Paddle free

Please have a look at Sara's website. Se came to us with an action plan having not sea kayaked before and was keen to do this trip. We wish her all the best and hope to see her in Falmouth on her way past!

www.paddlefree.co.uk

"This year is going to be one full of adventure and all in the name of charity! PaddleFree has just launched in the virtual world, and is going to be launching in the reall world in June 2010. Training is well under way and it's not long to go! So pop along to the website and have a look at the crazy antics going on in 2010."

Busy year ahead!

2010 looks to be a busy year with Jeff and Simon attending various events around the world to run courses and give presentations. The year starts off with Jeff heading over the pond to the west coast of the US to the San Francisco symposium in Feb.

For a the full details of what events we are attending click here

San Francisco Symposium Feb 26-28 Jeff running courses
London Kayakathon April 2010 Simon organising
SKUK Symposium Anglesey MAY 2010 Simon running courses
Norway Expedition June 19-27 2010 Jeff and Simon leading
Malta expedition June 2010 Jeff leading expedition
Heb Challenge June-July 2010 Jeff - Sea Safety Officer
Finland symposium Aug 2010 Jeff and Simon attending
Storm Gathering 2010
SKC Symposium Sept 11-12 2010 Running the show
NDK Dealers meet Sept 20-24 2010 Getting out and playing!
Sea Kayak Georgia Symposium Oct 2010 Running courses
Iceland Sea Kayak event 2010 Jeff and Simon running 4* courses
Watch this space as more events are confirmed ......

Winter Action

All of our 2010 sea kayaking courses and expeditions are now online on our calendar. We have exciting new courses and expeditions as well as the normal 2 and 5 day courses in Cornwall. If you cant find the dates you are after than let us know and we will see what we can do.

Bring on the spring

SKC Facebook page

Sea Kayaking Cornwall has finally made it onto Facebook. You will be able to see photos of expeditions and courses as well as get info on course availability. Click here to find our page.

Enjoy! Jeff and Simon

Norway training in Cornwall

January 2010

The recent run of winter weather has created some good home grown surf on our local beaches. This gave Jeff & Jim the oppurtunity to get out and do some training for their up and coming leg of the Norway expedition this spring. Jeff will be joined by Jim Frampton and Petr Major for this next leg of the Scandinavian Circumnavigation.

Vaughn Roberts was there to snap some great photos. The surf in Cornwall at this time of year is amazing but you just have to wrap up to enjoy it! You will be able to follow their progress by login on to the

Sea Kayaking Cornwall website

Jim carving a line towards the beach

Jeff coming in to land at Swanpool

Jim landing at the end of a good days paddling

2010 Courses and Expeditions

With snow on the ground there is no better time to plan your summer kayaking trips. All of the details for the Sea Kayaking Cornwall 2010 courses and expeditions are now online.

If you cant find the courses on the dates you require just let us know and we will see if we can arrange somthing for you.

Enjoy the snow Jeff and Simon

The Surf is here

(photographer Peter Major)

The season has quietened down in cornwall which has given us both a chance to get out and play.


(photographer Peter Major)

The 4th UK Annual UK Storm Gathering

2nd Sea Kayaking Cornwall Symposium

2009

This September saw Sea Kayaking Cornwall host the 4th UK annual Storm Gathering, the event was timed to coincide with their own annual symposium and bought paddlers from as far a-field as Denmark, Holland, Germany and even Australia. Coaches from around the South West were invited to participate and the Peninsula was explored by all.

Day one was a series of clinics where students at all levels were to explore and expand their skills in the Falmouth Bay area.

Day Two was a day for exploration with paddles around the county, trips to the Lizard and Lands End were organised and J.P Eatock of Falmouth Marine School even managed to lead his group out to the Long Ships and the Brisons Reefs which offered proof that the conditions were much less than Stormy, in fact the event could not have asked for better weather conditions.

Surfing sessions in Sea Kayaks on Cornwall’s famous north coast breaks were held by Steve Bowens, also of Falmouth Marine School and a lot of fun was had by all.

On the Saturday night a presentation was held on Simon Osborne’s recent attempt at Circumnavigating Madagascar, with some amazing photographs viewed and stories recited from a part of the world seldom travelled, let alone paddled.

