ceufad CYLCHGRAWN CANW CYMRU JOURNAL OF CANOE WALES
Issue 129 December 2016 £2.50
kayak
CANOE WALES AWARDS NEPAL – EASTER, RUM AND WHISKEY HUNT 2016 KAYAKING IN SOUTH GEORGIA
editorial
GB Women’s Raft Team – the 2016 World Champions! Photo: Sean Clarke
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et again the Ceufad contributors have smashed it, and produced another jam-packed magazine. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to this and previous issues. I love it when an article or enquiring email drops into my inbox, although it can be a tough job swiping through photos and reading about boating adventures! If you’re considering writing an article then get in touch, the chances are if you enjoyed paddling it, then we’ll enjoy reading about it. Oh, and if you’d like to see your photo on the front cover here’s a top tip – split your photos between landscape and portrait, as the front cover is a portrait shot … so don’t forget to flip your camera between shots! As for what’s in this issue, well, it’s a bit of a celebration, with a stack of personal, team and competitive successes. It’s great to see Welsh paddlers achieving amazing things at home and overseas. Hopefully 2017 will be another fantastic year for Welsh paddlesport. So, have a very merry Christmas – see you in 2017 for more paddling adventures! Vicky Barlow Editor Ceufad Ed Ceufad
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@Ceufad
ceufad
Ceufad is the official magazine of Canoe Wales. It is produced by members & the views expressed are not necessarily those of Canoe Wales or the magazine’s editor. Ceufad is free to members of Canoe Wales. SUBSCRIPTIONS are available to non-members for £10 for 4 issues from Canoe Wales. ADVERTISING For advertising rates contact Vicky on: ceufad@canoe.wales SUBMISSIONS Articles are always welcomed & should be submitted as Word files, however, typed articles are also accepted. Images can be prints or tiff/jpeg/RAW files (preferably 300ppi). These will be returned. CONTACT ceufad@canoe.wales – 01678 521199 Ceufad, Canoe Wales, Bala, Gwynedd LL23 7NU Ceufad is produced quarterly in March, June, September and December. NEXT ISSUE: MARCH DEADLINE: 1ST FEBRUARY Ceufad welcomes all contributions but reserves the right to edit & condense to fill the space available. Design & layout: Vicky Barlow www.victoriabarlow.co.uk
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Adventure in the Finnish Wilderness
34 Spring in Nepal
contents
40 Kayaking in South Georgia
14 Sonja Jones’ latest expedition
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CANOE WALES – NEWS
22 FRENCH FUN 2016
Latest info and events from Canoe Wales
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CANOE WALES – WATERWAYS & ENVIRONMENT UPDATE
24 WORLD WHITE WATER RAFTING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016
Update from the CW Waterways & Environment Officer
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CANOE WALES AWARDS
29 SEA BEYOND DISABILITY
Winners of the 2016 Canoe Wales Awards!
10 64O NORTH
A St David’s College adventure in the Finnish Wilderness
14 INTERVIEW: SONJA JONES
Ceufad catches up with one of the new CW Directors
19 SUP WITH THE WATER SKILLS ACADEMY
Team GB bring home the medals from the UAE
Paddling the Welsh coastline for charity
34 NEPAL – EASTER, RUM AND WHISKEY HUNT 2016
Matt Cooke’s trip to Nepal
40 KAYAKING IN SOUTH GEORGIA
Testing the waters of the Southern Ocean
How to get involved with SUP-ing
20 2017 CALENDAR
Llandysul paddlers head to France
Pull it out and bung it on your fridge!
Front cover: Paddlers: GB Women’s Raft Team Location: 2016 World Champs, Wadi Park, UAE Photo: Sean Clarke
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canoe wales news
News
Newyddion
Promoting Participation in Paddlesport in Wales Hello from Jethro Moore (new Canoe Wales Board member)! Thank you for voting me in, although I felt it was a very low number. Myself and Russel Scaplehorn have volunteered to help look at and promote participation in paddlesport in Wales. We would love to hear from paddlers, clubs and centres! • • •
What needs to be done How it can be done and when What support can canoe Wales offer?
Also I am arranging for next year’s AGM to be held at Canolfan Tryweryn – it would be ace to make the AGM a workshop, fun-filled weekend of sharing ideas, good practice and much more. Could people please feed to me the following: • • • •
What date works (spring)? What workshops would you like to see? Would an event be worthwhile? Would an evening talk be good?
Please contact me with ideas, comments and feedback: jet.moore@canoe.wales
Report of Annual General Meeting 2016 The 2016 AGM for Canoe Wales was held on the 15th October 2016 at Cardiff International White Water Centre. In accordance with the Memorandum & Articles of Canoe Wales current Comprehensive and Basic Full Members had the right to attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting. At the Meeting, the members reviewed review Canoe Wales’ accomplishments over the past year, hear about plans for the upcoming year, and elect the Board of Directors for the next year. To ensure the Canoe Wales Board has the flexibility required by principle 4 of the Governance & Leadership Framework for Wales it has agreed that four places on the board are currently available. There were 6 nominees so an election was held at the 2016 AGM. Members were given the opportunity to vote on the day, by proxy and using post or email. The four duly elected members were: • • • •
David Wakeling Eryl Richards Jethro Moore Russel Scaplehorn
The following documents are available through www.canoewales.com: Abbreviated Accounts for year ended 31st March 2016; presentation slides used at the AGM. The Proposed Date & Venue for Annual General Meeting 2017 is the 14th October 2017 in North Wales. The 2017 AGM Agenda • • • • • • •
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Chairman’s Welcome Apologies Election of tellers Minutes of previous AGM Matters Arising Chairman’s report Treasurer’s report
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• • • • • •
Questions Approval of annual accounts Election of Auditors Result of the Election of Board Officers and Directors Motions from the Board and Motions from Members Date and venue of Next meeting (proposal)
News
canoe wales news
Newyddion
Waterways & Environment Update In the last 2 issues I have summarised some of the activities that Canoe Wales is pursuing to improve access to rivers. Despite recent unhelpful and provocative actions by some angling bodies, we remain convinced that discussion and negotiation is the right approach – while we also support the recent petition by the ‘Waters of Wales’ campaign group which “calls on the…Welsh Government to implement a Bill to establish statutory public rights of access to land and water for recreational and other purposes” and we wait with interest to see how this develops. In the meantime: here’s something completely different! One of the things we can do to continue to earn a welcome as paddlers is to show that we take environmental concerns seriously. There are several simple things we can do to help with this: avoiding contact with fish spawning beds in low water; and avoiding damage to banks by seallaunching – and helping to prevent the spread of Invasive Non-Native Species across the UK.
What are Invasive Non-Native Species – and Why Should We Care? An invasive non-native species is “any non-native animal or plant that has the ability to spread, causing damage to the environment, the economy, our health and the way we live”. For example: The ‘Killer Shrimp’ (present in Cardiff Bay), although smaller than a 20p-piece, “is a highly aggressive and voracious predator and is regarded as one of the most damaging invasive species in Western Europe [that] is likely to affect the quality and distribution of fisheries”. The tiny “Zebra Mussel”, particularly common in England, but also established in Wales “threatens the survival of native faunas by reducing the available amount of nutrients and oxygen, causes severe habitat alterations” and “can clog water pipes, filters and turbines, and has become a major pest in water treatment works and power station intakes”. “Japanese Knotweed”, found in urban areas (particularly South Wales cities), river banks and waste ground, “alters habitat structure and … impacts directly on salmonid fisheries”; its eradication is a legal requirement and the cost of its disposal expensive. These are just a few of many examples and while there is no evidence yet of paddlers spreading them around, there is clearly a risk that we could transfer them from one waterway to another via our boats and boots.
So What Should We Do? To help prevent the spread of Invasive Non-Native Species (and to be seen to do so) there are some simple steps we can all take whenever we go paddling: When you Arrive:
When you Leave:
CHECK there are no visible plant matter or creatures on or in your boat – put them in the bin! WASH your boat inside and out if there is a wash-down facility provided. EMPTY your boat of water and SPONGE- EMPTY your boat of water and SPONGE-DRY the inside. DRY the inside: on a gravel or grassy area DRY your boat with a towel if it won’t air-dry on the away from the waterway. way home. RINSE or WASH, then DRY your kit and clothing when you get home. For more information about Invasive Non-Native Species, see http://www.nonnativespecies.org. Steve Rayner, Canoe Wales Waterways & Environment Officer – environment-officer@canoe.wales Quotes and images courtesy of the GB Non-Native Species Secretariat / Environment Agency
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The Canoe Wales
Awards 2016
The Canoe Wales Awards recognise the quality of paddlesport talent in Wales, the efforts of those without who the sport would not take place and the destinations and events that make it such a great place to be a paddler. This year saw a fantastic response from the CW members – 62 nominations, with over 100 votes cast in the ‘Club of the Year’ public vote. The presentations ceremony was held at the AGM in Cardiff in October. A big thank you to everybody who contributed and to the Award sponsors CJCH Solicitors. Nominations will be opening earlier next year – details will be published in Ceufad and on the Canoe Wales website, so watch this space! Gareth Bryant with Llandysul Paddlers
Senior Coach of the Year
Photo courtesy of Llandysul Paddlers
Gareth Bryant One of the categories with a high numbers of nominations, it is excellent to see such strong talent available to canoe wales members in order to progress skills. A close tie for first place between North and South but with four separate nominations all indicating a real dedication to developing a wide range of skills and experiences for fellow paddlers the judges chose Gareth.
Young Coach of the Year
Serena Williams Superb to see young paddlers not only enjoying their own activity but also the benefits their own skills and knowledge can give if passed onto others. Excellent evidence of commitment and results for the winner.
Paddle-ability Coach of the Year
David Eade What stood out was the evidence of not only coaching as a volunteer but also working on grant submissions in order to further develop facilities to allow more paddling.
Senior Paddler of the Year
Tom McLay Rewarding to see Welsh Paddlers still exploring the furthest reaches for their adventures. The winner in particular stood out for the range of exploration he had done all‐ around the Himalayas.
Young Paddler of the Year
Sam Merritt A category where all the nominations describe young paddlers who look like they will have a bright future in our sport. Some impressive competition results and paddlers challenging themselves in multiple disciplines. The combination of commitment to his club, achieving a first by getting a full Scholarship to the World Class Kayak Academy and the experience of travel that came from this made the winner stand out.
