‘Helen’s Blog’

Loading up the car to drive down the coast to the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium (GGSKS) was very different than it had been in previous years. Instead of snow, hail and rain, the sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in sight, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was summer.

A view of Horseshoe Cove from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Paddlers making their way from Horseshoe Cove to the Golden Gate Bridge.

This was my fourth year at the GGSKS and Mark’s second. For us it was also a special anniversary. We drove to the Bay Area a day early and spent the evening exploring Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, both walking distance from a fantastic hotel that was central to everything. The following morning we took a ferry to Alcatraz, something I’ve always wanted to do. With some extra time to spare before Thursday evening’s instructor meeting, we decided to walk across the magestic Golden Gate Bridge and back before heading to the Marin Headlands Hostel, the event’s headquarters.

BCU Four Star Training.

The GGSKS is a wonderful event, and one that has traditionally been been accompanied by large swells, strong winds, winter storms and even a tsunami warning one year. This year, however, provided sun, mild wind and slightly smaller swell than in previous years. The GGSKS is an intermediate and advanced skills symposium, and participants can take a range of classes to challenge themselves in the Bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge and on the open ocean. Evening programs included incredible food, a raffle and several presentations.

A sea lion enjoying the day.

There was a nice blend of familiar faces and new ones, and each evening was filled with people sharing the experiences that they’d had throughout the day. Over the weekend Mark instructed BCU Coastal Navigation and Tidal Planning and BCU Four Star Training, while I instructed Developing Greenland Skills, Surf 101 and Fun, Balance, Games and Rolling.

Rolling instruction.

Once again the GGSKS proved to be a success. Thanks to organizers Sean Morley and Matt Palmariello for having us there and for doing such a fantastic job of putting the whole event together. Thanks also to the volunteers who kept everyone fed and happy and to the participants who keep the heart of the event pumping. We hope to see you all again next year!

Paddle tricks.

Photos by Mark Tozer.

Sea Kayaking the Redwood Coast

About three years ago my local kayaking club, Explore North Coast, decided to produce a sea kayaking guide for our local waters. We thought the process would be fairly simple, but really had no idea how much work would actually be involved. We began by assigning paddle routes to club members, and submissions slowly trickled in. Then, a group of five of us met weekly to read through the submissions, one word after the next, trying to make them all consistent. We checked the submissions for accuracy, dug through boxes of CDs of pictures and finally turned the work over to another club member to design it. About a week ago the book arrived from the printer.

Sea Kayaking the Redwood Coast is a compilation of locals routes, ranging from challenging open ocean rock gardens, to tranquil flat-water sloughs and lagoons. The book is described as “a sea kayaker’s resource for exploring the redwood coast.” It includes thirty-five routes in nineteen locations, all located in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. It includes maps, detailed directions to launch sites and numerous sidebars about the area.

There were many people and local businesses that contributed to this book, and sponsors helped fund its production. Greenland or Bust is proud to be one of those sponsors.

The book is available HERE, or you can get a copy from Mark or I at the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium this weekend. On that note, Mark will be instructing BCU Coastal Navigation and Tidal Planning and the BCU Four Star Training, and I’ll be instructing Developing Greenland Skills, Surf Zone 101 and Fun, Balance, Games and Rolling. Whatever you take, we hope to see you there!

People kayak for many different reasons. Some of us do it because we enjoy the solitude of a crystal clear lake surrounded by magestic mountains. Others do it for the adrenaline rush that can be found in complex ocean rock gardens and surf. Time in a kayak can be an escape from the “land world,” a Sunday ritual with friends, a time to work out problems or contemplate the meaning of life. But for most of us, it’s all of these things. Kayaking is a lifestyle. It’s a spiritual, wonderful thing, and Sean Smith’s book, The Fat Paddler, is proof of this.

The Fat Paddler by Sean Smith.

I picked up Sean’s book last Wednesday, and immediately found myself sucked in. For Sean, kayaking has provided meaning, purpose, solitude, spirituality, healing and appreciation of the world.

Our stories are all unique, and Sean’s is no exception… although what makes him different is that he’s not afraid to share his story, often in graphic detail. This book is Sean’s story about his life as a rugby player and a dramatic series of events that changed everything. His story recounts the Bali bombing and two car accidents, which left Sean nearly dead and in the hospital. These and other events eventually led him to a state of depression.

Sean also writes about the challenges of daily life, which can often be quite dramatic… the dread of going to a stressful job, the fight against obesity and quitting smoking, as well as the joys that life brings, such as marriage and having children. Sean’s story takes the reader around Sydney, Australia (where Sean lives) and the wilderness of Alaska. It also travels through the journey of training and competing in the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. Of course, the book comes complete with some of Sean’s favorite food and rum drink recipes.

