Expedition Kayaks

NSWSKC Rock & Roll Weekend 2010

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:41:00 +0000

We are please to announce that we are the Platinum sponsor of the NSWSKC Rock & Roll weekend this year. As part of our sponsorship, we will be giving away more than $4500 in prizes, including a brand new Carbon Kevlar Zegul kayak. We'll be onsite with our huge range of more that 13 demo sea kayaks, including the new Tahe boats fresh from landing in the country.
There are still places available at this blue ribbon symposium, where trips & getting paddlers out paddling on the sea is the aim of the game.
You can book your place through the club website, or by clicking HERE.

Ocean Paddler Reviews the North Shore Atlantic

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:15:00 +0000

The esteemed UK sea kayaking magazine, Ocean Paddler, has just done a review of the North Shore Atlantic, & the new Atlantic LV. It sums up this excellent allrounder very succinctly. You can read the review by clicking the image above. We have just dropped the price on the Atlantic due to some technical economies of scale innovations at Valley, & now offer the Atlantic for $3990.

Customised Valley & Rockpool Kayaks

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:25:00 +0000

If you'd like us to order you a completely customised Valley or Rockpool kayak, the closing date for our April shipment is next Friday, February 5. We can build a 3-peice boat, a Carbon/Kevlar layup, customised colours, even with Rockpool customised artwork, and have it here in a timeframe comparable to a local manufacturer. Contact Mark on 0417 924 478 or mark@expeditionkayaks.com with any enquiries.

Justine Curgenven - This is Canoeing DVD

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:47:00 +0000

I've just had an email from Justine Curgenven, the lady who has made sea kayaking cool with her award winning 'This is the Sea' series of sea kayaking DVD's.
She has been busy for the past year making a new movie about Canoeing, as in open top canoeing. I know it ain't sea kayaking but it still looks pretty cool. My motto is, if it involves a paddle, I want to find out what it's all about.
We'll have stock of the new DVD from early March, for $39.95 including postage.
Your can see a preview below:

Here's what Justine has to say about the movie:

'THIS IS CANOEING” is a 2-disc celebration of canoeing, showcasing top single-blade paddlers in their pursuit of remote wilderness journeys or challenging white water. Multi-award winning film maker, Justine Curgenven captures the essence of canoeing in 12 short films. From open canoe slalom races to 1,000 mile birchbark expeditions, Justine provides insights into the diversity of the sport and the influential people who tell it’s story. Immerse yourself in this globe-trotting 3 hours of adventure to world class canoeing destinations in Canada, the United States, Scotland & Wales. Innovatively filmed with headcams and on-board cameras to take you to the heart of the action.'

Price Announcement - Tahe & North Shore

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:08:00 +0000

Good news for kayak buyers. Fresh from my trip to the UK & Estonia, we've been able to secure a much better freight rate from Tahe Marine, and can pass on the savings to you, our customers. The Tahe kayaks (Greenland, Greenland T & Wind 585) in standard composite layup are now just $2990. The superb sea performers, the Zegul range, are still the same price, however the boats have been up-specced to the cutting edge Aerospace Vacuum Infused Carbon Kevlar. Having just seen first hand how these boats are made & finished, this represents unrivalled value for money in the Australian market. Check the Tahe page on our website for details.

There has been a similar development at Valley, with the North Shore range now being manufactured in batch lots, allowing a saving on time & materials, and we can pass on the reduction in price that Valley are offerring on the North Shore Atlantic. This boat is approaching cult status for it's rough water capabilities and is now available for sale for $3990.

Tahe Marine

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:46:00 +0000

People have commented to me that Estonia was a strange place to be heading to seek out sea kayaks, considering the usual source destinations for famous designs seem to be the paddling places as well, like Anglesey in North Wales. However, the Tahe story was a bit irresistible. 20 years old, progressing from a small shed in the snowfield above to a cutting edge manufacturing plant that sees them challenging as Europe's biggest kayak builder, with a wide range of boat designs ranging from lake recreational cruisers up to the latest take on rough water kayaks like the striking Zegul boats (pronounced zee-gool, or a Swedish Seagull).

So, I spent the day today with Marek Pohla of Tahe, running through the range of boats we've ordered & seeing firsthand just how the Tahe kayaks are manufactured. To say it's impressive is an understatement. I wasn't quite prepared for the scale or technology of the Tahe factory, and seeing each stage, of the process including the laying up of the cloth for a sexy semi carbon Greenland T.

Marek then showed me through the aerospace vacuum infusing of the Carbon Aramide boats, and the meticulous 'finishing room' where each boat is checked by two skilled craftsmen for even the slightest sign of a flaw or problem.

Marek is driven by a steely determination to make the best possible kayaks, at the best possible price, and he & his brother Janek have spared no expense in building a modern facility to do just that. Unfortunately it's a few weeks now until our order arrives in Australia for the good people in Oz to see what I'm on about, but be prepared for a exceptional product even taking into account the price.

And then of course there is the iconic Greenlander & Greenlander T. 'Lover's of a line' are raving about these boats & they are no less impressive shining in the flesh than the impressive marketing images we see in the leading sea kayaking mags around the world.

Tahe have a heathy annual turnover & a warehouse like a small aircraft hangar with all of their models on display.

Marek & Janek looked after me like royalty, showing me around Tallinn & giving me an insight into their country & of course the rise and rise of their business. If it was wasn't a thousand degrees below zero I would have loved to go for a paddle, but I didn't fancy the idea of following the icebreaker out to welcome the Helsinki ferry to get to open water! I didn't get a photo of it, because I thought I'd get, frostbite winding down the window of Janek's Troopy as we sped along the coast, but sea ice is one bizarre sight for a warm weather dweller like me. We will just have to wait for March to get the Tahe boats on the water.

I'm now in Stockholm en route to London for night before heading to a meeting in Singapore on Thursday. I'm looking forward to a swim.....

Thanks Marek & Janek, I had a ball.....

For those of you heading to the NSWSKC Rock & Roll weekend, as platinum sponsor we have donated a Zegul as the prize for the event raffle, and will have the full range to display to demo paddle.

