

The first five kilometres are easy whitewater classIII until a huge rock makes continuingimpossible. “This must be the huge syphon thelocals were talking about!” After rappelling thefirst few metres we realized the whole dimensionof this siphon. It’s about one kilometre long andreally difficult to portage. We doubt thepossibility of continuing the Rio Maranon andafter a short discussion we decided to unload ourkayaks for easier handling whilst portaging.

After six hours of portaging we find a good campin a cave where totally exhausted, we cooknoodles with tuna and go to bed early. On thenext day, we have to paddle many kilometres ofwhitewater. Our plan was to run the whole 50kmwithin two days and we hoped to find interestingand difficult whitewater. We are also going totrying to find the cave where Herbert Rittlingeronce left his heavy useless equipment to makehis boat lighter, although we recognized that thecave might be buried by a rock fall.

What we didn’t plan was to paddle just sixkilometres on the first day. Still exhausted fromthe day before we have to carry our boats anotherhour downhill to the river, where we continueour ride on the Rio Maranon. We have still about45km left. In our topographic military maps werecognized that the river is not very steep. We arepaddling 45km class II and III, with a coupleclass IV rapids. A short canyon with class IV+whitewater excites us before paddling almost flatwater to confluence of Rio Vizcara. Here, near thesmall town of Pachas we're ending the first phaseof our trip and are happy finishing our project‘descent of the most upper amazon.’

As two days ago, getting our car to the take outtakes us another six hours. At 10pm we're on ourway via Lima to Cusco, where we arrive 36 hoursand seven police controls later.

Back in Cusco we're are very happy to be sleepinghorizontal after the long drive.

Indian locals recommendednot to continue paddling

the Rio Maranon because the river disappears in a

huge rock fall

ThePaddler 35

We talked a lot about the lower canyon of the RioApurimac and that we really would like to run it.It is called ‘the Abyssmo’. We asked Alonso, theboss of the company ‘Apurimac Explorer’ and theman who is sharing his home with us, if he wouldlike to join us. He just answered, "Yes, noproblem, let's go. We need just one day!" We werelittle bit confused. The other local guys told us it isthe hardest whitewater in the Cusco area and youwill need about three days. As Alonso promised usthat it is possible and that he already ran theAbyssmo three times, we packed our stuff andwent to the put-in at 5am in the morning.

We packed our boats with stuff for two days –just in case and because we will sleep at the take-out. There is a six-hour walk out waiting for us.So we started our trip.

Very excited about what we will find on the next30km. The first 22km is just whitewater class IIIwith a few rapids of class IV. After every rapidthere is a huge pool where you can relax and inthe case of a swim, where you can get all yourstuff back. We thought we could get an ideaabout what is coming next. But the only thingthat didn't change was the absolute remotenessin a deep and impressive canyon.

For the last eight kilometres there was not a singlepool and maybe three or four rapids a little biteasier than class V. In this place the Rio Apurimacshows its complete power and danger, but also itsbeauty. Steep class V rapids one after the otherwith a lot of siphons and undercuts. And if we say“a lot” we mean “a lot!” Especially these siphonsforced us to portage at least three times.

Abyssmo CanyonIndian locals recommendednot to continue paddling

the Rio Maranon because the river disappears in a

huge rock fall

After nine hoursand a few minutes after sunset we reached abridge where the famous Inca Trail is crossingthe river. This is the first possibility to get out ofthe river. We were really happy about reachingthis point, totally tired and mentallyexhausted. You can continue with easierwhitewater downstream for another dayand you will avoid the six hours walk out. Butwe decided to take out here and shared ourcamp with a few billion sandflies andmosquitos. In the next morning we werewaiting for some horses to carry our boatsuphill to the next road access. Alonso organizedeverything and we told him to order somemore horses for us. So we rode the horses forsix hours and 1,500m of elevation up to a littletown where Miguel, our taxi driver was waitingfor us.

All in all it was a great adventure with heavywhitewater in amazing scenery and the prettycool ‘walk out’ of the gorge.

ThePaddler 36

HomeAfter two months of travelling through Peru,the time came for heading home to Germany.We spent three days in Lima, where we surfedand visited the historical city.

Thanks to Alonso from ApuEx, all the raft guidesand new friends we found. We had a prettygood time in Peru and will be back for sure.

The rivers we ran before going to theRio Lauricocha to use as preparation.� Rio Chilca was to prepare for runningclass V big water in a moderate altitude(approx. 3,000m).

� Rio Salka was to prepare for runningwhitewater in high altitudes (approx.4,500m).

� Rio Apurimac was to prepare for runningdifficult whitewater with fully loaded boats.

Check Flo’s video link on:https://vimeo.com/flofischer

ThePaddler 37

ThePaddler 38

LOCATION: Peru is located to the north west coast of SouthAmerica and boarders countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuadorand Bolivia.

Peru can be divided into three areas known as the highlands, thisarea is in-twinned with the andes mountains and runs directlythrough the centre of the country. Secondly the jungle regions arelocated around the amazon rainforest to the east of Peru and finallythe coastal regions to the west of the country.

LANGUAGE: The official language of Peru is Spanish howeverQuechua is also recognised as an official language.

PERU AMAZON: The Amazon rainforest stretches over a vast area ofSouth America and covers an area of seven million kilometers (1.2 billionacres) with the amazon rainforest covering an area of 5,500,000km runningthrough a range of South American countries such as Brazil, Colombia,Venezuela, bolivia and Peru. The Amazon contains over half of the planet'sremaining rainforests and has the largest majority of species throughout theworlds rainforest population containing over 70% of the worlds species.

The Peruvian part of the Amazon jungle is considered to be one of the bestparts of the Amazon as in this area of Peru it is believed to be untouched, asother areas throughout the Amazon have been affected by deforestationhowever the Amazon basin of Peru is protected by law. The area in which theamazon is located in Peru is to the Northeast of the country and coversnearly two thirds of Peru itself..

PADDLING: Through the Andes Mountains and into the Amazon run manyrivers, from gentle Grade 1 through to Grade 6, which the most experiencedkayakers will find fearful. Some kayak tours include treks and team-building onwhite water rafts..

BEACHES: Punta Sal is, according to many, the top entry for best beachesin Peru. Punta Sal isn’t too far from the Ecuador border, and it is surely oneof your best bets for beach resorts Peru vacations. Besides surfing, you canexplore options for scuba diving, deep sea fishing, and wind surfing at PuntaSal. Surfing is best enjoyed from December to March, and the area’sabundant sunshine means that you will more than likely grab some sun rayswith your waves.

WEATHER: As a rough guide you will find that the summer regions ofthe coast are usually extremely hot and sunny during the dry season thatlast from December to April. The mountain regions have a slightly differentdry season that lasts from April to October when the conditions rangefrom hot temperatures during the day with little rain, followed by a dip intemperature as nightfall approaches. The jungle region of Peru has a similardry season to the mountains as it lasts from April to October were duringthis period temperatures can average between 30-35°C. To summarize youwill find the best weather on the coast during January with the mountainand jungle regions being visited after the wet season is a good rule ofthumb when Peru

CURRENCY: The official currency of Peru is the Nuevo Sol (S/.) andthere are 100 céntimole (cents) in one sol. The sol is available in a range ofbank notes from 10, 20, 50, 100, 200. There is also a selection of coins in usein Peru these are 1, 2 and 5 Neuvos Soles, other coins that are in circulationare 5, 10, 20 and 50 céntimole.

VISAS: Most tourists can enter Peru with a valid passport and a TarjetaAndina de Migración (TAM), depending on their nationality, which you fillout on the plane or at a border crossing point before entering Peru andentitles you to a maximum stay of 183 days. Visit: Dirección General deMigraciones y Naturalización for up to date information.

INFORMATION

Peru Google map

Peru

http://goperu.about.com

Machu Picchu

To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.comor call +44 (0)1480 465081 ThePaddler 39

Peru Google map

Rider: Valentin Grollemund

Spot: La Raillere, Cauterets River/France

Photo: Fabrice Poueyto

Grafik & Design: © 2012 www.lukmedia.dewww.tywarp.com

Rider: Valentin Grollemund

Spot: La Raillere, Cauterets River/France

Photo: Fabrice Poueyto

Grafik & Design: © 2012 www.lukmedia.dewww.tywarp.com

Rider: Valentin Grollemund

Spot: La Raillere, Cauterets River/France

Photo: Fabrice Poueyto

Grafik & Design: © 2012 www.lukmedia.dewww.tywarp.com

ThePaddler 40

Chillin’Manali, Himachal PradeshIndia

By Steve Brooks

ThePaddler 41

Chillin’Manali is a greatescape from theintense heat anddust of the plainsduring monsoonand is just a sweetplace to kick backand relax whileeating some goodfood!

Over the past fiveyears I have beenheading back tothe hill town ofManali.

Set in some of themost amazingsurroundings,Manali has becomea very popularresort for bothIndian andinternationaltourists. For theIndians it is one ofthe mainhoneymoondestinations madefamous bynumerousBollywood filmsbeing shot on theRohtang Pass – themain route to Lehand Ladakh.

ThePaddler 42

For kayakers

it is the gate

way to some

fantastic Him

alayan white

water.

To the north

over the Roh

tang Pass is

the valley of

Lahaul, which

has the

Chandra, Bha

ga and the m

ighty

Chenab Rive

rs. To the sou

th the Beas

makes its ma

rk on the Kul

lu Valley all

the way down

to the Punja

b and the

plains.

Thrillin’

ThePaddler 43Thrillin’Beas GorgeIndia

ThePaddler 44

Unlike other popular areas of India such asLadakh and Uttarakand (Ganges, Alaknandaand its tributaries) there is not a lot of

information about Himachal Pradesh’ rivers andmaps are somewhat erratic and rather outdated!

I had heard about the Beas Gorge being a Class Vepic with a relatively short window for it to be run.Also you can probably count the amount of riverrunners that have been through the Beas Gorge onone hand, in fact the last known descent of the gorgewas over 15 years ago!

I had just led a successful expedition on the TsarapChu and Zanskar Rivers in Ladakh, commonlyknown as the Grand Canyon of Asia. By chance agood friend of mine was in Leh with his jeep sorather than trying to suffer in a rickety old bus oversome of the highest driven passes in the world, Ipersuaded Bob to put my kayak on the roof andhead for Manali.

With storm clouds brewing over the KarakoramMountains in Pakistan we decided to head off assoon as possible. What was supposed to be a nicetwo-day drive over some of the most spectacularscenery the Himalayas has to offer ended up beingan epic of all proportions!

We got caught by heavy snowfall just on the otherside of the Baralacha La Pass and spent a night andan extended morning in a Dhaba (a stone wallbuilding with a tarp as a roof that is used while theroad is open to feed and keep the convoy in trucksheading to Leh in tea).

We ended up being only the tenth vehicle intoManali after the storm and considering roads wereclosed due to landslides, avalanches, snow, rain andwind that was a pretty good effort.

During the past five years I have been trying to get hold of information about the Beas Gorge below the town of Mandi.

ThePaddler 45

During the past five years I have been trying to get hold of information about the Beas Gorge below the town of Mandi.

I spent a few days thawing out in Manali and alsomet up with three American kayakers who wereon a mission in India: Henry, a local Idahokayaker, his wife Kelly and Lisa from Colorado.After telling them about the Beas Gorge, weformulated a plan and within a couple of days wehad loaded the boats and were heading to Mandiin a taxi. The Beas was running clear and themadness of the monsoon water had gone. A three-hour drive brought us to our put-in. It was warm;the sun was out so what more could we ask for?

We had planned to spend around four days onthe river and to take our time running the Gorge,as we knew we could make up time on the flatwater after the gorge. The last piece of

information I received off Chris – whojust happened to have

been part of the

last group which had run the Beas Gorge – wasthat there were a couple of big drops that we willneed to check out and his group that were on anextreme fishing trip in search of the mightyHimalayan Masheer fish had to portage rapidsand line the rafts!

We set off just after midday, the sun was beatingdown and the water was warm. We kayakedpassed local kids swimming and playing in theriver to avoid the midday heat. This is somethingout of the ordinary, as usually you do not seemany Indians playing down by the river, it issomething you see more in Nepal.

The first part gave us some nice and mellow ClassIII pool drop rapids, the river started to gorge upand the drops were getting bigger. It was not longbefore some of the drops were impossible to readfrom our kayaks and we had to get out to scoutthe line.

ThePaddler 46

The moves were getting harder

to make and we had to punchsome

huge waves

and big holes

all around it made for some great backdrops tothe white water - which was now rising inintensity. We kayaked under a new bridge – ourfirst navigational point, and then came a secondolder bridge built by the British many years ago.

This bridge was on its last legs and it was goingto be a matter of when and not if it would finallycollapse into the river. The river Rana came infrom river right pumping the volume up and justbelow the confluence we decided to make ourfirst camp on the left deep in the gorge. With thefinal rays of sunshine pushing through the gorgewe set up camp and put the kettle on!

It was certainly warm that night, I really did notneed my sleeping bag until the early hours andthen it was just a case of dragging it over me. Themist was hanging around in the morning givingus a great atmosphere to the upcoming whitewater. By the time we packed away our kit and had

run the first rapid next to camp the sun had burntthrough the mist and the sky was a deep blue.

The rapids were getting bigger; though the riverwas pool drop in character we now had to scoutover huge rocks to find our lines. The moves weregetting harder to make and we had to punch somehuge waves and big holes. One rapid of notestarted with a drop over a kicker wave followed bya big move over to river left to avoid some nastyholes and boils before hitting and punching thefinal hole at the bottom of the rapid.

I ran first and got pushed around all over the placebut managed to stay upright and get to a positionwhere I could eddy out and set up my camera.Henry nailed the line and with his fully ladenedboat he just blasted through the bottom hole.

The girls were next and had mixed results butthey both nailed the bottom hole! We were stillkeeping up our guard and rightly so as the rapidsbecame longer and the lines narrower. Ourjourney through the gorge was going well andwith the thought of two big drops that thefishermen portaged in our minds we were takingeverything in our stride.

It was not long until we came to a new roadbridge high above us. This was the third bridgeand marked the end of the gorge! Just as thebridge appeared from nowhere around thecorner the same could be said about the whitewater. It just mellowed out to class II with a lot offlat in-between, though the current was alwaystaking us along at a good pace.

The climate had changed and we found ourselvesin lush, dense vegetation. The Beas was nowtaking on more of a jungle character that youwould expect from kayaking rivers in Ecuador! Asfar as the eye could see was trees and jungle, westarted to look at the pristine sandy beaches tosee if there were animal tracks around.

