Sea Kayaking?

With the third snow storm this week!....you have to be kidding!!? This is as far removed from sea kayaking as one could get. The power is gone on the next block...and the electric lights flicker as I type(hopfully I'll post before the power fails in these 110km gusts of wind)...Albeit I don't seem to post lately, it is after all a sea kayaking blog...what could I write about? Photo's from this evening(?). I did fix a P&H seat issue...but that later (thanks Douglas ).

While I dream of sea kayaking...let's be realistic! Thank-you Wenley for making me smile and putting it all in perspective.

HENGE film clip

I've been busy the past while working with a new media firm called Henge Productions. I've been asked to become involved because I have a lot of journalism media and drama shooting experiance. This time, as a cameraman and photographer, I also hope to bring some of my love for the environment and nature's beauty to this team. At present there is a short clip of some of my experimental footage on the company's blog space. At henge.ca you can visit and look around the site, then just check out the blog and view the clip. Please keep in mind that the original footage is in HD...it's High Definition imagery is in crisp detail, even down to the last snow flake floating off in the distance...so if you like the simple little web cast visuals, you should see the original.

While filming along the coast, I also managed to capture some time lapse sequences. These time lapse shots were created with my own equipment. It's a technique I've been working on for some time, but recently managed to marry it with some new bits of hardware and software to finally perfect the technique. The results supersede even High Definition standards.

The company's executive producer Chris Richardson has a refreshing approach to making projects work...He first explained to me that the only really important thing he has learned in all his film/video career after all these years, is that only a team can pull off really great stuff to be proud of. You find the right people for the job, and you let them do what they do best...

Okay, this sounds simple enough, but it's actually rarer than you'd think in this industry. It's kinda refreshing. Oh...and the fact that it's all cutting edge is kinda exciting too. I wish Christopher all the best of luck.

As for my roll in this, we'll see on a project to project basis. I will continue to develop story and documentary ideas...meny of which reflect my love for nature and the environment, even one on WW and sea kayaking.

I Love This...but not the sleepless nights.

No one went near the water Sunday. The forecast is below. I managed to find momentary shelter deep in the bay from these cliffs in Logy Bay. Somewhere along there it peaks out at 691 feet...a place called Flagstaff Hill atop Redcliff Head(the headland off in the distance). It's a very beautiful, dramatic, yet desolate bay only a few minutes drive from downtown St. John's. A nice undertaking for a sea kayaker, as there is no real take out for a few nautical miles of the coast, in either direction. Me?...no...Other parts yes(Flat Rock to Pouch Cove in '05. Then around Cape St. Francis in '06, from Pouch Cove to Bauline)...but no, not this section. Maybe in 2007. But as for these wind forecasts,"The horror! The horror!" (Conrad's Kurtz).

Environment Canada; Sunday

"Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers in the morning and early in the afternoon. Wind southwest 60 km/h gusting to 100 except gusting to 120 along the coast in the morning and early in the afternoon. Wind becoming west 60 gusting to 100 in the afternoon. Temperature falling to plus 1 in the afternoon."

New Year's Day Sea Kayaking

Not pleasant...but fun. From the shelter of Quidi Vidi gut, we launched at 1ish for a quick, refreshing paddle. Refreshing because of all the "merry, merry" I'd be up to the night before...I was still feeling the fireworks. But it's amazing what a jolt of cold wind and fresh air will do for the body. As for the soul...it beats lingering in bed moaning....and the best part?...the gang had lamb curry and fresh moose stew waiting at a home not far from the harbour. Not bad for the first day of 2007.


We now retreat from the gusty north Atlantic, back through the narrow natural breakwater.


Cockpit coamings...it must have been the cold...funny, but you'd think manufactures would make kayaks to last at the arctic circle...and Newfoundland is as far south as France...but the coaming still separated from the hull at the front end. Okay...the spray skirt was frozen on...and I did give it a yank...but still...
Cockroaches can survive a nuclear winter, but not Newfoundland...and turns out, neither can kayaks. In all fairness...this Seaward has been abused by one of Newfoundland's top instructors, and now me...It's still holding up great...I need better glue.

Til next year...

Polar Bear Gang.

The Lot.

Small boat basin, St. Philips. 2007....noon swim...or dunk. The conditions from the previous post were just a hundred feet away on the other side of the breakwater wall.

New Years Day Conditions

Force 7 on the open ocean, -4c(wind chill-10)...burr..A very typical winter's day. You would never have even said is was stormy...unless you where about to take a dip at the annual polar bear swim. But this is not what kept us from swimming the Atlantic at noon...I'd say it was the rip tide along the beach. Just inside this huge wharf area is a boat basin...with brackish water that's most likely colder than the ocean. From the basin, few brave(crazy) souls did jump in...they then scrambled on all fours to get out via the iced slipway. I'll post a group photo later...I'll also grab a shot of a kayak outing a few of us did an hour later, out of a harbour community called Quidi Vidi.