Downwind Squamish Surf Ski Dash and immigration Comedians

 

   

Last night Tara and I crossed into the USA, thought not before we had an “EPIC” Surf Ski adventure.

I had just spent a day helping install the new amazing custom” ‘Yak Wagon” roof rack that now enables 16 x 7 feet of storage space on the roof of the bus, and after an evening paddle in Deep Cove North Vancouver, the day ended with a pleasant long sleep in the ‘Yak Wagon.

The next day, as I popped out of the bus to go find the amenities, I bumped into Bob Putnam, the owner of Deep Cove Outdoors and Canoe and Kayak Centre, and after a catch up, Tara and I were soon invited for a Downwind Surf ski Paddle....... We were supposed to cross the border today..... let me “Think” about a surf ski outing.... well traffic would probably be quite high between 3 – 8pm, so if we go paddle we could cross at 9pm lower traffic amount.... “OK Done! We are in!” I exclaimed. “now let me go tell Tara!”

The fun part here is that Tara had never been in a surf Ski before, both of us had not done down wind surf ski runs before, though we both had super strong cross over skills, so we were exited by the novelty of the idea. Earlier in the week, Tara had paddled a K1 racing kayak around the lake without falling in, so combined with her solid rough water expedition and white water paddling skills, she would be all good.

 

After visiting Deep cove to discuss TRAK kayaks, I confirmed with Bob we would come, and we loaded a ski on the Wagon and off we went to Porteu Cove, here we meet the rest of the crew we were paddling with, and they all had slight nervous doubt when Tara and I told them we had not paddled surf ski’s in conditions like this, and in Fact Tara and not used either a surf ski or a wing paddle before. Bob knowing the backgrounds of both Tara and I, had a kind off sly twinkle in his eye it seemed. Tara was a little nervous about it all, though I knew she would be fine and joked with her about it.

 

Soon we were on the water and it was so much fun, the speed, the surfing of waves, and water in the face, along with the challenge of a different vessel in advanced conditions, all added up to 2 hours of great fun. The biggest thing I learnt this day was to read the waves 2 -3 sets in front of you, in order to predict where to steer the ski in order to keep catching and staying on surf able waves. And by god it worked, a revelation for my skill set right there, awesome.

 

Charging up Howe sound hooting hollering, and ripping along in 3 foot wind waves with 35 knot winds at our backs we all to soon found ourselves in Squamish estuary, ducking and diving amongst the kite and wind surfers, to get into the harbour. Soaked head to toe with big smiles and aching muscles, we helped load up the ski’s and then it was off to have beer and pizza at the local brew pub. What a fun day and yet another paddle discipline I want to indulge in.

All to soon we were back on the road and heading for the border, and at 9.20 pm we walked in to immigration after reporting at the booth, and we were greeted, not with the expected surely USA immigration officers, but by some rather human, endearing and humorous individuals. It all seemed your usual routine, until our case officer left to get our passports from the booth officer, and while he was gone another officer made a comment that we were left standing at the altar by the priest. And soon it was all on, wise cracks flying left and right. The next target was my bus... “what are you .... errr driving .... some sort of .....err caravan?” asked the officer with some sort of bewilderment as he looked at the bus through security camera monitor showing it parked outside. “or is it a..... Bus?”

On telling him it was an ex well chair transporter, he smiled and stated cautiously “ I was going to say it was some sort of..... um.....some sort of.....” “oh man don’t say it” jibed the other security officer with a look of mischief”

Our case officer said “ I was going to say it looked like some sort of “Handicapped Enabled” vehicle!”

“OH MAN YOU SAID IT” laughed the other officer, “Ha ha ha ha ha ha....it is not that bad man, look it is a tour bus it even has marketing decals on it, it looks great really!” we all laughed at the truth of both realitys of what the ‘Yak wagon was and had become”. Tara had been processed and just as I was about to be processed, the whole system crashed... and soon came a whole bunch of new jokes followed by “ don’t joke about this stuff, we are supposed to be putting across an air of high tech surveillance, we are meant to have all this fancy CSI stuff our systems don’t crash” followed by some more chuckles. Eventually the process worked while being harried along by more friendly banter, and while I went out to get money from the bus to pay for the visa waiver stamps, Tara informed me they even attempted to impersonate me and my accent...