Immediately after the event SKC held a series of 5 day clinics, these included the new 5 day Sea kayak Rescue and safety course which incorporated elements from the Sea Survival programme developed last year with Dave Whiddon from the RNLI, as well as night rescues and navigation exercises, clinics for both the advanced and intermediate paddler's were held.

A special thanks must go to 'Survival Equipment Services' for the loan of the one man life rafts and H.E.L.P packs. For more information on these and how Sea kayakers can use them as part of their contingency plans go to:

www.ses-safety.com

Jeff and Simon would like to thank all of the students and coaches who attended, making it a very memorable occasion indeed.

Simons fire expedition

jeffs ice expeditions

gale force images

Thanks to Peter Major for some amazing images taken on our courses this year.

We had perfect conditions to go from falmouth around the lizard and finished at mullion. The perfect intro to camping from a sea kayak.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Norway Expedition update

www.seakayakingcornwall.com/norway2009.html

22 03 2009

We had a superb day out on the water with members of the Bergen Kayaking community. We all met up in the small fishing village of Glasvier, on the outer coast. We spent the first hour of the day discussing leadership, incident management, and rescue training. Then it was out on the water for 3 or 4 hours of training. Rescues and towing techniques were practiced in ever increasing conditions, in fact on occasion the weather certainly increased too much and had us hurrying for cover. Squalls came through several times, strong winds, hail, snow and then glorious sunshine and blue skies which all shared the same five minutes.

Mark and I would both like to thank the guys we got to meet and paddle with, we hope to catch up with you again, maybe back home in Cornwall or Maine.

My apologies to the chairman of Austevol Kayaking club, we wanted to be able to meet and paddle with you guys. When I received your SMS I thought your club lay to the North of Bergen, my eyes betrayed me and I mistook Austevol for Askvol, we did not arrive in Glasvier until late in the day and tiredness got the better of me. We both hope to get to paddle with you some time in the future.

All the best

Jeff and Mark

 

Update

Sea Kayak Scandinavia

The journey continues.......Well not quite, Oliver my son, and I have been over here for a week now, exploring the local Stavangar area, paddling through the many islands and walking in the surrounding mountains.

Oliver shall soon be off to the RAF hopefully and this has been a great week for us to spend together in fine company and a wilderness setting.

Preikestolen Rock (Pulpit Rock) is a must see/do location if you are ever over here and the ideal person that you could make contact with for local knowledge would be Erling Brox(erlingb@gmail.com)

Erling and his lovelly wife Sonja have been our hosts for the past week and they have been very kind, treating us with fine accomodation and superb home made cooking as well as showing us around. In fact Sonja has hand knitted me a wonderful woolen hat with kayakers in the patterning.

Last Friday I presented to the local sea kayak club, previous expeditions as well as future projects were spoken about and viewed on slides at a local pub, I think it was well recieved as everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Mark has now left the U.S and is on his way over to join me, Oliver sadly has to return home to the U.K tomorrow, Mark and I shall then, shortly after be setting out, paddling Northwards once more, we hope to make it to Bergen by the weekend, where we shall be meeting up with local kayakers there to do some training together.

I hope everyone is well back home, I am missing everyone, especially Lizzie, we shall be getting married this December and I can't wait to see her soon.

Love and best regards

Jeff and Ollie

Any one into Kayak sailing?
I've spent the last few month's mucking around with sailing rigs, on both single and double sea kayaks. Its quite a large sail area, the first reef involves quite literally folding the sail in half, after that it rolls around the mast itself. Its been great fun and taking it out in a strong wind with my son in the back seat of one of Rob Feloy's Voyageur double sea kayaks was really quite exciting. The sail's design came about after chatting to Rob at the South West boat show, I went away and chatted with Dave Buchannon, a local sail maker and came up with this. The sail double's up as an emergency shelter, in much the same way as an army basher, but has a distinctively orange glow beneath it. Anyone interested in purchasing one can email us at info@seakayakingcornwall.com or call me direct on 07788690183.

