I recently had an email from a kayaker asking if I minded him linking to an article I posted on skeg use. I shot back an email immediately saying ‘no problem’ but my curiosity was raised as I recognised the name: Greg Stamer. It took a while for me to realise this was THE Greg Stamer who circumnavigated Iceland with Freya Hoffmeister in 2007. I immediately jumped over to his website to take a look.

Greg’s Kayak Vagabond website is a mixture of his personal blog, some awesome galleries and write up’s from expeditions he has undertaken. It is obvious from Greg’s bio that he has a wealth of experience and a particular passion for/involvement with Greenland style paddling. Indeed, he is the past-President and founder of Qajaq USA, the American Chapter of the Greenland Kayaking Association (Qaannat Kattuffiat).

A relatively new section of the website called ‘Ask Greg’ where he is soliciting questions from sea kayakers which he then answers in detail. In Greg’s own words:

I’m happy to help answer your questions ranging from Greenland-style technique, making Greenland paddles, wing technique, kayak expeditions and gear, kayak camping, surf kayaking and more. I look forward to your questions!

There are already a number of very diverse questions posted with some excellent answers which I thoroughly enjoyed reading through and look forward to tracking Greg’s site in the future as I have a feeling there will be a lot of really useful information flowing through it.

Useful Links

www.gregstamer.com – Greg Stamer’s Kayak Vagabond Website
Ask Greg – Contact form to ask Greg a question

Sea Kayaking TV Website

The website/You Tube Channel provides a large and growing number of videos covering an eclectic mix of topics from stroke technique, equipment, navigation and chart work, safety and rescue. Some videos are squarely aimed at beginners others at more intermediate to advanced paddlers.

It seems as if Sea Kayaking TV has a lot of scope as the content grows and many Sea kayakers will find videos of interest to them within the various sections provided.

There are also provides access to Sea Kayaking TV’s Facebook page and a comment section for discussing content available.

Certainly worth a browse.

skirtfit.com

Although it is provided by Immersion Research, it is not a designed as a sales tool, simply a collaborative effort to create a one stop spot for checking on cockpit details. If you particular kayak is not listed, skirtfit.com would be ask you to submit the dimensions to add to the site.

Visit the site at: www.skirtfit.com

Having listened to the podcast, I did some investigation on paddling on the Thames and came across this interesting slideshow by Natalie Maderova of a paddle between the Isle of Dogs/Richmond and Tilbury.

Paddling Light Website

As well as publishing an interesting article on his philosophy on Lightweight Paddling, Bryan also has a simple statement to explain the ethos of the site:

Paddlinglight.com offers information about lightweight canoe and kayak travel. We promote self-direction by emphasizing the do-it-yourself culture in the sport of paddling, and we believe growing paddlesport participation advances wilderness protection.

Another draw for me with Paddling Light is that Sea Kayak Instructor Bryan, who is based in Minnesota, USA, is also a damn fine photographer. Although his gallery and photography is found on the Bryan Hansel Photography website, his pictures are often used to illustrate articles in Paddling Light.

Paddling Planet

What the visitor gets is a chronological stream of posts/articles/content from some 100 or so Sea Kayaking related websites. Some contributers choose to show only the inital part or a summary from their posts whilst others submit their content in it’s entirety, however each post or article is linked directly back to the original website so you can see the entire post and discover more content on the original website.

Paddling Planet is a great way of discovering new sea kayaking content and websites from around the world and well worth adding to your favourites.

Find out more at www.paddlingplanet.com

Paddling Instructor is the brainchild of Paddle Canada Instructor Trainer David Johnston. This excellent website contains a blog, reviews of equipment, articles on all aspects of Sea Kayaking and a new and growing forum area.

The coaching articles are particularly interesting dealing with a wide range of topics from basics such as ‘learning students names’ to in depth analysis of teaching particular strokes. Similarly, the gear review section also covers a wide range of equipment and is worth perusing.

Find out more about Paddling Instructor at www.paddlinginstructor.com

Mark Tozer's Blog

Mark is a highly qualified BCU coach, holding the following awards.

• Level 5 Sea Kayak Coach
• Level 3 Inland Coach
• Level 3 Canoe Coach
• BCU Coach Educator and Assessor

and his blog provides an interesting insight into some of the courses he runs, assist on and attends as well as providing paddling news and the occasional review of equipment Mark uses along with some great photographs.

Worth a visit!

Kajak.nu

Kajak.nu is a Swedish website so navigating around it can be interesting although there is a set of translation links at the top left of the homepage. However, photographs transcend language barriers and the website has some wonderful images in it’s galleries – look for the link to ‘Bilder – Uppvlet‘ link on the top navigation bar.

Sea Kayak Photo

I came across Sea Kayaking With Sea Kayak Photo after hearing one of the excellent Sea Kayak Podcasts where host Simon Willis interviewed Douglas about his love of photography and how he has so successfully combined it with a real passion for sea kayaking.

Alongside descriptions and stories from of a huge range of sea kayak trips around the coast of Scotland, Sea Kayak Photo also contains a number of reviews including some great write ups on Sea Kayaks.

It is no wonder that Douglas’s talent for writing and photography has led to a forthcoming book release with Pesda Press.

I would heartily recommend subscribing to the Sea Kayak Photo feed or look out for Douglas’s posts on Paddling Planet.