Who would have thought we would have had a laugh at the border crossing with immigration officials, I guess there is a first for everything. Soon we were in the USA , with a fully kitted out ‘Yak Wagon, a lots f different Kayaks, and the realisation suddenly hit me.... the Yak About Adventure with TRAK Kayaks and the TRAK on Tour had really begun, this will be a lot of work, though will also be a lot of fun.

TRAK on Tour Begins Sunshine Coast and the Skooks’

 

I am finally on the Road; the TRAK on Tour project has begun, I will be spending the Northern summer traveling the West Coast of North America from Canada to Mexico and back and so far it is a fun challenge of balancing work and life on the road with the need for a life slightly apart from work, and getting some white water boating in.

 

My old bus has been wrangled into service and will be transformed over the next couple of weeks into a rolling billboard and house for the trip. So far I have visited Shops on Vancouver Island from Victoria to Campbell River, though the fun really started once I crossed on the ferry across to the Sunshine Coast. This area is an old stomping ground, and it was great to catch up with old friends the first night at dance party in Lund (at the end of the road heading north). The next week was a good balance for shop visits from Lund to Gibson’s landings with some great kayak fun, Paddling sea kayaks and K1’s out from Lund and then Ripping it up at Skookumchuck narrows at a 14knot current forming an awesome late evening wave that allowed stunning sunset surfs.

I got to share the wave with some of the Team Pyranha kayakers, including Dave Fusilli and Hailey Mills, it was inspiring and humbling to paddle with these great boaters, and I even managed to help amp them up about rough water sea kayaking at the same time and teach them a few tricks. Between a TRAK Seeker, a Jackson Karma RG and a P n’ H Hammer there was a great representation of Sea Kayak/ Long boats, alongside the little Carbon Jed play boats that the team had. The wave was big and quick to form at this tide exchange and the foam pile was large and surging. I started in the TRAK Seeker making the most of the big green face and small erratic foam pile. It is always exhilarating to get big fast carves out of the the Seeker especially on a large fast wave like this. soon the foam pile was to large a prominent and I switched to the Jackson Karma. The Karma mad good with the big pile, being able to side surf, back surf and almost flat spin. The nose was quick to engage and ender and at one point I almost got a front loop out of the 11.5foot  beast. a couple of hours later I was exhausted and the eddy fence into the wave had got to big that the Karma RG wasn’t getting across. I at this point below a firey orange sunset sky, had a surf in the Hammer and with its slightly longer length and rockered nose it was still possible to drive on to the wave while all other boats had to walk up above the wave and then drop in. Soon the darkness settled in and we had to leave the wave ( still roaring and asking to be ridden) behind as we all headed to lay our heads and sleep.

Unfortunately the next day I had to keep rolling, though longed to stay and play on the wave for the coming week. I said goodbye to the Pyranha team and would see them again in a few days the MEC paddle Fest in Vancouver and a week later in Victoria.

My First Published Article, and On the Cover Of Ocean Paddler

Read about the story behind this Photo on my Blog here

Here is also a video from the day


Also in the publication was my first ever published article about our adventure down the Grand Canyon in Sea Kayaks, with Images from Jimmy McDonald and Myself, stoked at this publishing opurtunity.

Read More about the Grand Canyon Project Here
Read More about our Summer Grand Trip Here

Excerpt from Article Below

"It was an exhilarating experience to push these non-traditional river craft

through the surge and boil of large rapids. Capsizes were common for all,
not just the sea kayaks, and the first swims belonged to the white water
paddlers pushing close to the rocks. A number of times sea kayaks got
caught by big hydraulics in the rapids and would completely disappear.
Ben Doffe owned the first and only sea kayak swim when he and Costain
Leonard got caught by what’s called a sleeper hole: a sticky rapid that is
easy to miss, but has a grip like a giant. After a long beating in the foam and
a Herculean effort of numerous rolls, the exhausted Ben swam.
Another memorable moment had me following Ben into a section that we
were reading on the fly, when halfway through the rapid it suddenly became
clear that there was a huge hydraulic hiding behind a large standing wave.
By that point there was no escape. Ben and I paddled hard for the side and
as I crested the wave behind Ben, I had just enough time to see his kayak
being spun vertically into the air, bow deep in to the foam and water, before
being dropped with speed off the back of the wave into the hydraulic. I
slipped effortlessly beneath the foam pile and disappeared; the world went
dark and quiet. Only a split second later I re-emerged, still upright, some
six metres behind the rapid and face to face with Ben. He was all smiles
with the exhilaration of his ride and at the sight of me appearing from the
depths, like a submarine, before his eyes.