SKC Symposium

Well the symposium has come and gone. We have had a really busy end to the summer. There was a great number of people who made their way south to join us on the water for our first symposium. Nigel Dennis came down from North Wales to run classes and gave a truly inspirational presentation on expedition paddling. On the Saturday everyone paddled in Falmouth bay as the tall ships made their parade of sail along the coast.

On the sunday people headed to some of the best locations in cornwall for surf, cliffs and tides. We really enjoyed the event and are looking forward to running it again next year.

For more photographs please follow the link below to view a slideshow by Petr Major of Gale force images.

http://www.photobiz.com/slideshowbiz/slideshow.cfm?slideshowID=29283&photographerID=5790

See you next year!

Scilly Isles Expedition 2008

I have just returned from SKC's Scilly Isles expedition, this is our second years Xped to this unique archiplego of low lying isles which stand approximately 22 miles south west of mainland Britain.

The islands are very tropical in their appearance and have a unique charm.

Poor weather throughout the week did nothing to steal away the beauty of our surroundings or dampen the spirits of those who made the journey with us.

Everyone did very well, extending their paddling experience by learning on the move, often in advance conditions.

Simon did a fantastic job in organising the schedule and is still out there with another group of paddlers. Demand for places on the trip led to us extending our stay on the isles.

A full gallery of images will be going up on our website upon Simons return but for now here is an image from the first weeks Xped.

A big thankyou to Mike, Geoff, Dave, Sally, Charlie, Lisa, Nick and Nicky for being such great guys, we hope you had a wonderful time.

Ride, Stride, Glide.

Neil Jordan set off this morning from a Falmouth beach on the final leg of an amazing personal challenge. On the 23rd June last year Neil lost his wife to Cancer.

Neil decided shortly after this tragic loss that he was going to do something to help try and raise funds for Cancer research.

The challenge has been to journey from John O Groats to Lands End through cycling, canoeing, Walking and finally by sea kayaking from Falmouth’s Maenporth beach to Sennen Cove, he hopes to arrive there by Wednesday of this week. He will then be making the final walk from Sennen beach to Lands End along the coastal footpath. Nigel is going to be accompanied on this final leg by Simon.

Since setting out Neil has managed to so far raise £14,000 and he is hoping to reach a target of £30,000 to pass over to Cancer research at the end of his journey.

You can read more about Neil’s challenge by looking at the following web site:

http://ridestrideglide.wordpress.com/mission-statement/

'Planning this journey is giving my life some kind of purpose and meaning. It is also an opportunity to gain additional skills, make new friends, and to undertake a journey which combines many of the things that I enjoy with raising funds for charity.
I believe that Linda would approve of what I am taking on and I hope that the monies raised will help Cancer Research UK in their work of finding a cure for cancer and Sobell House to continue to offer the care, comfort and support that Linda and the family valued so much in her final days’.

Neil Jordan

For anyone wishing to join Neil on the final leg of the official finish of the Linda Jordan Memorial Ride-Stride-Glide – ‘The last lap’ - will be on Saturday 26th July, when Neil will start from the car park in Sennen Cove at 2.30 pm to walking the last stretch of his long journey to Lands End.

Yvonne, Nick and Sandra in front of the Benoit Glacier, Blackstone Bay.

Alaska

Expedition in Prince William Sound

For the last two weeks, I have been away in Alaska, along with Nick, Sandra and Yvonne.

Together we spent seven days on expedition in the Prince William Sound area.

The whole region is renowned for its Tide water Glaciers and wildlife and we were not to be dissapointed in our time there.

Although we had a mixed bag of weather, this only served to heighten the experience.
Below are a few images from the expedition which we shall be running again next year.

Getting ready to leave from Whittier

An overcast sky, followed by heavy rain did nothing to hide Alaska's beauty

After several days of inclement weather the sun came through and revealed Alaska's beauty.

Blackstone Bay forms a perfect backdrop to the third days camp site.

Bald Eagles were a common site along with many other species wildlife.

All in all I have got to say that the expedition was a very memorable experience and marks the start of what I hope becomes a lasting relationship with a very special part of our planet.

Many thanks to Tom Pogson of Alaska Kayak School for the use of his Explorers.

Sea Kayak UK Symposium 2008

25th Anniversary

Anglesey

Hi guys, Nigel Dennis recently hosted his 25th sea kayaking symposium here on Anglesey. The event was extremely well organised and attended by paddlers from numerous countries from around the world.