ThePaddler 47

With polished boulders and rocks

We passed some beautiful waterfalls coming intothe river, a couple of temples with pilgrims bathingby the side of the river, a huge water/miningproject and finally a sweet wave! We decided tomake camp that night and were visited by localfisherman. They did not seem to have much of acatch, which was a bit surprising considering howmany fish we had seen jumping out of the river insearch of a meal. Just before one little drop a fishnearly landed on my spray deck!

The following day saw us arrive at yet anotherbridge, this time we were some 20km aboveSajampur. We stopped and I headed up to theroad in search of a taxi. I had a bit of a strangereception by the road. I do not think they haveseen many tourists and especially those dressedfor kayaking. Still the English wine and beershop was open for business, actually sellingwhisky and a local brew that I could onlycompare to as rocket fuel or some kind ofalcoholic drink that was sure to make you goblind! Still they said they could organise a jeepand told me to wait for 20 minutes.

Just how long is 20 minutes to an Indian? Thatwas the question, usually anything over tenminutes means something long but believe it ornot after what was a relatively short time our jeepturned up. We were on our way back to Manali.

ThePaddler 48

I do not think they have seen many tourists and especially those dressed for kayaking

For more info check out: www.gokayaking.at and www.stevebrooks.at

It had been an amazing trip, though only threedays it was well worth the short drive (for Indianconditions) to get there. Henry, Kelly and Lisawere looking north and wanted to run theChandra. I had ran the Chandra the previousyear and after the warmth of the Beas Gorge I didnot fancy freezing cold nights in the LahaulValley, so I decided to head back down to thewarm waters of the Beas and to kayak twopreviously un-run rivers that fed into the BeasGorge – the Rana and Binwa rivers alone.

Steve has clocked up a fair few kilometresof white water so far in his career. In facthe has paddled in over 16 countries, onfive continents including first descentsalong the way!

In the summer you will find Steve at hishome near Landeck, Austria where he hasbeen running a successful kayak schooland guiding service for the past couple ofyears. When the Autumn sets in and withthe weather getting colder and riversdrying up, Steve heads with his kayak tosunnier climes, always looking for thatpiece of river heaven. He seems to havefound it in South America and the IndianHimalayas!

ThePaddler 49

I do not think they have seen many tourists and especially those dressed for kayaking

For more info check out: www.gokayaking.at and www.stevebrooks.at

Steve Brooks

ThePaddler 50

LOCATION: Manali is located some 533 km north of Delhi andtowards the end of the Kullu Valley. It is the start of an ancient traderoute to Ladakh and is now the main supply route to Leh throughoutthe Summer.

GETTING THERE: From Delhi it is either a 12 hour taxi ride or upto 18 hours in a bus - depending on the season and type of bus! Thereused to be regular flights to Kullu airport but they have beenpostponed for the foreseeable future. It is also up to a two-day drivefrom Leh either by bus, mini-bus or 4x4 taxi. The journey from Leh isone of the most dramatic anywhere in the world!.

ACCOMMODATION: By far the best place to stay in Manali is theTourist Hotel - if you are on a budget! It is located in a quiet place onthe way to Old Manali. They are used to kayakers, all their equipmentand needs which is a great help: http://www.touristmanali.com. Devrajis the owner and Dharm Singh is the hotel manager..

FOOD & RESTAURANTS: If you are looking for Indian cuisinethan you can do no wrong by visiting Mayur in New Manali – it iswhere the locals go out to eat and the Butter Naan is amazing!

There are plenty of other restaurants offering Chinese, Tibetan, Pizzaetc. If you are looking for a cake and a great lassi then check outAmigo’s Cafe in New Manali.

Finally if you fancy a schnitzl or probably the best chicken and chips inIndia then you will have to be in town on a Sunday and try to workout a plan to get to Martin’s (this is not easy and you will have to orderyour chicken by Friday evening!).

GETTING AROUND: There are woods all around Manali whichmakes for a great way to stretch the legs. Taxis are everywhere and soare Tuk Tuks. There are plenty of local buses too that service all thesurrounding areas and with various levels of comfort.

If you want to organise a taxi to the river then you can either go to anagency or to the official taxi stand in New Manali close to the busstation. A good tip is to speak to Devraj from the Tourist Hotelsomehow he manages to get great deals.

SEASONS: Spring is a good time to kayak in and around the KulluValley though Manali can get real busy in April from the Indian touristsescaping the heat of the plains. Monsoon finds all the rivers full to thebrim and there has been a blanket ban on river running of any sortsthroughout the monsoon. Autumn is the best time to kayak in theKullu Valley. Once the monsoon is over you get fantastic water levelsand 100 days of sunshine (which is close to the truth). By November itis getting cold in the evenings, be careful of the onset of snow – theRohtang Pass is usually ‘officially closed’ in November.

PERMITS: Sometimes you need a permit to run the rivers inHimachal Pradesh. I have never been stopped and checked, however, ithas happened (especially during Monsoon or in Lahaul). If youencounter a problem go and speak to Himanshu. You can find himthrough the Amigo’s Cafe – he is really helpful and friendly.

INFORMATION

Google map

Manila, India

www.stevebrooks.at

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SURF • RACE • RELAXWe also offer SUP Business Insurance

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*Get your promotional code at www.supinsure.com/promotion.This Promotional Discount Code can only be used via www.SUPinsure.com. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. One discount code per customer. SUPinsure reserved the right to cancel any order due to unauthorised, altered, or ineligible use of discount. Offer available for limited time only and can be cancelled at any time.

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*Get your promotional code at www.supinsure.com/promotion.This Promotional Discount Code can only be used via www.SUPinsure.com. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. One discount code per customer. SUPinsure reserved the right to cancel any order due to unauthorised, altered, or ineligible use of discount. Offer available for limited time only and can be cancelled at any time.

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*Get your promotional code at www.supinsure.com/promotion.This Promotional Discount Code can only be used via www.SUPinsure.com. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. One discount code per customer. SUPinsure reserved the right to cancel any order due to unauthorised, altered, or ineligible use of discount. Offer available for limited time only and can be cancelled at any time.

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*Get your promotional code at www.supinsure.com/promotion.This Promotional Discount Code can only be used via www.SUPinsure.com. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. One discount code per customer. SUPinsure reserved the right to cancel any order due to unauthorised, altered, or ineligible use of discount. Offer available for limited time only and can be cancelled at any time.

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*Get your promotional code at www.supinsure.com/promotion.This Promotional Discount Code can only be used via www.SUPinsure.com. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. One discount code per customer. SUPinsure reserved the right to cancel any order due to unauthorised, altered, or ineligible use of discount. Offer available for limited time only and can be cancelled at any time.

BEST KAYAKINGLOCATIONS IN THE UKNorth Wales is renowned for having some ofthe best kayaking locations anywhere in theUK. From the lakes and rivers of Snowdonia tothe coastal waters surrounding Anglesey and theNorth Wales coastaline, there really is no better place in the UK to come kayaking.

At Plas Menai we run a wide range of kayakingcourses suitable for the complete novice rightthrough to advanced paddlers and those wishing to get qualified as instructors.

We also run a number of sea kayak expeditionseach year.

Full details of all our kayak courses and expeditions can be found onlinewww.plasmenai.co.uk

BOOK ONLINE NOW!

01248 670964

Sailing | Kayaking | Powerboating | Windsurfing | Cruising | Sea Kayak Ex

peditions | Schools |

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www.plasmenai.co.ukPlas Menai National Watersports Centre,Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 1UE

NATIONAL WATERSPORTS CENTRE

BEST KAYAKINGLOCATIONS IN THE UKNorth Wales is renowned for having some ofthe best kayaking locations anywhere in theUK. From the lakes and rivers of Snowdonia tothe coastal waters surrounding Anglesey and theNorth Wales coastaline, there really is no better place in the UK to come kayaking.

At Plas Menai we run a wide range of kayakingcourses suitable for the complete novice rightthrough to advanced paddlers and those wishing to get qualified as instructors.

We also run a number of sea kayak expeditionseach year.

Full details of all our kayak courses and expeditions can be found onlinewww.plasmenai.co.uk

BOOK ONLINE NOW!

01248 670964

Sailing | Kayaking | Powerboating | Windsurfing | Cruising | Sea Kayak Ex

peditions | Schools |

Youth Activity Holidays | Family Fun | Groups | Watersports Instructor Training | Corporate

www.plasmenai.co.ukPlas Menai National Watersports Centre,Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 1UE

BEST KAYAKINGLOCATIONS IN THE UKNorth Wales is renowned for having some ofthe best kayaking locations anywhere in theUK. From the lakes and rivers of Snowdonia tothe coastal waters surrounding Anglesey and theNorth Wales coastaline, there really is no better place in the UK to come kayaking.

At Plas Menai we run a wide range of kayakingcourses suitable for the complete novice rightthrough to advanced paddlers and those wishing to get qualified as instructors.

We also run a number of sea kayak expeditionseach year.

Full details of all our kayak courses and expeditions can be found onlinewww.plasmenai.co.uk

BOOK ONLINE NOW!

01248 670964

Sailing | Kayaking | Powerboating | Windsurfing | Cruising | Sea Kayak Ex

peditions | Schools |

Youth Activity Holidays | Family Fun | Groups | Watersports Instructor Training | Corporate

www.plasmenai.co.ukPlas Menai National Watersports Centre,Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 1UE

ThePaddler 52

ThePaddler 53

It is April… that time of year inthe north east/mid Atlanticregions of the United States thatgets kayakers blood pumping asthe ice retreats for the final timeof the year. Paddlers begin dutifullychecking gear, restringing decklines, repacking dry bags, refillingfirst aid kits as the full on seasoncan be seen, smelled and even felt.

Down theDelawarein early Spring

By Scott Edwards

Down theDelawarein early Spring

season water temperatures are going to still bevery low, in the high 1.6c to 7.2c range,requiring the wearing of cold water, qualityimmersion kayak gear. If you look at some ofthe pictures you'll see that most people opted towear dry suits for this paddle. Fortunately onthis trip we did not have any incidences whereanybody capsized, but better safe than sorry inwater temperatures of that range.

Delaware RiverThe Delaware River is part of the borderbetween New York and Pennsylvania and theentire border between New Jersey andPennsylvania. Depending on where you say theriver ends it is between 482 and 643 kilometerslong. The most picturesque paddling areas canbe found in the more northern end, where theriver has not been dredged and widened forcommercial shipping (check out the ports ofPhiladelphia and Wilmington, both majorshipping points on the southern Delaware,before it empties into Delaware Bay).

ThePaddler 54

It is our group’s habitto ‘kick off’ our season (for those of us whodon’t paddle/ice break all year long, or prefer toswim in more temperate waters) with a campingtrip with longer than usual kayak trips being thehighlight of the outing.

The best thing about early-season paddling isthat you avoid all the crowds and you get yourthe pick of the litter of the prime campsites. Thedownside to early-season camping in thisregion, especially in northeast corner ofPennsylvania, is the weather. April can be sounpredictable. The daytime high one-day can bewell over 15.5c, that night it can be below -1.1c,and rain/snow are still not out of the question.So bring your winter sleeping bag and layersand layers of clothing, as you will be activelythermo-regulating throughout the trip.

On this trip the nights were so absolutely frigidand I actually awoke in the mornings to find mytent covered in frost. This also means that early-

ThePaddler 55

Because this was a group trip of the DelawareValley Kayak Club (www.delvalkayakers.com),we set up our own shuttle, starting our trip atthe Milford Beach put in and taking as manycars as we could get down to the take out atDingmans’s Access. This made for a trip of whatwe estimated to be around 29kms and weplanned a lunch stop right at our campsite, as: a) It was a natural halfway point and b) If people needed to change, get other gear,

avail themselves of facilities thecampground offers or even take out if theydidn’t want to do the entire trip.

to what you want to do. On the Delaware, thereis even the wonderful option of camping onislands in the river as you wind your waydownstream. Many kayakers love this type oftrip, as it insists that you trim down your kit tofit inside your kayak… tent, sleeping bag, poles,food and water as well as all your other gearmust fit in your boat, or you go without.

There are a lot of other options, both shorter and longer available; it is all up to you and your group as

water. The Delaware spread out in front of usframed by beautiful mountainsides. There isalways the chance of sighting White Tailed Deer orBlack Bear on trips in this area. In fact, in mostcamping areas, you are required to take anti bearmeasures at your campsite. Sadly, on this trip, wesaw no bear, but were joined by several WhiteTailed Deer, Red Tailed Hawks and a couple ofBald Eagles.

have done self contained camping, this takes a lotof practice and lots of properly sized dry bags.While you can get a lot of gear in a large dry bag, itis not as flexible when it comes to packing it in,and you will most likely wind up having toscrounge through your things to find the one pieceof kit your looking for/need. It’s why I opt for lotsof smaller, different colored dry bags, makes bothpacking the boat and finding things your lookingfor much more efficient.

The Delaware River in the Water Gap area is yourclassic eastern north American river cut throughthe mountains. It is breathtakingly beautiful, it isboth tranquil and challenging in spots, as it isdotted with class 1-2 rapids, depending on thewater depth and wind conditions, which in kind,warrants another mention of being dressedappropriately for the water temperature and makesure your boat is properly outfitted.

On Saturday morning, 18 of us set up our shuttleand began wrestling our way into our dry gear andgetting out boats into the water. Despite the belowfreezing temperatures of the night before, themorning had broken sunny and beautiful,marking the beginning of a beautiful day on the

ThePaddler 56

InformationYour best resource for information on the best paddling areasand planning your trip is the website of the Delaware WaterGap National Recreational Area. A division of the National Parkservice, you can even avail yourselves of state sponsored busesfor shuttles along the Delaware’s myriad put ins and take-outs.

The Delaware Water Gap’s 70,000 acres also offer some of themost breathtaking hiking in the region, with waterfalls andscenic overlooks to punctuate the outing. This site will also linkyou with events and programs, fees and reservations and otherhighlights.

http://www.nps.gov/dewa/index.htm

As those who

Click to view on Google Maps

The group put paddle to water and began headingdown river. We set point and sweep (the firstpaddler, who leads the group, and the last paddler,who makes sure no one gets too far behind) andsoaked up the abundant natural beauty as weclicked off the kilometres.

