a Week of Fun Days on the Bay of Fundy

Recently I had the privilege of being invited out to the Bay of Fundy Sea Kayak Symposium by Christopher Lockyer'. My main duty was to deliver a  talk on the Recent Grand Canyon By Sea Kayak trip that we completed on new years day this year (READ ABOUT IT HERE), and to help Coach and the symposium. Though I also got involved in a fun project to paddle about for a week and film/promote some of the highlights of the area. I was to Join Chris, Matt Nelson and Justine Curgenven on this super exciting adventure.





Day 0 had me arriving at Halifax airport and meeting Chris and his Family for the first time, later that night I was re acquainted with Justine and Matt  and then driving all the way down to the Southern Bay of Fundy to to stay with Chris parents in there old 400 year old house for the night, it was about 3 am when we arrived. we settled into a short nights sleep.

Day 1 was Brier Island. After thanking Chris’s parents for there wonderful hospitality we headed further south to catch the Tidal Races around Gull Rock that pokes out from the tip of Brier island where the tide pushes over a shelf of rocky reef and creates a long swath of amazing waves to Surf. it was a stunningly beautiful day and we ended up with two TRAK Kayaks out there, Justine and Matt took turns at playing in one TRAK and I had the other. the features got surprisingly big and there was endless fun to be had, however a swim would result in a quick journey into the middle of the Bay of Fundy if you were not able to sort yourself out. after a good 4 hours of playing, we meandered our way back to the car with ear to ear smiles and fond memories of ripping down waves and watching others do the same. That night we headed to Chris’s Parents in Laws house, were we had a great fest of Scallops and lobster Chowder (as they were Lobster Fishers. All I can say is that east cast hospitality is second to none.

Check out more info on the TRAK Seeker Performance Folding Kayak, A Real Sea Kayak In Your Luggage Here. 

Day 3 had us and four boats loaded up in a Lobster Fishing Boat heading out to an offshore reef to find whales, and did we find whales? yes we did. we enjoyed some 3 hours of paddling with and seemingly playing with humpback whales, who were instantly curious about us and the Kayaks. numerous times they would dive only to come up directly under our kayaks, the younger of the two would loll on its back and waving its pectoral fins and and almost asking us to scratch its belly. at one point the larger whale came up between the kayaks and the fishing boat and lifte it’s head straight out of the water to look at every one. what a day.

at the end of the whale encounter we went for a site see on the way home and found a couple of new tide races that seemed to be playable, though unfortunately we had no time to try them out as we had to get back to Chris’s place that night. so again we where back in the car with boats on the roof, and driving 3 hours back north.

Day 4 Had us on the Shubie (Shubenacadie) River, on this river the tide pushes up it causing a tidal bore and reverse rapids, and we were going to have fun today playing and getting a feel for the river before the next two days of coaching clients on it would occur. All I can Say is surfing a chocolate milkshake is good fun and it brought back memories of the Grand Canyon Trip I had just come off a week earlier, Read About It Here. It was tricky to catch these sporadic waves, they would start as  a ripple and then suddenly turn into a wave train, and you needed to stay at the very front of this if you wanted to surf for long as the back ones quickly die off. That night other Coaches turned up, Sean Morley, Paul Kuthe, and Rowan Gloag, and we all moved into coaches house down by the put in for the Shubie river.
Day 5 Had us all on the Shubie with Clients, though Justine and I were on the power boat attempting to film, unfortunately the day was not quite as good and there was not to much epic surfing, however the students and coaches got a good feel for it that promised tomorrow would be great.

Day 6 had us all back out in the Chocolate river and man was the surfing epic, I was so tired by only half way down from surfing so hard that it felt like my hands were going to fall off. I had great fun pushing hard with Nick Cunliffe as we where both paddling Gemini Sport Plays from Valley that day, and it seemed to me they where the best boats for the job, though Justine was also getting epic rides in her North Shore Atlantic LV. Despite the exhaustion the waves and the day just didn't seem to last long enough, however the Coaches where in for a surprise.

Chris loaded us all up and took us to the Whopper in Walton.
This feature happens on the outgoing tide, and starts of as a shallow V wave under the bridge, and builds to a double retentive wave, then into a huge boat eating hole. the challenge was to see who could get the gnarliest ride in thick of the nastiest of stages in the Hydraulic (hole). This ended in some amazing ends being thrown and some lumpy rides with very little control being had, but boy what fun and what potential for Sea Kayak Freestyle.

Here is a little Vid Chris put together on the feature.

Off to the Races Episode 1 - Walton Whopper from Christopher Lockyer on Vimeo.

Day 6 had us heading back down south to the Venue for the 1st Annual Bay Of Fundy Sea Kayak Symposium in Lower Argyle, the event was held at an amazing spot right on the water called Ye Old Argyler, from the beach endless coastline and islands were accessible, and via the roads we could find areas to suit all courses and weather conditions, and Idyllic place for a Sea Kayak Symposium. We all settled into our new Coach house and headed down to the venue for Briefing, meet and greet and coach dinner, it was wonderful to see how much of a turn out showed up for this event with more than a hundred people present.