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Tom McLay
Photo courtesy of Jim Shrimpton
Volunteer of the Year
Marion Bryant Far and away the hardest category to judge, not least because it was the one with the most entries. It is really heart-warming to see that Welsh paddling has some many people selflessly making this a great sport for so many to enjoy and each person nominated is a winner. Evidence of how some volunteers had creatively improved club systems or infrastructure were stand outs but above all the combination of this plus hard work and length of service mean this award belongs in 2016 to Marion. Snowdonia Slalom
Team of the Year
Photo courtesy of The Outdoor Partnership
Snowdonia Slalom Really exciting to see some recent projects creating lots of new paddlers across different disciplines. The nomination for our winner showed how the organisation had grown, got great results with paddlers quickly moving up the divisions and been creative in taking the activities to new locations.
Club of the Year
Llandysul Paddlers Amazingly only two of the people who were nominated for awards thought to nominate their own club. This shows how modest and unassuming Welsh paddlers must be. The club of the year went to a public vote and 108 people voted with the clear winner for 2016 being Llandysul.
Llandysul River Festival
Photo courtesy of Llandysul Paddlers
Event of the Year
Llandysul River Festival It was exciting to see activities from all around Wales represented by the nominations. The Anglesey Sea Symposium really promotes Wales as a world-class venue, but the sheer number of nominations combined with the events size and breadth of activities gave the win to the Llandysul River Festival.
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Venue of the Year
Llyn Padarn A wide variety of locations nominated across Wales highlighting excellent possibilities for a wide range of paddling disciplines. Also a good mix between consistent and accessible “all season” venues to very specific yet magical wild environments. The nomination for the winner described fully the range of paddling activities that the venue could offer with supporting evidence on the local landscape in which it is set.
Llyn Padarn
Special Award
Glyn Stickler This award is to recognise and thank someone who has stuck with the board through the last few, difficult, years. We would like to thank him for his dedication, commitment and, not least, minute taking.
Alan Baker Award – Nominee Comments In 1971 teacher Alan Baker found himself helping youngsters make canoes and kayaks at Croesyceiliog Secondary School youth club. When the youngsters and their parents started trying their canoes and kayaks on local rivers it became obvious to Alan, a keen outdoor enthusiast, that perhaps he could offer something more. He set up Croesyceiliog Canoe Club and had no idea that 40+ years on it would have grown into a successful and highly regarded canoe club affiliated to Canoe Wales. In a press article he said “I wanted to get people interested in the sport, so I set up an evening class. I was always involved in outdoor pursuits and just really enjoyed canoeing. “I went on to earn various qualifications and went on numerous courses with my wife Val, and then through my teaching job the club was set up” From an original 16 members the club now stands at more than 70. The club has two regular training sessions a week from its base at Newport International Sports Village and organises trips far and wide. Through Alan’s leadership it is the only sports club to be level 3 accredited by the City Council, a major achievement in recognition of the high quality of service and sport it provides the community. It is also listed as a ‘top club’ by the governing body of paddle sport in Wales, Canoe Wales. Alan, who is now the club’s President, has been awarded the first honorary medal by Canoe Wales for his services to canoeing. One of the reasons for it being so successful is Alan’s experience and qualifications. Titles to his name include Level 5 Coach (Sea) and (Inland), Vice President and Chairman of Canoe Wales board of directors, and Vice President and representative for Canoe Wales on the board of directors of British Canoeing. He is also a former competitor himself having competed in canoe polo between 1969 and the early 1980’s and for Wales in slalom in the late 1970’s. But as well as training young competitors he has always been keen to keep the social side of the club one of its strongest points “the ethos being to involve youngsters and families” If you have been on the Canoe Wales website recently you might have clicked on the ‘About Us’and Who’s Who’ section. Alan Baker is Vice‐Chairman and his personal details written by himself, read:
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“As Vice Chairman, I see my job as keeping up to date with what’s happening in canoeing, and promoting it at every single opportunity. When I’m out and about, that means listening to paddlers so I can put their views to the Canoe Wales board – even when those views differ wildly I try to pick up people’s thoughts and feelings about how things are developing, and how we can improve. I also spend time working with British Canoeing putting forward Canoe Wales’ interests at a national level. It’s not hard for me to promote paddling in Wales – after all, we’ve got so many fantastic places to paddle”. This sums him up perfectly, highlighting Alan’s longstanding commitment to promoting paddlesport, his love of canoeing and unforgettable experiences over 50 years of paddling. Alan’s dedication and enthusiasm has not wavered and with his guidance Croesyceiliog Canoe Club has developed a friendly, family orientated culture, where improving paddling skills and coaching is actively encouraged, but most of all promoting and participating in canoeing is about having fun. Alan’s mentor and close friend of many years, the late Sandy Buttle MBE, would agree entirely. Alan’s other achievements include: • Founder member of the Welsh Canoeing Association (WCA); • Alan, together with his wife Val, produced and edited the original Ceufad magazine • He has previously been presented with a ‘lifetime achievement to canoeing’ award at the Birmingham Canoe Exhibition • Competed in the Devises to Westminster canoe race 5 times in K2 class with close friend and leg amputee paddler • Organiser of the annual Usk Canoe Race • Qualified Pool Lifeguard with 9 other members • Awarded Honorary Vice‐President British Canoeing in 2013 On becoming Chairman of Canoe Wales 2 years ago Alan demonstrated his willingness to take on managerial responsibilities at a difficult time for the national governing body. Despite personal set backs Alan has continued to help others suffering life-threatening illnesses. Alan has dedicated his life to canoeing. He is a true superstar and worthy of this new Canoe Wales award.
Correction FRONT COVER – SEPTEMBER 2016 Time to ‘fess up – we made a mistake in the last issue, naming the wrong paddlers on the front cover. The two paddlers are Tom Wakeling and James Mckelvey, paddling at the Tryweryn Fest (photo by Blue Bear Photography).
Sorry!
COACHING COURSES? BOATING KIT? GUIDED TRIPS? ACCOMMODATION?
If you supply any of these then you should be advertising in Ceufad. With a readership of over 8000 paddlers and adverts starting at just £60 can you afford not to? To advertise contact: ceufad@canoe.wales
Article: Aled Edwards
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s a school, we have been lucky to have had the opportunity to explore many areas of Sweden by canoe. I don’t think anybody who enjoys exploring and travelling by canoe would ever tire of visiting this wonderful country, but this year we decided on a change of scene and planned a canoe adventure in neighbouring Finland.
The canoe expeditions at the school tend to be ‘Year 10 Expeditions’, with the pupils choosing their mode of travel (be it canoe, sea kayak or trekking; or an exploration trip such as climbing and caving) and then undertaking a series of training and planning sessions leading up to the expeditions in late May or June. The canoe group completed several days paddling on local lakes, rivers and sea, before undertaking a practice expedition on the river Severn. There were also some excited planning sessions poring over the big maps in Pete’s Eats map room as we looked at our potential routes along an old tar barrel trading route between Lentiira and Kuhmo. There were quite a few bleary eyes on the first morning as we stumbled into Heathrow departures at 4 in the morning. I’m not sure if some of the group knew that this time of day actually existed! A Finnair flight to Helsinki and another onwards to Kajanni, followed by a bus to Kuhmo finally got us to our destination where we met our canoe provider, Urpo, who had kindly let us camp in his father’s garden for the evening. A pizza and a walk around town later, and it was with some difficulty that the group settled down, not helped by the fact that it does not get dark round these parts! Urpo met us again the next morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to see he had trusted us with 6 very nice Royalex Bell canoes. It is always a bit of a gamble hiring boats, but this time it had worked out
wonderfully. He even gave us a Gray Owl paddle each, which made the group very happy. There is something quite pleasant about paddling with a nice wooden paddle as opposed to a piece of plastic stuck to a scaffold pole! Urpo dropped us north of Kumho at Lentiira, and after briefly running through some route options left us to our own devices. Although the ‘everyman’s right’ of camping exists in Finland in the same way as it applies in Sweden and Norway, fires could only be lit at pre-existing sites. These sites turned out to be a fantastic network of wind-shelters, composting toilets, wood stores and fire pits that were a delight to use. Our first night’s camp at Kotijarvi was no exception, as the group started to get used to canoe expedition living for the first time. The next day took us past an island with a freefor-all hut, complete with bunks and wood burner for passing travellers to use. After having lunch at the hut we continued on into what turned into a mammoth 18km day, with the last few kilometres into a stiff head wind, to make our second island camp. It was a tired and relieved group who sat around the campfire that evening, although there was still some energy for a tarp sauna session! We have experienced some pretty brutal portages on these expeditions, but I had heard tales of the longer portages in this area being furnished with a railway system for transporting the boats. I have to
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Sunset on the final evening
Woodland camp
Blue skies over the lake
admit to being a fan of long portages (although I’m not really sure why!), but using these railways was great fun and probably much better for the group’s backs. It was simply a case of wheeling a trolley, a little like a quarry truck, into the water, positioning the canoe above it, and hauling it out and along the rails until the next bit of water was found and the process could be reversed. Genius! Shortly after this portage fun, we found our third camp which was an instant hit with the group as it was positioned just behind a beautiful beach, with miles of woodland to explore. By this time there was some pretty fierce whittling action going on around the fire, and canoes seemed to be filling with a strange collection of wooden spoons and other carved objects (my favourite for the week was a very good whittled fish). At this point we had made it onto the biggest lake in the region, Lentua. This lake is pretty huge (77km2 – how many Llyn Padarns can you fit into that? And it is only the 57th biggest lake in Finland…!), and gave a great sense of space, with huge skies and some spectacular sunsets, even if the sun was not gone for very long. We spent the next day exploring some if Lentua’s islands, eventually making our way to an island camp that I had been told had a smoke sauna for travellers to use. It turned out to be completely true. Smoke saunas require a fire to be lit in the sauna, underneath a pile of stones, and left burning for 3 or so hours,
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before removing the fire. This leaves a pile of very hot rocks and a very hot sauna, in which we had an enjoyable Whittle fish! evening in-between jumping in the lake. On the following day we made use of good conditions to get out to the islands in the middle of the lake, something that would not have been possible if it had been windy – some of the waves we had seen on the lake on previous days did not look like fun from a group leadership point of view. After coming back in from the middle of Lentua we found our last but one camp and went for a stroll to check out Lentuankoski and its rapids, the biggest in the area. We decided against running the main section (II – III) to avoid swampings and swims, opting for another railway portage, but all enjoyed the nice long I – II section which followed as a welcome break from lake paddling into the wind. Our last full day of paddling, after the rapids, ended up as a slog fest into the wind to reach our final camp on ‘magpie island’, just a few kilometres from our end point in Kuhmo. By this stage the group had settled well into expedition life, and although tired, there was a little sadness knowing that the next day we would be paddling to the finish before being whisked away back to airports and civilisation. Baked potatoes in the embers of the fire were a great ‘last supper’ in the wilds before the lure of the big yellow M’s could get hold of the group again the next day. It was a surreal experience, paddling the last few
Railway portage system
Lakeside sunset
!