'It was in 1983 that the first sea kayaking meet was planned. I wanted to start an annual meet specifically for enthusiastic like minded paddlers. I spoke to Frank Goodman who owned Valley Canoe Products and he decided to help with the event. This was fantastic as all my early years of kayaking had been in a Nordkap and Frank had always helped with expeditions etc. I decided to call the event the Nordkap meet. There would be a small charge for attending the gathering but it would be free to owners of VCP kayaks. These early events were simple as we met on the Friday had an evening lecture every night, met after breakfast and the more experienced paddlers would offer to lead trips and by 10:00 am all were off paddling for the day.
Over a period of time the event grew into the symposium we now know. Unfortunately Frank retired but the event continued.
Time goes by quickly and now some 25 years later we are planning some small changes for 2009. With help I hope to develop an additional section of the meet to run alongside the main event for the 2 to 3 Star kayaker.
Finally the event over the years has been supported by many Coaches and Expedition paddlers offering to help and for this I am very grateful. Without the help from people who enjoy giving back to the sport the event would not run as we know it'.

'A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO ALL'. Nigel Dennis

We had very good weather, with the exception of some fog, this just added to the mystique of this unique island. The tides were big and this gave some exciting conditions in the races. On the Saturday night Sam Cooke gave us all a splendid lecture
on the early days of sea kayaking as well as recounting his early expeditions to Nordkap and Svalbard.

On the Sunday, Des Keaney of Deep Blue Sea kayaking presented on his recent circumnavigation of Cape Horn, both were natural speakers and kept the audience well amused.

Thank you once more Nigel for inviting us to help out at this fantastic event.

Jeff & Simon

Below are several images from the event.

Ride Stride Glide

http://ridestrideglide.wordpress.com/a-message-from-neil/

Sea Kayaking Cornwall have been helping Neil prepare his skills for the epic journey he is about to undertake in aid of Cancer Research in memory of his wife Linda. He will set off from john o groats, and using a bike, open canoe and kayak he will make his way to Lands End in Cornwall. The last section is to be undertake by Sea kayak from Lyme Regis to Lands End.

We hope to find a paddler that could accompany him on the sea kayaking section of the journey. The kayaking section should start in mid July and take around 2 weeks. If you are interested please get in touch with us and we can give you more information on the journey.

Sea Kayaking Cornwall wishes Neil the very best of luck in his challenge and we are looking forward to welcoming him in to Cornish waters.

Good luck from Simon and Jeff

Jeffs Expedition

Jeff is well underway on his Scandinavian adventure. You can see photos and follow his progress here.

Alaska Expedition- places available

 

Alaska Expedition 2008

 

Alaska is one of the last true wildernesses in the World.  We will spend 8 days and 7 nights out in the majestic Price William Sound.  The area is well known for its amazing marine life and carving Glaciers.  Taking everything we need to survive with us in the NDK fibreglass kayaks we will explorer the Sound looking out for whales and dolphins as we paddle past waterfalls tumbling into the sea from the glaciated hanging valleys.   This really will be an experience of a lifetime.

Length:- 10 days (7 nights 8 days paddling)

Price:- £1400

Photos:- Click here for images from our expeditions

Full info:- Click here for a PDF of the full details

Dates:- Click here for our calendar of courses

Includes:- Instruction, camping food, shuttle, 2 night’s accommodation and all equipment needed

 

 

We both took groups out of Kennack Sands towards the Lizard today. Jeff had a 3* assessment and I had the last day of a 5 day Intromediate. We had beautiful surf rolling in from the south west. This is my favourite time of year in Cornwall when all of the beaches are deserted and there is not a surfer in sight.

Rob on the 5 day intromediate course

We have had a busy 6 weeks here in Falmouth. I have been getting used to the British weather and water temperature and Jeff is getting ready for the start of his Scandinavia expedition. We have been running lots of courses and we have actually had a good amount of sun. The Canoe Expo in Coventry was a success and it was great to catch up with lots of friends. The 2008 course and expedition dates are all online and we are looking forward to the season ahead.