Life in the Freezer

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:51:00 +0000

Here are a few pics from around Tallinn, definitely not a mecca for sea kayakers, but the home town of the guys from Tahe Marine. Tallin is an absolutely stunning city, but it's not very warm....

Mitchell Blades & Rockpool

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Friday was my day to trip into North Wales to see Lance Mitchell from Mitchell Blades & also Mike Webb from Rockpool.

Lance’s new factory is in Chester, a Roman city with a wall round it keep out the barbarian hordes.

I’m a bit of a sceptic of the car GPS systems – I reckon they slowly kill that part of your brain that navigates, leaving you even less human that you were. However, a combination of jet lag & a rigorous social schedule had well & truly killed the navigation part of my brain already so I was grateful for my little friend telling my to ‘bear right in 800 yards’. Lance is a bit of a go-getter, starting his business in a tiny shed at the back of his parents lovely B&B, and recently moving to a much bigger facility as his order sheets have over flowed. Mitchell Blades have very quickly established themselves as the premier paddle manufacturer in the UK, and it is great to see Lance’s paddles getting more & more refined, lighter & also to see the evolution of some innovative new shapes, such as our own Bomborah.

Lance was hugely helpful showing me around the process of making his paddles, & we came up with a couple of innovations which will be here with our next batch of blades. Look out for the super light Bombora LV, a blade aimed at paddlers looking for a lighter load on the water, and a crank shaft with a broad crank position, eliminating the need to customise the crank to each specific paddler’s stroke.

Lance with the finished product

From Chester I drove down the A55 along the North Wales coastline, through the Welsh ski fields (with almost top to bottom snow), and past the tidal waters that we see in Justine’s ‘This is the Sea’ series. Rockpool are at Holyhead, a stone’s throw from the Anglesey tide races like Penrhyn Mawr. The scenery was stunning; it’s easy to see why this little corner of the world is considered one of the Mecca’s of big water sea kayaking.

Everyone had told me what a great bloke Mike Webb is and it was nice to put a face to an email. Rockpool are a much smaller manufacturer than the likes of Valley, NDK & P&H, so Mike’s ethos is to compete on quality, service & constant evolution. He has developed a racing sea kayak which John Willacy recently blitzed around Anglesey, breaking the circumnavigation record, and is constantly finetuning his signature designs, the Alaw, Alaw Bach and the new GT.

Listening to him explain his logic in designing the myriad features on his range it becomes apparent that he really is at the forefront of modern thinking on boat design & fit out in sea kayaking. It was great to see a few of the boats from Rockpool that we don’t yet import such as the Alaw & the Isel, and to just shoot the breeze for a couple of hours. And yes, there were starfish everywhere......

My day was rounded off with a big send-off at my old cricket club. It’s weird to come back to a town like St Helens after such a long time away (I last played here in 1994). About the only thing that had changed was that everyone had a mobile phone, I felt like Buck Rogers….

I’m now sitting at the airport at Frankfurt nursing a bit of a hangover & the effects of another night with bugger all sleep, waiting to catch a plane to Tallinn, Estonia. Current temp forecast for Tallinn is -17C, which will be a new experience….

Valley

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Today I headed across the winterscape to Nottingham to visit the guys at Valley. They remain in the same factory as the original owner, Frank Goodman, however since taking over the business 4 years ago they have expanded into all of the surrounding buildings.

Valley are a go-ahead company, launching the BigDog whitewater brand this year & having instant success, changing the thinking of sea kayakers with their phalanx of Low Volume kayaks, introducing sea racers like the Rapier 20, and developing a 'look' in the construction of their boats that make them the envy of any paddling pod.

Owners Jason, Pete & Andy are all Great Britain representatives in various paddle sport disciplines and their approach reflects their various fields of expertise with paddle in hand. Jason showed me through their production process, the rigorous QC and a few of the tricks that set Valley apart from their competitors. It was nice to see where our boats come from! New developments include an LV version of the Atlantic, and a Rotomoulded Atlantic which is going to be a bit cheaper than our standard Valley plastic boats.

On the way through Nottingham I had a quick look at Trent Bridge, the famous cricket ground, and spent a fair bit of time dodging minor bingles on the icy roads. Man, for a county in a cold part of the planet, they sure don't deal too well with a cold snap!

With owner Jason Buxton

Heathsnow....

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:06:00 +0000

Wow, landing at Heathrow was like descending through the thickest fog on earth, then touching down on a Siberian runway. The whole airport was blanketed in heavy snow, with more and more falling by the minute.
By the time we taxied to a the gate, the wings were iced up and my window looked like a freezer pack. The lady next to me lives in London and said it was the first time she'd ever seen Heathrow under snow. Outside, it wasn't as cold as some places I've been in the world, but still a shock after leaving Sydney at 39 degrees 24 hours earlier! Hell only knows how I'm going to deal with -22C in Estonia on Saturday!
I caught a shuttle flight to Manchester and then braved the icy motorway to my old stomping ground in St Helens, Lancashire. I can tell you, give me a breaking surf bar over an icy English motorway at 70mph anyday.
Off to Nottingham tomorrow to meet Jason, Pete and Andy at Valley.

Slung out in Singapore

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:52:00 +0000

The onset of manic jetlag at Changi Airport.

I'm en-route to the UK & Estonia, stopping briefly for a burger, an email update & a Singapore Sling at the airport bar.

My trip takes me to my old cricket town in Lancashire, St Helens (the rugby league stronghold), which is basically in the middle of Nottingham (Valley), Chester (Mitchell Blades) and Anglesey (Rockpool). So, I get to tie in a ripper of a social catch up with my old cricket mates with a visit to all of our terrific kayak people in the UK. Life is tough being a kayak importer...

From there I head to Estonia to meet Marek & Janek from Tahe, & hopefull see our boat shipment as it is loaded into the container.

The weather is a bit brisk, so I haven't packed my boardies......

I'll update as I travel through Europe.

Learning to Ski, the Epic V10 Sport.