Freezing desert nights
Another interesting learning curve for the group was camping. With the days
being colder and shorter, it took us longer to paddle our daily set distance  of 32 km (20 miles) than we expected, often setting up camp only an hour
before dark, deep in the cold shade of the gargantuan cliffs that loomed
above us.
During those clear, starry desert nights of winter we were allowed to collect
driftwood for fires, using a folding fire pan with a fire blanket placed beneath
it to meet park regulations. We enjoyed ourselves late into the night.
Due to the freezing desert nights our wet gear was often found solid in the
morning, forcing us to thaw our gear in the river. We quickly learnt that if you
were to hang your drysuit off the ground, the lack of moisture in the desert
air would actually dry it overnight despite the cold. Only neoprene would still
be frozen in the morning.

Poop tubes
Another requirement of the park is to carry out all human waste. It was a
new experience for all of us to paddle with a large PVC pipe between our
legs. The PVC ‘poop tubes’ were sealed and fitted with a screw top and had
been made by generous group members. They incorporated doggy bags for
collection and clean storage, with kitty litter for smell reduction, and were
able to store your toilet paper and extra toilet essentials as well. The cold
temperatures helped to keep the aroma down, thankfully."

Read more in Issue #39 of Ocean Paddler

Skookum Times at Skookumchuck Narrows.

 

This long weekend the weather was so, so but the flows were awesome. River surfers, Sea Kayakers and play Boaters converged on the legendary tidal rapid in Egmont BC Canada, and I was there amongst it.

Catching the 6.30 am Ferry from Powell river I Rolled into Egmont in the Paddle Wagon and made myself at home at the Back Eddy Camp Ground. This friendly camp and RV park is right on the water 30 minutes paddle (by sea kayak) from the Wave, I was a day late so eagerly geared up and then headed in for the flow. It was a fun few days and so many types of craft where present, I was there of course in the TRAK “Seeker”  folding Kayak, though I had also brought my Bliss Stick RAD WWA Play boat, as the wave was due to be a foam pile for a large portion of the time. Also there was Marty Perry from “The Hurricane Riders” who also had his play boat with him.

There was handful of play boaters from the USA, Canada And Australia present the most Notable was local NRS paddler Drew throwing huge air in his composite Play boat. Other notables where Jacob and Neil from Calgary who are River surfers, they were ripping up Skooks. These two run an organisation Called “Surf Anywhere”, promoting River surfing and sustainable Man made waves. It was a lot of fun to get to know these two and about their project. Check it out here.

I had some great Rides in my Play boat and then enjoyed some long green rides in the “Seeker”. I was also trying out Lendal NA’s New sea Kayak blade design “the Storm” and it was a real treat to play boat with in both sea kayak and WW boat. It is light stiff and responsive, and Lendals lock system held it solidly in place at the feather angle I know. The Storm Blade is slightly smaller than Lendal NA’s Kinetic 700 Xrange model that I normally paddle, and has a scalloped front face which gives a surprisingly powerful purchase and response; it is a nice addition to their range and my quiver.

That first night a group of us had a great campfire and beers under the stars of a crisp fall night and shared a few tales. Showing up that night, the Crew from Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend USA; Jon, Freya and Laura had brought with them 3 of their new boat designs, and I was keen to try them all out on the wave especially the Penguino 14, which is a short little Fat boat (145 feet and 25 inch beam). I was intrigued to see how its physics would allow it to surf Skooks, particularly in the Foam pile. the next morning we all paddled of before 8 am to reach the wave as it started to run on the flood tide. it was great to see so many different types of craft on the wave that day, wooden sea kayaks and folding, play boats and surf boards. I hopped into the Penguino and got to know it as the wave built quickly to a foam pile. amazingly this boat ripped it up and I was able to actually work back and forth from the big Foam pile to surfer left and back, getting big drop in carves. The next day I took out the “The Silke” (14 feet and 22 inch beam), and this boat too ripped in the Pile, but needed much more aggression to turn. “The Silke” was a breeze to get pop outs of the pile with.

