Sea Kayaker Magazines Last Issue and my Only Appearance in the Magazine.

It is sad for things to come to an end, especially things that helped define a culture. I am pleased got one appearance in the legendary Sea Kayaker Magazine before it disappeared, with the publication of a Pygmy Kayaks full page advert.

This Photo Also featured on the Cover of Ocean Paddler Magazine (UK) #39 in December; Link.

 

 Sea Kayaker Magazine Writes in there blog for the last time.

 "For nearly 30 years, Sea Kayaker magazine has been an exemplary cornerstone of the sea kayaking community and a defining influence for the standards of our sport. We’ve been pleased and proud to share 157 issues with the kayaking community, but now we must announce with great regret and sadness that this Issue of Sea Kayaker magazine will be our last. In the course of our many years of service to kayakers around the world, we’ve seen many changes in sea kayaking, the industry it supports, and the business of print and web media. For our first two decades the changes generally worked in our favor, but over this past decade, the tide slowly turned. Though the magazine and the website continue to draw nearly universal praise from our readers, we recently recognized that we’ve been paddling against an overwhelming current and it’s time to come ashore. And so, we’re celebrating the final chapter of the Sea Kayaker legacy with our special 158th issue, the February 2014.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS – It is difficult to bring an end to a publication supported by subscriptions. For many of our loyal readers, this last issue will be shy of the number of issues they expect to receive. We have been working with Rapid Media (www.adventurekayakmag.com) and have arranged for our incomplete subscriptions to be fulfilled by Adventure Kayak, a magazine devoted to sea kayak touring. Our subscribers will receive an issue of Adventure Kayak for every issue remaining on their subscription. We encourage you to give the magazine a try. Rapid’s founder and publisher, Scott MacGregor, has graciously invited Sea Kayaker magazine’s editor Chris Cunningham to contribute to Adventure Kayak and he’s look forward to adding a touch of Sea Kayaker and some of his views to the magazine."

As published at  http://seakayaker.us/our-last-issue/

I have also been fortunate enough to have been published in this issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine aswell. Check it out here

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

Exciting Sea Kayaking on the Bay of Fundy

Here is a teaser of a short film I helped with and Produced and edited by Justine Curgenven.

buy the whole 20 minute film (for a price you choose) at www.cackletv.com/shop/downloads

Humpback whales inches from your kayak or multiple beat downs at the Walton 'Whopper' - these are some of the contrasting experiences captured on camera in Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy. Join top sea kayakers taking on the world's largest tidal range; carving it up in the chocolatey rapids of the Shubie river and seeing how long they can hold their breath in the meaty hole at Walton.

Watch the whole 20 minute film at www.cackletv.com/shop/downloads

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