Confused waterFor the most part, the Delaware was movingbriskly, aiding our progress and despite the factthat the Delaware is a major river in the region,there are still plenty of rocks in it! About an hourand a half drive downstream from this paddle,areas such as Upper Black Eddy and Frenchtown,there are remnants of dams, which can make forsome interesting and fun confused water. In theDelaware Water Gap areas, the confused water andrapids are from the river descending through themountains. They add quite a bit of fun and a bit ofexcitement to the paddles. They can also be lumpyenough to make a spray skirt an exceedingly goodidea to help keep you dry and well under control.Make sure your spray skirt is properly fitted, andthat your release is free and clear. As someone whohas had a spray skirt implode on them, it is a lotharder to paddle a boat half full of water than onemight imagine.

We stopped for lunch at our campground, justpulling ashore at the put it in where everyonerefueled for the remaining 14kms ahead. The sunhad done it’s job and burned off the morning cold

allowing everyone to enjoy a leisurely lunch on thebanks of the Delaware before pushing on. It wasquite something to be able to spy our riversidecampsites as we paddled past them on to thesecond leg of our journey.

On any of our paddles the organizers always makerecommendations on boat size and type andappropriate gear. On a trip of 29kms, it wassuggested that everyone paddle a kayak 4+ metresin length, to keep the group together and not havesomeone get separated because they could notkeep up.

As a rule, I always keep two things close at handwhile paddling. One is my Spot emergency signal;the other is my waterproof GPS. I think it bearsbringing up that while a lot of gear made for theoutdoors is waterproof, very little of it floats. So, itis a good idea to either tether these items to you oryour boat, or store them in a dry bag that offersbuoyancy. I was watching the distance tick off onthe GPS and once we had gotten past the 29kmmark, I found myself wondering just how far wewere going!

I must admit, after a very tough night sleeping inthe cold, I was getting a bit tired and lookingforward to taking out and reflecting back on thetrip. Well, the take out, it turns out, was another2.1km downstream. I think everyone was happy tofinally see the ramps that marked out destination.I’d imagine everyone was fairly frosty the eveningbefore!

Everyone arrived safe and sound at the end of thepaddle and many were very pleased to havecovered 31 plus kilometers on such a beautiful day.In fact, some had such a good time that they didanother, albeit shorter, trip that had them headedin the right direction to go home on Sunday.

If you find yourself in the area between New Yorkand Philadelphia and want to enjoy some of thefinest scenery in the region I would highlyrecommend a paddle down the Delaware. It isalways a wonderful trip!

ThePaddler 57

The Delaware River in the Water Gap area is your

classic eastern north American river cut through

the mountains

ThePaddler 58

Worldrecord holder

Pre-WorldChampion

Interview withTao Berman

50 first descents AND…

ThePaddler 59

Worldrecord holder

Pre-WorldChampion

Tao Berman

OF THE PADDLING WORLD

50 first descents AND…

ThePaddler 60

here and what was your first paddle?I grew up paddling in the North Cascades on theSkykomish River, Washington state and all thetributaries that flow into it.

What and where was your first descent?The first notable first descent that I accomplishedwas Alpine Falls, which is located at the bottom ofa creek called The Top Tye. Everyone would paddlethe creek and take out just above the falls. Icouldn’t figure out why all of the more veterankayakers didn’t think it was possible. So one daywhen I was about 16 I went over the falls. I thinkthat moment was a pivotal learning experience forme because it helped me realize that when onesays something is impossible, it just means that itis impossible for them!

With over 50 first descents - which was the most memorable? My most memorable first descent would have tobe Lacie falls. It is a 300-foot sliding waterfall.What made it so challenging was that the waterat the base of the falls was only three feet deep, atits deepest area. And if I didn’t have the right sideto side momentum I would have landed onexposed rocks 300 feet below. So clearly thedanger factor was quite high.

Which part of the World is your favourite? The world is so vast and diverse I couldn’t limit it toone favourite part. I love Southeast Asia for thegeography and culture. Europe is fantastic for itshistory, architecture and of course the food in Italy.

W

When one says something is impossible, it just means that it is

impossible for them!

What was the reason for taking on the Big Wave project? I was starting to feel a little bored with what Iwas doing in the sport from a progressionperspective. When I got into the sport my entirefocus was on pushing the extreme end of thesport. After setting a couple of world records,including setting the record for the highestwaterfall descent, I decided that I wanted a newchallenge. So I got into freestyle kayaking. Afterbecoming the pre-World Champion at freestyle Ineeded a new challenge to stay motivated. So Idecided to get into extreme racing. My goal wasto win. Over the course of the next five years Iwon over 80 percent of the races I entered andone year I was undefeated in every race. This iswhen I started to get a little bored with racing. Soeach year I trained less and less and for the mostpart I kept winning. I didn’t want to not becompletely passionate and focused on being thebest I could be. So I realized I needed a new

challenge to motivate me. There was only onething left in the sport that I was motivated tolearn – and that was to surf big waves in a kayak.Working with Murky Waters and Randy Phillipsto design and build the perfect surf kayak for bigwaves was also really exciting for me because Ihad never before been as involved in thedesigning of a kayak.

Is there anyone in particular in the sporting world that has influenced you?Not really. But there are aspects of many people inthe sporting world that have influenced me. Iadmired Dan Gavere’s ability to become a prokayaker before people in America even knew whata kayak was. Brandon Knapp was a bettertechnically proficient kayaker than just aboutanyone. I would study what I thought the people Iadmired where doing right and attempt to emulateit, or improve upon it.

There was only one thing left in the sportthat I was motivated to learn – and that was to

surf big waves in a kayak.

Tao Berm

an

ThePaddler 61ThePaddler 61

What is the biggest accomplishment in your career?

For years people told me I was going to severelyinjury myself, or I would die. I am proud of the fact

that in 20 years of paddling I have never had aserious injury.

What would be your ultimate achievement?

A fulfilling and happy life. But the only way I canbe happy is if I’m successful.

Ever been scared? No. Fear comes from doubt. If I doubted my

ability to run a rapid or waterfall I wouldn’t havedone it.

Any advice for those starting out in extreme kayaking?

Learn the rudiments first. Today I see a lot ofpaddlers running really big waterfalls that have

very poor technical skills. Anyone can run awaterfall. But having the skills to run realdifficult rapids and make it look easy is

something that seems to be a bit of a lost art.

Which paddlers out there are currently pushing the white water

boundaries? There are a lot of paddlers that are pushing the

boundaries of how high of a waterfall can be run.But unfortunately I see less paddlers todaypushing the technically challenging rapids.

Any advice for dropping over waterfalls?

Start small!

What's next for you? As you know I retired from paddling after

completing my big wave project. Now I have thetime in any given day to dirtbike, mountain bike,ski, golf, or windsurf. I am also focused on buying

income producing real estate. Storage unitfacilities, multi-family housing, mixed use

commercial and mobile home parks are what I amcurrently investing in. But most important, I havemore time to spend with my two young children

and Jamie.

ThePaddler 62

ThePaddler 63ThePaddler 63

ThePaddler 64

Thanks Tao let’s finish withsomething short and snappy…

Thanks foryour time Tao

If you could surf with anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be? I would prefer to paddle with my group of friends that I grew up paddling with.

Facebook or twitter?They are both overrated!

On your iPod you're listening to? I prefer the radio.

What would you do with $100,000?The same thing I do with most of my money. I wouldbuy more real estate.

An ideal night out for you is?A nice bar with my good friends.

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

What do you do to let off steam?I really don’t get to worked up. But I suppose exercisewould be the solution.

What do you get really angry about?Nothing.

The one thing I’d change about kayaking is?It would be nice if there was more money in the sport so more athletes could make a good living kayaking.

If you could be a superhero for one day, what superpower would you choose and why?I would be the wolverine. He never gets hurt.

What three words would you use to describe you?Relentless. Focused. Determined.

http://taoberman.com

Tao Berm

an

ThePaddler 65ThePaddler 65

Thanks Tao let’s finish withsomething short and snappy…

ThePaddler 66

ThePaddler 67

Tao BermanBig Wave ProjectNelscott Reef, Lincoln City, Oregon

United States

ThePaddler 68

LOCHNESS

Peaceful, tranquil andquiet

The light awaked me. It was just after 4am, but I had had a couple of hoursdeep sleep and was ready to go, spurred on by the thoughts of getting oneof those glorious, big spotted, Ness brownies. I drove up the south shoreroad to Dores, where there is a little beach and space for a couple of carsand the water is only 50 yards away. I got the kayak ready and fired up thecooker to brew a coffee and have a bite before setting off.

The sun started tolighten the tops of thefar mountains as itclimbed above the hills.The water was like glass andthere were no midges! It wassimply glorious.

I decided to fish with two rods. A littleBaitcaster I won at the Esthwaite Grand Slam withAbu 5500c on it for pike with a 14cm, gold jointed Shad rap on it, a well-proven lure. The other my Abu Suveran (a proper Swedish one that isabout 15-years old, not a modern copy!) 6lb line and a great little sea troutlure called a Pins Minnow. GB swears by them! I set off, trolling in about10 feet depth and trying to stay with the minnow in just about the depth Icould see the bottom and 40 yards astern, while the rap was a bit closerand on the deeper side. There wasn't a breath of wind yet.

A day spent fishing on

By Simon Everett

ThePaddler 69

Peaceful, tranquil andquiet

70

so I was bringing the lures over the drop off andtrying to keep them in good fishing depth, pluscovering more water as I did so. Running a zigzagcourse is always a good ploy when trolling. Theturn of the lure seems to be an additionalattraction. I took a picture of the water runningoff the blade of our new paddle, it just caught myeye! Full carbon, very light, not as big a blade asit looks in the picture and slightly asymmetricaland exhibits no flutter whatsoever.

As the morning wore on the clouds started tobank up. There was still no wind, or fish, but theview down the loch was astounding.

I paddled down the southern shore for just overnine miles without so much as a pull, but I didsee an osprey, and a grebe with a clutch of ninechicks. She was going to have her work cut out!At this point, almost down as far as the hydropower station, I crossed the loch. One of the tripboats, the Royal Scot from Fort Augustus camepast and put up some waves that were likeripples in thick, melted chocolate, it was thatcalm.

I continued to paddle up the north shore, stayingin close and searching for a fish as I head towardsUrquhart Castle, which is the second mostvisited tourist spot in Scotland after StirlingCastle or so I was told. The prisoners here wereheld on the top story of the tower of this castle.Being built on the solid rock there was nodungeon. Every so often the prisoners wereoffered the chance to jump and swim across thefreezing waters of the loch to their freedom.There is no record of anyone ever succeeding.

The wind dropped again and the water becameglassy calm once more, as luck would have it thesun started to break through a gap in the cloudsso I had to paddle out into the middle of theloch to get this shot. An island in the sky, justlike off Avatar!

Then I went in close around the base of the castleand tried around the rocks. Still to no avail, but Iwas having a thoroughly good morning with thescenery, wildlife and just having nothing more toworry about than keeping my lines fromcrossing.

I decided to try the shallows of Urquhart Bay andtrolled in past the castle and the GPS showed methat there were a couple of little streams that raninto the bay. I decided these might be worthtrying as a trout or pike might just be lying in theold riverbed amongst the sand bars. I worked myway around the bay, still zigging and zagging inbig curves to present the lures.

There were a couple of little sandy beaches thatlooked inviting for a stretch of the legs. I chosethe middle one, for no particular reason otherthan it seemed a good spot for a coffee and biteto eat. I hadn't stopped paddling for anythingother than to take pictures since I launched atabout 05.30... I looked at my watch – it was13.15 – seven hours in the saddle without a stop,drink or anything to eat! The scenery just heldmy breath all the time and I hadn’t felt the needfor anything. Now, though, my fasting wasstarting to catch up with me and I was hungryand wanted a drink too.

ThePaddler

I zigzaggedmy way down

One of the trip boats, the Royal Scot from Fort Augustus came past and

put up some waves that were like ripples in

thick, melted chocolate

The prisoners here wereheld on the top story of thetower of this castle. Beingbuilt on the solid rock there

was no dungeon

ThePaddler 71

72ThePaddler

a little roebuck came along the beach, saw me in the trees, trotted smartly along the

beach behind me and hopped over the kayak! U

RQUHARTCastle

73ThePaddler

I had a coffee and ate my ‘Killy Pie’ that Ibought in a great little sandwich shop in Darvelthe day before. I got myself back together andpushed the kayak out a bit, remounted andwent back to paddling those lures around thebay a couple of times. There were still patchesof sun coming through the clouds and an oldpretty Clyde style fishing boat came up theloch, so I paddled over to get a picture. TheLady Rose she was called and the folks werevery friendly when I paddled over.

Soon after that the wind picked up quitesuddenly. A real blow from the east, which wasa nuisance as that meant I now had to paddleback into it all the way to the car! As I got outof the bay it really howled, it was funnelling

down the loch out of nowhere. Within a matterof minutes there were proper waves, and theycarried on building until we had two-footwaves. It was blowing so hard the wind waswrenching at the paddle and trying to wrest itfrom my grip. White caps started to appearwithin 30 minutes making the eight miles I stillhad ahead of me to go a bit of a workout,especially after the 11 miles I had already done.

I didn't take any more pictures because as soonas I stopped paddling to pick the camera up Ilost 50 yards as I was blown back down theloch and getting going again and having done afair bit already, with no wind or tide assistance,I didn't want to waste any energy, that coffeeand Killy Pie was all I had had, but I wasburning off my spare tyre!

URQUHARTCastle

LADY Rose

The loch in question is a kettle hole, a lochformed by a great lump of glacial ice that comesto a grinding halt, gouging out a furrow andthen as the ice melts fills it to create the loch,which is topped up by small feeder streams thathave evolved over the years running off thesurrounding hills. How the pike, perch, trout,roach and other little fish that inhabit thewaters have got there I don't really know, butthey did and it is a good spot for them.

The fly I tried first is a DNA Mohican in orange.It is a faithful pattern anywhere and has caughtme countless pike, but after flogging the waterfor an hour or more with nothing more than apull from a good trout, which failed to get the4/0 hook in its mouth, I decided a change wasneeded. The one I went for is a multi-colouredpattern incorporating a little yellow under the

I got back to the car just after 16.30 havingcovered 19.4 miles, eight miles of them intothat strong headwind and it did me the powerof good! But, I wasn't done yet! I had a datewith a small pike loch that I know nearAviemore. I loaded the car with everything anddrove over to my little pike loch. I stopped offbetween Loch Ness and here for a couple ofciders and a bite to eat first then started tolaunch a few minutes after 18.00.

It was a chance to get my fly arm swinging againbecause things have conspired against megetting much fly fishing done this year andbeing well north in Scotland things werebehind, so an early pike was worth a try for.