That last day I was pretty much the only one on the wave, though while it was smaller Freya Fennwood got her Pygmy boat (named after her) out on the glassy wave and really was stoked to be riding the wave at a bigger flow than she had before. Another first was for Laura Prendergast from Pygmy to get her first Rolls in Dynamic water. It was a great weekend for all. That day I ended paddling for 4 hours nonstop, so fun and I got some epic rides, though now I am buggered. I sit in my Van at Back Eddy Campground recovering and doing work on the computer. Next to Vancouver, and if the rains allow, some Creek boating!

I had a great time and made a bunch of new friends and learnt to push my paddling in a new direction with these little wooden boats, which is always super satisfying.

Thanks to all for the Stoke, Inspiration, and Great equipment.

Jaime

18 August: Return to the Grand, the Year so far and Moving Madness

 

I have let this blog slide! It has been a super busy year of adventures and work (both which have sent me traveling all over the world) and I have struggled to keep posts coming onto the blog, despite half writing a bunch. So I am now getting back to my old ways , to the “sketches from the road” concept, That is ......publish it as I write it in the field, full of errors and for real, not worrying too much about spelling and Grammar and just posting. Hopefully some good pics will make it tolerable.

Anyway!

Project Grand Canyon New Years Day 2013 (more on the trip here)

This year in a nut shell: New years day had me and a group of kayakers coming off the Colorado river after successfully paddling self supported with sea kayaks (and other paddle craft) through the Grand Canyon, soon after I was in Costa Rica kayaking around the Osa Peninsula, hiking into the heart of its Tropical forests full of monkeys big cats and crocodiles, and helping run a client trip. By May I found myself in Norway kayaking the snow lined coast with Jeff Allen from Sea kayaking Cornwall in the UK, for two weeks, then straight from there I flew to Namibia to run two Client overland adventure trips for World Wild Adventures Ltd. I will write more on these adventures soon.

                         Playa Carate Costa Rica                                                            Jeff and Jaime Norway

Stars of the Southern Hemisphere, Nye Nye Namibia

Scattered through this “world travel” there was much paddling in great destinations near home in the Pacific Northwest, Jordan River BC, Surge Rapids BC, Pacific City Oregon,Deception Pass and of course flat water paddling and Greenland rolling. I learnt some new rolls, under the deck sculling roll. Forward finishing hand roll and the elbow roll, Surfed some epic rides and I also re discovered K1 paddling which has lead to a new joy in flat water paddling because of it.

Chris Bensch Paddling out at Pacific City in the TRAK Seeker.

  Upside Down at Surge Narrows BC                       Greenland Night Ninja Paddling with James Manke

Amongst all of this my work with TRAK Kayaks has also sent me on many journeys around North America to work paddle expos, the Chicago and Vancouver boat shows, Canoecopia, Vancouver and Victoria “MEC” paddle Fests, and the epic OR Summer Market in Salt Lake City. All these journeys have lead to meeting some great people, many of who have become good friends; they have also lead to struggles with my life, struggles with balance and energy.

I write this as I sit on a plane yet again, this time bound for Phoenix Arizona; I am returning to run the Grand Canyon for second time in 9 months, this time in the summer for 16 days and this time with rafts and 16 people. I feel exceptionally lucky to be able to indulge in adventure like this, to have it part of my work and after waiting since I was a kid to run the grand to get to run it twice in 9 months is unfathomable; though as this last week has built to this moment I got wrapped up in stress and a loss of direction. This week I had to pack up my room (my first rented room not tied to work contracts in 8 years) and move everything into storage (yet again), on top of this I had to pack for the Grand Canyon and I had to organise the coming months of work and finish what I could of work obligations before flying out. Through all this my emotional self required down time, social time with friends and “brainless moments”, plus indulging in my sports and passions.