End of year demo kayaks for Sale

We have a selection of Kayaks for sale from the years kayaking activities there are a couple of Romany's, a couple of Explorers and a Greenlander should anyone be interested, you can contact Jeff on 07788690183 Simon on 07980616839 or email info@seakayakingcornwall.com.

Israel Symposium 2007
Last week Justine Curgenvan and I headed off to Israel to the first open symposium organised by Hadas Feldman of Optimist Marine Equipment based in Hadera and hosted by Ehud and his son Yosale. http://www.optimist.co.il/

Do you think the world of sea kayaking was ready when Mother nature gave birth to
Justine Curgenvan(as you've never seen her before).

Hadas did a really good job of organising the event which consisted of skills clinics in Incident Management, Core stability workshops, 3 & 4 star assessments and Surf training. There were about 30 paddlers at the event, an event which was made open to all paddlers in Israel. I was very impressed with the standard of skills displayed by both the students and instructors who attended the symposium. This was particularly evident in surf conditions. See below for links to other schools participating.

http://www.gilkayaking.com/

http://www.levyam.co.il/

http://www.kayak4all.com/

http://dor-kayak.co.il/

Images from the symposium below.

Ehud & Steve Good surf for the first two days of the event

Assessment Day

For more pictures you can go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/gilramister/KayaksInRoshHanikraWithJeffJustineHadasYossaleRami

First Aid Courses for the winter Months

Just thought i would let you all know we are trying something new this winter. To help expand paddler's knowledge in first aid, we shall be running a series of first aid courses during November and December.

The courses will be specifically targeting sea paddlers needs and shall be a series of progressive course modules.

Emergency, Advanced and Expedition awards, equivalent to the R.E.C. 2,4 & 5 modules.

SKC will be teaming up with Training Expertise to deliver these awards.

http://www.training-expertise.co.uk/first-aid.shtml

For anyone interested in signing up go to our courses page for further information.

http://www.seakayakingcornwall.com/courses.html

Madagascar New update

(see Madagascar page for details)

BCU Skills symposium at Sea Kayak Georgia

Lunchtime break near the Triangle

Hi Guys, just returned from Sea Kayak Georgia, first of all I have to make a very big thankyou to Marsha & Ronnie for inviting me over this year...Thanyou! I had an absolutely wicked time. Your hospitality and the organisation of the weeks activities were brilliant. The weather for the week wasnt its best but this did nothing to dampen the event. Listening to comments from both students and instructors alike the symposium was enjoyed by all.

Hadas Feldman over from Israel gave an inspired lecture on her recent circumnavigation of Newfoundland with Tomer .

Russell Farrow from Sweetwater Kayaks and Phil Eccles over from North Wales gave us an hilarious account of their recent paddling trip to the Hebrides, there were talks each evening and everyone of them was good.

Halloween saw many getting changed into fancy dress and the party sponsored by Danny Mongo & Werner paddles was great fun.

To all the instructors and students I met, it was great to meet you and I hope we get to paddle again together in the future.

(More pics to follow)

Simons away!

Its only 7 days till Simon heads off to Madagascar.  Life will continue here in Cornwall with Jeff running a variety of courses over the winter. Keep an eye on the website for updates on course dates and the Madagascar expedition

Greek Islands expedition Sept 2007

For more photos please visit our gallery for lots more pictures to give you an idea what the greek islands are all about.

Greek salads, fresh seafood and clear warm water make Greece an amazing place to paddle. We were a multicultural group of 7 paddlers out on the water. Nina and Johan from Iceland, Herbert for Austria, Mitch from the UK, Roz from Irealnd and Saggi from Israel. Sea Kayaking Cornwalls works in connection with Terra Santa Kayaks to run expeditions to the Greek Islands in the area of Kalimnos, north of Kos.

Johan floating in the crystal claer waters off the south end of Kalimnos

The villages are beautiful once you get off the beaten tourist track. The famous Greek blues in all of their glory.

We camped out for 3 nights of the expedition on remote beaches. Lighting a fire and sitting drinking Regina in the moonlight was one of my personal highlights that made it the experience it was.

Kayaks are the best way to explore the islands allowing you to get to the places the tourists cant reach. There was no need for fly sheets as we hardly saw any clouds the entire week.