ThePaddler 74

I got back to the car

ThePaddler 75

olive back – a good roach suggestion and onethat I will use here in the English midlands togood effect.

I drifted quietly around the margins in about sixfeet of water, casting a good line and retrievingnice and slowly, keeping in constant contact withthe fly. Resulting in absolutely nothing. I decidedmaybe I wasn't getting deep enough even thoughthe water was absolutely crystal clear, so I changedfrom the intermediate to the depth charge, a fastsinking line that casts like a rocket. Having donethat I decided to change the part of the loch Ifished too, and headed for a reed bed at thebottom end.

As I drifted the wind picked up a little, not heavybut enough to make it worth putting the drogueout. I slowly approached the corner of the reed

bed, drifting in silently and even with a count of 10on the fast sinker I wasn't getting the bottom, so Iknew it was deep here, probably 12 feet or so. I putin a cracking cast that landed the fly within a footof the reeds and with the lily pads to their right. Iknew it would be shallower there and counted tojust three before giving the first short strip. On thesecond strip the fly was hit and I was in! Finally Ihad connected with a fish. I had worked hardenough to get one!

It fought really, really well too. Driving hard andmaking several strong runs that had me letting lineslip through my fingers to preserve either the tippetor the hook hold, or both. I was desperate to landa fish after so much hard work on Loch Ness fornothing. Eventually a small pike around 4 lbscame to hand.

It was still very lean; making me think the pikehadn't been feeding up after spawning for verylong this far north. Feeding they certainly werethough, this fish took my fly very confidently. Itlooks mangled, but in fact it is just ‘out of shape’and nothing that a gentle wash and a combcouldn't sort out. The hairs all came back intoplace and it fished on perfectly.

As I drifted along the reed bed I saw a small bayformed in the edge of them, perhaps 20 yardsdeep, where a small stream ran out. I cast my flyright to the very point of the reeds, at the start ofthe bay. A small perch immediately pounced it on!The greedy little chap wasn't much bigger than thefly itself and quite how it got the 4/0 hook in itsmouth properly I can't imagine. I have only caughta handful of perch in my life this is about thesecond biggest!

As I unhooked him a young osprey came soaringover the loch in search of a bedtime snack. Thelittle perch was quite safe; it was back and goneunder the kayak in a flash. The osprey landed inthe trees opposite though, about 100 yards away. Icould see the markings on its breast even in thefading light. I gave it another half hour and gotone more pike, about 10" long… then I felt the

long day catching up on me. I looked at mywatch, the sun was already down behind thehills and it was gone 23.00. I had to get backand put the tent up yet, and have somethingto drink.

I slept soundly, having got on the water at05.30 and now only just finishing off at23.30, in bed for midnight. It had been along but one very memorable day. One day Ishall return and catch a big, Scottish pike!

www.kayakuk.comTelephone: 01889 566796. Mobile 07768 632560

ThePaddler 76

LOCATION: Loch Ness is situated at the north eastern end of theGreat Glen, a large ‘side-slip’ (and active) fault line that splits the north ofScotland down the middle and further sculpted by Ice Age glaciers. Theword glen means ‘steep sided valley’.

RIVERS: There are about forty small rivers, streams, burns andwaterways running into Loch Ness. The loch itself is connected to thesea via the River Ness and Caledonian Canal – both feeding into theMoray Firth. Beneath the water the loch consists of two deep basinsseparated by a barrier of sediment from the River Foyers,approximately half-way down the southern shore of the loch.

SIZE: Loch Ness is 51 feet (16 metres) higher than sea level, is 23miles long and one mile wide. Loch Ness contains more water than inall of the lakes and rivers of England and Wales combined. It also hasthe greatest volume of water than any other Scottish loch. The watersof Loch Ness never freeze over.

MONSTER: There have been countless fake monster sightings andfalse evidence of its existence presented over the years, including afabricated echo sounder chart showing a multi-legged creature takenfrom the Rival III in 1957. Operation Deepscan, has been the largestand most exhaustive expedition staged at Loch Ness. During theexploration, several unidentified and unexplained sonar contacts wererecorded beneath the water.

COLOUR: The colour of the water is caused by peat particlesfloating throughout the loch. There are two layers of radioactivesediment beneath the waters of Loch Ness. The first was the result ofradioactive fallout from the Chernobyl disaster.

URQUHART CASTLE: Urquhart Castle has been changing handsbetween the English and the Scots for well over 400 years since it'sconstruction. Two hundred years ago it was finally destroyed withgunpowder explosives at the end of the 17th Century in order toprevent Urquhart Castle from falling into the hands of the JacobiteUprising.

WELLINGTON BOMBER: On New Years Eve in 1940 a trainingflight in a Wellington Bomber suffered engine failure. Luckily, the pilotsspotted a nearby body of water and managed to make a perfectlanding on Loch Ness – bailing from the bomber before it vanishedbeneath the water.

The wreck had lain beneath the water for almost 40 years beforedivers stumbled across the wreckage in almost perfect condition. It wasrecovered in September, 1985 and is now in Brooklands Museum,Weybridge and is one of two Wellington Bombers still intact.

THEORIES: Theories and ideas about Loch Ness include: Thedreaded Pyranha Midges that hunt the shores of Loch Ness, strippingflesh from small mammals in seconds.

The hidden vents of an active super volcano lying in the depths of thewaters – complete with whole new species of sulphur eating plankton.

The shocking new 'evidence' that Nessie hunts on land, out of thewaters of Loch Ness!

INFORMATION

Google Map

Loch Ness

www.visitlochness.com

ThePaddler 77

There is goldat the end ofthe rainbow –the KaskaziMarlin ARX!

The Marlin has been revised and now hasthe option of an ARX type deck. The deckcan be either fixed or detachable andallows the comfort of paddling with aspraydeck to provide protection from theelements.

The other changes are:> Longer cockpit to accommodate taller

paddlers.> Larger drain holes to vent water faster.> The day hatch has been moved closer

to the seat to allow it to open with theARX deck in place.

www.kayakuk.comTelephone: 01889 566796. Mobile 07768 632560

In stock for immediate delivery

New Zealand is an adventure paradise and theadventures just have not stopped since I arrivedhere four weeks ago. After the incredible few days atJackson Bay we went back to the Hawea waves forthe NZ nationals and team selections. There was agreat turn out and atmosphere at the event, whichalso celebrate the official opening of the park infront of crowds of local people on a beautiful sunnyweekend. Over the two days everyone took to thewater to take part in a whole range of competitionson a wide variety of crafts. There was bodyboarders, surfers, hydro speeds, freestylers, creekboats and SUP's. Pro paddlers to beginners and yeoldies all the way through to loads of young kids.

I had a great weekend winning both dayscompetitions but not being a Kiwi means Ididn't make the national team! However it isgoing to be an exciting year for NZ freestyle asthe event showed that freestyle is still alive andgrowing and 2013 will see one of the largestand strongest NZ teams compete at theworlds later this year and also a hugedevelopment of freestyle withinthe country thanks to newHawea freestyle trainingfacility. Heres a quick highlights video fromour time at the waves.

After the event it was time for a fewdays chilling, wake boarding and waterskiingbefore a quick trip to Queenstown to gofreestyle paragliding and grab a Fergburger.Then it was time to head north for a days huntingbefore jumping on the ferry to the North Island andLake Taupo and the Kaituna. The Kaituna is a enchantingriver and it was awesome to catch up with friends oldand new as we explored the area and paddled the run. Adrought in NZ meant the levels were super lowbut still really good fun. Another week onand we've been boating loads and filming,bungee jumping*, competing (the Full Jamesevent), mountain biking, speed boating on thelake, SUPing on a gorgeous spring and surfingin the ocean, playing ocean golf and going tothe gym, the circus and several natural thermalhot and cold pools. So much fun!

The adventures just haven't stopped andnow I am leaving the Islands to head toAustralia and who knows what adventureswill come next.www.claireohara.co.ukwww.claireohara.blogspot.com

ThePaddler 78

Claire O'Hara

New ZealandAdventures...

To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.comor call +44 (0)1480 465081 ThePaddler 79ThePaddler 79

Your paddles, courses, jobs and travelsTo advertise your £20.00/$32.00 ad on this page email: ads@thepaddler.co.uk

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Ready to strikeBy Phil Carr

ThePaddler 80

The Mamba from Dagger has been aroundsince 2005 and has become a firm favouritewith paddlers at all levels. Over the last

couple of years Dagger’s designers and testpaddlers have been working on making theMamba even better, the result has beensome major design changes that havebrought the Mamba bang up to date. Inmany senses the new Mamba is a

completely new boat.

2013 Dagger Mamba

ThePaddler 81

ThePaddler 82www.dagger.com

It’s pretty easy to tell the two apart. The new Mamba has a bow security bar that runsacross the front deck and an additional security bar has been added just in front of thecockpit and the drain plug is now positioned in the centre of the stern. The designchange occurred in 2012 with those kayaks supplied with the older Daggeroutfitting system.

For 2013 the Mamba comes equipped with Dagger’s new Contour Ergooutfitting. This is similar in design to the Wave Sport Core outfitting system.Mambas are available with two different specifications of Contour Ergooutfitting – River and Creek. The River Ergo system equipped kayaks comesupplied with the Contour Ergo play seat and the Creek spec comes suppliedwith the Contour Ergo Creeker seat. Both systems are extremely similar withthe main difference being that the creeker system includes a plastic step outpillar and additional storage trays (with bungee cord) to the front of the seat.

The new outfitting is designed around ease of use and adjustment. Forexample the front edge of the seat can be raised or lowered through theuse of the same kind of ratchet system that we are all familiar with on kayakbackrests. A couple of quick release buckles allow easy access to the backof the hip pads to add/remove the shims. Plenty of shims are supplied withthe outfitting pack to allow the paddler to achieve optimum fit. Thebackrest provides a broad support base and adjusted via two ratchetspositioned near the front of the cockpit. All Mambas are supplied with afully adjustable full plate footrest that incorporates a system that allows theplate to expand thus eliminating gaps between the footrest and kayak shellthereby reducing the chance of foot entrapment. A nice little touch is the fact thebolts that hold the footrest rails in place have a leash system that prevents thebolts from being dropped within the boat and potentially lost.

Plenty of storage and clip in points are provided both in front of and behind theseat. The throw bag storage position is flat just in front of the seat and can besecured in place using the strap system. The system seems nice and secure. In thisposition the throw bag is very easy to access whilst you are sat in the boat.

The whole outfitting system is simply superb. It probably took me around 10-15minutes to get the Mamba set up for my style of paddling.

For 2013 a number of new colour options are available for the Mamba and other kayakswithin the Dagger range. Other changes are much harder to spot on first inspection.

Old Mamba or new Mamba?

For 2013 a number of new

colour options

are available for the Mambaand other

kayaks within the Dagger range.

ThePaddler 83

www.unsponsored.co.uk

What Dagger says…A modern day classic, the Mamba hasproved itself over and over again on riversall over the world. A planing hull with softrails gives the Mamba excellentperformance on big volume, withoutcompromising its capabilities as a first classcreeker.The Mamba Creeker features thesame bomb proof rotomoulded seat andstep out pillar as the Nomad. It's theultimate choice if you want a kayak forboth steep, technical whitewater and bigvolume. Available in three sizes.

Mamba 7.6 CreekerThe new Mamba 7.6 Creeker is beefierthan the 7.5 Creeker with added volumeand improved volume distribution, yet itremains forgiving. Great size for youthsand smaller paddlers who want to tacklecreeks or big water rapids.Mamba 8.1 CreekerThe new, larger sized 8.1 offers morevolume and better volume distributionthan the Mamba 8.0 Creeker. Mamba 8.6 CreekerThe Mamba 8.6 Creeker is a large boat forlarge paddlers, with improved safetyfeatures and volume like you've neverseen. Series improvements offer anoutstanding ride regardless of the size, withthe forgiving performance you've come tolove in the revered Mamba Series.

ThePaddler 84

Mamba series are bigger in both length and volume.Volume has been added in a couple of key areas thatpushes the Mamba firmly into the world of a capableplanning hull creeker as well as still being a versatileriver-runner. More volume is located in the knee area toincrease comfort levels and change the paddlingpositioning. Additional volume has also been added tothe stern which means that the Mamba sits a little higherin the water than its predecessor.

This in itself adds greater levels of stability and with asmooth transition from hull to side to deck results in akayak that is very forgiving and stable whilst side surfingor trapped in a sticky hydraulic. The edges of the Mambaare quite pronounced at the bow and run to just underthe seat before tapering out towards the stern. Thisagain aids the stability of the boat. After paddling a newand old Mamba back to back I could instantly feel thedifference between the two.

On the water the Mamba is quick and easy to turn. I feltthat the kayak was very predictable, and stable. Yet just alittle knee lift to get the boat on edge resulted in somenice snappy turns. The speed of the Mamba is prettygood due its planning hull and it certainly holds its ownagainst the likes of the Liquid Logic Stomper and WaveSport Recon. I found it very easy to punch throughstoppers, break through larger sea waves/surf and boof.The Mamba resurfaces very well and the deck sheds

water incredibly effectively.

I spent a bit of time playing with the position of theseat that is adjusted by loosening off a few bolts.Even the smallest adjustment makes quite a bigdifference to the way in which the boatpaddled. I positioned the seat just forward

of centre. I would recommend any new Dagger Mambaowner to do the same to dial the boat in to their ownpaddling style.

The Mamba is available in three different sizes 7.6, 8.1,and 8.6 so there are lots of options, which should allowmost paddlers to find a Mamba that is ideal for them.

Overall, the new kayaks in the

Overall I would say that the new Mamba is an

extremely versatileKayak. It will appeal to beginners and more

advanced paddlers alike.

Photos: Phil Carr. Paddler : Fred Bainbridge

Yak Mavric white water caghttp://www.crewsaver.co.uk/YAKYak has been putting a lot of time into their research and development beforereleasing their new line of paddling cags. I have been able to get hold of the YakMavric, the latest white water cag to see if it’s been worth it.

ThePaddler 86

Testing, testinFirst reaction was that the cag looked good, muchmore attractive than past Yak cags, it looks stylish andfeatures good colour. It was clear to see Yak haveconcentrated on quality and affordable quality atthat, where the Mavric undercuts most othermanufacturer’s cags on the market when it comes toprice. So to re-cap good looking, affordable andquality; well that is what I wanted to find out.

