tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155731772009-12-20T17:43:23.631+01:00a sea kayaking journalAxelnoreply@blogger.comBlogger147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-65046756485746226622009-12-20T13:17:00.004+01:002009-12-20T13:42:41.210+01:00

It has been snowing now for hours on end, resulting in four inches of snow. Winter arrived. The annual arrival of Red Robin is a sure sign of imminent freezing temperatures. Why, I do not know, but generally a day or two after I first sight Red Robin in the garden it allways starts to freeze...New this year (for me) is the Ring-necked Parakeet. First I thought it was an escaped cage bird (which

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-52342140985720898082009-12-15T20:33:00.020+01:002009-12-15T21:23:28.839+01:00

Logo designed by Domingo BenitezFreya Hoffmeister completed her circumnavigation of Australia.Awesome and 'amazing' !I met a strange lady, she made me nervousShe took me in and gave me breakfast(Men at Work - Down Under)

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-34071076249875433102009-12-14T23:59:00.004+01:002009-12-15T20:31:45.285+01:00

Albert-Jan, A friend of mine, executed 15 rolls within two minutes for charity and thus collected 1763,40 euro.The biggest challenge for him would not be the rolling itself, but the current near-freezing water (and air!) temperatures... Albert-Jan opened my eyes (wide) some years ago when he hand-rolled in a tide-race in the week of his Advanced Sea Proficiency assessment. That was before all the

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-42291767843179332022009-11-15T22:00:00.000+01:002009-11-16T08:34:53.173+01:00

Today was the last day of a coach workshops that the Dutch Canoe Union (NKB) organised for (aspirant) kayak coaches. The focus of this three-day course was on the needs, wants and fears of students; when it becomes coaching instead of just 'instruction'.

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-31579309559059290782009-11-08T23:00:00.007+01:002009-11-09T12:44:22.372+01:00

We drove down to Pembrokeshire for a weekend of surfing. I brought over my Mega Neutron surf kayak to try out in 'proper surf'. Barry is trying-out his recent acquisition, a wave ski. Justine has a Valley Storm to try. Phil is boarding. So a lot of toys for in the surf. Sunday turned-out to be a gorgeous sunny day at Whitesands Bay. An almost off-shore wind and a nice rip-current along the rocks

Axelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-80864146254574299812009-11-05T22:00:00.003+01:002009-11-12T14:14:52.855+01:00

It's Justine's birthday today and off we (Justine, Barry, Tara. Hugh and me) went to the Lligwy river. Surf-lines kindly lend me a Dagger river kayak. I paddled once before on the Lligwy. But now water levels are very high. Because of the heavy rains over the last days other potential rivers are out of the question. Hugh is the most experienced river paddler and I listen carefully to his advice.

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-29531241472110315652009-10-26T11:04:00.002+01:002009-10-26T11:04:30.980+01:00

A little over a month ago I was contacted by Sam Stuthridge, who lives in Germany. Sam and Colin Appleby were planning a charity challenge to sea kayak, unsupported, from Nijmegen (Holland) along the Waal River to Rotterdam, along the coast of Holland, Belgium and France before crossing the Channel at Calais/Dover and finally making their way up the Thames estuary to finish at the Tower of

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-52232546446559120832009-10-18T20:00:00.000+02:002009-10-20T20:01:36.477+02:00

The new Dutch kayak coaching scheme has no formal pre-requisites how the aspirants learn about coaching. That there is a big demand for those courses showed itself when Arie and Han Kreuk organized coaching workshop days. Last year's course was solidly overbooked. Today 30-some (aspirant) kayak coaches listened to dynamic lectures and participated in workshops by Watze de Vries and Pieter de Haas

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-42591810393242873002009-10-11T23:00:00.006+02:002009-10-12T15:47:50.947+02:00

Above is the first picture of my surf kayak; trying to get off the beach with fins takes a bit more effort or very much appreciated help.I went out surfing with the Uitgeest kayak club at Castricum aan Zee. They have a very active surf group and Anoushka and Wieger invited me to join them today.My kayak felt more stable than ever. I am apparently getting used to it. That it takes time to get used

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-84180356260422680122009-09-27T14:03:00.027+02:002009-12-20T17:43:23.643+01:00

This week I was re-united with a long (thought forever) lost friend. I found the good old Lady back on the internet. Stronger than ever, world-wide via internet radio stream and satellite.My first memories of listening to music radio stations go back to 1973. I was eleven years old. Then it was Radio Veronica and Radio North Sea International. When they died in 1974, because of anti "Pirate Radio

Axelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-7843169906188484162009-08-25T20:20:00.012+02:002009-10-01T15:26:32.054+02:00

I never would have thought that my first course on a river would be in a canoe! Phil Hadley, Jennifer Kleck, Karl Anderson, Ginni Callahan and I headed of for the Clackamas River in Oregon for two days of 4-star canoe leader training.Click on below picture for a slide-show.I definitely had some thoughts if my skills would be good enough to join them. I came prepared for lots of swimming practice.