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:52:00 +0000

At the Queensland Symposium in late November, thanks to Craig Mcsween from Adventure Outlet (the Queensland Epic dealer) I had a go on a couple of the new Epic racing ski’s, the V12 & V10 Sport. Thinking they would be crazy unstable & made for super-fit surf lifesaving athletes I was a bit tentative pushing off the bank at Currumbin Creek & wobbled along on the first few paddle strokes, especially in the real performance boat, the V12.
As I built up a head of steam, I realised that they’re not as unstable as I’d been led to believe, and that the V10 Sport was actually on par with many sea kayaks for the level of stability.
So, as you do, I got hold of one for myself & have spent the last 3 weeks throwing myself into ski paddling on the V10 Sport to see if I can get a small taste of the sort of action you see in the fantastic ski races around Sydney in summer (for a look at a few local races check out Rambo’s Locker).
I began with a couple of gentle paddles in Botany Bay, getting a feel for the extremely close catch zone on a ski compared to a sea kayak. I quickly realised that once you get any sort of following conditions, the ski grows another gear & you find yourself scooting along at 13kmh+ in even a moderate bay chop. The stability hardens up considerably once you’re up over 9kmh, which is achievable on dead flat water at even a moderate cruise pace.
In comparison to a sea kayak like my Aquanaut, the initial stability is a little bit twitchier, but the secondary is comparable, even if it is a ‘different’ type of secondary stability. In my experience & opinion, a sea kayaker with a decent stroke & a moderate level of fitness would make the transition to a V10 Sport without any problems. I wouldn’t make the same recommendation about the V12; they are clearly more demanding boats to paddle on the sea & require a much higher base skill level.
I then took the ski with me to Noosa on our family Xmas holiday, and spent the week going for hour or so long blasts up the river, out through the Noosa Bar & into Laguna Bay. I had a couple of swims on the bar when hit by breaking waves, but quickly & easily remounted to keep on going, even in the surf zone. I’d then head out into the bay upwind, and across the wind to get a feel for the stability & feel of the hull in moderate 15kn winds & little 1m wind waves. I’d finish up with a downwind flyer on the back of the Nor’easter’s that dominated the week, and surf back across the bar riding the swell & surf through the break zone & into the calm of the river again. Once in the river, I’d ride the bow waves of the tinnies & sightseeing boats heading back upriver, cruising along on their wakes at 6-8 knots. As exhilarating as the open ocean & surf zone stuff was, riding bow waves is pretty cool – kind of like being towed along by an invisible line. It’s certainly not something I’ve ever been able to do in a sea kayak!
On arriving back in Sydney, a decent Nor’easter kicked up in Sydney in the first week of January, and I went out with a mate off Malabar to head upwind past Magic Point. The location was deliberate, this is a big water instructing play spot known for rebound & steep swell due to the sub-ocean topography & close proximity of the Maroubra cliffs. In considerable bump, rebound & 2-2.5m steep wind & swell waves coming from a couple of directions at once, the ski was rock solid, very reassuring & ploughed on through the mess with aplomb. Turning around about 3km off Malabar, the steep following swell was pretty intimidating and I didn’t have the bottle to really lean forward & race down the face of the waves. So, backing off a bit on the bigger ones, I gradually got the feel for the tracking of the ski & realised that the rudder position – a good metre forward of the stern – keeps the boat tracking even when the following seas steepen up appreciably. In any ruddered sea kayak, the rudder would have been swinging in the breeze on the wave crests & making me skate around all over the place. After a few minutes of getting a feel for this rather counter intuitive tracking (that is, no sign of a sea kayak-like broach) I began to loosen up & go a bit harder at the following waves. That’s the point when the real fun began. When I occasionally got the timing right, the boat speed down-sea was almost frightening. Oscar Chalupsky, the charismatic co-founder of Epic & multiple world ski champion, told me in a long chat at our warehouse before Xmas that he regularly has his boats charging at 25kmh+ on following seas in South Africa, & I can believe it. You go so fast that the schoolboy fear of skateboard speed wobbles come flooding back, that part terror, part exhilaration when you feel as though one false move will bring you crashing down. Not that I’m anything but a dead-set novice, but the trick to it on a surf ski is to relax & enjoy the ride, then make use of the speed you’ve picked up on the run to latch onto the next one & so on. I can honestly say that the moments when I got it right rate among the most thrilling bits of paddling I’ve done on the ocean since I first began paddling sea kayaks on the sea nearly a decade ago.
Have a look HERE at Oscar riding small wind swell in the recent 20 beaches race off Sydney's Northern Beaches & tell me it doesn't make you want to get out there & ride some following waves!
‘OK’ you’re saying, ‘but what will the ski do for me, I’m a sea kayaker’.
Personally, I love being taken out of my comfort zone. In my sporting career it was always a thrill & challenge to go up a grade or be picked in a representative team, where you would be pushed harder & challenged against more & more difficult & aggressive opponents. My greatest memories in sport were batting against test bowlers like Malcolm Marshall and Glen McGrath, or bowling to guys like Michael Bevan or Michael Slater at club level. While I love my sea kayak & learn something new just about every time I go out, the idea of trying something that I’m nowhere near as proficient at, while still being a paddle sport is exhilarating. Another aim for 2010 is to have a proper crack at white water paddling, but I think I’ll have to clone myself to make that little fantasy come true….
So, as to the reasons why, I’ve narrowed that down to three big things that I’m hoping to get out of it, besides the overall challenge. First, the fantastic high knee position ergonomics of the seat allows to you rotate fully in your forward stroke. In the ski I exit my stroke & rotate all the way around to the next catch using all of the power my torso & legs can provide, where in my sea kayaks this is limited by the deck on the boat restricting my leg drive. It will eventually make me a much faster & stronger paddler. Second, although the V10 Sport is very stable, the ski requires a little more than sea kayak-style remote control balance, so I have to use my core strength if I want to wring everything out of it. Finally, the potential for a really high, resistance-free cadence helps me to build my paddle speed, acceleration & my paddling ‘under duress’. In my sporting career, practice under stress made for perfect execution under pressure when you needed it, and the ski offers plenty of high octane concentration, reflex training & pure speed. You want to make an hour turn into a few minutes? Take a ski out on a decent following sea & watch the time go past in a flash…!
Add to that the ability to pull a 15kg boat off the roof, throw it on your shoulders with just a pfd & a pair of cossies & head out for an hours fitness cruising & it is a high-reward, low maintenance addition to your paddling quiver. Like all of the things we like & believe in, we will be selling the V10 Sport from early February. The boat we think is best suited to our sea kayaking devotees looking to make the transition to a surf ski is the V10 Sport, in the Club layup, which is the ‘heaviest’ of the Epic layups at 15kg, but runs out at a very affordable $2750. It's a sleek 6m long, with a beamy 48cm width, with a lot of beam behind your seating position, accounting for the excellent stability.
If you’re interested in trying one out, we offer an ocean test paddle, with Rob or I sitting alongside in a sea kayak with full safety gear etc, and advice on how best to get the most out of the boat. You won’t go away from one of our demo paddles with any doubts as to whether these ski’s are for you, and the novice blues will be allayed with an informed instructional first paddle.
Not all sea kayakers will get a kick out of the V10 Sport, but if my experience is anything to go by, there will be more than a few out there who will find this rising phenomena every bit as enjoyable as our noble & ancient sport. I am learning that every single paddling discipline has technical lessons for sea kayakers, and ski paddling is one of the great ways to fast track performance skills in a kayak, no question.
Keep an eye on our website for details of when our stock arrives.