Trying on the cag I found the sizing similar to othermanufacturers. I fit a medium and the cag has plenty ofgrowing room, a little too much space in the chestarea maybe for the smaller paddler, if you are hittingthe gym frequently maybe this will be in your favour.Comfort wise the Mavric is nice, the waist band issimilar to that of the Sweet cags, a soft neoprene,which does not restrict any movement in your torso.

Seamless underarmtechnology with pre-bent sleeves

for high performance

Self facing fabric outerneck and cuffs for protection oflatex seals and comfort fit

Latex innerneck and cuff seals

Fully adjustable neoprenewaistband and inner skirt

Heavy weighttri-laminate waterproof

fabric

The shoulders felt comfortable, plenty of room formovement and no restrictions when rolling, or generalpaddling. To tighten the waist, Yak have used two Velcroadjustment straps these feel really effective and theVelcro sticks well. On the wrist there is a latex seal,which features an outer Velcro strap allowing you tomake the wrist smaller and tighten around your wrist.This was the main negative I took from the Mavric; thewrist can be tightened but the sleeve tapers I prefer anelastic wrist or something a little more sophisticated. Aswith the neck I would prefer to see the outer neck tobe a little higher to protect the latex seal.

On the water the Mavric was still impressive. To paddleit was comfortable with no major restrictions and thematerial was very watertight with Yak’s four-way stretchtri-laminate fabric allowing unrestricted performance.The underarms are seamless, which like Palm’s rangewill result in longer lasting kit, as sweat is one of themain causes of cags delaminating. The arms are pre bentallowing no restriction when in a positive paddlingposition. The Mavric is fully taped and breathable makingit waterproof and allowing you to paddle without buildup of sweat in the cag. There are two chest pockets forearplugs or other things you may carry on the river, Ipersonally don’t like pockets on my cags I see it asanother area to leak or eventually come untaped but itis down to personal preference.

The Mavric proved to be a good whitewater cag and Ibelieve it will hold up well over time. I see this as astrong contender on the current market as anaffordable high end cag. If I were to rate this out of tenI’d happily give it a 8/10 – a quality product with a fewminor negatives, which again could be down topersonal preference.BY DALE MEARSPHOTOS: BREN ORTON

Black / Grey in S, M, L, XL.£179.99

ThePaddler 87

Testing, testingThePaddler ezine test station. If youwantyourproductremovedanditwillbeofinterestto

paddlers - email us: reviews@thepaddlerezine.com

ThePaddler 88

Neither had I until very recently. I set about a search for a review but I could not find a singleone by a UK angler. That will change now; I have one in my garage for a short while.

RTM have been around for quite some years, they are based in France andfor some time were the European manufacturers for a leading brand ofkayak. Many will know of the RTM Tempo which is very, very similar to theclassic and sadly discontinued Scupper Pro. The hull is virtually the same butthe cockpit has been modified, some say improved some say not, I am nothere to argue the point. However the main point is that RTM are Europe's

largest sit-on kayak manufacturer and are surprisingly little known in the UKby angling kayakers. The Abaco is their flagship kayak so let's start with thekayak as it sits on my drive. The Grey Storm colouring is definitely striking andeasy on the eye. The first thing you notice is as you run your hands over thekayak it has a very clean smooth finish. Let's start from the bows.

RTM Abaco Never heard of it I hear you say!

A rubber, ‘Tupperware’ style lid, seals the access. Very tight and Iwould guess the seal is improved by this tightness. Open up andthe bow storage is vast!

Widest point is 35cm for 55cm then narrowing down. Big enoughfor a C-Tug I hear you ask?

Split right down and with the chassis at full length.

But then there is this clever idea. Do you get fed up of bits gettinglost down the hull? Just drop this in and problem solved.

Just behind this is a small flat area with a bungy for lure boxes orbolt on accessories. Either side of this there are two more flat areas.

But then there is this clever idea. Do you get fed up of bits gettinglost down the hull? Just drop this in and problem solved.

By Terry Wright (http://coarsekayakfishing.proboards.com)

ThePaddler 89

The footwell area is flat with a slight run off to the two scuppers. There is a pair of adjustable foot pegs and on the gunwhales analuminium channel suitable for the bolt on type accessories.

The lid would be ideal for screwing a fish finder or otheraccessories to but I guess the old 'cutting board' backplate wouldbe safest.

You will notice a familiar tube for storing a fishing rod that runs tothe stern. Current length of the tube is 95cm (37") with theadditional length of the storage box of 55cm (21").

Accessories just like this rod tube that comes with the Abaco.

Then we have the central storage area the lid secured with twoclipped straps.

ThePaddler

The storage box has a ridge at the other end that could be usedas a battery area, a little mod with a strap or bungy to secure itso long as you are confident the area is dry enough.

Either side of the cockpit are recesses with rubber mesh coversfor pliers, forceps etc. Also in the footwell is a moulded in ruler,not very long but more than adequate for most of the fish I catch.

I almost forgot an innovative little hole in the stern: Now you may have used kayaks with a fixed wheel. This can sometimes work welland sometimes not. Often it clogs or is too narrow to be stable. With the Abaco you can thread a bar though and slot on twopneumatic tyres. This is not the answer to all you problems but it works on many surfaces and is a great idea.

Behind the seat area is a pair of rod holders. Behind the seat is arecess, with a small but easily changed bungee. It is a perfect fitfor the popular Flambeau box.

Finally I am trying out one of RTM's own brand seats. These aremade from closed cell foam with the standard four adjustablestraps. The back is designed to be tightened to wrap around you.

Two each of these lure boxes come free. A small standard box and anice clip closure double-sided lure box.

We then move to the rear storage area. The main oblong area is46cm x 47cm and 13cm deep with an area of another 45cm to thestern. With two scuppers.

90

Summing up:I can see this as a very versatile kayak, with greatpotential for modifications. Judging by the profileand by one or two videos on Youtube it is verysea worthy.

Dimensions:Length (cm): 420 13ft 9inWidth (cm): 72 28 1/2inHeight (cm): 30Weight (kg): 27 60lbsMax. Capacity (kg): 180 400lbsMax paddler weight (kg): 130

www.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.comwww.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.comwww.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.comwww.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.comwww.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.comwww.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.comwww.oceankayak.com

Every angler has a storyEvery kayak angler has a better one

North Shore Watersports01642 520234www.nswatersports.co.uk

Escape Watersports01656 745774www.escape-watersports.co.uk

National Distribution

Trident 11 AnglerLength 3.5m Width 0.77m Weight 24.5 kgAlso available in 4.1m and 4.8m lengths

Trident Ultra 4.1 AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.71m Weight 28.5 kgAlso available in 4.3m and 4.7m lengths

Malibu Two XL Tandem AnglerLength 4.1m Width 0.86m Weight 30.4 kg

Tetra 10 AnglerLength 3.25m Width 0.75m Weight 23.2 kgAlso available : 3.7m version

PiranhaMAX176xi

PiranhaMAX196cxi

SSP Inc VAT£189.99

Plotter / Fish�nders for Kayaks

SSP Inc VAT£289.99

Canoe Shops Group (National)01752 892672www.canoe-shops.co.uk

AS Watersports01392 219600www.aswatersports.co.uk

www.humminbird.com

ThePaddler 92

We call them outriggers they call them stabilizers, but whatever you call them they are meant to give the kayaka wider and more stable profile. The RTM setup does this very well.

RTM Abaco Fitting RTM Stabilizers/Outriggers

The kit comes as two floats made from a very robust plasticstreamlined at each end to reduce drag as much as possible.

The main mount is a 3cm square tube and the float mounts are2,5cm tube, both are aluminium for less weight and no corrosion.

The float tubes have three holes offering various width settingsand the square tube has two slots drilled thus allowing fixingpreset brass fittings in to the hulls of the RTM Abaco and K-Largo. Note the square tube has a pair of oblong plates weldedto it to offer bracing against the hull.

Summing upI stood up with them on the narrowest setting and would havebeen more than happy to cast a fly or lure. Other options are fornervous paddlers, sailing and as one guy mentioned… mountingan outboard. Whilst paddling the floats were barely skimming thewater so drag was minimal but that was with just my 15 stone onboard, fully laded they will sit lower but still not very low in thewater.

Believe me this is a robust bit of kit and whilst it is designed forRTM kayaks it would not take a lot of effort to make it fit otherbrands The unit sells at £149 which when compared to most ofthe set-ups that you can find on the net and they all seem to beUS or Australian. So if you are in the market for a set ofstabilizers/outriggers then here is answer for you and best of allno problems with having all the postage charges and duties linkedto imports.

Here you can see the individual floats set at the maximum,left,minimum right and both widths. So the overall width goes from54" to 72", more than enough to suit anyone.

By Terry Wright (http://coarsekayakfishing.proboards.com)

ThePaddler To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.comor call +44 (0)1480 46508194

ThePaddler 95

SaltyPaddler

ThePaddler 96By Werner Ostermann of NovaShores Adventures

TheextraordinaryCape Chignecto

Wilderness Park

Bay of Fundy Nova Scotia

Canada

ThePaddler 97

ThePaddler 98

The Bay of Fundy with its largest tides on this planet can conjure up images of raging currents, whirlpools and riptides. While all this does occur on this amazingbody of water, it also presents some opportunities for exceptional sea kayakingadventures. The most extraordinary destination on the Fundy is the Cape Chignectoarea, where the towering cliffs of the Avalon highlands meet those huge tides. Due todifferential erosion along the most geologically diverse coastline in Nova Scotia, whereit is said that when the super continent of Pangaea split part of it drifted on to what isnow Morocco and the other became the Chignecto shore where sea stacks, cavesand arches are the norm.

ThePaddler 99

ThePaddler 100

inhabited by large land mammals such as Blackbear, moose, deer, and numerous smaller species,plus a wide array of land and sea birds and someof our favourites that we share our paddle with– grey and harbour seals. On arrival at SpicersCove, the wild beach we launch from, our groupof four and guide spend some time first checkingout the numerous carboniferous age fossils tobe found along the red sand beach. It takes awhile to stuff every available inch of the kayakswith the necessary safety/camping gear and somegood food and wine to enjoy after each day’spaddle.

After an easy launch from the sand beach wemake our way towards the high conglomeratecliffs, keeping a safe distance in case of rock fallsuntil we reach a fault line where it abruptlyturns into the more solid volcanic rhyolite andbasalt predominant along this part of the shore,allowing us to paddle within a paddles lengthof the sheer cliff face. This mix of red and blackstone presents a colourful backdrop to the jadegreen water of the phytoplankton rich watersof the bay.

Spicers CoveWe will be going on a three-day coastal adventure

Paddling the entire coast of the Cape Chignecto wilderness park. It is a protected area which is

Archway at high tide Red Rocks

ThePaddler 101

On reaching Squally point we round the cornerwith the highest raised beach in the provincehigh above us, a remnant of the last ice age. Wepaddle into a stunning scene of sea stacks and ajagged coast where the red rhyolite is frequentlybroken by the black diabase dykes that surgedthrough the crevices millions of year ago, noweroding into a kayaker’s fantasyland.

Some of these stacks are part of the legends ofthe indigenous peoples of the area, the Mikmaq,natives whose imagination gave life to many ofthe mysterious forms that thrust to the sky fromthe sea. Like Olympus in Greek mythology, theBay of Fundy was the home to the Mikmaq gods.But the Mikmaq were long ago driven from thisarea by Europeans who realized the value of theimpressive timber for building ships. As we leavethe sea stacks we paddle into a place known asEatonville Harbour.

We paddle into a

stunning scene of sea stacks and a jagged coast

The Three Sisters

Refugee CoveRefugee has a storied past, named for the Acadianescapees of the British deportation of 1755.Apparently a group of the Acadians, who had refusedto declare allegiance to the British crown, escaped tothis remote cove, setting up a lookout for British shipsat the French look off just above the cove. Just offshoreis Isle Haute, named by Samuel Champlain in 1605 andin the distance is Cape d’Or, again named byChamplain, mistaking the copper coloured cliffs forgold instead of the copper it was.

wild river, at one time it roared with the steamengines driving the saws to cut the wood to buildthe ships, which they then filled with more of thewood for export to Europe and the easternseaboard of North America. Little evidenceremains of this time, although we do find someold rusted iron nails and a horseshoe on theconstantly eroding beach. In the short time we arethere the large tidal basin empties and the mouthof the Eatonville River does a Jekyll and Hyde turnfrom placid to a surging white water river.

After lunch we continue down the shore, whichhas now changed to predominantly basalt, withthe occasional bald eagle soaring overhead andblack guillemot’s flying in a flurry of quicklybeating wings from their cliff side nests, their redlegs and feet giving a flash of colour over thewater. On arrival at Seal Cove we set up camp onthe sand/cobble beach and enjoy a gourmetdinner as the sound of the beach pebbleswashing to and fro as the surf advances up thebeach gives a soothing backdrop of sound to oursecluded beach camp. The reds and oranges of aspectacular sunset paint a picture of serenity aswe retire after a beautiful, peaceful day.

We awaken the next morning to strange melodyof sounds, the bellowing of grey seals from thenext cove, mixed with the mewing of the gullsoverhead. After a hearty breakfast, we begin theday with a discussion of the challenges of theday’s paddle. The wind has picked up and somesurf on the steep beach means we will spend a bitof time until the tide drops further. And it doesdrop! With a tidal difference of up to around 12metres on this part of the bay the environment isconstantly changing.

ThePaddler 102

Now a beautiful tidal

take advantage of the small beach, which is gettingsmaller by the minute, to have a lunch and watchthe tidal rips surging out into the bay.

At the top of the flood tide we are ready to go,quickly slipping around the point into a newworld. While the jagged shore to this point hasbeen fascinating, what meets us on rounding thecape is formidable. We are met with huge seacliffs rising vertically 200 metres from the water.The aptly named Devils Slide really gives us asense just how diminutive we actually are! As wecontinue down the imposing coastline Old Sal, alarge sea stack that marks the entrance to RefugeeCove, our camp for the night, greets us.

ThePaddler 103

With a bit of wind and the currents caused bythose big tides, today will have to be well timedfor the rounding of Cape Chignecto, which isthrust deep into the Bay of Fundy, splitting itinto two large bays. We will time the roundingwith the high tide, where we can hug the cliffs.Before we reach that though, we spend sometime with the grey seals. They have hauledthemselves up on the bladder wrack coveredrocks as the tide drops and eye us warily as wequietly float into their world.