Smoke sauna
kilometres of the 90km we travelled in total before catching a bus back to the airport. Within a space a few hours we had cooked breakfast on a fire before getting on a plane to the madness of Heathrow and driving back to North Wales. I can only apologise to our fellow travellers, as we must have smelt a little odd! It was another successful Year 10 canoe expedition, made all the better by being able to explore a new area. There is plenty more to be explored here, so we may well be back, if not for anything else but the smoke sauna on the island!
LOGISTICAL DETAILS:
Rail portage #2
Canoes – booked through nature travels – www.naturetravels.co.uk and provided by Wildtaiga – www.wildtaiga.fi Flights – Finnair from Heathrow – Helsinki – Kajanni – www.finnair.com Airport transfers made through Nature Travels, but local bus services exist, as do rail links from Helsinki to Kajanni. I normally use Rail Canterbury to book tickets for group trips outside of UK – www.rail-canterbury.co.uk Aled Edwards aedwards@stdavidscollege.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/stdavidsoutdoor/ www.stdavidscollege.co.uk
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WORLD WHITE WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016
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eam GB has just come back from its most successful White Water Rafting Championships campaign ever. In the desert of all places! Here we shine a spotlight on the domination of the GB Women’s Raft Team who gained the title of World Champions at the R4 competition at Wadi Adventure in the UAE, and also celebrate the success of the whole of Team GB who brought home the most medals at a World Championship ever. The UAE, or United Arab Emirates, for those of you not familiar with the geography of the Middle East, is a peninsula nation comprising of a federation of 7 emirates including notably Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Although the UAE is not landlocked, it is mostly desert and not known for its white water. Or it wasn’t until they built the Wadi Adventure Centre! Wadi is a water park with a wave pool and 3 artificial white water courses in the middle of the desert – great for somewhere to cool down from the heat! The main artificial course is used frequently by international canoeing teams for winter training and is known to be fast, technical and relatively long compared to other white water courses.
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GB WOMEN’S RAFT TEAM RACE REPORT 2016 is a year of R4 raft racing. R4, or 4-person team, competitions are usually held on man-made white water courses and because of the lighter boats allow for really technical racing. Each rafting competition includes 4 separate races: sprint, head to head, slalom and endurance/downriver. We have to train specifically for each discipline and so we dedicate a lot of time to personal training, and train one weekend a month as a team, to perfect our skills. We were excited going out to the UAE because the team dynamics were great, we had a lot of experience in the raft and had spent time really understanding what would make us a happy team at the competition both physically and mentally. A happy team is a successful team! We got to the country a couple of days before the race started to acclimatise to the heat and squeeze in a few training sessions.
SPRINT Our first race was the sprint. We went into the day happy with our training runs and really confident in the fact that as a whole team we knew what the line
RAFTING Words: Fran Kohn-Hollins Photos: Sean Clarke
was for our raft and how each person would help to get it there and keep it on course. Our random number draw put us last in the proceedings so we simply focused on ourselves and our warm-up, then went up the travellator to the start pool. With our Power Posing done (see TED Talks), we were ready to go and give it our very best possible performance. The whole run feels like a blur now as I sit and write this, but I remember it feeling good … really good. As we came through the finish timing beam and the whistle blew we knew we’d given it our all and that is incredibly satisfying. Now we just had to see where our best had put us against the other teams. After waiting what felt like a year our Team Manager came running up to us grinning “you got silver!”. WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! Silver in our first race and on a course as technical as that – we were so happy! This put us in a really good position for the head to head race, which would come later that morning. Team GB’s success did not end here. Three other GB teams won medals: U19 Women’s – silver, U23 Men’s – silver, U23 Women’s – gold!! What an INCREDIBLE start to the Championships.
HEAD TO HEAD (H2H) This was our next race and followed quickly after our sprint run – no rest for the wicked! H2H is a knock out race where a team’s ranking from their sprint run determines who they are up against. Two teams battle it down the course (often literally), with the winner going through to the next round to race against the winner from a different group. A bit like the football World Cup! Our first race was against Canada and because we had done better in the sprint than them we had lane choice. Having lane choice determines which side of the river you start from. The judges give teams a held start, but due to the unpredictability of white water, there is usually a more preferable starting eddy which gives a team a slight advantage. This advantage is offered to the fastest teams by giving them lane choice. Against Canada we pulled away immediately, meaning we were able to make the fast sprint line down the course and go through to another round. In the H2H we won every single one of our races. After Canada we were up against Russia, then Italy and finally in the final, the Czech Republic. We had such a solid, strong start that we hardly
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clashed with anyone and were able to just pull away early on each of our runs giving us fast times overall. The Czech girls gave us a run for our money in the final though. But we kept our cool and battled for our line – Suzie battled so hard she almost fell out the raft! We kept it clean and finished in front and with a gold medal! We were so pleased. The team work had been amazing, we had all known our game plan and we had done exactly what we had intended – turned our silver medal into something a little bit more yellow :D Once again, we weren’t the only GB teams doing our country proud. The other medals won were: U19 Womens – silver, U23 Womens – bronze, U23 Men – silver, Open men – silver. It was day 1 and we were already dominating the medal table!
SLALOM We had a day off between our sprint and H2H races, and the slalom event. This was great because it meant we could enjoy the luxury of the 5 star hotels we had been put up in! This competition was quickly shaping up to be the best one for luxury we had ever been to! No Delhi belly or jungle beasties here! But our slalom day came around soon enough and in no time at all we were stood at the top of the white water course inspecting the slalom course that had been set, and deciding how we were going to make the gates. Each team gets 2 runs of the course and their best time goes through to the results table. If a team touches a gate a 5 second penalty is given, if a team misses a gate it’s a 50 second penalty.
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Our ‘walk and talk’ was positive and we decided as a team how we wanted to run it. Lucky for us we had GB Canoeing Super Star Lizzie Neave in our boat too! So all that was left was to go and do our best. Our first run was one of our best ever in competition. The course was really technical with some very difficult moves put it, but we pulled off a really controlled and quick run. Our aim for run 2 was ‘same again but cleaner’ – we wanted to get less touches on the poles to give us less penalty points. Our second run was cleaner – we had less touches – but it was actually slower. But we were very happy with the results as, once again, our first run had put us into silver medal position! Our GB Teams smashed it again in the slalom: U19 Womens – gold, U23 Womens – bronze, U23 Men – bronze and Masters Men – bronze! An amazing effort for Team GB on a really difficult slalom course.
DOWNRIVER/ENDURANCE Our 4th and final race of the competition came around very fast. We were all really nervous about this race because we knew it was going to hurt. A lot. We had been told months prior to the competition that the downriver race would include laps of the white water, the flat water and, more horrifically, running with the raft. We had raced a similar race in Bratislava in 2015 and we knew it was not going to be fun. But we had trained for it and so we were as prepared as we could be.
Our tactics were as follows: do a really good sailing start to pull away from the pod of rafts with momentum and not get stuck in any fighting between the other rafts who would also be trying to go for the fastest line. Then keep it steady on the run as this was not where the race would be won or lost. Use the white water as our rest time focusing only on making our sprint line and finally powering up on the flat water to keep our lead or overtake if we needed to. We knew we had to be in it for the long game – we had 5 glorious laps to do! We followed the plan to almost perfection. We pulled away from our pod quickly so didn’t have much of a battle and just kept increasing our lead. On the second lap the Czech team overtook us on the run, but rather than fighting down the white water, we let them take a bad line and then we just pulled away past them. We then kept the lead for the rest of the race. Finishing was the singularly happiest moment in rafting we have ever had. All our training, hard work and teamwork had come together and we had pulled it off! We had won the downriver race and that, with our earlier successes, meant we had also won overall gold. We were WORLD CHAMPIONS! The best result our team has ever had on the world stage. Team GB really sealed the deal with the downriver races with medals and overall rankings. The U19 Womens got downriver bronze and took overall silver, U23 Womens won downriver gold and won overall
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silver, the U23 Men came overall 4th after their downriver effort, the Masters Men achieved overall 7th and the Open Men finished overall 5th. What a result. It is really hard to eloquently express how we feel after such a successful competition. We definitely all feel proud of all the athletes in our GB Teams. We’re happy that all our training, sacrifice and the sacrifices of our friends and families have paid off. We’re incredibly thankful to our loved ones, coaches, sponsors and managers. But one of the biggest emotions we feel is the excitement. We’re excited that raft racing has a strong future. As the GB Open Women’s team we have been on the scene for a while now, but seeing all the amazing youth and junior athletes coming through the ranks is exciting because it means this amazing sport will continue to grow. And with competitions like this one showcasing to our country and the wider world how great the sport is I have no doubt GB Rafting will be taking medals for many years to come. Our team would like to say a very heartfelt thank you to all the team members who have gone before who have helped get us to the position of World Champions. A huge thank you to Deb Cook our coach, to Sean Clarke who did a wonderful job managing the team and chauffeuring us around, and to our friends and family who put up with us talking about rafting all
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the time, training for rafting all the time and generally being interested in little else other than rafting. Another massive thank you must be given to our sponsors Creative Sport and Leisure, Palm Equipment, 9Bar and the Lee Valley White Water Centre. They have fuelled us, clothed us and got us where we needed to be and we couldn’t have done it without the confidence, resources, and positive energy they’ve had in us that has allowed us to focus on racing!
RAFT TEAM MEMBERS: Fran Kohn-Hollins Fieke Reijntjes (she’s Dutch :) ) Lizzie Neave Emily Evans Suzie Jackson
WANT TO GET INVOLVED? If you are interested in getting involved in rafting then head to the British Rafting Facebook page: www.facebook.com/britishrafting. There are local clubs and teams you can get in touch with and you can also find out about the events taking place all over the country. The first event of the calendar where you can give the sport a try and meet new people people is in Llandysul on the 3rd and 4th of December.
