getting it right

This morning I met Amir Taran on the beach, he had his camera set up on a tripod with a large telephoto lens and was taking photos of the action on the beach.  He told me he dows it for fun and does not do anything with the pictures except keep them on his computer

He said he would send me some if I wanted. Of course I said yes and gave him my email , not really exprcting anything. What a great surprise I got when he did send the pictures to me, and really nice ones too. If I was a bit smarter I would have turned around and played in the waves for him ...... lets hope we meet again soon

Thanks to you Amir your pictures are too good not to be seen , we need to find a way to show them.

The sea has been really nice this July with good surf for playing in

Sometimes it gets busy and crowded out at the rock

But its always fun and keeps us smiling

Rough water is also good for rescue training

Heres Izzy and I having a bit of a race for the wave this moning thanks to Vered

The kayak is a Guillemot Play, built in 2005, Im using it while repairing my Petrel, and this just shows that the Petrel is the best kayak for rough water that I have, cant wait for the repair to be finished and get it back in the surf

And then Yoav brought me a bucket of Lychees  straight from his tree.
I must be doing something right.

Thursday skills sessions in rough water

 rough water makes a great learning environment

Great waves for beginners

good bracing practice

and a great place for froggies

the size of the waves depends on where you are

I think thats Gidi

didnt I say only one kayak on a wave at a time

its taken a long time to get Arieye out in the surf

go for it

and then get rescued.... better learn to roll

sun gone in the cloud

and one broken paddle

So you made a new Greenland paddle .....now go out and use it

Made on Wednesday, in the water on the weekend. New sticks being tried out after the paddle workshop by the proud owners. It does take time to get used to your new GP and a lot of the paddlers dont stick to it and go back to their old Europaddles.

On the other hand there are some of us who feel that the GP is the natural way to go and have abandoned any other paddle. Avital is one of those

And so is Mickey

Eyal is a GP addict and one of our stronger paddlers, here he is helping me with a tandem tow when one of our paddlers needed  help getting back

Dudu is a new paddler and also likes his new GP

Noam is still stuck with his Euro paddle but is looking at the next workshop, maybe he will be  our next convert.

Rosanne hails from Australia and likes her wing and surfski back home

Idit made a new paddle mostly for the fun of the making

Danny is still trying to get rhe roll going

So we are seeing a very slow change to GPs some use them for a while and go back, others change for good. I think its good to be able to use both types of paddle, you dont have to be stuck with one. When I go on long trips I prefer the GP, surfing on the other hand is still easier for me with the Europaddle but its getting a bit easier with the stick. Who knows what the future will bring.

Carving Greenland paddles.....again

There is something very satisfying in making  something with your own hands, and then going out and using it..Especially these days when everything is so easy to buy.

I must admit, it takes a good few hours to make a padle from start to finish and a lot of energy is used too

It all starts with a block of wood, about 10cm x5cm and about 220cm long

And it ends like this, proud new owners just waiting to get out on the water

For first timers there are moments of disbelief

but as the paddle emerges from the wood  so does hope and a bit of optimism......maybe it will work

power tools for finishing and shaping at the end make it go a bit faster

and the finished produce weighs in at only 663gm

Idit prefers to do the finishing samding by hand, masks are a must to prevent inhaling the dust

And then the proof of the pudding is in the eating, what happens when you get out on the water

Its a proud moment when you paddle away into the sunset with your own new paddle

looking good

It takes some time to get used to the new stick after using an europaddle , but if you persevere it gets easier and better all the time

For new paddlers, out for the first time with a GP this becomes the standard and then theres no looking back
Maybe now we will see more Israeli paddlers with Greenland paddles on our waters