The younger seals slide into the water before weapproach and survey us close up from where theyfeel the most comfortable. The big bulls eye ussuspiciously though, remaining on the rocksunless we get a bit too close and then they toowill slide down into the sea for a closer look atthese strange creatures. Knowing we can easilymake the cape for the high, we spend some timewith the seals, letting them get comfortable withus and taking photos. On reaching the cape we

In the short time we are there the large tidal basin empties and the mouth of the Eatonville River does a

Jekyll and Hyde turn from placid to a surging white water river

The T

hree Sisters at high tide

On setting up camp we decide to hike the coastaltrail out of Refugee for a look at our environmentfrom a different perspective. It isn’t long beforewe realize that a sea kayak is by far the best wayto explore this rugged coast. Climbing at a 40-degree angle up 200 metres, we are sweatingprofusely by the time we reach the top. Thekayaks are mere specks on the beach.

The following day is an easy paddle, giving usample time to really investigate the sea cavesalong the coast – and a real treat – take afreshwater shower under a waterfall that tumblesa hundred metres down a cliff into the bay. Athigh tide we can paddle directly under it, buttoday we luxuriate in refreshing water thatmassages away the stiffness from a couple of daysof paddling and then dry in the warmth of thesummer’s sun. Return to civilization will comeall too soon.

ThePaddler 104

Owl Rock

The Fundy tides create a kayaking fantasyland

Visitn www.novashores.comabout kayak tours on the

Bay of Fundywww.windpaddle.c

om

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indpaddle.com

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Surf kayak +

Waveski=

(Paddlesurf)

Surf kayak +

Waveski=

ThePaddler 106

For as long as I can remember and before the emergence of stand up paddling, the term ‘paddlesurf ’ has been used within the kayaking scene to refer to the disciplines of surf kayak and waveski.

Many may not be familiar with these paddesports. So what are they?

By Marty McCann

ThePaddler 107

Surf kayak +

Waveski=

(Paddlesurf)

Surf kayak +

Waveski=

For as long as I can remember and before the emergence of stand up paddling, the term ‘paddlesurf ’ has been used within the kayaking scene to refer to the disciplines of surf kayak and waveski.

Many may not be familiar with these paddesports. So what are they?

By Marty McCann

it has nothing to do with skiing. So what is it? Well, it

really depends how you look at it. For some a waveski

is a surfboard that you sit on and paddle like a kayak

and for others it is a high performance surf kayak.

Essentially a waveski looks like a fat surfboard with a

seat, lap belt and foot loops to keep the rider in

contact with the board. The waveskier surfs ocean

waves in the same manner as other wave riding

sports, utilising the same repertoire of manoeuvres

and techniques to surf the wave to its full potential.

The same manoeuvres are performed in ‘surf

kayaks’, but the paddle surfer is seated within a

conventional kayak. However surf kayaks do have

different specifications to general purpose, white-

water or freestyle boats.

A surf kayak is made of a composite construction such

as fibreglass, carbon, carbon/Kevlar or a combination

of the three. Some are outfitted with fins like a

waveski or surfboard and have well defined rails. There

are two classes of surf kayak. HP meaning high

performances, which are shorter in length, have fins

and fairly short tails. The second type is IC which

stands for international class. These boats are

reminiscent of a slalom boat, are longer than waveskis

and HP boats and are generally not fitted with fins.

A waveski is constructed in much the same way as a

surfboard. Firstly the foam core is shaped by the

‘shaper ‘then covered with two layers of fine

fibreglass cloth and bonded together by epoxy resin.

The fin boxes, belt and foot loop attachments are

ThePaddler 108

Despite the name ‘waveski’

Marty McCann surfski

Photo: Ian McClelland

added and glassed into place. Finally it is thoroughly

sanded before a finishing coat is applied. Waveski’s

are made specific to the rider’s requirements and

needs. The volume distribution, length, width,

sharpness of rails as well as the height, weight and

ability of the surfer are all taken into consideration.

Compared to kayaking there is very little gear

required. You will need to stay warm with a wetsuit

and booties, have a paddle for obvious reasons and

also stay safe with a helmet depending on where and

when you are surfing. In the beginning it is also

important to wear a leash to keep the Waveski from

escaping you on wiping out. A waveski can cost

anything from a couple of hundred for a second hand

one or around £1,000 for a full custom made ski.

Paddle surfing has seen a modest growth in Ireland

over the last few years in comparison to France and

Portugal. However waveski and kayak surfers from

Ireland have been representing their country in World

and European Championship events since the 1980s

and continue to do so. The scene in the north and

north west of Ireland is particularly healthy. Out of

which have emerged a number of talented athletes,

former World Champions, current World Champions,

numerous European titles and International finalists.

It’s no secret that the north and north west of Ireland

have some great surf breaks. These vary from friendly

beach breaks to the more committing reef breaks and

even on a howling onshore day there are gems to be

found in the nooks and crannies of the Irish coastline.

ThePaddler 109

Despite the name ‘waveski’

In the beginning it is also important to

wear a leash to keep the Waveski from esca

ping

you on wiping out

Andy at east Strand

Photo: Dessie McGlinchey

Andy at Portrush

ThePaddler 110

ThePaddler 111

Sam Jones of England atEuropean Titles

Portugal

ThePaddler To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.comor call +44 (0)1480 465081112

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For Sun andelement protectionSurf,SUP or paddle

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ThePaddler 113

SUPPaddler

ThePaddler

AlohaBY Suzie Cooney

Owner of Suzie Trains Maui, LLC

114

Darrell Wong

Photo by

and welcometo the sport of

Stand Up Paddling

It’s an honour to write for theThePaddler ezine, as I imaginethe reason why you’re readingthis article is because likemyself, you’ve caught the standup paddling sensation or you’regetting ready to learn the newboard sport that is taking theplanet for an amazing ‘glide.’

ThePaddler 115

Aloha

As a sponsored SUP team rider for NaishInternational and a professional fitness expertspecializing in stand up paddling performance; I’vehad the fortunate experience to be able to paddleyear round and paddle in all kinds of conditions,just about any day of the week.

Soon you’ll be preparing for your spring andsummer (hopefully) and I can’t wait to for you tocatch the glide too. I’m going to share with you afew tidbits that will help you best prepare yourselfin the best way so you can have the best possibleexperience too!

First, be sure you seek a qualified instructor withthe proper equipment that will assure you the bestfirst time adventure and success. I recommend thatyou learn on a wide and stable board and also besure your paddle is not too long or too short. Alsobe sure that conditions are suitable for learning;calm, non-windy or water without big swell orchop.

Next, leave your ego or machoness at home and beopen to feel and do something totally different.Embrace the fact that you may actually smile andlaugh at one self while getting up for the first time,so simply relax.

A few tips regarding your mindset: Don’t tense up,just relax and keep your body lose and kneesalways slightly bent. Don’t death grip your toes on

the board, relax them and be sure not to stand toowide; less than shoulder width apart is perfect.Look forward not down, dig in that paddlewithout hesitation and go! Use the paddle to braceyourself if you feel you may be falling.

Also once you’re up and paddling a bit, try to notlook at the paddle each time you take a stroke.Keep looking forward. Keep your body somewhatupright don’t hunch over and reach for the nose ofboard each time.

Once you’ve been able to stop the shaking and theadrenaline has left your body, have fun! Start toreally use your entire body to dig that blade in feelyour body’s power pull you through the water. Pickup the tempo and always keep breathing.

To improve your skills, do some balance trainingand light upper body workouts. My website hastons of videos how to be stronger for SUP. Butremember the one having the most fun is the onesmiling and helping others share the stoke!

Mahalo

ThePaddler 116

(one of many) about stand up paddling also known as ‘SUP’; is that practically anyone cando it and you don’t have to be a surfer, have incredible strength or cardio endurance, justthe desire to have fun. It’s really that simple. Most people are up on their first try.

The wonderful thing

SUP Pro Talk Maui with Suzie Cooney( A three part series ) Available for purchase atstanduppaddlingfitness.com

Learn Advanced First Aid for SUP Surfing -Prepare Yourself For Open Ocean Endurance /Safety - Learn Wave Etiquette & BoardHandling - Gear Review -Downwind PaddlingTips - SUP Fitness Training Tips

Tracy Kraft Leboe

Photo by

ThePaddler 117

Suzie Cooney, CPT Owner of Suzie Trains Maui, LLC

Tracy Kraft Leboe

Photo by

Darrell Wong

Photo by

ThePaddler 118

Weather: The wind blows east to west in Hawaii. Any time ofyear is a good time to visit. The average temperature is between 24°-29.5° C. Summer, between April and November, is warmer and drier(average temperature is 24°-31° C) while winter, between Decemberand March, is a bit cooler (20°-26° C). November through February isbig wave surf season on Hawaii’s north shores.

Geography: The state of Hawaii consists of eight main islands:Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe and the Big Islandof Hawaii.. The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting tops of the biggestmountain range in the world and Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain inthe world (measured from its base at the ocean floor).

M2O facts: The first Molokai to Oahu race was successfullycompleted in July 1997 and inspired by three paddleboarders: DawsonJones, Garrett Macamara and Mike Takahashi. Today the race sells out withboth prone and stand up paddleboarders (SUP) from around the worldwho compete in solo and team divisions.

The Channel Bones or Ka’iwi (kah-EE-vee) Channel is more commonlyknown today as the Molokai Channel, the Ka’iwi Channel separates theislands of Molokai and Oahu. Stretching 26 miles (42km) and plunging to adepth of 2,300 feet (701 meters), the Ka’iwi Channel has the reputation asone of the world’s most treacherous bodies of water.

SUP: If you are heading to the Hawaiian islands with SUP on your mindthen you won't be disappointed. Exploring the Hawaiian islands by SUP willgive you a completely different perspective of Hawaii and It’s one that youwon't want to miss. Look for the giant sea turtles, called Honu in Hawaiian.The Hawaiian Honu represents longevity, safety, Mana (spirituality) and isconsidered to be good luck. While paddling around you are sure to see themany beautiful reef fish darting around below.

Hawaii offers every type of paddling. Whether you are a beginner or anadvanced paddler you will find some of the best conditions in the world.Flatwater, waves, downwinding… Hawaii has it all. If standup surfing is whatyour dreaming about, be sure to check with a local shop to find out whereto go. There can be a little animosity between prone surfers and standupsurfers, but no worries, there are plenty of waves for the beginner standupsurfers where you are sure to get a shaka or ‘hang loose’ from the othersurfers in the line-up.

The experienced paddler might want to try one of the famous downwindruns that Hawaii has to offer. In Maui, it’s all about the Maliko run, a 9-miledownwind ride of a lifetime. You will be surfing the swells all the way downthe coast of the North Shore of Maui form Maliko Gulch to the KahuluiHarbor. There is a great downwind shuttle van to get you and your boardwhere you need to go. (www.moorewatertimemaui.com, 808-250-1984).

If you are on Oahu then the Hawaii Kai run is what you will want toexperience. The run will take you from Hawaii Kai to Waikiki. Check withwww.wetfeethawaii.com. Downwind runs start at $99 per person andincludes all equipment, transportation back from the finish. Morning orafternoon sessions are available. Transportation from Waikiki is available foran extra fee. Bookings can be made by emailing wetfeet@hawaii.rr.com orcalling 808-373-7873 to make reservations or for more information. A funonce in a lifetime experience.

Finding a board or a lesson will not be a problem. It is available all over theHawaiian islands. Grab a paddle, a board, and get up, stand up and startyour Hawaiian adventure the way it was meant to be… on the water.

INFORMATION

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Hawaii

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7’8” X 32”7’11” X 30”8’2” X 32”8’5” X 30”8’10” X 32”9’0” X 30”9’0” X 33”9’5” X 30”9’5” X 32”9’8” X 30”10’0” X 30”

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HEROCONVERSE+

WIDE POINTELEMENT

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ALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STAR

12’6” X 23.5”12’6” X 25”12’6” X 27”14’0” X 23.5”14’0” X 25”14’0” X 27”12’6” X 25”12’6” X 26”12’6” X 27.5”14’0” X 25”14’0” X 26”14’0” X 27.5”

ACEACEACEACEACEACE

ALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STAR

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15’0” X 30”12’6” X 24.5”12’6” X 25.5”14’0” X 24”14’0” X 25”

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FLAT WATERRACE

11’2” X 37”11’2” X 39”12’6” X 29”12’6” X 30”12’6” X 32”14’0” X 30”14’0” X 30”

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TOURINGTOURINGTOURINGTOURINGTOURING

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8’2” X 32”9’0” X 30”10’0” X 35”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’2” X 32”10’2” X 25”12’6” X 26”14’0” X 26”12’6” X 30”14’0” X 30”16’0” X 33”

ASTRO WIDE POINTASTRO CONVERSEASTRO WHOPPERASTRO EXPLORER

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8’2” X 32”9’0” X 30”10’0” X 35”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’2” X 32”10’2” X 25”12’6” X 26”14’0” X 26”12’6” X 30”14’0” X 30”16’0” X 33”

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10’3” X 28.5”9’8” X 29”9’6” X 27”9’0” X 29”8’5” X 29”8’0” X 28”7’7” X 27”7’4” X 26”

SURF PROCRUISER

ATLAS EXTRAATLAS

BIG EASYAVANTIBLEND

NRG FITNESSWIDE POINT

DRIVENRG FITNESS

WHOPPER EXTRAWHOPPER

12’6” X 30”12’0” X 36”12’0” X 33”12’0” X 32”11’2” X 36”11’2” X 30”11’2” X 30”10’5” X 32”10’5” X 30”10’5” X 30”10’0” X 36”10’0” X 34”

ALL ROUNDNOSE RIDER

ELEMENTWIDE POINTCONVERSE+

HEROCONVERSE

WIDE POINTPOCKET ROCKET

WIDE POINTSEVEN ELEVEN

WIDE POINT

10’0” X 30”9’8” X 30”9’5” X 32”9’5” X 30”9’0” X 33”9’0” X 30”8’10” X 32”8’5” X 30”8’2” X 32”7’11” X 30”7’8” X 32”

SURFTOURINGTOURINGTOURINGTOURINGTOURING

BIG DADDYFISHERMAN

14’0” X 30”14’0” X 30”12’6” X 32”12’6” X 30”12’6” X 29”11’2” X 39”11’2” X 37”

EXPLORINGASTRO TANDEMASTRO TOURINGASTRO TOURING

ASTRO RACERASTRO RACER

ASTRO JR.ASTRO BLEND

ASTRO FISHERMANASTRO TENDER

ASTRO EXPLORERASTRO WHOPPERASTRO CONVERSE

ASTRO WIDE POINT

16’0” X 33”14’0” X 30”12’6” X 30”14’0” X 26”12’6” X 26”10’2” X 25”11’2” X 32”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”10’0” X 35”9’0” X 30”8’2” X 32”