The Fat Paddler is well written, and a book that all of us (kayakers or not) can relate to on some level. All of us face challenges at some time or another… that’s called life. It’s learning how to take these challenges and grow from them that makes us strong, and The Fat Paddler is one person’s example of how healing and happiness can be found in being outdoors.

The Fat Padder is available internationally on iBookstore. For the U.S. store, click here. For other countries, search your local iBookstore.

For more information, visit FatPaddler.com/books/

We hope that 2011 was a wonderful year for you, and wish you a 2012 filled with adventure, fun and lots of salty water. Happy Holidays!

Mark and Helen

With winter settling in, it can be fun to find little projects around the house that somehow make you think of kayaking (are there projects out there that don’t make people think of kayaking?).

Our friend, Michael Morris, is an avid paddle maker. He doesn’t sell them… he just makes them, and paddles with them. With so many paddles, he has lots of wood shavings. For a few years he’s been handing them over to friends to use as kindling. They burn quickly however, and serve best as a way to re-start a fire that’s died down a little too much, rather than start it from scratch. With rain soaked wood, using commercial fire starters ($1 or more each) has become a convenient habit.

One afternoon last week we were sitting in our warm house looking outside to a cool and wet day and decided that an indoor project might be nice. We decided to make fire starters. And guess what… they work, so we thought we’d share.

Here’s what we used:

Dixie Cups

Wood Shavings

Block of Paraffin Wax

Hammer

Screwdriver

Chopping Board

Pot to Boil Water

Water

Glass Bottle Filled with Water

Melting Pot

Here’s how to do it:

1. Stuff the Dixie cups full of wood shavings.

2. Break the block of paraffin wax by placing a screwdriver or other sharp object onto it and hitting it with a hammer (have the chopping board underneath).

Breaking up the paraffin wax.

3. Boil several inches of water in the pot.

4. Put the wax in the melting pot, and place the melting pot in the pot of boiling water. To prevent it from floating away, lay a water filled glass bottle on top.

Heating the paraffin wax.

5. Melt the wax.

6. Pour the wax carefully into the shaving filled Dixie cups until they are about half full.

Cooling fire starters.

7. Wait for several hours until they are cool.

8. Light a fire.

Voila.

Last week I returned home from the Optimist Kayaking Symposium in Israel. It was my second year at the event and it was wonderful to be back. What makes Israel unique from most places is the warm water, and it is the only event that I’ve been to all year where I left my drysuit at home.

The four day event takes place in the crystal clear water of the Mediterranean near Kibbutz Sdot-Yam, located on the northern coast, and for four days I taught Greenland style classes (mostly rolling) in the warm sun… the rain cleared for exactly the four days of the symposium. Ben Lawry and Jeff Allen were also instructing in all kinds of topics ranging from Incident Management to Edging and Bracing.

Sunset over the Mediterranean.

Learning the Balance Brace.

Israel is wonderful in so many ways, and I thoroughly enjoyed the friendly and relaxed people, the weather and the food… the hummus, falafel and tahini can’t be beat.

Ehud Dror and Ben Lawry.

After four days of instruction we went exploring. We had two days, and organizer (and totally awesome friend and paddler) Hadas Feldman took us out to be tourists.

Jerusalem.

The first day we went to Jerusalem and played around in the marketplace. We visited the Western Wall and Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We also marveled at the teenagers walking around with guns on their backs. In Israel at age 18 everyone serves in the military, and guns are never left alone, so even if uniforms weren’t being worn, guns were slung over shoulders.

The marketplace in Jerusalem.

The Western Wall.

Groups of people filled the streets, many of them on spiritual journeys and many more being tourists for the day. We spent the day exploring, people watching, tasting local food and playing in a very old, and very special, city.

Teenagers wearing guns ordering pizza.

The next day we went wine tasting then heading to a viewpoint where we had a gorgeous view of the Syrian border from a set of trenches. During our travels we also drove next to the Jordan border, and marveled at the strip of dirt next to the border that serves as a footprint indication of anyone getting too close.

Wine tasting.

Syria border.

Jordan border.

We played around, stopping at lots of interesting spots, including at the remains of a Syria Mosque. We also went to a spa and had a natural foot treatment which consisted of four fish tanks that we sat on the edge of and hung our feet into, allowing the fish to peck at our feet. Hadas, Zviki, Jeff and myself laughed and laughed as the fish tickled our toes, and although this practice is not common (locals Hadas and Zviki hadn’t seen it before), it made for a very entertaining 20 minutes. We then drank a traditional drink made of orchid bulbs, then headed to some hot springs for a relaxing swim before heading to the airport.

