Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away
- Kay and Moreve
Solent Sea Kayaking posted a good review of the North Water Peaked Deck Bag. I’ll add my voice to his, great bag. On the water in Puerto Rico I lived out of that bag. If it wasn’t in there, it would wait until I got to shore. Read the rest of this entry »
F: “Dig it! All of you fitting in this box is like seriously freaked up.”
Fa: “Nonsense! Why, there’s a whole universe in there.”
F: “Dude. There’s a universe in all of us.”
A: “Right on, professor Freakworth.”
Fa: “Get a job!”
- futurama
So. . How do you keep your hands warm on those cold, cold, cold winter paddles? It took me forever to find something that worked. Last weekend I forgot though. I had some false memory that SealSkinz Waterproof gloves actually worked. Of course I paid for that bit of twisted history the rest of the day. . . Read the rest of this entry »
Look at that sky, life’s begun
Nights are warm and the days are young
- bowie
Justine Curgenven is just about ready to head back to the states to begin the US leg of the premiere tour for This Is The Sea 4. (I’ll come join you in Chicago, btw.) The premiere parties are going to be lots of fun and more people than we can count will be taking home their copy of T4. Of course with the release of any new DVD, it’s also time to write a review. Now I confess that I’m totally in the bag for Justine and her work. What’s more I have worked with Justine for some time now on the web and off, including doing the cover art for the last two videos. I’m biased. You’d think that would be a good thing wouldn’t you!? Read the rest of this entry »
Well, it’s getting near Halloween after all! For anyone interested in Lake Suprior, “Haunted Lake Superior” by Hugh E. Bishop, is certainly a book worth having. Here’s the link to Amazon.
Well there’s a place where two worlds collide
The pile of stone against the pull of the tide
You can stay with your feet on the ground
Or step into the water, leave the dry behind
-genesis
Yesterday I was actually out playing with my new camera, the Optio W60. Yeah, I know. . I’ve been more than disappointed with their customer service AND I’m not all that pleased with the durability of previous Pentax Optios. What they do well though is simply take the best photos. So what are you to do? Read the rest of this entry »
”
I kept hearing the voice of Bill Murray in “What about Bob” saying, “Dr Marvin ! I’m sailing !. . I sail!”. Thanks to the folks at Windpaddle & Playak.com I got a chance to review the Windpaddle Adventure Sail. You can read the review at Playak.com Click Here.
Simply put “Modern Greenland Kayaking” by Dsharp Video Productions should be required viewing by every sea kayaking coach, shop owner and sales staff member and certainly belongs in any paddlers home video collection. That’s not something you can honestly say about every paddling DVD that comes along, but certainly true in this case.
Released just this year, “Modern Greenland Kayaking” fills a gaping hole in currently available sea kayaking information by taking us through the history of traditional paddling through it’s modern renaissance. MGK brings us into the world of skin-boats & sticks without any hint that “traditional” is somehow separate from sea kayaking as a whole. In fact the video does a wonderful job of making traditional kayaking accessible to anyone interested in paddling.
The video is shot in 4:3 ratio combining footage from a variety of sources and is not the Hi-Def, rock anthem video candy we’ve come to expect (and enjoy too by the way) these days. In fact that would probably feel out of place here. “Modern Greenland Kayaking” is a documentary that introduces us to traditional paddling through a collection of interviews with top names in the sport including; Delmarva co-founder Cindy Cole, Greg Stamer, Dubside, Robin Snow, Maliqiaq Padilla, Kamp Absalonsen and others. Tom Sharp also takes us along to the 2006 National Championships in Greenland where we are immersed in the warm (or chilly depending on what you’re wearing) atmosphere of the event. We are taken through the competition events including of course all those amazing rolls and their Greenlandic names. We also get a look at the thousand year old rope gymnastics that keep paddlers strong & flexible when the water is less agreeable. In addition we travel back here to the States to see how the sport has been growing outside of Greenland, visiting the South Sound Traditional Inuit Kayak Symposium (SSTIKS) and Delmarva along the way. Another great nugget of this DVD is a short instructional piece featuring Greg Stamer on how to properly use a traditional paddle, something “worth the ticket price” to anyone who may not have easy access to traditional instructors or symposia.
As I watched the video I recalled the many conversations I’ve had while working to introduce traditional paddles in our part of the world. To some there is still a bit of mysticism and a demarcation line between traditional and “Euro” paddling. One would hope that in time, at the very least a Greenland paddle would be introduced to students along with touring blades and wings equally as nothing more than another option. These days though many instructors have never yet held a traditional paddle in their hands, and don’t feel qualified to talk to students about them. While it would be the best option that coaches are taught “traditional” properly as part of their training, at the very least viewing “Modern Greenland Kayaking” would give them a good overview. It’s a start.
My impression is that “Modern Greenland Kayaking” will be seen as an important contribution to the continued growth of traditional paddling. Maybe more importantly it will also offer recreational paddlers a wider view of what sea kayaking is all about. (oh, and by the way, did I see a Rockpool this video?!)
To purchase “Modern Greenland Kayaking” you can visit Dubside.net. A video clip is also available here. (The clip that finally answers timeless question; “What gets Greg Stamer excited?”. . . )
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More? Well, I was pretty impressed with Dsharp’s “Greenlandic Rolling with Dubside” as well. You can read that review here.
