Goodbye Dear Friends…
Published August 18, 2010 | 
Not long ago Sea Kayaking UK (Formerly Nigel Dennis Kayaks) posted this to their Facebook page: “Sea Kayaking UK and Lendal are looking for some up and coming sea kayakers, our aim will be a team of sponsored paddlers who will push the limits of sea kayaking, primarily skill based kayakers. “ I guess that means the old school has been put out to pasture…
So if YOU are a young up-and-comer… Let ‘em know! and for all you old timers who are paddling on into your autumn years… This one’s for you!
Chicken & Egg
Published July 27, 2010 | 
My neighbor… wants what he sees
My neighbor!! My neighbor!!
My neighbor… thinks he wants to be me
But he’ll never be – gnarls barkley
When I recently wrote a quick overview of SeakayakingUK’s Romany, someone (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) shared with me the thought that the Romany was at least in part based the Shore Line kayak produced by another UK company called North Shore. North Shore was founded in 1982. According to informants, the Shore Line (Now the Atlantic LV) was in production pre-Romany. Continue reading
Posted in Kayaks, Paddling | 
aled williams, Atlantic LV, Mike Nelson, ndk, North Shore Sea Kayaks, romany, seakayakinguk, Shore Line, Valley Sea KayaksSea Kayaking UK (NDK) Romany. In Review.
Published July 7, 2010 | 
We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, yay
And I wonder if I’m really with you now
Or just chasin’ after some finer day
– carly simon
I’ve had the old white Romany for some time, but as I said it was not “my” boat so I rarely paddled it. In fact until recently the only time I paddled the Romany was when the local river was in flood. At those times I’d take the boat out to play in the currents and surf since I was not worried about banging it up. Now that I’ve repaired the hull and have it seaworthy again, I’ve been paddling it quite a bit which offers a great opportunity to share some fresh thoughts about the Romany in general. Continue reading
Posted in Kayaks, Paddling, Reviews | aled williams, ndk, Nigel Dennis, Reviews, rockpool, romany, seakayakinguk, Tideracefixin’ the ark
Published June 30, 2010 | 
I said, “Just tell me something before it’s too late and we’re gone
I mean just how safe is this boat we’ll be on?” – Sting
Today my workload is a bit heavy, not least of which is that I need to commit to a kayak to take to the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium coming up in about a week. As usual, the level heads of friends, well-wishers, readers & psychologists have convinced me that doing some repairs on my old NDK kayaks is probably a better choice (and more valuable) than selling them off for something new, and maybe not so tough. Continue reading
Posted in My Paddling, Paddling, Repairs & Modifications | jamestown distributors, kayak repair, ndkThere and Back
Published June 17, 2010 | 
And we decided that one big pile is better than two little piles,
and rather than bring that one up
we decided to throw our’s down. – arlo guthrie
I was just reading David Johnston’s post all about Lendal’s return to the UK under the helm of Nigel & the gang at Sea Kayaking UK.. I won’t bother to quote it, you can read the post here. In the process of reading David’s fine update, I clicked over to the Lendal Website. I hadn’t been there in some time. Funny thing, I never noticed their tag line before; “LENDAL. THE BEST PADDLES. THERE AND BACK. “ Continue reading
Dairyland Boatwerks – Dealing with Oxidation
Published April 3, 2010 | 
My old warhorse has seen better days. It’s been some years now since I bought my 1996 Nigel Dennis Romany Explorer used at Rutabaga in Madison, WI. I’ll never forget how scary it felt to drop the $1500 back then on of all things, a kayak! Now after years of paddling, some harsh landings, intimating crashes, and just years of sitting out under the Midwest sun, the warhorse was in desperate need of care.
International Sea Kayaking Award?
Published December 20, 2009 | 
Imagine the coach saying, “In order to achieve the ISKA L5 level you will have to be able to disassemble and reassemble your Lendal 4 peice paddle in under 4.6 seconds”. Sorry, that was just the first thing that went through my head when I thought of Nigel Dennis announcing a new international sea kayaking certification program. Yup. You did read that correctly. I’ll leave it to other more investigative bloggers to ferret out the details. For my part I want to begin ghost writing a draft of the new ISKA Coaches handbook… “While other kayaks may be used, it is well under stood that Sea Kayaking UK kayaks are safer, faster, and better built than all other kayaks…” There will be a test!.. Oh, and investigative types may want to start here.
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