Through this week (and due to the last year and a half, and possibly because I am maturing with age) I have come to appreciate a base, down time, time with friends, and I have always appreciated doing nothing and indulging in whims. Much of this has struggled to exist in my life this year it feels, I question the benefits of how I now live my life (compared to my simple guiding days) and I now explore the thoughts and feelings of what is sustainable in my life and what new objectives I wish to shoot for.

Looking forward from here I know I will always travel and always explore, though I need more time to slow and appreciate. I reflect on one of my Business’s core pillar motto’s “time to slow, time to grow” and I know I need to find this again in my life and not get so wrapped up in possibility and wanting to do it all, all the time. I can hardly remember individual trips I have taken this year, they all merge, and I desire more time to digest them, and more time to share and process the film and imagery from them. Yet at the same time I release attachment and burden I find myself piling on myself, yes I have chosen a different life than others choose and this means I need to do things differently to be productive; So now to find the balance and to find the base (emotional and physically) to explore from effectively.

Greenland Fun with James Manke and Kayak Ways

After the Grand Canyon, I am home (living in my bus) for a week, I then fly on to Nova Scotia for the Bay of Fundy Sea Kayak Symposium, from there I head to Germany with TRAK Kayaks for the Kanumess expo. Shortly after that I head to the UK for Jeff Allen and Simon Osborne’s Sea Kayaking Cornwall Symposium, Calgary beckons on the way home to work on TRAK’s new prototypes. Then with the same objective in mind end of November looks to find me in the Philippines working for TRAK, and as I am in the southern Hemisphere I will head back to NZ for Christmas (after all it has been three years since I was back).

So adventures still beckon and I still travel, yet now I am really seeking to slow and grow through them, not bite off to much (it helps now I know how big my mouth is) and practice un attachment to stuff and more attachment to great people in my life and the quite time with them. The best thing about this upcoming Grand Canyon trip is.... I get to share it with my dad, and with some old university friends from New Zealand, and with some good paddling friends from USA, Sweden, and Canada, this will be a very nourishing trip in spectacular place I am stoked to be able to share with them.

My Dad and I in Arizona

I am blessed to live this life and to have the opportunities and ability to act on those opportunities that I have, I have worked hard to get to this point and have made many sacrifices. Thank you all who are a part of it and have tolerated my vagrancies, and the large amounts of time that can go by without spending time with me, or even hearing from me, thank you for those who have opened their hearts to me, dared to share their dreams with me, have indulged in a laugh or ten over a bottle of beer or wine (or while simply gazing across a wilderness landscape), and mostly thank you to the ones who accept me when I am down, when I am at my worst and most vulnerable and have helped me talk myself back onto my feet again.

Any way stay tuned for more “Sketches from the Road Less Travelled” and Keep dreaming everyone, for what are we without dreams?

Jaime

SKGABC Guides Exchange to Tromso Norway

May 13^th Sea Kayak Guides Exchange

The past weekend I found myself at the SKGABC Guides exchange on Quadra island. I had been asked to come and present and talk on the Grand Canyon by Sea Kayak adventure from last Christmas, read more on that adventure here, this also meant a great social/ learning occasion with industry pairs, and of course surfing kayaks at Surge Narrows.

The event basically composed of two nights and two days. I got my big Van back on the road, cleaned out and loaded up with Kayaks, with my friend Arnaud on board and we chugged our way up the coast of Vancouver island in “The Portable Diesel Powered Kayak Shop” of a van that contained three full sized composite sea kayaks, 3 folding TRAK Sea Kayaks, and a white water play boat (not to mention a bed, clothes, kayaking gear and all the kitchen gear and food needed).
After crossing the 10 minute ferry to Quadra Island http://www.quadraisland.ca/, we drove to the spit campsite to meet up with all the other people attending. The campsite was an amazing thin spit of land with all sites looking into the sheltered lagoon it created, truly one of the most beautiful drive in campsites I have ever been too!

That night there was eating, drinking and socialising at the local Inn, that then lead to a campfire and movie watching back by the water, where we all got to see Justine Curgenven’s “This is the Sea 5”.

 
The next day everyone awoke to a rainy day after almost 6 weeks of sun on the coast, and the keen ones partook in self rescue training and rolling practice, while others toured the Nimbus paddle Factory or learnt about moving water theory. I myself spent the morning getting my talk finalised, and I ended up making it about more than just the Grand Canyon trip, I incorporated some of my best adventures to date and how I ended up doing what I am now doing for living.