INFLATABLERACE ALL WATERALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STAR

ACEACEACEACEACEACE

14’0” X 27.5”14’0” X 26”14’0” X 25”12’6” X 27.5”12’6” X 26”12’6” X 25”14’0” X 27”14’0” X 25”14’0” X 23.5”12’6” X 27”12’6” X 25”12’6” X 23.5”

RACE FLAT WATERSPRINTSPRINTSPRINTSPRINT

K15 (UNLIMITED)

14’0” X 25”14’0” X 24”12’6” X 25.5”12’6” X 24.5”15’0” X 30”

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10’0” X 34”10’0” X 36”10’5” X 30”10’5” X 30”10’5” X 32”11’2” X 30”11’2” X 30”11’2” X 36”12’0” X 32”12’0” X 33”12’0” X 36”12’6” X 30”

WHOPPERWHOPPER EXTRA

NRG FITNESSDRIVE

WIDE POINTNRG FITNESS

BLENDAVANTI

BIG EASYATLAS

ATLAS EXTRACRUISER

WIDE POINTSEVEN ELEVEN

WIDE POINTPOCKET ROCKET

WIDE POINTCONVERSE

CONVERSE+WIDE POINT

ELEMENTNOSE RIDER

7’4” X 26”7’7” X 27”8’0” X 28”8’5” X 29”9’0” X 29”9’6” X 27”9’8” X 29”10’3” X 28.5”

PROPROPROPROPROGUNPROGUN

7’8” X 32”7’11” X 30”8’2” X 32”8’5” X 30”8’10” X 32”9’0” X 30”9’0” X 33”9’5” X 30”9’5” X 32”9’8” X 30”10’0” X 30”

WIDE POINTSEVEN ELEVEN

WIDE POINTPOCKET ROCKET

WIDE POINTCONVERSE

HEROCONVERSE+

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NOSE RIDER

ALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STAR

12’6” X 23.5”12’6” X 25”12’6” X 27”14’0” X 23.5”14’0” X 25”14’0” X 27”12’6” X 25”12’6” X 26”12’6” X 27.5”14’0” X 25”14’0” X 26”14’0” X 27.5”

ACEACEACEACEACEACE

ALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STARALL STAR

ALL WATERRACE

15’0” X 30”12’6” X 24.5”12’6” X 25.5”14’0” X 24”14’0” X 25”

K15 (UNLIMITED)SPRINTSPRINTSPRINTSPRINT

FLAT WATERRACE

11’2” X 37”11’2” X 39”12’6” X 29”12’6” X 30”12’6” X 32”14’0” X 30”14’0” X 30”

FISHERMANBIG DADDY

TOURINGTOURINGTOURINGTOURINGTOURING

INFLATABLE

8’2” X 32”9’0” X 30”10’0” X 35”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’2” X 32”10’2” X 25”12’6” X 26”14’0” X 26”12’6” X 30”14’0” X 30”16’0” X 33”

ASTRO WIDE POINTASTRO CONVERSEASTRO WHOPPERASTRO EXPLORER

ASTRO TENDERASTRO FISHERMAN

ASTRO BLENDASTRO JR.

ASTRO RACERASTRO RACER

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8’2” X 32”9’0” X 30”10’0” X 35”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’1” X 39”11’2” X 32”10’2” X 25”12’6” X 26”14’0” X 26”12’6” X 30”14’0” X 30”16’0” X 33”

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ThePaddler 122

On the road with Leslie Kolovich

ThePaddler 123

Nothin’could be finer than

to be in

South CarolinaNothin’could be finer than

to be in

South CarolinaEven though I have never been to SouthCarolina, when Chris Tilghman of Surf BlueRidge SUP called and asked if my husband and Iwould like to join a group for a SUP retreat, Ididn’t hesitate to say, “Yes!” I knew that thescenery would be much like my home in thepanhandle of Florida, but knowing ChrisTilghman, I knew an adventure was guaranteed!

South Carolina. Glen has shared some of his recipes with me for The Stand Up Paddle Radio Show, which I produce and host (www.supradioshow.com). After a

to McClellanville, South Carolina, would be 10 hours. We got a late start, and had onlymade it to Jacksonville, Florida, when our eyesbecame very weary, with six more hours to go. Istarted thinking about places to stay. I realizedwe were near St. Simons Island where I had theprivilege of emceeing the Golden Isle SUPClassic Race a few years ago, where I met someof the coolest people, including Lori Hurley. Assoon as I posted one Facebook message that Iwas driving through her neck of the woods andneeded a couch for the night, Lori called andsaid, “Please, come stay with us!” It was a greatreunion. Thank you Lori and Ben for yourhospitality!

The next morning when I posted an update onFacebook, I was contacted by another member of the SUP community, my friend, SUP Chef GlenBarroncini, owner of H2O Sports in Hilton Head,

ThePaddler 124

Our drive from Florida

White picket fences line the street in front of two-story

pillared white houses with rocking chairs on their porches

South Carolina. Glen has shared some of his recipes with me for The Stand Up Paddle Radio Show, which I produce and host (www.supradioshow.com). After aquick hello and a recipe for cold weather soup, wecontinued on our way.

The drive took us through one of America’s mosthistoric Civil War cities, Charleston, SouthCarolina. Being interested in Southern history, Imade a note to return someday to spend time inthis city.

McClellanvilleThirty minutes outside of Charleston lies thesleepy fishing town of McClellanville, it’s mainstreet canopied by ancient live oaks drippingwith Spanish moss. Sidewalks are heaved up inplaces from the tree roots, and white picketfences line the street in front of two-story pillaredwhite houses with rocking chairs on theirporches. Once my eyes saw this street, I felt“southern comfort”.

“Cape View” was an understatement of a namefor the two-story house on stilts sitting on fiveacres facing Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. Evenfrom the ground, the views were breathtaking!The dock faced a beautiful marsh leading intothe Intracoastal Waterway. Daniel Bates, owner ofMCVL Realty, had found us the perfect SUP

ThePaddler 125

house for this group retreat! It easilyaccommodated the six of us with room for atleast four more.

After settling in and a quick lunch, welaunched our paddleboards right off the dock.Fishermen from the shrimp boats anchored forthe winter season stared at us with greatamusement, but gave us friendly waves. Milesof flat water paddling meander through thiswildlife refuge. One could plan to be on thewater all day, paddling out to the AtlanticOcean to see a lighthouse. It was a wonderfulplace for SUP fishing as well, with plenty ofredfish and speckled sea trout.

Turning chillyMidway through our first paddle the breezeturned chilly, reminding us that it was stillwinter. After an hour or so we paddled back, andwith a quick run to the house to get a few beersand warmer clothes, we made it back to thedock just in time for the sunset. It’s momentslike these with like-minded friends clinkingbottles to celebrate” just being in the moment”,that really are priceless. The words, “you knowhow lucky we are to be here right now?”probably came out of every single one of ourmouths. Once the darkness of a moonless nightwas upon us, “lets get dinner” was the nextphrase that came out of our mouths.

The temperature fell drastically in a very short amount of time, taking our conversations tohot chowder, scallops and oysters from TWs back in town! Chris tried to distract us bypointing out the long leaf pine trees where the rare red-cockaded woodpecker nested.Nevertheless, our pace was noticeably faster, and we all were happy as red-cockadedwoodpeckers in a long leaf pine forest, to see the take out point! It was a beautiful paddle,but the rain was steady, and we could see our breath.

When we got into the truck it seemed like a good time to check the weather forecast. Snow wason the way! With the truck heater blasting, our fingers thawed. After lunch and a break inweather, we decided to go for a hike to the Santee Coastal Reserve. The best time to see migratorywaterfowl is during the first three weeks of February, so we were there at the perfect time.

restaurant indowntownMcClellanville. Peopledrive from miles awayto experience thecreations of Chef PeteKornack at T.WGraham & CompanySeafood Restaurant.The shrimp-crab-cornchowder was out ofthis world! I had it forevery meal thatweekend!

The next morning ourSUP adventure beganwithout incident.Chris hauled thepaddleboards and usinto the FrancisMarion NationalForest to paddle theWambaw Creek. Thesky was cloudy, thetemperature was cool,and we all felt anadventure coming on. The still dark creekcrawled between hibernating winter cypress andwater tupelo trees. The temperature began todrop, and we realized that none of us hadchecked the weather forecast to see if it hadchanged. Rain started falling, at first just a mist,then a good steady light rain. The Florida couple,whose names shall not be mentioned, did notbring rain gear.

ThePaddler 126

There is only one

The temperaturefell drastically in avery short amountof time, taking ourconversations tohot chowder,scallops andoysters from TWsback in town!

Brian Kyle, was in heaven with

his camera pointed at woodstorks, pintails,

shovelers, and rare black ducks

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ThePaddler 128

One member of our group, Brian Kyle, was inheaven with his camera pointed at woodstorks,pintails, shovelers, and rare black ducks. TheReserve is a birdwatcher’s paradise. After walkingabout a mile or so, the sun was low and the skywas showing potential for snow. Like all trueSUP’rs, food was on our mind again, so back toTWs, we went for another wonderful meal!

Overnight the weather grew worse. We opted tosleep in a little longer, share a couple of pots ofcoffee and then be on our way. Even though theadventure was cut short by one day, I felt thesatisfaction of renewing and making new SUPfamily connections. All in all, McClellanville,South Carolina, was a wonderful place for a SUPretreat, with no pressure, scenic waterways, easypaddling, and great waterfront accommodations.Thank you Chris, Anne, Brain, Susan, Kent,Daniel, and all the townspeople we met alongthe way.

For more information onSUP Adventures contactChris Tilghman throughwww.surfblueridge-sup.com

For more information onwaterfront rentals inMcClellanville, SC, contactDaniel Bates throughwww.MCVL.net.

Join us in seeing London from anew and exciting perspective.Active360 is the only organisation dedicated to developingthe sport of SUP (Stand Up Paddleboarding) in London. Thestory is just beginning and already we have introducedmore than 1,000 people to the sport.

We offer lessons, coaching, parties and SUP trips on theThames equipment demos and extended trips to coastaland other locations.

We also stock a wide range of boards and paddles - to buyor hire at our new SUP store at Mike’s Dive Store LondonW4 5PY. Our experienced and friendly coaches are ASI(Academy of Surf Instructor) accredited and mostly from akayaking background. We provide all equipment requiredincluding wetsuits where required. We help to keep peoplepaddling at low cost by introducing them to local clubsand through our low cost board hire membership scheme.

Ever thought of gliding along theThames at night, enjoying the flow ofthe river, the wildlife and the city lights?

This year we are settingup new ASI SUP Schoolsin Brighton and MerseaIsland in Essex. We arealso establishing SUPCity - urban racing opento every level andwhitewater SUP sessions.

We are off on expeditionto the Arctic waters ofGreenland this summerand we are planning torun trips to Greenland,Iceland and a range ofother exciting locationsfrom 2014.

info@active360.co.ukT: 07761 015360

www.facebook.com/polarbearsandpaddleboards

So the Frostbite RaceSeries Local inBournemouth hosted byBaysup and Surf StepsSurf School wraps up foranother season. Withover 75 paddlers takingpart throughout theseries, it once againproves that people loveracing in this country –even in the freezing cold.

So what is the FrostbiteRace Series Local? A few years back a fewkeen racers (Nick Watt,John Hibbard, RyanJames, Matt French andPete Holliday) found thatthere was not enoughracing over the winter. Sowe decided to hold arace series and spreadthe word through thecommunity and wequickly saw events takingplace in Bournemouth,London, Surrey, HaylingIsland and South Devon.

This created a series ofevents where an overallwinner would becrowned. For thefollowing year we lookedat how SUP clubs couldgrow racing within theirown area so the seriesbecame ‘Local’. Theconcept was that eachclub would hold theirown series of races oreven individual events tokeep racing alive over thewinter and get paddlersready for the summerevents which happen allover the country. Thereare now races and serieshappening in variousparts of the country,which is building clubcommunities andgrowing the sport in thiscountry.

For the 2012/13 series inBournemouth, we had avariety of formats whichconsisted of flat water,

technical and downwindpaddling. The concept weapply is that we decidethe format of the racingbased on the conditionson the day. As the area ofBournemouth and Poolehas some of the bestpaddling spots in thecountry, we like to use asmany of those as we can.Having the rightconditions for adownwind paddle was astroke of luck and thiswas first downwind raceheld in the UK!

The river had somesuper close racing withthe countries bestpaddlers giving 100% toget those vital seriespoints. The 12’6 end ofseries came down to thewire in the last racebetween Pete Hollidayand Mark Slater withMark Slater just gettingthe edge on Pete,

fantastic racing fromthese guys. The technicalraces from the beach arealso highly exciting as thisis not just about fitness,it’s also about boardsskills and tacticalpaddling.

The course has a beachstart were the paddler’sbattle through the surf tothen head round acourse of buoys with arun up the beach aftereach lap. There are somany factors with atechnical course as youneed to get a good start,complete good buoyturns (as there can oftenbe many paddlers at thebuoys), catch swells andgenerally stay out oftrouble as there can becarnage everywhere. Thisis a spectator favouritetoo!

ThePaddler 130

FrostbiteRace Series Local

The Frostbite Race Series Local is not run by any particularperson or people; it’s a concept of racing run by the

community for the community which promotes maximum participationfor all paddlers to grow SUP racing in the UK. If you want to find out moreinformation about how to run a series in your local area, feel free tocontact info@baysup.co.uk and we’ll be more than happy to help.

Bournemouth

www.baysup.co.uk

End of series winners’ results:Frostbite 2012/13 Series Winners – 14ft1. Ryan James (Starboard International)2. Nick Watt (Starboard UK)3. Andy Joyce (Rogue UK)

Frostbite 2012/13 Series Winners – 12’61. Mark Slater (Fanatic)2. Pete Holliday (BIC)3. Zac Wharton

Thank you to our supporters who have been fantastic throughout theentire series:

Andy Joyce and the crew at Surf Steps Surf School(www.bournemouthsurfschool.co.uk)

Barbara from Nutrichef (www.nutrichef.com)

Sam and Paul from Starboard UK & Red Paddle Co(www.tushinghamsails.com)

Rik from Mistral UK (www.whasup.co.uk)

Shaun from Sorted Sorted Surf Shop (www.sortedsurfshop.co.uk)

Nick and Matt The SUP Store (www.thesupstore.co.uk)

BaySUP have three exciting races and events planned for the summer,dates to be released shortly. There will be another winter series happeningin 2013/14. For details see: https://www.facebook.com/BaySup

ThePaddler 131

FrostbiteRace Series Local

ThePaddler 132

SUP, Sardines and Superbock

inPortugal By Jason Pereira

ThePaddler 133

Mention Portugal and you instantlythink of the Algarve, packageholidays and golf, but venturenorth and a whole new, excitingand genuine country begins toreveal itself. The central region ofPortugal starts at Lisbon andstretches north to Nazaré, yesthat Nazaré, the one made famousby the Hawaiian surfer GarrettMcNamara surfing the World’sbiggest wave.