2009 - the best bits....

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:25:00 +0000

With some damn early mornings while up here in Noosa, thanks to the bizarre refusal of Queenslanders to go the daylight savings path, and the rooster genes of my kids, I've been reflecting back on my year on the water.

Our growing business has seen us travelling extensively through the year, instructing & putting on demo days around the country, and several highlights stand out.

First & foremost, there was nothing more bizarre than sitting in a car with 5 bearded men on a lonely Tasmanian country road, in earnest discussion about how long it had been since anyone had shaved. I was feeling pretty swarthy with my bristly 6 day growth - a desperate attempt for sea kayak credibility considering I had been instructing blokes who had been paddling for almost as long as I'd been alive - but of course my own George Michael try-hard wasn't worthy of comment. The tally's started to roll in like the scores from a Sunday arvo 'round the grounds' report, 14 years, 22 years, 13 years, 18 years & I believe the winner was a razor-saving 25 years. It was beard nirvana....

And the winner is.....

A close second was the feast the night after this hair-inspiring ride, when the locals snared a sackful of abalone & fried them up for us fresh with garlic, lemon & butter, washed down with a few glasses of local red. A paddling experience from the heavens....

I had an awesome weekend with the Hunter Klanners up at Umina, with another hliarious evening topped off with an All Blacks win in the Bledisloe Cup, and a great day messing around in boats on the Sunday. The famous Rjimlad attempted to give me the spectrum of philosophical answers to the question of why the chicken crossed the road, and my head is still spinning at the possibilities in that little chestnut.

I got a rare opportunity to go for a paddle for me, and spent a memorable couple of days getting to & from Broughton Island with my mates. The highlight of that little sojourn was Rob asking my mate Stacka if he'd like to go for a walk once we'd arrived at BI, maybe check some of the wildflowers & unique geography. Stacka had done his share of towing during the afternoon, always a hoot into a 15kn headwind, and was sitting prone on the grass at Esmeralda Cove. Without even turning his head to offer the excited Mercer a glance of contempt, he hissed 'why would I want to go for a walk? I can go for a walk at home.....'

Up at Currumbin for the Sea Kayak Symposium I had a great but all-too-brief paddle with Amanda Rankin, who basically sent me back to elementary school on my forward stroke. The rule of thumb, rotation doesn't stop when your blade exits the water! All that was mising was a polite pad on the head, and a 'on your way to do some more practice, little fella...'

I led a failed insurrection against the NSWSKC, gloriously failing to rename the draconian 'President' moniker to the more nautical 'Commodore'. Despite a unanimous vote in favour of the change at the club's AGM, the tyranny of incumbency was cruelly exposed as the motion was unceremoniously squashed by a bureaucratic maneuver straight from the despot's handbook for oppression. To quote Vincent Lingiari, 'If we fall, others are rising'. The quest for a Commodore will continue in 2010.

I've been lucky enough to have a paddle in 10 new & different boat designs, including my beloved Rapier, which has fundamentally transformed the way I paddle. Add to that the Anas Acuta, Nordkapp LV, three Big Dog whitewater boats, the North Shore Atlantic, the 'holy grail' Rockpool GT, the amazing TRAK folding kayak, the uber-cult Avocet, and just in the last week or so, a racing surf ski, the Epic V10 Sport. Just yesterday on the bar up here at Noosa I had yet another one of my highlights, paddling the ski in & out of the bar break, riding the incoming NE waves against the 3kn outgoing tide, with slop & mess in all directions. Without my Rapier training I think I would have been a ski swimmer, but it was a revelation about how stable the Sport is to paddle compared to the other hard core racing skis.

I also had a go with a Greenland paddle, the formerly 'only-for-old-codgers', now 'modern-accessory-for-the-sea kayaker-not-afraid-of-being-out-and-proud'. It was interesting the the UK's esteemed Ocean Paddler Magazine has seen fit to grace their pages with a review of three sticks, reflecting the revivial that continues apace.

So, a year to remember for sure for all the good reasons.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the blog, bought one of our boats or a piece of our gear, demo'd a kayak, or stopped for a chat at an event or by the water's edge.

Have a great 2010.

Mark.

Farewell Freya....

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:41:00 +0000

Freya Hoffmesiter (photo Andre Janecki - www.hybridaustralia.com - to see a full photo gallery of the night from Andre, click HERE)

A magic Sydney summer evening at Neilsen Park on the harbour played host to Freya Hoffmeister's final night in the country she has successfully circumnavigated by kayak.

An entranced audience of paddlers & admiriers listened in as Freya tried to convey the mindset & scope of her epic paddle. She showed us how she managed to sleep out on the Gulf of Carpentaria, laying back like an aquabound crucifix holding a double floated paddle, the big bite marks on the stern of her boat courtesy of a friendly Noah at Broome, her boat itself, the vessel that she propelled 13,000km clockwise around the country, in just on 11 months, and most of all she gave glimpses into her motivation.