Jeff having a fishy foot treatment.

Some very impressive hot springs.

Israel is truly a magical place. Thank you to the Optimist Kayaking Club for having me out there!

Last week I returned home from the Greenland Week Kayak Festival. The event takes place in Washington and consists of Greenland-style kayaking lessons, demonstrations, social activities and a competition. It is organized by The Kayak Academy. Dubside, Maligiaq Padilla and myself instructed, and Jeanette Rogers joined us for judging the harpoon and rolling competitions.

The Washington crew.

The weekend’s events took place at Lake Sammamish State Park, which was an ideal location with the lake, a covered picnic shelter with a firepit in the center and another shelter that served well for ropes. Also, the Kayak Academy runs the concession stand at the park, so participants and spectators had access to hot beverages and yummy treats throughout the weekend.

Dubside and his new scoreboard.

Friday’s activities included a free rope gymnastics clinic, followed by a ropes demonstration. On Saturday there was a six mile race, a rolling demonstration and a free harpoon clinic. Evening entertainment included a tasty salmon dinner and music by South Sound, as well as a presentation by Rob Avery on kayaking the Aleutian Islands. Sunday consisted of harpoon throwing and rolling competitions.

Maligiaq demonstrates how to throw a harpoon.

The rolling class.

Prizes were announced, with Wayne Horodowich taking the top medal. The Canadians brought in first, second and third places for the rolling competition, and there were lots of raffle prizes handed out. Compete results are available here. The weekend was a ton of fun, and it was good to hang out with the Washington kayakers again. Keep an eye on the Kayak Academy website… there are some exciting changes in store for next year’s event.

The rolling winners (all from Canada): From left: Christopher Scully, Alan Dunham and Michael Jackson.

Photos by The Kayak Academy and Helen Wilson.

For me, flying to Manchester, England to instruct at the 6th UK Storm Gathering felt a bit like going back in time. I spent the first seven years of my life living in England, and visited after that, but I hadn’t been back in over 20 years. The organizer of the Storm Gathering, Mark Tozer, is also my fiancée, and it was very cool to have him show me around the place where I spent the first part of my life.

We meandered from the airport in Manchester to Anglesey Outdoors, the center for the symposium, detouring through a couple of very cute places; including Conway, a village comprised mostly of a huge castle, and Bangor, a charming university town. We also stopped at the Menai Bridge, and walked across it, while Mark shared stories of his University days (which I won’t repeat here). Once at Anglesey Outdoors, it was good to see some old friends and meet some of the people that Mark has paddled and instructed with on a regular basis.

The event is called the UK Storm Gathering because it is late in the season, so the hope is that the seas will kick up a bit, and paddlers will have the opportunity to challenge themselves in conditions that they might not paddle in otherwise. With gale force winds throughout the entire weekend, the “storm” was certainly in effect.

James Stevenson breaks through the surf.

Throughout the weekend participants challenged themselves, and tired smiles and laughter in the evening showed that the event had been successful. Paddlers were thrilled that they had experienced conditions that they would not normally have gone out in, and I was very impressed with the comptence and judgement of the instructors.

Evening entertainment at Anglesey Outdoors.

A walk to South Stack.

Some of the places that Mark took me for walking or paddling included Bull Bay on the North Coast of Anglesey, Puffin Island on the East Coast of Anglesey, Trearddur Bay near Holyhead, Llyn Padarn near Llanberis and Point Llynas on the North Coast. We also walked out to South Stack and explored Beaumaris Castle. Another thrill for me was going in the shops, which included a traditional sweet shop that sold candy that I remembered from my childhood. After the three-day symposium and a couple more days of exploring, I hopped on a plane to Washington for Greenland Week.

Photos by Mark Tozer, George Maskell and Helen Wilson.

After returning home from Japan, I headed off to teach some private rolling classes during the Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK) Mendo Madness weekend. BASK is a fun group of sea kayakers, and are wonderful to hang out with. This year however, I was finding that -16 hours of jet lag had caught up with me, so when I wasn’t on the water, I was hidden away, fast asleep. I do look forward to catching up with everyone again throughout the year though.

A gorgeous day on Big River in Mendocino, California.

After Mendo Madness I headed home for a day and then hopped on a plane to the Delmarva Paddler’s Retreat. It was my third time attending the Retreat, and I was there early to participate in the day-long Qajaq USA Board Meeting. It was exciting to hear about everything that is going on with Qajaq USA.