Photo by Tó M

ané

Illustration by Garyck Arntzenhttp://garyckarntzen.deviantart.com

ThePaddler 134

An ocean overviewSUP surf, Peniche

UNESCO Biosphere reserve Berlengas Isla, Peniche

ThePaddler 135

Starting at Lisbon or to give it its correct name‘Lisboa’ head out west along the Rio Tejo andyou will come to the Estoril/Cascais coastlinewhich has many beaches you can launch fromand from April through to October you will haveperfect cruising conditions with clear water.Being so close to the capital, these beaches arewhere the city dwellers flock to and as such getvery busy throughout the warmer months. InCascais at high tide, the sea pushes right up tothe boardwalks squeezing the sun worshippersand beach goers, just like Portugal’s famousexport of tinned sardines!

Praia do GuinchoIn the winter months there is surf along thisstretch of coast but the line-up will be busy withcity surfers grabbing a session whenever they can.

Head outbeyond Cascaisand you willfind yourself atPraia doGuincho, along sandybeach with arocky headlandto the northand theGuinchoFortressdominating thebay. Once astop on theworldwindsurfingchampionshipdue to itsnuclear windsand hugelumps of waterto launch

yourself off, you can sometimes get classic waveriding conditions but usually the strong cross-onshore winds and huge rips make this far fromideal for SUP and better suited to kite orwindsurfing.

Next we get to the area of Ericeira which is listedas a World Surfing Reserve and with the famousbreaks of Coxos and Ribeira this is a place foradvanced SUP surfers. The line up’s here will bebusy and the standard of surfing is very high sounless you have total control over your board

and are experienced in surfing shallow, rocky reefand point breaks the advice is stay away. The riskelement is high and the locals don’t take kindlyto kooks.

Heading north you arrive in the area of Peniche,which being a peninsular, there is virtuallyalways a wave with an offshore wind to be hadand with vast and varied beaches there are manysurf breaks going un-ridden if you take the timeto explore. The main beach is a 4km horseshoestretch of sand that runs from Peniche’s old townround to the village of Baleal and Baleal Island.The bay is a great place for beginners with manypeaks of varying sizes and few rocks; lifeguardsare on patrol during the summer months.

‘European Pipeline’ Beyond Baleal Island you have the reef break ofLagide and south of Peniche you haveSupertubos – a high performance barrellingbeach break known as the ‘European Pipeline’and since 2009 a regular stop on the ASP surfingworld tour. With a bit of exploring it is possibleto find a wave to yourself even in the height ofsummer. The jewel in the crown for this area hasto be the Obidos lagoon, a tidal saltwater lagoonroughly 6km long and up to 1.5km wide. Thelagoon has perfect conditions for those learningSUP for the first time or for those who prefer tojust cruise and enjoy the scenery and wildlife.Cafés and restaurants are dotted around thelagoon so there are plenty of places to take abreak and enjoy the serenity of this naturereserve. For something different you can visit theUNESCO Berlengas Biosphere Reserve, a smallrocky group of islands a short boat ride awayfrom Peniche. With small coves, high cliffs andcaves to explore, it makes the Berlengas Islands afun day out. The crystal clear waters aroundBerlengas are a snorkelling paradise so bringyour face mask if you have one.

About the authorJason Pereira is the co-owner of supXscape a dedicated SUPcompany accredited by the ASI and operating throughout Portugal.ASI trained and qualified and with a lifetime of experience aboveand below the water as well as an accomplished mountain bikerand snowboarder. Always happy to discuss SUP in Portugal andgive advice with anyone thinking about visiting the country.

Contact via email jason@supxscape.com

An ocean overviewIllustration by Garyck Arntzenhttp://garyckarntzen.deviantart.com

Explore but be carefulThis mini guide is just scratching the surface of thepaddling opportunities that are available inPortugal’s central region and no matter what type ofpaddler you are there are the conditions to suit all.

If you are a beginner or would prefer to rent ormake use of a local SUP school in Portugal makesure they are licenced, insured and qualified tooperate and also have a professional qualification toteach SUP. Too many times we see surf instructors,wind/ kite schools and even Pedalo outfits rentingand teaching SUP without any understanding ofbasic paddle technique. Not only is this dangerousbut your lesson could be cut short if the Maritimepolice stops by to check paperwork and I guaranteethere won’t be any refunds.

Portugal is an amazing country but like anywherekeep your wits about you. Keep valuables out ofsight, seek out local advice and don’t put yourselfor others in unnecessary danger. The surf inPortugal is some of the best in the world and assuch can pack a punch, the better SUP surf breaksare away from the guarded areas of beaches. If youdo launch on a guarded beach stay out of the swimzones and we suggest you stay on your knees tillaway from swimmers. Aside from SUP there is anamazing amount of heritage, culture, food and anabundance of amazing local wine to enjoy as wellas being very affordable. The central region ofPortugal is easily accessed with good road and railnetworks and accommodation options range fromhostels to five star resorts and a great selection ofself-catering choices.

ThePaddler 136

Central Portugal is not only for the SUP surfers butalso an amazing destination for those that love theflat water side of the sport as there are also manyrivers and lakes to explore including the Rio Tejoand Castelo do bode Portugal’s second largest lake.The Rio Tejo starts in Spain and flows for roughly1,000kms although only 275kms make up thePortuguese part. The upper reaches are a mixture ofhead and tail waters so care needs to be taken asyou approach the dams and also below them aswater releases happen often so a benign river cansoon become a torrent of white water. The middlesection of the river becomes mostly slow andmeandering but care and some local knowledgeshould still be sought as there are still a few narrowand fast flowing sections as well as commercialgravel works that need a lot of care to avoid. Southof Santarem, the river becomes tidal beforeemptying in to the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. Withplenty of commercial activity on and alongside theriver there are better places to paddle. As with allriver paddling having the correct safety equipmentand water skills is key to having a fun but safe timeand to maximise water time seek out local licencedspecialists for information and advice.

Castelo do Bode is a man made lake created bydamming the Rio Zezerre at Castelo Do Bode andopened in 1951, its principal aim was to supply asteady source of drinking water to Lisbon. For SUPthe lake is very calm and serene with very few otherwatercraft using it except in the peak of summer. Insome places there is limited access but this is whatgives the place its charm and if you’re looking forsolitude in a lake set deep in a valley surrounded bypine and eucalyptus forests this is the place for you.Downstream of the dam the Rio Zezerre flows forabout 14kms before joining the Ro Tejo andwithin this section there are somegreat white water SUP opportunities.

Flat water paddlingin central Portugal

Paddling past Castelo de Almourol, Rio Tejo

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OK so you have seen the PDF of the current BCUcoaching structure below – confused? Let’s see. Thebasis of the scheme is that there are many pathwaysdepending on what you want to do. First off do youneed to be a coach at all? For many people theleadership pathway is sufficient.

1) Work your way through the Star awards with 3Star being a good place to start to give you therequired skills in the moderate waterenvironment. You choose the discipline that youare interested in and away you go.

2) This opens up the leadership route for 4 Star –which allows for leading paddlers in yourdiscipline on moderate water. These courses area minimum of two day training with a furtherconsolidation period before a two dayassessment. All the 4 Star leadership courses area mix of practical with theory blendedthroughout. At assessment your personal skills inthe environment and your ability to lead a groupwill be assessed.

This article is that startof a series exploring

coaching withinpaddlesport. In later

issues I will look at thedifferent disciplines andprovide input into thetechnical and tacticalaspects. These will

benefit coaches andpaddlers with our

understanding as wellas give top tips to

becoming a more solidand robust paddler /

coach.

Here I am looking atthe pathways that areopen to becoming a

coach and the choicesthat are available. This isyour guide to helpingyou understand the

current BCU coachingstructure.

Click to view PDF

ThePaddler 138

Giving something back and becoming a coach!

The pathway to becoming a coach!

By Dave Rossetter–paddlesport instructor at Glenmore Lodge

ThePaddler 139

Safety coursesThe safety courses that are available whilecomplementing the coaching and leadership awards arestand alone and are available for all paddlers. They all aretraining only courses to ensure that paddlers can gain theessential information for their craft of choice and theenvironment they paddle in.

1) Foundation Safety & Rescue Training (FSRT)A training course that it is suitable for all craft and takes place in shelteredwater. This course has been designed for those at the early stages of theirpaddling and is suitable for whatever your craft including sit on tops / standup paddle boards and the like. This is a one day practical programme.

2)White Water Safety & Rescue (WWS&R)For those that head out onto grade 2 (3) white water and need to be awareof the best way to avoid getting into trouble and then some key simplesolutions to common white water rescue scenarios. This is a two daypractical in boats programme.

3) Coastal Navigation & Tidal Planning (CNTP)A one day programme designed to give all those who head out intomoderate tidal waters the ability to plan trips taking account of all thefactors to do with tides. It is a classroom based course to give time andunderstanding of these key navigational skills.

4) Advanced White Water Safety & Rescue(AWWS&R)A two day training programme that takes the skills developed in WWS&Rand moves them onto advanced white water. This course is practically basedand is suitable for those that paddle on grade 4 water.

5) Open Water Navigation & Tidal Planning (OWNTP)A one day training course that expands on the skills from CNTP programmeto include open water crossings. If you are heading out on advanced tidalconditions this course covers the skills to ensure that you stay on track ofyour planned open water crossing.

6) Advanced Surf Safety & Rescue (ASS&R)Ffor the surfers this one day course covers the essential skills for working inmoderate to advanced surf conditions. The course is based out of the boatand on the beach to ensure that all have a greater understanding and skill tolook after themselves and others in this environment.

For many accessing these awards or indeed looking to provide these ensuresthat as paddlers we are aware of our own abilities and those of our peers.Ensuring that all paddlers are self-sufficient and have essential safety skills to lookafter themselves and others can only benefit us all in the long term.

3) This finishes this pathway with the 5 Star –which allows you to lead paddlers in yourdiscipline in advanced water. These courses are aminimum of two day training (although most arerun over three days) with a furtherconsolidation period before a two dayassessment. All the 5 Star leadership courses area mix of practical with theory blendedthroughout. At assessment your personal skills inthe environment and your ability to lead a groupwill be assessed.

For many paddlers this is all they need and meansthat there are leaders out there to help inclubs/centres etc. with ensuring that they have a safeenjoyable trip. These leadership awards are a greatopportunity to improve yours and othersexperience/skill and ensuring that paddlers haveopportunities to get out in the more challengingenvironments.

Giving something back and becoming a coach!

By Dave Rossetter–paddlesport instructor at Glenmore Lodge

ThePaddler 140

These endorsements are excellent pathways intothe Level 3 programme or for those looking todevelop paddler’s skills in the new environment.Using the Level 2 coaching behaviours ensure thatthese endorsed coaches have the tools to developpaddlers over the longer term.

Supporting modulesThe final part is the Supporting modules. These areavailable for all coaches and cover some of thedisciplines such as racing and slalom as well asdealing with other areas of the sport such as thephysiological and/or psychological side. Thefoundation modules are three hours long while theintermediate modules are six hours. The disciplinespecific modules are one day.

There you have it the BCU coaching scheme. Thescheme is built on options to ensure that paddlerscan choose the appropriate discipline but also thelevel that they need to get to for where they wantto operate.

Remember we are all coaches and as Yoda so finelyput it – “Always pass on what you have learned,”our choice is which path to take?

Happy paddling and hope to seeyou on the water.

UKCC frameworkThe coaching pathway follows the UKCC frameworkand as such is split into:

1) Assistant coach – UKCC Level 1This four day programme looks at how to introduce paddlers to any of thepaddlesport craft. The course has a blend of practical on water sessions withclassroom theory to support the new coaches in their understanding ofcoaching. There are assessment tasks done throughout the four days. Oncequalified the Level 1 coaches can work towards assessing the 1 Star.

2) Progressive coach – UKCC Level 2The programme is split between training (four days) and an assessment (oneday). Between training and assessment there are set assessment tasks to becompleted along with gaining coaching experience prior to the final dayassessment. At the end of the process the Level 2 coach is able to assess upto 2 Star and is able to develop paddlers over a series of sessions in multiplecrafts.

3) Annual coach – UKCC Level 3At Level 3 coaches will specialise in their chosen disciplines and work withstudents for up to year. This means that the programme is longer but is splitinto manageable chunks. At the end of the process the coach has the abilityto coach with long term students in moderate water and assess up to threestar in their chosen discipline.

For some they don’t need to go onto the Level 3 programme and Level 2 iswhere they are happy with the coaching process knowledge. What they are afteris the ticket that allows them to coach on more challenging environments.Therefore the Moderate & Advanced Water Endorsements are available.

Moderate Water EndorsementThis course brings together the 4 Star leadership award and the UKCC Level 2to train and assess coaches on their ability to coach paddlers on moderatewater for their chosen discipline.

Advanced Water EndorsementThis course brings together the 5 Star leadership award / UKCC Level 2 withmoderate water endorsement to train and assess coaches on their ability tocoach paddlers on advanced water for their chosen discipline.

For more information on the awards please see: http://www.canoescotland.org/CoursesTraining/CoachingAwardsModules.aspx

Dave is the full timepaddlesport instructor atGlenmore Lodge – Scotland’sNational Outdoor TrainingCentre. He has been involved inthe development of the newawards and provides expert

advice throughout the industry on all things to dowith coaching, safety, leadership and personalpaddling. He is passionate about all things paddlingand specialises in white water kayak and opencanoe where he will most often be found. He issupported in his paddling adventures and coachingby Pyranha Kayaks, Mad River Canoes and PalmEquipment.http://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/http://www.pyranha.com/http://www.palmequipmenteurope.com/http://www.madrivercanoe.co.uk/

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The all new JitsuDagger is right back at the top of the playboat game.

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