The Epic 18X which took Freya from Broome to the finish.

Her decision to call the trip a race was a masterstroke, when you consider the mindset of the competitive athlete. A race gives you a goal, an opponent (even if the hologram of Paul Caffyn was tailing her through the pages of his book), a finishing line & the motivation to keep going. It's not the usual approach of the recreational sea kayaker, but Freya is sure not your usual paddler. The idea of competition & measurement don't tend to do it for most sea kayakers, but if there is one thing we can learn from Freya's paddle & her talk, it's that it doesn't hurt to push yourself and aspire.

Rob Mercer does the intro.

I was speaking to friends & paddlers present on the night, & we were talking about the biggest days we have ever done on the water. Many of us can claim a 60km or 70km day here & there, but the question is, 'what did you do the next day?' Not too many hopped up & did it again, or maybe punched out 80 or 90km, & then another 60km the next day & so on. Forget the uber paddling like the Gulf of Carpentaria & the cliffs, just the mental toughness to keep at it boggles the mind.

Before she left for her circumnavigation we had dinner & after meeting her I wrote:

"Starting with a 2500km stretch from Victoria up through the East Coast surf zone where just about every single day you will have a very serious surf landing & exit with a fully loaded boat. Factor in the afternoon Nor'easterlies that predominate through the 2 months of her journey north, & her goal of 60km + per day, & she will have very early starts & a very solid pace to beat the demoralising headwinds. Then the 'pleasure' of the protected reef zone, with the onset of the trade winds, 25-30 knot daily winds which produce technical, almost surfing following paddling conditions. Then the vast loneliness of the top end, with the crocs, huge tidal zones, heat & humidity, & the lack of regular re-stock. Consider that this stretches right across the top of the continent, eventually giving way to the rugged WA coast, with it's unbroken cliffs stretching as far as 130km at a time. Clear that & you hit probably the biggest surf zone in the country, down through Margaret River & Esperance, where 16 second wave periods create miles of unlandable surf, then turn the corner to the Great Australian Bight for the 'run home'."

Probably the only bullet she dodged on the way around was the benign conditions on 90 mile beach in the first 2 weeks of her paddle, otherwise Australia threw the lot at her!
An amazing feat & an amazing lady, happy travels Freya, enjoy Xmas back with your family, & we hope to see you again.

Freya farewells her newest fan, my little girl Kiri.

A night with the Hoff #2

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:40:00 +0000

Freya returns! Fresh from her circumnavigation of mainland Australia by kayak, Freya Hoffmeister will give a talk & Q&A on her amazing 11 month voyage on Saturday, December 19. The venue is the beautiful Neilsen Park Pavilion on Sydney Harbour. Chris James & his team from the Neilsen Park Venues will cater for the evening with food & drinks available for purchase. As notice for this event is short & Freya realises that many people will have prior social engagements, the evening will begin at 6pm, and wind up at about 7.30pm. The work Xmas party is no excuse to miss this substantial chapter of kayaking folklore from Freya herself!
Tickets for the event are $20 per person, with all proceeds going to Freya's very expensive repatriation to Germany. It's a great way to lend a hand to this amazing lady after a long & expensive expedition, while at the same time being there first hand to hear about one of history's great adventures. Freya will be available to answer all of the questions that you may have on a trip that has truly captured the imagination of the kayaking world. You can order tickets online through the our store (click the image above or browse through the left menu)but hurry, spaces are strictly limited. If you have any queries contact Mark Sundin on 0417924478, or mark@expeditionkayaks.com.

Tahe Marine - Coming Soon......

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:40:00 +0000

If there is one kayak manufacturer who seems to have captured the imagination of sea kayakers around the world, it's the clever & innovative Tahe Marine from northern Europe. Their Greenland design in particular seems to have had a major hand in re-igniting the interest in Greenland paddling & rolling, with it's clean low-volume lines & sexy black finish. This boat was exposed to a wide range of paddlers last weekend at the Queensland Symposium, thanks to the owner of the only one in Australia, Brian Towell, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. I think it's safe to say that, skin on frame boats aside, this is the worlds easiest kayak to roll.
A bit of investigation & some candid correspondence with Tahe reveals that they are no one-trick pony, and are also turning out some other brand new designs worthy of a closer look.

So, we have ordered a shipment from Tahe, and included three designs, the Greenland, Greenland T (a larger Greenland boat for touring or bigger paddlers), the Wind 585, a fast, narrow fitness or touring boat, and a rather special looking boat called the Zegul.

The Zegul in particular has some impressive pedigree. Designed by Johan Wirsén, the creator of the Point65 XP, this boat shares some of the excellent features that made the XP a fast, high performance design, but with added sea attributes like a fuller bow (to prevent pearling in following seas) & a shallower keel line (to give a less twitchy initial stability). It has some very good reviews overseas commenting on the speed downwind, stability in genuinely big water, and the great handling of the swede form hull. The Zegul is available in an expedition size (Zegul 550) & a low volume (Zegul 530). It promises to be a fresh new entrant into a growing & diverse market.

Keep an eye on our website for these boats, stock is due in 2010, prices start from $3190.

Rumblin in Currumbin #2

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:27:00 +0000

Rob & I have just returned from an indulgent long weekend at Currumbin on the Gold Coast, where we attended the National Sea Kayak Symposium, run by Queensland Canoeing.
The event was well supported, with well over 100 paddlers attending, guest speakers, on-land talks & seminars, and a full day of on-water instruction & workshops. We drove up on Thursday in order to run our own demo day at Currumbin on Friday. Unlike last year I managed to get to Queensland without running the trailer into a petrol bowser, running out of gas or crunching a low clearance hotel entrance, so all up a pleasingly professional performance behind the wheel.
The Friday saw over 30 paddlers come along & test paddle our boats & paddles. With our shipment of Tahe kayaks due in the New Year, several people took the opportunity to put the exceptional Greenland through its paces, kindly accommodated by the owner of the only one in the country, Bass Strait veteran Brian Towell.

