Iceland Symposium

www.seakayakiceland.com

I would like to start off by saying a huge thank you to both Steini and Rita for looking after me so well. Iceland has amazed me in so many ways. Everyone I have met has welcomed me with open arms and the climate and scenary has passed all of my expectations.

Weather front comming in from the north bringing snow!!

Steini getting a hard time while towing my kayak.

The drive to a location for the 4 star assessment

During the week I have run 3 star and 4 star trainings and assesments. On the saturday of the symposium I had the surprise of being lifted by the helicopter during the rescue demonstration. They helicopter flew up through the snow from Reykjavik. Within minutes of them arriving I was lifted up and was safe in the helicopter. They then took the opportunity to show the town how skillfull they were. With me clinging on for dear life we performed dive bombs stalls, low passes and hovered over loan kayakers till they rolled a few times or swam.

I was told to always do what the locals do while travelling. I never thought that would mean eating a sheeps head at a lunch stop!!

On the sunday they had a sprint and rolling comp. In 2 deg water I found it hard to do even the simplist of rolls.
Before heading back Steini organised a night on a river in the south of the country. Before that we had to take out a group of 37 school kids. What a crazy bunch. Swimming in clothes and loving it! It was great to get out on the river and strange to finish at midnight. I highly recomend to visit iceland for its culture, people, landscape and climate. It is truly a unique country and I hope to visit again soon..

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Hadas and Tomer start their circumnavigation of Newfoundland

Hi guys, I shall be running a series of blogs for Hadas and Tomer on their circumnavigation of Newfoundland, below is the first update on their progress so far.....Jeff

Hi from the chilly island of Newfoundland....

We are staying with a lovely couple, Simon and Susan, who are driving us all over Corner Brook town for last minute shopping, we got flares, fuel, food, and local rum to give as gifts on the way. So we were debating if to go north or south to avoid getting ice bound, but for different reasons we decided to go North. First of all to hopefully and definitely check out those unbelievable ice sheets we saw from the airplane. Secondly because there is a road going along the coast North and none on the exposed and more remote south coast. So for the beginning of this trip we prefer to have the convenience of human life nearby, in case we need anything and by the time we get around to the south coast we will be more experienced and stronger too. Thirdly because Jeff Allen said its good luck going clock wise...so....So clockwise it is!!!!!!

No pictures yet, too lazy at the moment. But just around the corner from here starts one of the most beautiful national parks of NFLD. Until the next time we find Internet we will say ciao for now. Oh, Tomer got a blue over green kayak and Hadas got black. Very nice ones.

Adios,TS and HF

Iceland Symposium

I arrived into a snowy Iceland on Wednesday afternoon. I have never visited Iceland before and have always been facinated since I studied some of its glaciers at University. After driving 3 hours north to Stykkisholmur, home to seakayak iceland and Steini, I quickly realised how amazing this country is. The symposium starts at the weekend and so 5 local paddlers took the oportunity to show me what paddling in Iceland is all about! After 7 hours of paddling into a force 6 headwind we were all shattered. We had a variety of snow and hail along the way to keep us happy. Only two days previous I had been running an intro course with shorts and T shirt on and so the cold hit me hard. During the day I gained even more respect for what Rotem achieved by completing a solo circumnavigation of this country. It is such a remote and spectacular landscape. We spent the night in a small remote house to shelter from the wind and cold. The paddle back took us half the time and we even had time to make a quick trip to the hot baths! The symposium starts in the morning and so an early night to prepare.

SKUK BCU Week

Immediately after the symposium Nigel holds a week of courses, this gives kayak students not only from home, but also abroad, help in identifying with the BCU system and also see where their skills can be assessed at.
4* training and assessments were run by Simon through the week, whilst I had the opportunity to help out on the 5* training and assessments with Nigel Dennis, Fionna Whithead, Rowland Woolven and Trys Burke. I gained a massive amount of experience watching these guys assess the candidates. Cgratulations to those that passed and better luck next time to those who never quite made it.



The 5* training was great, with almost twenty students spread throughout the two days, with Rotem Ron and Harry Wheelan from London to help run things, i think the students had a good time

Rough water landings, swimming the kayaks on and off rocky shores,

Incidents involving casualties and tows through rough water as well as practising personal skills, such as re-entry and rolls in rough water

and Greg Stammer even getting airborne, maybe this is a roll he hasn't told anyone about yet were all highlights of the week for me.Many thanks to all those paddlers that attended and for the use of the above images.

SKUK Anglesey Symposium 2007

Our apologies for having been off-line of late, both Simon and I have been away helping out at Nigel Dennis's sea kayak symposium on Anglesey. 2007 has proved to be another good year for sea paddlers at this event, with paddlers represented from many countries from around the globe, this really is proving to be an international gathering. Strong winds meant that access to the iidal races wasn't always possible, but Holy Island as well as the remainder of Anglesey still had much to offer.

Their were over 150 paddlers at this event, and as well as day trips around the island, there were a series of clinics in Incident Management, Rough water paddling, Crash & Bash (or repairs to get you home) and many different brands of kayak on display for people to try.

The event ended with an airborne exercise with the RNLI and Coastguard, evacuating casualties at sea is one of those scenarios none of us would wish to be involved in for real, but training at SKUK has always had an emphasis on reality and Nigel has endeavoured to develop a good working relationship with the local coast guard, valuable experience was gained by all on the water.

The highlight of the symposium for me had to be listening to Rotem Rons presentation on her solo circumnavigation of Iceland. She delivered it in such a humble way it probably didn't impact the audience as it should have done, when you bear in mind that this was being hailed as one of the most dangerous challenges left to sea kayakers and was still being focused on by several of the worlds top expedition paddlers last year, as they stepped down amidst all the hype, in stepped Rotem, no big press releases, she arrived, unheralded, set off solo, and completed it, becoming not only the first person to complete it solo, but she also set a record time too. Anyone interested in hearing her incredible story should contact her through Terra Santa expedition Centre in Israel.