Jersey Kayak Adventures

Eric Soares of the Tsunami Rangers

derek — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:58:53 +0000

Sea kayaker Magazine (USA) reports that Eric Soares of the Tsunami Rangers died on 1 February in a ski accident. There is now an update on the accident and subsequent events on Eric’s blog posted by his friend. This is at the end of a very well written post by Eric dated the day he [...]

VHF marine radio course

derek — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:28:35 +0000

Essential for kayakers or boaters who own (or plan to buy) a marine VHF radio. Learn to use this essential safety aid correctly. Saturday 17 March 0900-1600 Cost: £115 All course equipment supplied. Includes £30 licence fee. Course content To book: 07797853033 Email

Blow holes on the north coast of Jersey.

derek — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:37:26 +0000

A short sea kayaking video with a couple of the blow holes near L’Ile Agois and Greve de Lecq, Jersey. This section of coast has some large caves and numerous blow holes which work well when the conditions are right. At times theses blow holes can blow up to 30ft high. As you head East [...]

SOT coaching for BCU 3 star

derek — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:06:12 +0000

Sit-on-top kayak coaching in Southern England for BCU 3 star sea seems to have been in short supply. Andy Benham, author of Discover Kayak Fishing visited Jersey in 2011 having found it difficult to get SOT kayak coaching in the UK. Things have improved with a couple of centres running courses for Sit-on-tops in the [...]

Paddling on exposed coastlines. Not today…

derek — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:53:59 +0000

Big swells and storms today in Jersey. Ferries stuck off the east coast of jersey for 6 hours because it was so rough to get into St Helier harbour. These images show both the size of the waves and also the effect of the coastline/ deep water off Jersey and Guernsey. Note how the larger [...]

My first offshore sea kayak trip a long time ago….

derek — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:37:53 +0000

My first 6 mile offshore sea kayak trip was in 1974 with Kevin Mansell to Les Ecrehous, a fantastic group of islets off the North west coast of Jersey. I doubt we were the first to make this adventure crossing by kayak, but I’ve not seen any earlier reports (yet) so perhaps we were the [...]

Sea kayaking Jersey

derek — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:51:56 +0000

Paddling with an old friend. It’s been a very long time since Franco and I got out sea kayaking together. We first started sea kayaking while at school. In those days it was called sea canoeing and was a part of our games lessons. We both got hooked and went on to kayak round Ireland [...]

Adaptive paddling

derek — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:50:39 +0000

Focus on ability and not disability in paddlesport. Ashley Clare of Battle Back led an inspirational workshop and keynote lecture on adaptive paddling at the Canoe England coaching conference. A key point is that disability comes in all shapes and forms. What is an issue in one area may not be the case elsewhere. At [...]

Sea kayaking in….Austria

derek — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:14:20 +0000

Sea kayaking in Jersey leaves us spoilt when deciding where to get adventure. We grumble about 20 minute drives out west and driving through the tunnel….Yes, some west coasters never venture beyond the tunnel out east. I know by the number of times people can’t find La Rocque or Archirondel. But what about finding Belcroute [...]

Coaching paddlers when they are outside their comfort zone

derek — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:00:07 +0000

Coaching Conference. Part 2. Workshop with Bob Timms Skilful performance is achieved when you combine: Technique Tactical (when to do it) Physical (capability to do it) PsychologicaI Ideas to consider when coaching kayakers in more advanced conditions. Each paddler will have a different comfort zone which varies. The good coach needs to find out where [...]