SEA BEYOND DISABILITY
E
very now and again we all experience moments in our lives that dramatically shape our futures. No, I’m not on about the time I witnessed Ben fall 6ft through some stairs and smash a chair to bits, or about the time that I stopped him from doing a Jimmy Hendrix and subsequently put his phone through the wash. The moment in question came about as a result of a conversation Ben and I had about purchasing a fishing kayak ... eight pints and two bottles of wine later and we had decided that we were going to kayak around Wales! The day after most drunken conversations people either don’t remember the conversations they had, or they choose not to remember them. For Ben and I this was different. We realised that we both had the same goal; to do something—anything—to promote disability enablement and equality. And what better
way could we do that than to partake in something that would challenge us both to our limits, on an equal basis, not as individuals but as a team. It is staggering to think how far we had come before we even launched off Anglesey. We have learnt to kayak in a pool, reservoir and on the sea. We have learnt to roll and self-rescue, undertaken radio and safety courses, learnt about coastal navigation, set up and updated numerous forms of social media, sent thousands of emails and created our own logo and events. And much to my displeasure we both spent countless hours in the gym in preparation. This trip would not, however, of become a reality if wasn’t for the kindness, generosity, and selflessness of a number of very special people. Wales’ kayaking and sailing communities have truly stepped up to the mark with offers of sea support, accommodation, fundraising and even promotion. They have helped
Article: Ben Bostock and Tom Clark
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| 19
S inspire us with their unwavering enthusiasm and made us believe that this was all possible, even when we doubted it was. The trip would have been literally impossible without the support of both Escape Watersports and Croesyceiliog Canoe Club who provided us with the essential support, guidance, equipment etc. etc. etc. They have somehow managed to turn us into something resembling credible kayakers who also, on occasion, actually look quite good doing it. The last, and most important person to mention in all of this, is Ben. There have been times where he has driven me mad with his general stubbornness and highly speculative ideas, but he is the ultimate example of disability enablement. At no point in this trip, or in his life, has he ever let his disability define him and I have never heard him use it as an excuse. Ben doesn’t have it easy, but he’ll never tell you that. Going in to this trip he is fitter than me, physically stronger than me, and more determined to succeed than anyone I have ever met. There is not anyone else (disability or not) who I would rather be doing this challenge with. We knew it was going to be hard but equally, just by getting to the start line we have already won our race. Tom Clark
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tickers, sunglasses and hefty sense of adventure – and a fair chunk of trepidation. These were all on-board as we set off up Eastern Avenue out of Cardiff, en route to Caernarfon. Our good friend Oak at the wheel of his Sprinter, wearing its own rather fetching kayak-shaped orange hat. After a lovely night with Mo and John from the Royal Welsh Yacht Club, we were met under blue skies outside the Anglesey Arms by David Southern and Kylie Matthews from Sea Kayaking Cymru to start our epic leg on the last September Saturday of the year. Dr David and Kylie joined stop in Trefor where we were met by our trusty road crewman, Oak and the lovely Southern family. The long-range forecast we had been reading in the week before was proving to be deliciously wrong for the next millpond leg to Nefyn. Leaving David and Kylie at Trefor, we went onto Nefyn with Geth Roberts (he of Sea Kayaking Wales), stopping for some much-needed flapjack along the way. With the seas still glassy we decided to make hay and push the final three-hours to Porth Oer, where, we saw one of the rarest sites on these shores – a pod of Risso dolphins! Geth had been waiting more than a decade to see these magical creatures and on the first day of the trip, we had. After a sleep in a cove just off the main beach, Geth paddled out to join us with his good friend and paddling partner, Richard Tynymaes. We were raring to go for the paddle to Abersoch, via Bardsey and the Sound there of. Paddling past the island was quite an experience with back currents whipping the sea up which was even better with dolphins in the distance and the background woops of Geth.
We paddled as a foursome until the edge of Aberdaron Bay where Geth and Richard made their way to land while we took on the bay at Hell’s Mouth which took the best part of three hours. We made it through an armada of jet-skis into Abersoch in full holiday season swing! We were shattered. Next was the Abersoch to Barmouth crossing, with our good friend Stuart Leslie of Sea Kayaking Anglesey fame – with whom we’d done three training sessions on the Isle in preparation for the trip. Some gigantic box jellyfish joined us as we crossed in ideal conditions towards Shell Island where I got a juicy slab of hypoglycaemia. Thankfully, a pasty came to the rescue… We then hand-railed towards Barmouth, for which we were joined by Kylie’s partner, Tony ‘Pebbles’ who came through the boat-bashing bar. A great day’s
paddle! Topped off by an embracing welcome from the Sam, secretary of the Merioneth Yacht Club and their wonderful president, Wendy in the club house, just inside the estuary’s mouth. Anticipation is everything, especially when we were expecting a 15mph southerly wind to the face. And of course the knee-knocking prospect of a 10-hour open water passage. The trip into Aberystwyth was a push and with Tom’s shoulder going rouge, it was time for beast mode. With the tide turning, Aberyswyth came into view. A glorious sight. After sluicing the boat and loading it onto the van we headed for fish and chips and some not-so-light refreshment at one of the many sea-front watering holes. Tidy. There are times when you know you’re pushing the limits, and we certainly did that when we pitched up on Aberystwyth beach the next day for the fifth stage. Setting off at 8am, in the first attempted launch off the beach the rear cockpit filled with water and almost rolled us. The second attempt was more successful but almost broke the rudder. When we broke through the breakers though, it levelled off. So we thought. With a gusting 24mph wind whipping around the harbour walls and the ebbing tide, the waves were furious. Our highly skilled paddle-boarding companion for the leg, Andy Campbell, was the closest thing to a human gimbal we’ve ever seen. Riding four-foot waves on two feet is no mean feat! But sitting or standing there was no escaping the enormity of what we’d got ourselves into. As we got out into the unprotected waters beyond the harbour we were hit broadside by a monster wave which cleared both our heads by two foot. This was it, we
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were going in. And with little chance of self-rescue, a coastguard call would have been one of very few available options. And this is exactly what happened. But we were spectators when the coastguard did arrive. As was reported on the news later in the day, two men were knocked out of their powerboat and swept out to sea. One was left in serious condition in hospital, the other wasn’t so lucky. By contrast, the second half of the day was eerily, glisteningly sunny and we paddled from Aberaeron into New Quay with Tim Richards of the town’s yacht club. It was a glorious end to what had been a very scary day. For the next leg, the aim was New Quay to Newport Sands. We never made Newport. We set off from the slipway at New Quay with Tim and his yacht club pals Emyr and Ali aboard a powerboat. The crux of the day was Cardigan Island, before which we indulged in some procrastinatory pootling around Mwnt. It was a crashing ride through and onto Poppit Sands where we had to make a big decision – with just a couple of hours before the tide went against us, would we be able to gun it to Newport before we started going backwards. As it turned out, we made it to the only possible partway stop – but only just. Ceibwr Bay was the refuge in question, and boy did we need it. Tom, Gary (our salty dragon-shaped shipmate) and I were properly up against it, well and truly at the mercy of the ebbing tide. The next day, Newport Sands was in the crosshairs. This time we overshot – making another 3km by landing at Cwm Yr Eglwys before Sunday’s enforced rest day and the possibility of missing one, maybe two
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more days of paddling time due to 40mph gusts. Crossings are tough, and Porthclais to Martin’s Haven was no different. Making the passage across St Brides Bay was as tough as any. As soon as we were outside the shelter of Ynys Dewi, we could feel the tow of the flow trying to push the nose of the boat towards Skomer Island while we dodged several thousand tons of oil tanker – at points we couldn’t see the top of their wheelhouses, which was very exciting. In the morning we were joined by Nige Robinson and Ben Ceredig Fothergill of Sea Kayak Guides – there’s not many who could claim to be as experienced here as these two! And glad we were of it, too. At least, with so much fog we wouldn’t be able to see which one of Jack Sound’s waves would kill us. This was a hairy leg! Gladly we missed the active firing range at Castlemartin to be met by Mike Greenslade, National Trust manager for the area, with Clive Johns and Chiristine Wakeford from Pembrokeshire Paddlers. Leaving Mike at Manobier, we three paddled past Caldey Island onto Tenby – which in foggy dusk felt like threading needle with baler twine and blindfold. There’s nothing quite like a tank firing at you to make you paddle faster. Mind you, just the thought is enough. On another crossing, this time from Tenby to Pendine, the headland view was interrupted by the occasional yellow marker buoy. These were to warn of the sand bars. Of course they were. It wasn’t until we surfed the waves down onto Pendine Sands for a break after the three-hour passage did we realise there was another active firing range and those buoys where in fact what the tank was aiming at from seven miles away ... We were glad therefore when we landed to find the tank’s gun had jammed otherwise we may have
been reduced to a thin red film over a wide area of Carmarthen Bay. With light fading fast, rather than land a Hill End, we plumped for Broughton Bay. The next morning we set our sights on the Mumbles and despite an approaching 30mph wind, we made it through the familiar bays of Oxwich and Caswell into Swansea Bay. From the Mumbles we headed toward Barry Yacht Club, via a brief stop at Southerndown and a relaunch at Atlantic College – with one detaching rudder fix along the way, we had possibly the best welcome of the trip by the Club’s Vice Commodore, Jack. What followed was a spectacular evening with 100-plus club members for a special Sea Beyond Disability fundraiser. What a great bunch! The next morning was the big one – we pointed the nose at Cardiff Bay barrage and gunned it. Not that we needed to, with full tidal flow in our favour, bright skies above and the Cardiff Bay Sea Safaris RIB by our side. We made it in to the Bay in 45 minutes from Barry, after dismounting our steed to go through the lock. We soon began to realise the magnitude of the journey and just what it symbolised. We had done it, nearly 400 miles around our coast.
