Skip to main content

History

 Boats: A Retrospective

Here is a brief overview of my paddling exploits based on the water craft I have owned and/or borrowed. Discounting a trip down the River Lee and a circumnavigation of the Wembury Mewstone in an inflatable dingy and swimming trunks in my early teens, I started paddling when I was at the University in Southampton in the time of Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands war. Over the years I have paddled many different styles of kayak/canoe in the UK and abroad. I started out with long composite boats, then progressed to shorter and shorter plastic boats until finally reverted back to long composites of the sea variety.

"Alderney" NDK Romany (Blue) and
"Demelza" Tiderace Pace Tour (White)  2021

First trip with Wadebridge CC 2021


Whipsiderry - My Local Beach 2020

Fluid Element Surf Kayak 2020



Failed Circumnavigation IoW England - Self sinking boat  2019

Dagger Axiom - Italy 2017

Encounter with Seal Brittany 2017



 InaZone - Dordogne 2016


Pyranha InaZone- French Alpes 2016

Canadian Canoe - Charmouth England 2008



Dagger RPM - Grand Canyon 2001

Mountain BAT - Peru 1990

Surfing a Dancer, Bigbury On Sea, 1988

Perception Dancer - Scotland 1985

Front Tooth - Billiard Ball, Falls of Lora Scotland

Second Nose Job - River Itchen Southampton

First Nose Job - Seo De Urgel Spain

C2 White Water Racer - River Dee Wales 1986

Roto BAT - Augsburg Germany 1985


C1 Slalom - French Alpes 1983



Slalom C2

K1 Slalom Boat - River Tryweryn Wales

Devizes to Westminster - 2nd time lucky 1986


Old Style Boats: Kleppers and Snipes  1981

My Very First Club Trip - Woolacombe Devon 1981









Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Off

 Kayak Demelza is underway! Follow my live track, 10-minute intervals Live Tracking Follow me on Instagram or Facebook Social Media There is even a feed for none Facebook Users Daily Updates

Dances with Seals

This was just great. Click for video

Severn Estuary - Tides, Islands, Lighthouses and Bridges

Check out the video Notes on doing 100km. I am Slow but Steady, my cruising speed is kph, but when you account for snack breaks, looking at maps, posting on social media and stopping and sighing that becomes 6. If I did 100k at that speed, you are looking at the best part of 17 hours, which is not a pleasant thought. Tidal assistance is required to make the task more palatable, which dictates a maximum of 12 hours for a there and back, +/-2 hours. Where better to get tidal assistance than the mighty Severn Estuary. To complicate matters I wanted to go under the two bridges and paddle around the islands Flatholm and Steepholm, which meant doing the 4km crossing between the two at slack tide. Everything lined up perfectly, high tide at the Severn bridge was at 9am a very civilised start time, the distance to Steepholm was a convenient 45km and the weather was sublime. I could have delayed my start by an hour to get better tidal assistance but the need to have some contingency won out. I ...