Greg Schwarz rolling the Tahe Greenland

Feedback from Greenland rolling boffins like Greg & Moira Schwarz & Steve Simovic was that it was the world’s easiest kayak to roll, while Brian reports that it is a low-volume joy to paddle on day trips.

Steve Simovic relaxing in the Currumbin sun.

We met many of the high octane stars of the lively Sea Kayak Forum, with pseudonyms like Raider, Gray Raider, Gnarlydog, Karrazy among them putting faces & real names to the exponents of shameful opinion & online humour!

The Raider with a cross-bow draw....!

On the Sunday I took a willing bunch of guys, Rhys, Alex, Glenn & Gary (who also responds well when you call him Dave for an hour, sorry mate…) out to practice some raised edge surfing on the much touted Currumbin Bar. A 20 knot northerly had turned the gleaming glassy swells I’d been dreaming of in days prior into something that looked more like the river in Deliverance. With great gusto the guys slugged it out in an hour of bracing, buffeting & surviving, but I don’t think we were really any the wiser on technique at the end. At least it was almost fun…..

EK HQ at the Sunday on-water event.

Rob & I had the humbling experience of a half hour or so of informal forward stroke critique from Amanda Rankin, a great lady & K1 & K4 Olympian at the Athens games in 2004. Doing my best to hold form in the Rapier as Amanda cast her expert eye over my stroke, she concluded that a few things I really truly thought I was doing well need substantial amounts of work. Without boring you with the details, it was fantastic to be given something to again set my sights on to improve. Why on earth sea kayakers can believe that we have nothing to learn from other paddle disciplines is beyond me – Amanda’s forward stroke was a sight to behold at close quarters & has inspired me to get rotating. To those of you out there that I have barked at over the years for not rotating, well, I wasn’t even doing it properly myself, so there you go!

Silvio Testa back from a trip to the edge in the Rapier 20.

The single most pleasing aspect of the weekend was the ambition of the paddlers in attendance. At our demo day on the Friday just about everyone was rolling, performing tricks, drills, showing good form & modern technique. There is no hard-arsed intelligentsia who tell it like it is in Queensland, and the newest ideas get oxygen just as readily as the older lessons are absorbed. Friday was a bit of a skills extravaganza, with advanced strokes on display from some paddlers who have only been paddling for a few months. Martin are you out there? It was great to see. Over a bottle of wine on Friday night Rob & I pondered a guy like Nigel Dennis, certainly one of the modern fathers of sea kayak instruction, and how over the years he has managed to always have the newest ideas. At no stage has he hung up his skirt & decided there is nothing left to learn & everyone has to do it like they’ve always done it, and that in many ways exemplifies the skills revolution that is taking place in Queensland. In a sport with its fair share of crusty old buggers who refute anything counter to their time honoured rituals, always remember there is another, better way of doing things around the corner.

A broad church of ideas....

The kayak industry was also on show in its brightest incarnation, with a refreshing camaraderie among competing business, boats & personalities. Everything from Surf Kayaks to Surf Skis were on show for paddlers to try out, with a vast resource of information in the trades hall available to anyone with a question or query. Ten minutes talking to Ross Cook from Roscoe’s Canoes is like a mini history lesson in the way the paddling world has developed in this country, while it is always a pleasure to catch up with guys like Christian from Roscoe’s, top instructor & owner of Adventure Outlet, Craig McSween (despite all that stuff they say about him ;-)), & Bob ‘the legend’ from Rafta Kayaks.

The queue for the Tahe Greenland

All up a top weekend for sea paddlers. Thanks so much to everyone who made the effort to come along & see what we had on offer, it felt like a reunion most of the time. We’ll be back at this event next year, it was a ripper.

National Sea Kayak Symposium, Queensland

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:15:00 +0000

It's hard to believe it's almost a year since we attended the inaugural National Sea Kayak Symposium at Currumbin on the Gold Coast, and now here we are in November '09 & it's come around again. We will be exhibiting & instructing at the Symposium, with our full range of TRAK, Valley, North Shore & Rockpool demos available for a paddle as well as bringing a display packed with all of our Reed, Kavu, Mitchell Blades, Greenland Paddles, and all of the other unique gear which set us apart from the rest of the market. We will have a great extended trailer for the Gordon Brown DVD showing on our stand, as well as the DVD & books for sale at a Symposium special price. Don't miss our demo on the amazing TRAK folder; the performance sea kayak that folds away into a golf bag.
We are also holding a demo day prior to the Symposium at Currumbin, from 10am - 3pm on Friday November 27. All of our demo boats will be there, and as usual we will sit along side you in the water offering instruction & advice on your paddling. If you'd like to come along please email me - mark@expeditionkayaks.com - for more info.
At the Symposium itself, Rob & I will also be leading a couple of advanced instruction sessions, however we're available over the whole weekend to answer your questions on or off the water about all things technical, boat choices, gear & more. Make sure you say G'day.
Click on the graphic above if you're interested in registering, there are still places left & it promises to be a terrific, informative & entertaining weekend.

The Broughring Forties

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:09:00 +0000

“At 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgment.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Forty isn't old, if you're a tree”
Bob Hope

So it comes to pass, I’ve joined the demographic of my paddling mates in middle age. Luckily for me, one of my best mates, Glen Hastings, AKA Stacka the Attacka was born on the exact same day as me, November 7, 1969, and we have a tradition of co-hosting the big milestones in our lives. When we turned 30, we booked out the Icebergs at Bondi, had 250 people, some of whom we even knew, & enjoyed a raging party that went from midday to midnight, with two bands pumping out our favourite music, tanned & healthy people wall-to-wall, a boozy haze of good feelings & optimism & a very blurred recollection of the whole thing. Kind of like the Expedition Kayaks beer & pizza ‘Welcome to Rock & Roll’ party, except the only people over 40 were Mums, Dads & Aunties, and there was great music, and umm, it didn’t finish at 8 O’clock.
So, for our 40th, with that sort or roof-raising legacy to maintain, we thought it might be a good idea to paddle out to Broughton Island for a night & sulk. Stacka is a ski paddler who would find paddling a barge of a sea kayak a breeze, a former Bondi lifeguard who is pretty dark on the fact that the current bunch of imposters are now international household names and he’s just a suburban bloke with a bagful of very funny stories.