After all the musings about how we’d feel coming home, it was just a bit surreal. Welcomed back by what looked like hundreds of our friends and family – and ITV film crew – it was a big fluffy cement mixer of emotions. Most of all we were thankful. Thankful we had made it. Thankful to be home. Thankful to have so many friends, family and supporters. Thankful to achieved what we’d set out to do, despite the odd typhoon along the way. And thankful to have been able to demonstrate what can be achieved when the focus is on ability over disability. Ben Bostock
FURTHER INFORMATION Tom and Ben’s 400 mile challenge raised nearly £2000 for charity and promoted disability enablement in a awe-inspiring way. And they’re not finished yet … Keep up with their adventures at www.seabeyondisability.co.uk or if you’d like to get involved drop them an email at seabeyondisability@gmail.com
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LOCATION: TRYWERYN FEST 2016 PHOTO: NWWC
2017 EVENTS: ASK ANGLESEY SEA SYMPOSIUM CF CANOEFEST 2017 (HAY ON WYE) MW MAWDDACH PADDLESPORT FESTIVAL GC GEMAU CYMRU TF TRYWERYN FEST LRF LLANDYSUL RIVER FESTIVAL CPF CIWW PADDLEFEST MRR MONTGOMERY RAFT RACE AGM CANOE WALES AGM PSK PEMBROKESHIRE SEA KAYAK FESTIVAL TT TEIFI TOUR
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LOCATION: GRAND CANYON PHOTO: LAURA TIPPER
LOCATION: LOCH TAY, SCOTLAND PHOTO: GRAHAM HARVEY
Interview: Sonja Jones Sonja Jones is the recently appointed Safeguarding and Inclusion Director for Canoe Wales and has just returned from Malta, where she was attempting to circumnavigate the island on a stand-up paddleboard. And this wasn’t her first trip – she’s got expeditioning form – she’s completed the Great Glen Canoe Trail, sea kayaked around Menorca and completed the Three Lakes Challenge, all since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013. Ceufad managed to catch up with her to chat about her paddling and Canoe Wales directorship, whilst she was packing for her next trip – some R&R in Norway!
Photos: Georgina Maxwell, Chris Brain, Sonja Jones
So, how was your Malta expedition? Windy! We were well aware that November was the stormy season but my adventure buddies happen to be outdoor instructors and that was the best time of year for them. The week before we went the forecast was for calm weather and the plan was to circumnavigate 3 islands over 10 days, which is around 135km. However, a storm kicked up which meant we had to adapt our plans .. and our paddling technique – you’ll be able to read about it in the next issue! This was your first SUP expedition – what made you go for SUPs rather than kayaks? Earlier this year I went to Chamonix to see my friend Erin and to learn to ski. What became immediately apparent was that I’ve been focusing on my upper body strength for a year or so, and had no idea that the strength in my legs
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had become really poor. I was having a really tough time skiing, and I realised I needed to do something to strengthen them. It was the same kayaking around Menorca, again I was having quite a lot of pain in my legs so when I got back from that trip I knew that I needed to do something, which was to circumnavigate an island … and what would be good for my legs? SUP! So that’s where it came from – I’m going to rehab and build the strength in my legs through the powers of SUP! So, has kayaking been your form of rehabilitation for multiple sclerosis? Yes, it took something as serious as learning I have multiple sclerosis (AKA Malcolm) in October 2013 to make me realise that I hadn’t embarked on as many adventures as childhood me had dreamed of. I took up kayaking as a fun and exciting way to rehabilitate and work my way to freedom and strength.
That must have been a really traumatic time? I was 27 years old and urgently hospitalised with a suspected stroke. I couldn’t move my left hand very well and was incredibly weak down my left side. I was unable to open my mouth properly to speak or eat, and couldn’t even smile. Numerous blood tests, two MRI scans and a lumber puncture revealed that I actually have MS. And pretty much a year later you embarked on your first kayak lesson with one of our regular writers, Chris Brain? It’s bizarre really! Before I became ill I had my own business making custom earplugs and one of my clients was Claire O’Hara, World Freestyle Champion. When I’d decided that I was going to kayak as part of my rehabilitation I contacted Claire and asked if she could recommend any coaches. She put me in touch with Kelda Wood, a paracanoeist, and Kelda recommended Chris Brain. The same Chris Brain who had been emailing me asking me to make some ear plugs for him! So I knew the Gods had a plan! And just six months later you completed the Great Glen Canoe Trail, when did you decide that that was the trip for you? On day 1. Seriously? Yes, on day one I was at Mile End Mill in Llangollen with Chris, and I told him that I needed a goal. I had muscle atrophy and my mobility was really bad, and I needed something to make sure I would work hard to improve my strength and fitness. He said ‘we could paddle Scotland coast to coast,’ and I said ‘yeah, lets do that!’ which I think took him by surprise! Especially when you consider how that first day on the river went ... We were using sit-on-tops because my mobility was really pants, and Chris asked me to cross the river where the current was at its slowest. At this point I had no real awareness of the disproportionate strength of my body. As he whizzed over I thought ‘yeah, this looks easy,’ however, as I set off I realised that my left arm just wasn’t doing anything and I ended up being washed downstream. I had no idea my body was like that. However, by the end of the day I’d run my first rapid and I’d gone from not understanding how strong I was between sides to being able to figure out what I needed to adjust to make that better, and to then run the rapid. And I thought ‘yeah, we can make this happen, and paddle coast to coast in 6 months time. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be fine.’ That’s quite a goal! Yes, well the following week I asked Chris how long the trip usually takes, and he said 5 days. We sat there and I said, ‘well, shall we try and do it in 3?’
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And how did it go? It was amazing! The trip began as a rehabilitative goal, but as things went on, it became much more than that. It started out as just Chris and I and then grew into a group of 10, paddling sea kayaks and open canoes, and with a big range of abilities. Surfing waves, sleet, rainbows, toasting marshmallows on the campfire and crossing the finish line in awesome company were the highlights of the trip. We paddled the full 60 miles … in 3 days … and raised about £1500 for charity. I loved it and would have done it all again the next day. So how was the ‘next day’? I went into a pit of doom. I’d worked so hard for it and all of a sudden it was over and I had no goal. Over the summer I did quite a bit of sea boating around Devon with friends and realised that I was at a point where I could arrange my own trip. I’d been inspired by Erin Bastian’s expeditions round Corsica and Sardinia and thought a Mediterranean trip would be a good idea. A year after your first expedition you’re preparing to lead one??? Yes! The tides in the Med are minimal, so I wouldn’t have to think about that. When I looked at the islands I spotted Menorca and thought it was doable. It’s relatively small – 150km, so it was much easier It sounds like kayaking has had a really positive to recruit paddling buddies, it’s a ferry ride from impact on your life. Do you think you would have Barcelona so pretty easy with sea kayaks, and it’s an got into paddling if you hadn’t had MS? island of gin lovers – what better way to relax after a Paddling is one of the biggest parts of my life, day sea kayaking in the sun?! and I hope that I’ll gradually be able to do more volunteer work or even become employed in some Kayaking seems to be more than just physical form of paddling. And then I think to myself ‘hang rehabilitation? on, would I have ever taken up paddling if it wasn’t Yes, if work or life gets stressful then I go for a paddle, for MS?’ I had paddled before, with the likes of it’s like mindfulness for me, my form of meditation. PGL and on holiday, and at the back of my mind Just before the Malta trip work was really, really hectic there was always a ‘I need to go kayaking.’ Living and I started thinking about what I was going to do next to Llangollen I could see kayakers all the time, after the contract I was working on had finished, and and I kept saying to myself I need to do it, but life where my life was going. I got a bit overwhelmed just kept happening, and I was stuck in my bubble and stressed out. So I went for paddle and had this of going to work and it never happened. And then weird moment of clarity, where everything shifted into perspective. I went home and wrote down bullet Malcolm came into my life and made me reassess points of what I was going to achieve in the future. everything, and I got stuck into paddling. Also the social side is really important. Erin and I have come up with this cheesy idea, that ‘I’ve found my tribe’. How has Malcolm (MS) affected your paddling? It gives that sense of belonging that’s so important, When I’m peer paddling Malcolm’s very invisible, which I didn’t really have before I started paddling. however, I’m very aware of my disproportionate strength in my left and right side, so I Erin (Bastian), seems to be one of your closest paddling overcompensate with my left to balance up with buddies. She’s a bit of a sea kayaking legend – how did my right. If Malcolm affects me when I’m paddling you two meet? I can become very lethargic or very heat sensitive, At the 2015 Ladies Paddle Symposium. It was about which can mean spasticity in my legs if it’s very a month before with did the Great Glen, and I’d cold. This can be challenging when I try to get out booked onto one of her sea kayak handling sessions. of my boat and realise I can’t feel my legs, which We just got on really well. She asked why I was on has happened before – I’ve fallen flat on my face the workshop, and when she heard about the Great on the banks of the Tryweryn! Glen trip and why I was doing it, she asked if she could make a film about me! I thought it was a bit weird but Paddling has obviously had a really positive impact if she wanted to do it, well, that was lovely. But when on your life, is that why you took the role of Canoe she came to film we really bonded, and she made this Wales’ Safeguarding and Inclusion Director? beautiful video, and since then we’ve had this really Yes, it was through Alan Baker, one of the directors. gorgeous friendship, almost like sisters. We met at the British Canoeing Awards (he
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presented Sonja with the John MacGregor Award to honour outstanding endurance, adventure, exploration or performance – well deserved!), and we immediately clicked. Alan has a passion for the sport and a vision of how to take it forward. I knew that being involved in paddlesport was something that I wanted to do, particularly with inclusion because of the benefits that I’ve received first hand. I just want everyone, no matter who they are, what their demographic or ability, to be able to have the same experiences and have a wonderful time. Because it can be life changing and open so many doors; to friendships, adventure, competition ... He asked me if I’d be interested in joining the Board and I thought ‘you know what, that would be amazing and I could make a positive difference.’ How do you see Canoe Wales delivering that vision? We don’t have a lot of money to work with, so my mission will be to see what grants are out there, and what community groups there are that we can provide paddling opportunities for. But we’re in the early stages at the moment and, as I am still quite new to the role most of my time has been spent, to begin with, making sure I am familiar with policy and process for Canoe Wales and so I haven’t been able to be impactful as I would like – but there’s plenty of time for that. But we have just started the Insport Ribbon process (a Sport Wales programme aimed at supporting inclusion within sport), to pledge our intentions to look at inclusion across all demographics and progress from there. The key things are what grants are out there, what volunteers do we have and, what are other organisations doing and how can we work with them.
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Sounds like a busy time for you – so does that mean a break in expeditioning? No! I’m already planning my next two trips!! And they are … ? Well, fingers crossed these will be my next two expeditions, and hopefully with these people … Next April-ish we’re going to cross Sweden by sea kayak, on the Gota canal. And we might do a bit of the Stockholm archipelago in the Baltic Sea. So, it might be a two week trip … or a month. We’re looking at where we want to go, what we want to do, and what work we’ve got either side of it. Hopefully I’ll have George and Matt Haydock with me again. And then in November, with George and maybe Erin, to circumnavigate Sicily by sea kayak, which will be nice! In fact, we flew straight over Sicily on our way to Malta, and we thought it was Malta. Even though I knew Malta was really rocky I’d kind of glossed over it and was looking down thinking ‘oh yeah, it looks excellent, loads of sandy beaches, lots of get-ons and gets-off.’ Then we flew straight past it to Malta where all we could see were cliffs … and thought ‘oh this is going to be interesting …’ Good luck with the preparations for your Sweden crossing and thanks for taking time out from packing to chat to us. Hope to see you on the water soon!