That evening Mark arrived. Mark is an instructor at BCU events worldwide, but it was his first time attending a Greenland style symposium. He found people to be very welcoming, and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the event. I spent the on-water time mentoring two classes of forward finish hand and norsaq rolls, one class of layback hand rolls and one class of the Chest Scull and Reverse Sweep. I also had the opportunity to take Maligiaq Padilla’s stroke class. If you get the chance to do this, it is well worth it. Maligiaq’s technique is very different than the way that most of us were taught, and many people opted to take both Maligiaq and Greg Stamer’s strokes classes throughout the weekend, comparing the two very different styles.

As usual, the silent auction was tons of fun, and I had a blast helping auction off a changing robe with Dave Sides. Palo’s Race was also lots of fun, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then maybe you should go next year!

Ben Fuller chillin' with some qajaqs.

Some very pretty qajaqs.

Palo's Race.

After Delmarva, Mark and I headed home to Arcata, California, and spend several days playing in the local waters, going on long bike rides, tying ourselves in knots at the yoga studio and trying out the climbing wall. Between finding sand dollars on the beach and checking out the music scene in the evening, we had several business meetings about our new venture starting early next year, Embrace the Elements, which will offer open ocean and flat water classes, BCU certification programs, traditional skills classes and mountaineering trips in the redwood forest. Classes will be worldwide as Mark and I have done independently in the past, but we will also be offering more classes and tours at home. We’re currently working on a new website, but to book early, e-mail info@greenlandorbust.org. Trinidad is an amazing, awesome, fantastic and superb place to paddle and hike… and with ten years of living here, I’m pretty familiar with all of the good spots on both the ocean and in the majestic redwood forests.

Trinidad, California.

Another picture of Trinidad, California... or home as I like to call it.

Mark hanging out behind one of Trinidad's many offshore rocks.

After all these meetings and a full summer of teaching, we decided it was time for a vacation, and with Southern Oregon just a couple of hours away, it seemed like the ideal spot. There are some great places to paddle in the southern part of the state, and we were hoping for a couple of mellow days on the ocean so that we could get into those spots… no such luck. 16 plus feet of swell from one direction, mixed with a long period swell from the other and some fairly substantial wind waves, and our rock garden paradise turned into a spectacular place to hang out… from the beach.

I have driven through Oregon many times and have seen ad after ad for the Sea Lion Caves. Advertised as “the world’s largest sea cave,” I was kind of curious, so we made the drive up the coast to see what it was all about. It was a bit strange to take an elevator from the cliffs above to the cave 200 feet below and to read signs asking for “no flash photography,” despite the lack of sea lions. With our faces pressed to the fence barrier, separating us from the cave, I thought about how lucky sea kayakers are. We go into places like this without paying admission, and instead of being spectators, we get to be part of the scene itself. Don’t get me wrong, the Sea Lion Caves were very cool, but it really did make me appreciate the things that sea kayakers get to experience that many are oblivious to. As far as “the world’s largest sea cave…” well, maybe if you add in that tunnel… and what was down the tunnel? Unfortunately, the fence prevented us from finding out.

Stopping for a kiss.

A totally different way to enter a sea cave.

The Sea Lion Caves.

We didn’t really have an agenda for our three day vacation, but decided to stop in Florence, mainly because it was so close to the Sea Lion Caves. After checking out a couple of places to stay, we stopped at the Edwin K Bed & Breakfast. Not only was it inexpensive, but it was in Old Town, and included sherry and cookies in the evening and a five-course breakfast the following morning that kept us going until late that evening. Our room had a jet tub, and the people that run the place, Marv and Laurie VandeStreek were wonderful and didn’t wink an eye at our sandy boots and my hair, which had turned into two temporary dreadlocks from all of the saltwater.

The following day we went to Port Orford to play in some caves, but the growing swell prevented us from going very far. We paddled out, bounced around a lot and then landed, with me telling Mark about all of the cool spots that we weren’t able to get into. That night we went to Gold Bluffs Beach, another place on the Oregon Coast that I tend to drive through slowly, always telling myself that I should check out sometime. We found a great room at Ireland’s Rustic Lodges, and watched the large waves from the comfort of our room with the fireplace going. Of course, a soak in the hot tub, a walk on the beach and an even longer walk to find food were part of the agenda, and we left feeling relaxed and refreshed.

The harbor at Port Orford.

We then drove to one of my favorite launch sites, and watched the huge waves breaking onto the beach… or lack of beach in this case. Being on the ocean is always wonderful, but sometimes the ocean really does want to be left alone, and seeing it in its splendor from the warmth of a good rain jacket is quite a treat. On the way home we stopped at a couple more beaches to check out the impressive incoming waves. Finally, we pulled into California, declared that we had no fresh fruit to the Department of Agriculture at the border then ended our trip with Mexican food and plans for our next trip…

Enjoying the ocean from a stormy beach.

Photos by Mark Tozer and Helen Wilson.