Stacka

We also wanted another one of our best mates, Adrian Janschek, AKA the Adonis, to come out & share in the gloom, as he will turn 40 in June. Adonis has absolutely no paddling experience, but is a super fit ex-rower, rugby player & a very determined dude (just how determined we were about to find out). Safe in the knowledge that he earns a crust as an investment banker, we figured if he came to grief among the big water around Broughton, a world with one less bonds analyst has got to be a better world.

The Adonis, looking VERY confident.

To round out the safety of a foursome (actually he was really the first bloke we figured HAD to come), we asked Rob Mercer along, to give us some grief counselling about what it’s like to be 50 (yes folks, despite all my treacherous rumour mongering, he is actually only 50).
With a forecast promising a 15kn headwind throwing up a metre & a half sea on top of a 2m swell for day one, and similar following conditions for the return trip, we decided to go from Shoal Beach inside Nelson Bay, and run past the beautiful offshore islands on our way out to Broughton Island, approximately 20km to the north east. We were all smiles as we skipped past Tomaree Head and across the Pt Stephens heads to Yaccaba.
The refraction & tidal movement started to produce a little bit of rebound as we neared the end of the headland, and then Adonis took a swim. He had a bit of a stunned look on his face as he popped up, and had given no prior hint of instability; just a misplaced paddle stroke that tripped him up & gave him a bath.

Quick as a wink we emptied his boat & had him back in, pointed towards Cabbage Tree Island and away. A minute or two later he was in again, back in again, on his way again, then in again, back in again, but this time we thought it pertinent to actually reassess the whole thing. At that point I was thinking a raging party at the Shoal Bay Fisho’s might be a better idea, but as Stacka is actually banned from the place after a previous brouhaha, that was quickly discounted. Adrian was adamant he felt fine, but just wished he didn’t keep falling in, so we let him continue in the slightly more unidirectional water between Yaccaba & Cabbage Tree.
One more capsize on the way there had us in earnest discussion in the lee of Cabbage Tree Island about the wisdom of continuing. We took into account the distance to go to BI – about 11km. The wind had eased to about 10 knots on the nose, and once clear of the islands we would be in open water with much less confusion in the sea & swell direction. Adrian was well kitted out, physically strong, warm despite the swims, well fuelled, in the company of two sea instructors (one of whom is actually very good) & another very solid paddler who typically was thinking the whole thing was a piece of p-ss (keep reading folks). We decided to push on.
With the distant silhouette of Broughton in his sights, the Adonis then sucked it up, gingerly driving his boat through the head-sea conditions, with a phalanx of attentive newly middle-aged blokes taking turns at watching his every twitch. Halfway across he had another unplanned bath, so we hooked up a V-Tow with support to give him a bit of a breather. Stacka thought it was clever to point out that my line was a bit less slack than 50 years old Mercer’s after about 30 minutes of load hauling. Never mind that the old bugger was in the Rockpool GT and is, well, bloody faster than me…! After the outburst, Rob & I figured we’d give Mr Frustrated Bondi Rescue a go on his own for a while.
He did so well (this time with the Adonis back swinging his paddle & looking as strong as ever), that we didn’t think it was necessary to relieve him until one last capsize near the infamous ‘Commodore’s Cleft’.
Rob hooked in & towed alongside the now chastened and pleasingly fatigued Stacka until it was calm enough to remove the towlines & allow Adonis to breeze past everyone & claim line honours at Esmeralda Cove. In all seriousness, think about the scope of what Adrian managed in the context of your own paddling. No prior experience, seven capsizes in what was a reasonably intimidating sea, with a island on the horizon that never really looks like it’s getting any closer until you get right to it’s front door mat, into a headwind. We were confident we could get him out there by any one of a number of assists, and could have V-towed him all the way there & back if it was called for. However to do it mostly on his own was entirely dependent on him holding his nerve. Falling in is pretty unnerving stuff in a big bad ocean, and I’ve seen lots of paddlers with heaps of experience understandably pack it in after a couple of swims. Adonis mate, if anyone ever tries to tell you you’re not tenacious, determined & brave, give them my number.
A typically ungenerous Hastings was unwilling to relinquish the towline saying something along the lines of ‘I’m not going to give the bastard the pleasure of landing under his own steam’, but wiser & more charitable heads prevailed.
The weather had cleared & the island revealed itself in all of its majesty; one hell of a destination for any paddlers out there with a good skill set in an experienced group, if you’re wondering…...
We made camp, went for a short walk to the south facing side of the island, a beautiful wind-swept island part Royal National Park, part Outer Hebrides.
We then adjourned to Rob’s tarp for a spectacular feed pre-prepared & snap frozen during the week by Rob’s saintly better half, Sharon Betteridge. You know what they say folks, behind every great man is a great woman, rolling her eyes. The sky was as black as a JP Morgan investment bankers heart and shooting stars & satellites began to reveal themselves, remarkably more frequently as we knocked back the third bottle of red.

Sundo & Stacka, looking a hundred dollars. Red anyone...?

It was great to sit out there, having well & truly earned our miles, with three of my great mates reliving the funniest moments of the times we’ve all had together. Especially so when we’d all worked so hard & closely to get Adrian out there (none harder then the Adonis himself, of course). The swooping Mutton birds kept things interesting too, with one managing to wing Adrian on a particularly brave sortee. Not that I heard, but the guys reckon the mutton birds were having a convention behind us during the night, showing each other wonderful new things and saying ‘ohhh’, ‘wow’, ‘ooohhhh’. You’ve got to have heard the Mutton birds to get the joke…..
The next day dawned bright with sunny skies & a noticeable easing of the sea state, highlighted by a Humpback doing a mighty breach at the mouth of Esmeralda Cove.