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QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS EXPEDITION LOVES: • Unexpected wildlife encounters. • Sleeping in a bivvi bag – watching the stars and satellites! • Sunset over the horizon of the sea. • Sitting round a fire, sharing a hot toddy. • Being away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.
EXPEDITION HATES: • Sand getting everywhere! • The faff of getting kit – undoing bungees, straps, moving stuff around … • Sorting out kit at the end of the trip ... emptying hatches, putting boats on the roof.
LUXURY EXPEDITION KIT: On the Malta trip it was a down jacket, which just pulls on over your head like a jumper. As soon as the sun went down and it got a bit nippy I’d just pop that on! Definitely my luxury item.
SUPwith the Water Skills Academy Everyone’s talking about it, magazines, websites and online forums – it’s for any age and great fun! Stand Up Paddle Boarding or SUP is firmly in our sights and is not going away. SUP is big business and with a variety of disciplines from adventure, surf, downwind, white water and race we can get lost in board shapes, paddles, leashes and what, when and who to educate us as coaches. The Water Skills Academy (WSA) www. waterskillsacademy.com provides a team of SUP practitioners, coach educators and centre managers ranging from British Canoeing educators, Surf Lifesaving/Surf trainers, and Surf and SUP school owners. As a UK based provider we have designed our qualifications and structure to suit the requirements of the industry encompassing outdoor centres, surf schools, local authorities, clubs and those who already hold a paddlesport coaching award. The coaching pathway starts with a Safety and Rescue course; this provides the safety and rescue knowledge and skills for the majority of SUP coaching qualifications excluding the white water coach. Combined with the Foundation Coach (with the remit of introductory sessions on sheltered water) the coach is then equipped with the basic skill set to deliver lessons safely. The Foundation Coach course covers a progressive coaching process, technique, and equipment choice and paddler development. The Foundation course is based over two days training with an additional one-day assessment. WSA also provides the British Canoeing Discipline Support SUP module. However we would recommend the full Safety and Rescue and Foundation Coach courses as they provide more information and at greater depth.
Once the Foundation Coach has been completed there are several progressive pathways, one of which is the Adventure Coach. Not dissimilar to a British Canoeing 4 star, the main focus is on leadership. This course – two days training and one day assessment – covers coastal (non tidal) and inland waterways (not white water) using SUPs with groups, leadership skills and the issues that arise when embarking on an adventure journeys. This deliberate design of course content allows a structured progression and does not require providers to rely on basic qualifications in more hazardous conditions. Great news, as a British Canoeing SUP module holder you are able to enter the WSA system at the Adventure Coach level! In addition the WSA also recognises prior learning from other areas of paddle sports and we allow transfers of SUP qualifications from other awarding bodies when certain requirements are met. As a progressive provider we offer professional liability insurance for members, technical advice and support for schools and clubs. WSA also provide surf coaching qualifications, sit on top coach, coasteer guide and surf lifesaving qualifications In the UK we have worked closely with the Adventure Activities Licensing Service to develop safe working and coaching practice. To find out more about the Water Skills Academy and courses www.waterskillsacademy.com
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French Fun 2016 O
n the 9th of August this year 82 excited paddlers and parents departed from Llandysul and headed out to the South of France in search of some water ... of course! We waved goodbye to the white cliffs of Dover and even this far into the journey we were relieved to stretch our legs! Our coach wound through the French scenery, with the essentials (our boats!) in the club mini buses. Twenty-four hours later we arrived at an amazing location named the Ardeche, and a swarm of the youngsters raced to find the best hammocking spot, which were up to five people high! We set up our camp in an amazing campsite names ‘Tunnels’ which is right by the river. Different sessions and activities were run by our staff, while others enjoyed swimming, fishing (for some extremely large fish) jumping off rocks and even a rope swing that would send you into the air before landing in the warm water. There was something for everyone! Many people would help cook the food which was key to another successful trip as catering for that many people is a hard job! After three days enjoying the sun and exploring small French towns such as Vallon, we prepared for our descent down the Ardeche River. All children, staff, adults and even pensioners were ready for the next two days worth of paddling, which consisted of 22 river miles, wild camping half way down and of course the heat! The scenery was beautiful with cliffs and caves including Pont d’ark which is an impressive bridge-like rock over the river, along with the odd nudist beach where our paddling rate seemed to speed up a little! Along the way we stopped off to eat and of course we found some perfect jumping ledges reaching heights of up to 20ft! Fair to say it was the perfect way to cool off! After 11 miles we arrived at our first campsite where we had booked two large army tents for those who didn’t have a hammock. However, trees were not limited so there was plenty of space for the majority of us to
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sleep under the stars. We had a mass BBQ where all the food was cooked on a fire, which tasted delicious after our long paddle! Everyone wandered off to bed, but within a few hours half the campsite was awake because of the wild boars that were running around. Fair to say we didn’t sleep too well after that! The next morning, we had another 11 miles to paddle to finish our descent. We headed off downstream where there were numerous small rapids – carrying all our kit on the boats was challenging at times! When we reached the end, the real hard work was upon us! We had to load all our boats and kit onto the mini buses in 42°C heat. Thankfully there
Words by Sioned Bryant
was an ice cream shop on site! After all our gear was packed away and everyone had cooled down with a gelato, we headed on to the coach for our drive back north, all the way up to Saint Pierre de Beouf. When we arrived, no one could contain their excitement at the impressive man-made site, which definitely kept all our slalom paddlers happy! There are so many advantages to this site as there are loads of activities such as ‘arking’, hydro speeding and even rafting – every member of our great team had a go at something different! When the trip was coming to an end, everyone took part in a mass paddle from the top of the course all the way down to the bottom in different boats with the main objective being trying not to swim in the chaos! On our last night we had a BBQ where everyone sat together in a circle, now knowing every face around us while we had the awards ceremony, where people were awarded for things like ‘the most swims’! Feel like you’re up for an adventure with Llandysul Paddlers? Why don’t you join us next year? To contact us at Llandysul Paddlers, either drop us an email at bpaddlers@aol.com or give us a ring on 01559 363209.
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Nepal – Easter, Rum and Whiskey Hunt 2016 Article: Matt Cooke
F
or this issue I have decided to put out an article that pushes my boundaries and cuts deep to the subject matter and attention of the reader, you, the waterman, or at least, someone who knows one. I attempt to tantalise your Eastern taste buds with a short segment about Nepal and its current standings for us simple kayak folk, because let’s face it, the only reason you would go to Nepal is if you were a walker, kayaker, biker or hippy so let’s start with all of those for why Nepal is still very much open for business and the devastating earthquake that hit in Easter 2015. Fundamentally, Nepal can seem a chaotic place for the seasoned middle-class Costa drinker so for those who love the creature comports of home, Nepal will be quite a shock for you once you get out of town and realise you can’t grab a Subway or get 4G. If you long for something different and exciting or you are reading this as a seasoned kayaker or rafting enthusiast, you may wish to read on.
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The white water paradise of Nepal has been explored by many seasoned kayakers from across the globe since the 70’s. I have been lucky enough to meet and paddle with some of the greats during my kayaking career, who have inspired me to keep returning again and again. My first trip to Nepal was in 2003 for the Peak UK Challenge. Since then, I have felt like Nepal was going to be a big part of my life, and I was right. Thirteen years later and I am running trips every year with clients and friends to explore the many rivers and mountains of the Himalayas. Nepal is a place you can disconnect from the west and mould your own adventures and existence. I’ve produced a short film which shows our Easter trip in all its glory, however, no matter how much you try and document the level of devastation, you cannot appreciate the scale of the carnage. Nepal has experienced earthquakes before, but this time the
aftermath shook the whole world. Millions of people from across the globe came together to support the thousands of families who found themselves homeless, even without villages to return to. With thanks to global support and the incredible resilience of the Nepali spirit, Nepal is once again thriving and re-building bigger and better than before. However, I digress. White Water Adventures Nepal, a company I have been involved with for over 10 years, set a trip in motion that came from my first contact in the company, Georgia Bhandari. Myself and Georgia trained together during the 2003–2005 Freestyle World Championships and always talked about running a combined trip to Nepal. Georgia, (married to Ram Bhandari and with a prospering family) took the bench whilst Ram and myself led the initial trips in 2011. Five years on she sprang off the bench and was the brainchild behind the Easter paddling trip of a lifetime. After nearly six years off the river, Georgia was ready to jump back on.