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-71057285339307758352009-08-23T21:21:00.005+02:002009-10-01T15:25:40.644+02:00

I very much enjoyed my third Lower Columbia River Kayak Round-Up. Great weather and excellent paddling conditions. Click on below picture (Ginni is creating wind waves for the Coastal Navigation & Tidal Planning course) to start a slide-show.Some highlights... Working with Gene Totz on Performance Paddling; doing video analysis, I had a difficult time analyzing Gene's forward paddling. During the

Axelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-70149140808755393722009-08-09T21:00:00.016+02:002009-10-01T15:15:51.829+02:00

This is the third year we are at the great location of the BKC soccer club in Anna Paulowna. In this part of the Netherlands there is water on three sides. The North Sea on the west coast, the IJsselmeer in the east and the Waddenzee in the North. Always options to paddle for everyone.The last day we try to have one trip for all the participants. Generally we end-up on the IJsselmeer where there

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-15526754601895650512009-06-21T21:51:00.005+02:002009-06-22T08:59:51.395+02:00

Sea kayaking in Netherlands is not known for it's tide-races. Having said that, occasionally one can find standing waves over (shifting) sand bars. Today we could play at the T2 buoy off Texel. Continuing around Noorderhaaks (with a Peddelpraat club trip) with more sand bars and wide surf zones. Three capsizes, one roll, two swim's, one re-entry-and-roll and one T-rescue. Hey! I did not flip once

Axelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-56865224517895275962009-06-02T06:30:00.000+02:002009-06-02T07:38:39.644+02:00

Good friends of mine, Paul de Haas and Marian Makelaar (center two in below picture) have started on their circumnavigation of Ireland. You can check their progress on their website.In 2007 they paddled around the Faroe Island and wrote about that trip in Op Pad.

Axelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-987955684551276412009-06-01T18:38:00.006+02:002009-10-01T15:25:12.059+02:00

Pictures of the Dutch Canoe Union (NKB) Anglesey week (25 April through 1 May) are now on-line. Click on a picture to view the slide-show.

Axelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-37290970152366202532009-05-31T21:00:00.006+02:002009-06-09T09:40:09.720+02:00

Almost every season the crossing of the IJsselmeer lake from Oude Zeug to Stavoren is on the Peddelpraat club paddling calendar. It is a 17 km crossing to Stavoren and the same distance back. Only just before Stavoren the wind picked-up to the forecasted northeasterly 4-5 Beaufort. This is a holiday weekend and the IJsselmeer is crowded with sailing boats. We arrived around noon in Stavoren. We

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-27861255020510709792009-05-22T07:47:00.006+02:002009-06-25T20:42:37.045+02:00

A few months ago I slowly started to transfer my music CD's to MP3 format for use on my mobile 'everything/everywhere' gadget. Along came one of my all-time favorite bands, BAP, that I have not listened to for ten years or so. And they are hardly ever played on the radio, at least not anywhere other than in their home country. It now plays at max volume over my car stereo. It is probably strongly

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-30191988760410828772009-05-02T22:00:00.006+02:002009-10-01T15:24:18.503+02:00

This year marks my tenth year attending the Anglesey Sea Kayak Symposium. It was in May 2000 that I visited for the first time to check out a feature that I had only heard talking about: tide-races and overfalls.Anglesey, as I know now, is blessed with a great many of them. And they run 'around the clock'. How 'good' they run is very difficult to predict. A highly variable blend of current (

Axelnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-68504775935500941262009-04-16T15:03:00.006+02:002009-06-25T21:30:25.112+02:00

When I am abroad I often get questions how sea kayaking is in the Netherlands. And what the difference is between the Netherlands and Holland.People in the US are always keen to tell me that they heard of the famous kid (Hans Brinker) that stopped flooding in the Netherlands by putting his finger in a hole in the dike. In turn, I have to confess that I have never learned about this amazing feat

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-72146668141254688552009-03-28T20:47:00.003+01:002009-10-01T15:23:05.198+02:00

A northwesterly storm force 8 is raging. I went on a coastal hike from Holyhead to Porthdafarch. From Soldiers' Point I had great views of massive breaking waves reflected off the Holyhead breakwater. My hike continued towards North Stack. From there I went up Holyhead Mountain and down towards South Stack, continuing towards Portdafarch. Walking back along the road past Anglesey Outdoors Centre.

Axelnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-69045213869610312342009-03-23T23:00:00.031+01:002009-06-26T09:36:01.498+02:00

I arrived in Anglesey on Thursday in Spring time weather for NDK business. Justine and Barry are around and they invited me to come over for a Sunday paddle. Unfortunately Barry had work to do, so Justine and I headed down the Llynn Peninsula for Aberdaron to paddle to Bardsey Island. It was way back in September 2002 that I last visited Bardsey. Justine is trying-out her new Sanoodi mobile phone

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-57868818339939887352009-03-14T17:30:00.006+01:002009-03-23T23:34:40.123+01:00

Saturday 52! paddlers gathered at the dike to Marken for the trip to the "Paard van Marken" and Volendam; a Peddelpraat club trip tradition of some decades. Although this enormous group size (an all-time record) is an outright nightmare for group control, it has become a social gathering of some magnitude, that the organizers try to facilitate as best they can. Marianne, today's overall trip

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-76148587590584209902009-03-09T07:41:00.008+01:002009-03-09T18:31:52.186+01:00

The Watersport Council invited me to give a lecture on sea kayaking at the HISWA Amsterdam Boat Show. Lacking any kayak/canoe specific show, the Dutch canoe union (NKB) this year linked-up with the Watersport Council stand at the HISWA. The watersport council had lots of activities going-on. Long lines of youths signing-up for the many water basin activities, including kayaking, waterskiing and

Axelnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15573177.post-64866362598453249432009-01-01T10:00:00.005+01:002009-01-10T00:29:34.980+01:00

Paddling through a Milky Way of shooting stars. Bioluminescence lightens-up the sea milky white where my paddle blades are pulled through the water. Our sea kayaks are infrequently hit by flying fish, startled by our early moving presence. Up above the last of the brightest stars fade-out into the new sunrise. The first sunrise of the New Year. Turning the eastern sky bright red and reflecting

Axelnoreply@blogger.com1