That afternoon everyone headed onto the water to paddle in moving water, either learning basics on smaller side channels or attempting to shred the challenging Surge Narrows. Now I have surfed Surge probably 6 times now over the last 6 months, and every time it is different and throws new challenges of how to get on to the wave or how to stay on the wave. On this trip the wave had to be the hardest to have fun with I have experienced yet, to get on you had to navigate through an large space of swirling boils and cross currents from small channels, before pushing onto the wave, a wave which to start with was an angled wave that you had to fight with to stay on. As the flow increased it became more a big boiling hydraulic that took those who managed to get on for a bucking bronco ride, later in the flow it shifted in shape again and became slightly easier to get on, and lots of fun to play on, then from there it pettered down to a small wave only for fast boats. Luckly for me with the adjustable rocker of the TRAK Kayak I was able to adapt to the changing wave easily, though I still struggled to get good rides, and probably only ended up getting 4 good rides in the 4 hours we were there.

Here is some random footage Liam Mcneil got of me surfing the TRAK at surge Narrows.




I was glad to have the chance to paddle with and witness the skill of Albert ____ who lives near Surge at Discovery Lodge. This young soft spoken and humble young paddler, is awesome and eats up the wave or foam pile with ease. The best thing I witnessed that day was albert pulling off a 360 degree spin in his 16 foot sea kayak, then continue surfing. Albert is also very skilled at staying on top of the foam pile, keeping the nose of the boat loose and getting some great aggressive turns out of it, where others (like myself) would drop in get our nose caught up in the current, then have our selves fired off the wave in whatever direction the nose was pointing on engagement, or bury completely and do a bow stand.
Tired and sore we all loaded back into vehicles with boats on trailers or roofs and headed to the Legion for dinner , prizes and off course my talk. I had managed to piece together a rough collaboration of photos and video about my journey of life change and embracing becoming an professional kayak adventurer. I spoke on my life changing Decision to leave my loving Fiancé, and risk everything to go back to NZ and realise my dream of an epic adventure by attempting to paddle the length of NZ down the east coast from North to south. Here is the the rough video I threw together for the presentation.
I then went onto discuss what I learnt, lost and gained from the trip. I learnt a power and humbleness of taking a step to a life I wanted, I learnt to find the success in perceived failures (eg I failed to paddle the length of NZ, though learnt the success of daring to live), I learnt what it was like to be put in hospital by a poisonous spider. I lost a love of my life (my Fiancé had moved on and found a new man, which was fair enough as I broke off the engagement to go do all this and had been gone for 6 months), though I gained a new job with TRAK kayaks and a new direction in life.
TRAK Kayaks had sponsored me with a boat two years earlier and I had done some fun things with there great performance folding boat, and now they financed me to make the video series I had wanted to make about the boat, and so began the TRAK Files series and many great adventures traveling the world to make it over three and a half years. Here is the episode I played that night
see more of the TRAK Files Here
 
From there I lead on to talk about the Grand Canyon trip, how it came to be and more importantly show images and film on the experiences. Read more about our “Project Grand Canyon” Trip here.
That night, after we returned to camp most went to sleep early, though I partook with a hardy few, nestled bellow a large tarp sheltering us from the light rain in the darkness by the waters edge, in some beer drinking, shit talking, Joke telling, guitar playing, singing and of course laughing and merriment until the wee hours of the morning.
The last day found everyone tired and happy, no paddling happened and no one returned to paddle Surge narrows again, despite the fact it was flowing again, nor paddle at all. We partook in an industry seminar, ate lunch packed up, said our fond farewells and headed home.
After Chugging home in the beast I call a van, I finished packing for my coming Adventures in Norway and Namibia, at the time of writing this (the day After getting home from the Guides Exchange) I am on the plane to Norway to meet Jeff Allen and explore the coast for two weeks. Read a little more about the adventure proposal in this post http://expeditionpaddler.blogspot.ca/2013/05/back-to-northern-norway.html?view=classic or in the next few to come after this one.

Jaime Sharp.

photo from last time I was paddling in Norway, blog post here