So, we had a trip and Georgia was fired up. I had never visited Nepal in March but Mr Ram Bhandari assured me the weather was glorious and it would be logistical wet dream. What the trip had in store for us was far from this idyllic description I had been given. I will come back to the day I witnessed 100ft sandclones sucking the sand from a beach just 100yds from us on the Trisuli. After arriving early into Kathmandu as I do; to kick back, work on trip preparations and have some re-connect time, the weather felt very different. Dry and extremely dusty in town and for the first time I wandered the streets with a dust shield over my face. I always look forward to time spent in KTM and Pokhara, to kick back, walk the streets, absorb the culture and spend time with other wayward characters in the local watering hole, Tom & Jerry’s, a famous meeting point and rabbit hole in the Thamel district of Kathmandu where smoking is allowed and the owners keep your favourite cocktails from running
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dry. A place where old and new faces merge to forge a brand new adventure half way across the world, a chance to feel like a tomb raider, press tough guy or secret agent. For me, running a trip with Georgia accompanied by an international crew of misfits gave me a purpose and place within the chaos. Georgia’s dream expedition was underway. The meet and greet went quietly, as for most of our guests this was their first international adventure away from their home countries. Their eyes looked heavy and frazzled. Georgia was on form and her brilliant bubbly self. Along for his second expedition with WWAN was Geoff McCaul from Australia, a seasoned guide making his way towards an international career and eager to get on the road. Geoff was a fantastic character, a solid asset for the Easter trip and when I say, “solid,” I’m not talking about his gut but that’s another story entirely, I digress once more. The group was literally split in half, not by age, well a little by age but the group dynamic was “family holiday” mixed with “spring breakers”. I could talk for pages about some of the clashes between characters but I will touch on enough. I enjoyed the challenge of making everyone comfortable and re-assured but there are times in one’s life where one is tested by a divine force to overcome situations. Any issues the group had together were soon diluted once we hit the Trisuli river, and for the first time, straight into our first hurricane. It honestly felt like a scene from
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a disaster movie – Sharknado but with the CGI sharks replaced with motorbikes, fisherman and rice pales. We were forced to seek shelter on a beach with huge trenches. For the first time in ten years I needed to whip out the group shelter out in anger. Whilst Geoff erected the shelter, the boys and myself attempted to secure the rafts on the beach as we were engulfed in what felt like a giant sand blasting machine. I had no idea Easter could get this wild but after eight tours to Nepal, I was none the wiser but apparently it’s quite common on the Trisuli at that time of year. Thanks for telling me, right! Truly, I was in my element. I love new adventures and this trip was continually trying to test my patience and ability to solve on the spot dilemmas. Getting the group and rafts secure was the easy part, making sure we had enough alcohol for the jovial portion of the group turned out to be the hardest problem to solve. We touched on group dynamics but I feel it will never be entirely described unless I publish a novel or write a screenplay on the subject. Basically, one half of the group were a family unit, gathering mid-point between Italy and Australia for an adventure reunion and the other half wanted to escape the grinds of high-powered jobs to role-play the plot of ‘The Hangover,’ every single day. It was a constant challenge to ensure the drinks cupboard was well stocked and that the noise was contained away
from the family unit, who didn’t drink … at all. Both lovely groups but this was my first trip to manage this unique split of expectations and experiences, but hey, I love it. We cruised around Nepal for two weeks and covered all but one of Georgia’s wish list of rivers from the ‘Easter paddling trip of a lifetime’. River levels were low so the Balephi Khola was out for rafts. The Balephi confluences with the Bhote Kosi which combine to form the Sun Kosi. We paddled the upper and lower Bhote. This was the first time in two years I had been back to the area and the contrast was unrecognisable and devastating. There had been a large landslide in 2014 before the 2015 earthquake and I had missed them both between my visits. What I was looking at as we drove up from KTM to the Bhote Kosi left me speechless all the way until we reached Barabesi, the last town on the silk road to China which leads you swiftly to the start of the mighty upper Bhote Kosi. We covered over 300km in our two weeks of touring around Nepal which provided ample opportunities for our guests to have their fill of white water, whiskey and Khukri rum. From arriving in Nepal to the morning of departure, the adventure never stopped. The crew saw first hand how Nepal has been effected but most of all, got to see how the country has bounced back, building a new and improved Nepal, working harder than you may have ever seen. Our egress point on
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the Lower Seti was blocked due to works on a main highway. This set our schedule back half a day but did mean that we had some time to kill on a perfect sandy beach the morning after our legendary pig roast party. Not a break in schedule that anyone, well almost anyone, complained about. Despite our lazy morning on the beach picking on left over BBQ delights, we soon found ourselves waiting for a solo construction worker aboard his T-Rex-sized digger still clearing a new road for traffic to resume. I took the opportunity to leave our bus and get a closer shot for the film. The digger was even bigger up close. I am a welder by trade and learnt to operate forklift trucks from the age of 13 but this was a whole new experience for me. This guy looked like he had absorbed the skill and motivation of every singe UK heavy goods driver and I was witnessing a new road being formed in the few minutes I stood their watching. Phenomenal. During this trip, I had expected to see more of the country is disrepair. I knew it was there but in the main areas we visited and spent our time you could hardly notice the difference. What you could see were the people of Nepal working in unison to rebuild and continue as normal. The country took a colossal sucker punch but is still a place filled with majestic delights from the tips of the Himalayas to the dark thriving riverbed of the Sun Kosi as it flows into the Indian Ocean.
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I won’t describe all the highlights and special evenings by a fire … or in front of a same-day pig BBQ with stunning sunsets … mixed with nights reenforcing our tarp village to withstand the hurricane winds with warm sideways rain. For me this trip was filled with the usual antics blended with new experiences and aggressive storms which I had not yet been exposed to. Above all, no matter what was going on with the weather, the temperature never really dropped below twenty degrees in the evening which made sleeping outdoors delightful. It was good not having to rely on the fire to provide warmth in the cold of a typical October night. I can cope with the wrath of the elements if it means great weather in between times. At times I thought I would be struck by lightning paddling the upper Seti just outside of Pokhara. We started the run with blistering sunshine and then, as if summoned by Moses, a black cloud loomed slowly from the direction of Machapuchare, headed straight toward us in the direction of Pokhara. The storm past us mid-run, pelting us with giant hail stones and the wind blowing us in directions I had not thought possible. By the time we had reached the take out, the storm had passed leaving the remnants of its wrath. The ground looked like a fresh blanket of snow as cold as a sea of crushed ice in white Russian cocktails. Walking through the slush felt like razor blades it was that cold, another part of the trip that
we will all be talking about for a long time and just one of the adventures our crew endured during our expedition to Nepal. I will end our little journey here and leave the rest to your imagination and motivation to jump on a plane and book yourself onto a river expedition. We do offer bespoke trips for aspirant rafting guides and kayaking enthusiasts but in all honestly, dozens of reputable and amazing guys run trips out of Thamel and during the chosen time of year, you can rock up to Thamel (Kathmandu) and just hang out, chat to them and see what is going out. There are infinite adventures to be had for whatever your fancy, so plan your next spontaneous mission to the Himalayas where a life changing experience awaits you. Be safe with all of your adventures in white water and we hope to see you soon on a multi-river-day adventure in Nepal. Peace. Cookie x
FURTHER INFO Nepocolypse Youtube link: https://youtu.be/pwFJiEmKxrM Whitewaternepal.com catmooke@hotmail.com ram@whitewaternepal.com Matt Cooke 07833462182
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Kayaking in South Georgia It is 3:30am, Franco’s watch should have ended an hour and a half ago. We have just finished hauling the drogue back in, heavy work. We deployed it during the hours of darkness, to slow Caramor down, hoping to drift at the same speed as the icebergs, they are all around us, invisible in the thick fog. He sits on the bench, hardly able to keep his eyes open, I’m not sure he even knows his name anymore.
Franco at the Harker Glacier
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Article: Kath McNulty
By mid morning, the wind has increased to Force 8 on the Beaufort scale. It is howling out there. The sea is wild and foamy. South Georgia is nearby and we are keen to make landfall as the forecast is for even stronger winds tomorrow. We are heading for Rosita Harbour on the north-east coast where we hope to find an all weather anchorage. A sheer cliff looms out of the fog, Cape Buller at last. We reduce the genoa even further, turn on the engine, drop the main and, with the engine ticking over, sail into Rosita Harbour on a tiny piece of genoa. The sea flattens as soon as we are in the lee of the cape but the wind accelerates as it falls off the 200m cliffs. Spray is flying everywhere and the williwaws knock Caramor sideways from the left, then from the right, a 180˚ switch in wind direction! With gritted teeth, we hunker down. A cove opens out on our right, no shelter there, the water boils, tormented. We continue past the next point and beyond the kelp, there is a bay with calm water. We have come to the end of the world, or at least to the end of the human world. The animals all seem to think it is a lovely day and the fur seals are having, quite literally, a ‘wail’ of a time. It all started one Tuesday lunchtime, many years ago, in my Welsh class. We watched a documentary in which the famous Welsh TV presenter Iolo Williams visits ‘De Georgia’ by yacht. He was filmed just a few feet away from penguins against an amazing backdrop of glaciers and snowy peaks. I had never heard of ‘De Georgia’ or even ‘South Georgia’ (in English) for that matter, and had no idea where it was. I knew there were no penguins in Georgia, USA nor in Georgia, Russia, and that penguins don’t visit the north pole. I simply had to find out more. South Georgia is in the Southern Ocean, an island a little smaller than Wales. The Falkland Islands, 1,450km north-west, is the nearest inhabited land.
It has been administered by Britain since 1908, except for a brief period in 1982 when occupied by Argentina. After the Falklands War, it became independent of the Falkland Islands and is now the UK Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Although the same distance from the equator as Lancashire, it lies within the Antarctic Front (previously known as the Antarctic Convergence Zone). The weather is unpredictable and changeable, mostly it is cold, windy with frequent fog. The terrain is mountainous, with most of the land above a thousand metres and the tallest peak, Mount Paget, at 2,943m. Although alpine in height, the conditions are Himalayan, with sixty percent of the land permanently covered with snow and ice. The south-west coast is desolate and constantly pounded by strong winds and seas straight off the Antarctic continent. The north-east coast has a few large bays where ships may find refuge in a gale but the approaches are littered with icebergs and the waters poorly surveyed. At the time I had recently taken up sea kayaking in earnest, and decided that it would be fun to kayak around South Georgia. Then I read ‘South’, Shackleton’s account of his 1914 aborted expedition to cross Antarctica. After the Endurance had been crushed by the ice, the men took to the ice floes and survived on seal and penguin meat until they drifted into open water. They then launched their small open boats and made it to Elephant Island off the Antarctic Peninsula. With no prospect of rescue, Shackleton and a few other men set sail across the Southern Ocean towards South Georgia where they knew they would find people. Meanwhile the remainder of the party stayed on Elephant Island living under the upturned boats. The crossing, an amazing feat of navigation, was horrific but they eventually succeeded in landing on the exposed south-western coast of South Georgia. Shackleton, Worsley and Crean set off on foot and
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King penguin rookery St Andrews Bay
crossed over the mountains to the Stromness whaling station. It was many more months before they were able to rescue the Elephant Island party. ‘South’ is an epic tale of survival and records the first small boat journey along the southern coast of South Georgia! Kayaking in South Georgia sounded a little more serious than a paddle in Cardigan Bay, maybe I needed to think again. I was curious though, had anyone ever circumnavigated the island by kayak? The first sea kayaking attempt on South Georgia was in 1991. The Royal Anglian South Georgia Expedition set off to circumnavigate in a clockwise direction. It was a very cold year and the four British servicemen got no further than the south-east corner where they became storm bound for weeks and resorted to eating penguins to supplement their dwindling food supplies. The Royal Air Force attempted a food drop by parachute but just as the parcel was about to land a strong gust of wind whisked it away and it disappeared into the ocean. A month and a half after setting out from Grytviken, they were rescued by a military support vessel from the Falklands.