Learning the lessons of the previous day, we swapped Adrian over to the Aquanaut HV, a much bigger & more solid boat in the water than the North Shore Atlantic he’d paddled out. We then weighed it down with all of the heavy kit, paying special attention to trim, with a higher proportion of weight in the stern. This would serve to anchor the stern & keep the boat tracking straight in the following conditions. So we packed up, did a quick refresher with Adrian on low bracing & edges, and set off for the mainland.
What a difference a day makes. With the far more challenging following seas picking us up and scooting us along at a cracking pace, Adrian held it together across the entire passage to Cabbage Tree.
The rides on offer were marvellous big long surf runs on nicely paced following seas, the one truly exhilarating element of our sport. We turned at the eastern edge of Cabbage Tree Island & ran with the swell all the way back into Shoal Bay, making the return journey in just over two & a half hours.
With high fives all round we packed up the boats & gear & headed to the Marina for a monster feed and a couple of cold libations. My beer was so cold it hurt……
A fantastic way to cap off a trip with a top bunch of people to a spectacular & challenging destination, and a worthy celebration.
So, Stacka & I can safely say we’ve started our terminal decline with a memory we’ll cherish for years, as opposed to entering our thirties with a memory we’ve, ah, what did we do for out thirtieth again….?

(note, there is a comprehensive report with more photos on the Articles page of the website)

Rocking & Rolling with the Tasweigans

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:12:00 +0000

Geoff & Lynn Murray, my mates from Tassie & the original globe-trotting sea kayakers were in town last week for a test paddle for Geoff of the new Rockpool GT. We launched from the protection of Watson's Bay & rounded South Head into some moderate Nor' Easterly breeze & a confused chop, remnants of a few days of southerly weather.Lynn was challenged by the steep & unpredictable wave action, but managed to negotiate the heads all the way across to North Head, where things had peaked up a little higher. Rather than head around the very committing stretch to Blue Fish Point we decided a coffee in little Manly was a more prudent goal, and then ran the following swell along the cliffline of North Head back into the shelter of Quarantine Bay. Lynn hadn't previously been exposed to steep following conditions before, and negotiated the unstable feeling lifting from astern like a trooper. She even managed to ride the last half dozen swells into the calm of Quarantine with a smile on her face!

After a good stiff coffee, we traversed the harbour to Grotto Point in search of a wave for Geoff, but couldn't find much on offer.

We then headed back across the shipping lanes to Watto Bay for a cold James Boags & a counter lunch at the pub. The paddle was a beauty, with the majesty of the harbour on show, enough lump & bump to make things interesting & some good food!

Lynn got the gold star for staying with it when she got past her comfort zone and eventually enjoying some bigger water then she's used to.

Fat Paddling....

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:25:00 +0000

On a really lovely spring afternoon in Sydney yesterday, I was joined by Sean Smith, the world famous Fat Paddler on a demo paddle of a couple of our boats. Sean is a real character, an ex Rugby player who has spent a bit of time lately recovering from a serious car smash that has cut short his footy, & left him in need of a new physical challenge. He set himself to do the Hawkesbury Classic, a 111km race from the foot of Sydney's Blue Mountains to the mouth of it's biggest river, which he completed last weekend after 6 months of training. He's documented everything on his excellent website, fatpaddler.com.

Yesterday was all about giving our two big blokes boats a run, so we went for a paddle around Middle Harbour in the NDK Explorer HV and the Valley Aquanaut HV. Sean's been paddling with a rudderred boat since beginning his Hawkesbury Classic quest, so it was a new thing to get into a design where directional stability is more dependent on your core strength & body weight distribution, as opposed to your big toes. He got the hang of it pretty quick, as I tend to expect from people with a sporting background, and was soon getting the boats to head in the generally desired direction, despite a building sea breeze mostly on the beam. We rounded Grotto Point into some small wind chop, & Sean did what all good demo paddlers should do, & pushed the boat in bigger water past his comfort zone, into the ...er.... liquid zone. I reckon you never learn much about any boat unless you're prepared to fall out of it!

After a quick rescue we rode the building wind waves back into the shelter of middle harbour & spent half an hour working on the holy grail of all kayaking, proper body rotation. All up a beaut arvo on the water with one of Sydney's paddling characters. Keep an eye on the Fat Paddler.com for updates on Sean's adventures!

John Anderson & Stability

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:57:00 +0000

John Anderson in his Nordkapp

Hunter paddler John Anderson has written a superb summary of the concept of stability on the excellent Hunter Klan website. A man of science, John has managed to capture in very simple terms the idea that some boats get more stable as they are loaded, that secondary stability is a measureable & important quality, and that this is a very important consideration when you're trying to decide what is best for you for your style of paddling. The article has been posted on our Articles page in the left menu, or you can see it by clicking the link HERE.

Thanks John for permission to reproduce....

Chris Walker in the Rapier 20

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:37:00 +0000

Adventurer Chris Walker is the latest addition to the 'Rapier Club', having taken delivery of his shiny new boat last month. He's put together a great little video of a recent blast on the harbour in the Rapier, complete with a few rolls & some high octane speed! Click the image above for the vision.

Chris is an adventurer and motivational speaker who regularly travels the globe leading treks for private individuals & groups. You can see his website HERE.

Queensland's First GT

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:57:00 +0000

Queensland kayaker Graham Dredge has had his maiden paddle in the first Rockpool GT to head north of the Tweed. After a wild test paddle which included the charge of the Orca Brigade, Graham was sold on the terrific alround capabilities of this head turning new design from Rockpool.

Look our for the glitter & starfish on the waters of SE Queensland...!

Big Dog...woof!

mark@expeditionkayaks.com (Mark Sundin - Expedition Kayaks) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:04:00 +0000

Coming in November for demo paddling & custom orders, Britains newest & fastest growing whitewater brand, Big Dog.
Owners Peter Orton, Jason Buxton and Andy "Snakey" Whiting, from Valley fame, have all held down influential development and managerial roles within the paddlesport industry. As paddlers they have represented Great Britain on countless occasions. Many of the kayaks already accepted as benchmarks within white-water, sea, surf and squirt paddling were designed or developed by one or more of this team. Despite Big Dog being a new venture there really are few other companies, anywhere in the world, with this level of experience on their books.
Big Dog has only one focus, making the very best whitewater kayaks available!
We’ll have stock on hand of the Flux, Force & Kaos. Contact Mark or Rob to arrange a blast in the most radically designed playboats to hit the scene in years….