Day 7 8 9  had us all mingling and working in different areas around the southern Bay of Fundy area, and having a great time from Surfing and Rock Gardening intro’s, to extended journeys  and dealing with currents workshops. the whole even was a huge success. I hope to get back again next year as I know it will again be awesome, so book your spots now at www.bofsks.com
too soon it was all over and we were all saying good bye and heading back to the Halifax Airport.
Next on too Germany and the KanuMess Expo, then to the UK for the Sea Kayaking Cornwall Symposium.

Jaime “Whoppa” Sharp

MORE PHOTOS HERE

Here are some other Links to Blog posts on the Event

“Fundy Fun” By Justine Curgenven

“Journey to the Bay of Fundy” By Sean Morley

"Bay Of Fundy Sea Kayak Symposium Delivers" By Chris Lockyer on Kokatat Blog

Canoecopia 2013; Madison Wisconsin

 

I have just arrived back in Seattle after a great weekend in Wisconsin at the Canoecopia tradeshow. This was my first time at this show and I was wonderfully surprise by the event, not only was it a condensed toy store of most of the latest and greatest paddle sports toys, but also of all the tried and true goods, pool demos, instruction and speakers from all over the world.

I was here to represent TRAK Kayaks and share my stories of the boats in action and help sell the product off course. The cool thing for us with our booth this show is the addition of a big screen stand that can support two TV’s, and also the addition of a big banner reading TRAK performance Kayaks two images, one of myself surfing the TRAK at Surge Narrows and the other of Allie Carroll paddling in a tidal lagoon on Isla Coiba in Panama. It is a nice addition to the booth, really stating TRAK’s presence, while the TV played a loop of the TRAK Files Series and some rough water footage of the boats in action.

I got to attend some great talks, particularly one by John Turk about his Ellesmere Island expedition with Eric Boomer, A journey where there was more walking and dragging kayaks as rafts than there were times that they actually sat in the boats and paddled. This journey was a huge undertaking and almost killed Jon, though hasn’t seemed to have slowed him down and at 6? He is still planning amazing trips to come. Jon is a most entertaining speaker and has a great way of sharing his adventures and conveying some of his deeper philosophies in life. Jon and I talked more about some concepts of adventure and of ideas to come; I am excited to here more of his new adventures as they develop this year. Read more about Jon’s adventures and his books at his website http://jonturk.net/

Justine Curgenven was also a wonderful speaker and I attended her talk on her Tierra Del Fuego Expeditions, and how the first attempt was aborted due to injuries of her paddling partner Barry----- then continued to success some time later. Justine is an amazingly honest and open person who shares all the honest highs and lows of her journeys in a very exposing way that other people would more than likely shy away from in horror. This willingness to share the true nature of adventure, with lows and highs, the journey of the mind while on these trips is most amazing and I respect her immensely for it. Justine’s Website here http://www.cackletv.com/

I was lucky enough to share some tales with Justine over a couple of pints, and then there was the band at the Canoecopia event on Saturday.....half the room couldn’t resist dancing to the “Rasta Billy” band Mad Polecats http://www.myspace.com/madpolecats, they were a great Fusion of Blue Grass and Reggae and did fun covers of Led Zeppelin, ACDC and more.

Mad Polecats - Crazy Train from chris on Vimeo.

I also was given a new tool (or toy depending on how you look at it) from Lendal. one of their new Rebel White Water Paddles, customized to my preference. The prototype Rebel paddles had been used by us on the Grand Canyon Sea Kayak project over Christmas and I had been also using one in the surf and in Canoe Polo games, so I am keen to give the new production version and good beating.

 

The last day was a tiring one for most as we had been up till 2am dancing and now we worked the show till 5pm, packed up the displays and then headed out into the strangely rainy night of snowy Madison to have burgers before I crashed.

What a fun venue, if you get the chance to attend in coming years I recommend it. Now I am prepping for travels to Costa Rica in the next couple of days, bring on the surf, sand and jungle.

~J~

June 2012 Pautiq Camp

 

The first camping trip in the Wagon was to Shawnigan Lake for the Greenland paddlers Pautiq camp on Vancouver Island. It was basically good excuse for Greenland style paddlers and rollers to get together and have some fun.

 

During this time, I got talked into training for a competition held in Seattle in Nov, and so because of that I purchased a “new for me” boat, and second hand “Tahe Greenlander”, the premium rolling boat. wow a touch crazy though i am serious about learning and this boat is the best, plus it will be key in me learning what I can from in order to possibly develop a Greenland style folding boat with TRAK.

the Weekend was fun and casual and full of socialising and learning, plus just some crazy fun!

The Bus had it’s first adventure too, in the fact it rained during the weekend, and the heavy old thing sunk in the grass and I couldn’t drive out with out having gravel being poured under the wheels and being towed. oh the fun!