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The second attempt was five years later by an Australian/North American three man team. They headed anti-clockwise and got all the way up the north-east side and a third of the way down the south coast at which point they called it a day and hauled their kayaks over the spine of the island back down to the other side – a valiant effort! By 2004 South Georgia’s reputation had grown among sea kayakers and several experienced paddlers had set their ambitions on rounding her shores. The price was high, she wasn’t going to play easy. By southern hemisphere spring 2005, two teams were ready and had booked support yachts. The New Zealand ‘Adventure Philosophy’ team of Graham Charles, Mark Jones and Marcus Waters arrived first in charter yacht Northanger. They set off on 13 October and took 19 days to complete the circle. Just three months behind them was a British team. I was training hard and, after a bit of an epic in the tide race at Penrhyn Mawr, Anglesey, signed up for a five star training course with Nigel Dennis (Sea Kayaking UK). Nigel had been a member of that British
team. Together with Peter Bray, Geoff Allen and Hadas Felman (from Israel), they had circumnavigated South Georgia in just 14 days, five days faster than the Kiwis! To succeed they had battled with the aggressive fur seals guarding the beaches and the strong winds, sometimes up to 45 knots. So it was possible … but getting to South Georgia wasn’t easy. Unlike Antarctica, you can’t fly there, and there is no public transport. The only options are by government or British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ship, by cruise liner, or by private or charter yacht. What is more, you have to complete a lengthy application process to demonstrate your ability to survive your proposed expedition and you must have a support vessel in attendance at all times, an expensive logistical nightmare. It was looking like South Georgia was out of my league. Other than the lack of penguins, Anglesey is a fabulous kayaking destination, I had no need to travel all that way. I forgot about South Georgia until one night in the pub in Llanberis when I mentioned it to Franco Ferrero who owned a sailing yacht. We made a deal; sail to South Georgia and then continue around the world. Our aim was to get there and back, safely, by our own means. We knew there was nowhere secure to leave the yacht unattended for an extended period so if we did go kayaking, it would be for just a few hours at a time in settled weather. For the next four years we worked on our plan. Franco bought a larger 36’ sailing yacht, Caramor, which we adapted for our journey. I finished building my house, packed in my job and Franco moved his book publishing business ‘Pesda Press’ onto the boat. We were ready. In the meantime I read about two further kayaking expeditions to South Georgia. In 2010,
Approaching the glaciers
a Norwegian team of three men and one woman completed a twenty day circumnavigation. Half way around, an elephant seal had rolled over in the night and crushed one of their kayaks. Luckily they had enough supplies of fibreglass and resin to repair it and carry on. A year later Hayley Shephard from the U.S.A. attempted a solo circumnavigation. She was raising funds to protect the wandering albatross, endangered by poor practices in the long line fishing industry. Unfortunately she suffered a few setbacks. Her charter yacht set sail from Ushuaia but a couple of days into the journey, the co-skipper lost a finger while working on the engine. They diverted to the Falklands to seek medical care. A new member of crew was recruited but they still arrived several weeks later than planned in South Georgia. There was more bad news, Hayley’s kayak, sent ahead by cruise ship had been badly damaged and it took a few days to repair it. The Antarctic summer is short and time was running out, she was forced to give up at the northeast tip of the island. I am aware of one other kayak expedition which remains undocumented; Leif Poncet from the Falkland Islands is reputed to have kayaked solo around South Georgia purportedly as part of an all-island petrel and historic sites survey. Leif is no stranger to these waters, he spent much of his childhood sailing with his parents Jerôme and Sally, both pioneers of Antarctic cruising. In November 2015 we arrived at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. Then, two months later, in early January, at the height of the southern hemisphere summer, we sailed 851 nautical miles across the Southern Ocean to the northern tip of South Georgia. If you accept that in those latitudes F6 is a pleasant breeze, then
Macaroni penguins displaying
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Franco paddling over terminal moraine
Fur seals
Minister for Penguin Affairs meets Caramor at the Tijuca Jetty in Grytvike
we enjoyed an idyllic crossing. Our arrival was less so, F8 with gusts of 60 knots batting us around like a pingpong ball, a snow blizzard raging and practically zero visibility. Today South Georgia is a wildlife haven with large numbers of birds and seals spending the summer there to mate, give birth and moult, but it wasn’t always thus. Sealing began in the late 1700s and by the early 1800s fur seals had practically been wiped out. Between 1904 and 1960, tens of thousands of whales were killed for their blubber. Fur seal populations have recovered but it is still rare to see a whale. In the heyday of the whaling industry over a thousand people lived and worked on the island. They have all gone and there are no longer any permanent human inhabitants, though there is a small transient population of government employees and BAS scientists. In Grytviken we were met by the Minister for Penguin Affairs and Simon, a friendly government officer who briefed us about the dos and don’ts and explained that the rats (originally introduced by had whalers) had recently been eradicated at great expense. We sailed the yacht around to Cobblers Cove, a beautiful enclosed natural harbour with a macaroni penguin rookery nearby. These amazing little birds became our firm favourites, always active, stealing pebbles from each other, chaperoning the chicks, displaying, and working as a team to chase away potential predators. In Ocean Harbour the fur seals
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Franco and fur seal
Fur seal pups at the end of the swimming class
Allerdyce range
en
Blissful elephant seal
prevented us from going for a walk. Behind the narrow beach, the steep bank covered in tussock grass is a death trap for unsuspecting humans as the fur seals lie in ambush, honing their sharp teeth. Fur seals are eared seals and very different to the common and grey seals in the UK, on shore they can gallop faster than a person can run and are extremely territorial and aggressive, even with each other. Their bite may sever an artery or expose bone and the wound always becomes infected. They tolerated us on the beach where we spent a happy afternoon watching the pups learning to swim (yes, even seals have to learn). They flapped around in circles splashing frantically and then suddenly, as if responding to the swim master’s whistle, piled out of the water and waited by the side of the pool, staring at us. We travelled on to St Andrews Bay where we wandered among 300,000 king penguins, nearly half of which were incubating eggs on their feet with their downy bellies tucked over for warmth. The adults’ call sounds like a trumpet whereas the chicks in their brown downy coats whistle for attention. A young penguin took a fancy to us and spent an hour watching us quizzically, standing less than a metre away. I admired the seamless way they landed through the dumping surf, if only I could pull it off that elegantly in a kayak. A teenager with a fluffy head attempted to launch, the result was an unmitigated disaster and after dusting himself down he scurried back up the beach to safety. A couple of days later we were back in Grytviken
for Franco’s sixtieth birthday. It was sunny and the light wind had gone northerly, perfect conditions for kayaking up Moraine Fjord to the snout of the Hamberg and Harker glaciers. We assembled our three piece Pilgrim kayaks on the jetty at the old whaling station and paddled off past King Edward Point, the BAS and South Georgia government base. I stopped to take a few photographs while Franco paddled on. The fur seals must have got out of bed on the wrong side that morning because they were particularly belligerent. They chased after Franco’s kayak, until they realised they could attack me instead. I escaped by tickling their whiskers with my paddle (it seemed to put them off). We paddled over the bar at the entrance to Moraine Fjord, a barely submerged terminal moraine. Several wrecks mark its position, a warning to navigators not to come too close. Inside, the fjord is extremely deep, gouged by the retreating glacier. The clouds had lifted revealing the jagged snowy peaks of the Allardyce Range which glimmered in the sunlight. We paddled past beaches lined with king penguins and female elephant seals moulting (the males had been and gone about a month earlier). As we got further up the sound the wildlife thinned out. We passed many bergy bits that had calved off the glaciers and were on their way out to the sea (or so we thought). We stopped for lunch and watched a large elephant seal wallowing in a stream, trying to cool down on this sunny day. They can dive to 600m
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Caramor in Husvik
Kath at the Hamberg Glacier
Grytviken
in freezing antarctic waters, so it isn’t surprising they suffer from the heat ashore. The glaciers came into view and soon we could hear the thundering roar of the ice moving. We wove our way gingerly through the ice floes to as close to the towering face as we dared. Neither of us had kayaked in such an environment before and it was an amazing experience. Paddling back mid afternoon, we remarked that most of the bergy bits had disappeared. As we turned into King Edward Cove, a surprise awaited us, we couldn’t see Caramor for ice. Instead of going out to sea, as they had on every other day, the bergs had drifted into the bay, pushed by the northerly breeze. We sprinted to the jetty. By some amazing stroke of luck, our yacht had avoided the larger bergs which had floundered on either side of her against the pontoon. There was just one huge one left, grounded about twenty metres away. As we hauled out, it broke up and started drifting towards us. Time to get out of there. We dismantled the kayaks in record time and motored off, to anchor in the lee of King Edward Point. We later found out that Sharon, a museum volunteer, had spent the afternoon poling ice away from Caramor. We were very grateful.
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Buzzing from our amazing day out, I immediately started planning our next paddles: from Husvik we would paddle to Stromness and explore the bay, in the Bay of Islands we would kayak to Prion Island, the nesting site for wandering albatrosses and on to the base of the Grace Glacier and another large king penguin colony at Salisbury Plain. We sailed around to Husvik. As we approached the anchorage a large and hungry leopard seal chased us. It swam alongside and rose so far out of the water that it could look down, into our cockpit. For the first time in our lives we understood what it felt like to be prey. I’ll never forget the look on Franco’s face, in his yellow and black sailing suit which made him look just a little bit like a king penguin. The breeze was stiff and gusting 40 knots most of the time, I was optimistic that conditions would improve in a few days. They never did … The day I had set aside for kayaking was spent on anchor watch, our faces lashed by the snow and spray whipped up by a steady 50 knots storm with gusts of up to 85 (hurricane force is 64+). Of the four yachts and one small ship in South Georgia at the time, all dragged their anchor bar one which had hooked an old hawser on the sea bottom by accident. Two of the yachts ended up on the rocks.
King penguins incubating eggs
Female elephant seal
Albino king penguin
During our last ten days in South Georgia the wind was gale force most of the time and we used the brief lulls to make progress northwards. As we arrived back at the Bay of Islands, I put my back out. My hopes of kayaking were dashed as I lay flat on my back, drugged up to the eyeballs. We set sail back to the Falklands on 17 February, it was the first day of what turned out to be a month of sunny settled weather! South Georgia is a truly amazing island. It is one of the few places left on earth where the wild creatures are not afraid of man. But it is not for the faint hearted. Thanks to Pat Lurcock (South Georgia government) and Nigel Dennis for answering my questions and Franco for his editing skills. BIBLIOGRAPHY Shepard, Hayley. ‘SouthSolo – Kayaking to Save the Albatross’ Worsley, F.A. ’Shackleton’s Boat Journey’, Burliin, 2000 Charles, G., Jones, M., Waters, M. ‘Unclaimed Coast: the first kayak journey around Shackleton’s South Georgia’, Penguin Books, 2007 South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands website www.gov.gs
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