Introduction

Following a raft of positive reviews and awards for the first Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown DVD, Simon Willis and Gordon Brown followed up with Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown Vol 2 which was released in October 2011. I reviewed the DVD for Ocean Paddler Magazine and was very impressed with the DVD. In particular I had access to preview copies and various small sections of the footage from Simon as I was preparing for my BCU 4* Leader assessment and found various sections of this DVD absolutely invaluable.

Review

As with the first DVD, the second DVD has two intertwined aspects to it – coaching sessions and a journey. The menu structure on inserting the DVD allows you to watch the whole DVD (2 hours content in all), just the journey footage or just the coaching sessions.

The journey footage follows a group of paddlers exploring St Kilda, a series of Islands and stack some 40 miles out into the North Atlantic. Based on a support ship, The Cuma, the group explore the dramatic, rugged and imposing scenery on a series of day trips. Within the group are paddlers with varied abilities as well as various ‘areas’ of expertise on the area they are paddling. The group is shown enjoying the plentiful caves, stacks, cliffs and bays of this extraordinary archipelago of islands and it is difficult to watch without pangs of jealousy!

During the journey sections of the DVD the viewer is presented not only with paddling footage but discussions about the local geography, geology, wildlife and history. In particular there is a highly engaging interview with and archive footage of Hamish Gow, who along with his partner Anne made the first open crossing to St Kilda.

The coaching aspect of the DVD is focused on rescue skills. There are coaching sessions on foundation skills, self and assisted rescues, contact and distance tows, rescue scenarios and technical landings.

In terms of both content and quality of presentation, the coaching sessions are quite simply superb. Gordon covers a vast array of skills, demonstrating them on both calm and then very rough water conditions. Simon Willis has managed to capture each of the skills from an impressive range of angles, including underwater, and then edited them skillfully to provide concise, detailed and clear demonstrations. Where relevant still images, annotations and side-by-side shots are utilised to ensure the viewer sees the whole skill clearly from both the perspective of the rescuer and casualty.

Throughout, the calm and detailed commentary from Simon adds context to the footage whilst Gordon’s authoritative explanations accompany his excellent on-the-water demonstrations with exceptional audio quality despite some challenging background noise.

Conclusion

Whilst there is no substitute for hands on training and practice this DVD provides a superb reference tool for sea kayakers, including those working towards coaching and leadership awards. I have dipped into the coaching sessions repeatedly over the last couple of months and am still picking up little nuggets of information, which have directly influenced my coaching and leadership on the water.

Overall, the quality of the Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown Vol 2 is stunning and however you choose to view it – as one film, or journey or coaching sessions – you are presented with gold standard coaching, superb high definition footage and commentary from a highly engaging duo in the form of Simon and Gordon. The good news is that filming for Volume 3 is already underway. Highly recommended.

Useful Links

Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown Website: Information and ordering – £19.95

With Nick Cunliffe and Matt Giblins recent release of the free iBook to accompany the Sea Kayak Essentials DVD and ability to download individual chapters from the Sea Kayak Essentials DVD, I thought it was an opportune time to post up the review I wrote for Ocean Paddler Magazine.

Introduction

Sea Kayak Essentials (S.K.E.) is the new offering from Level 5 Sea Kayak Coach Nick Cunliffe and filmmaker and BCU Coach Matt Giblin. Following on from their first DVD ‘Kayak Essentials’ which focused on core skills for kayaking, S.K.E. is being promoted as an “…instructional DVD for sea kayakers of all abilities looking to develop their paddling skills in open water sea conditions.”

Content

Sea Kayak Essentials is split into 15 chapters accessible from a single menu page. Nick and Matt describe these chapters as falling into two sets, foundation skills and applied skills. The chapters are:

• Foundation Skills
• 5 Essentials of Boat Speed, Angle and Trim; Body Position, Stroke Linking
• Fundamentals of Posture, Connectivity, Feel and Power Transfer
• Core skills of Forward paddling
• Core skills of Balancing
• Core skills of Turning
• Use of the Skeg
• Boat Awareness exercises
• Applied skills
• Open Water Forward Paddling, in wind and waves
• Moving Water Skills: crossing eddy lines, ferry gliding and using waves
• Tide race paddling: effective paddling in bigger conditions
• Rockhopping: applied skills and strategies in close quarters
• Surfing skills: launching and landing techniques
• Tide Race Paddling
• Surfing Skills

The entire DVD runs to 1hr 49 minutes of content and is filmed in HD Widescreen with footage primarily being shot around the North Wales coastline.

Review Audience

I have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Sea Kayak Essentials DVD having very much enjoyed the first DVD, Kayak Essentials. In particular I am at a stage in my own paddling where I am converting experience and Inland/Canoe coaching qualifications into Sea Kayak leadership and coaching qualifications. To that end I am spending a lot of time analysing stroke technique and practical application of strokes in order to improve my personal performance as well as improve my own coaching of Sea Kayaking.
To gather an alternative view, the review copy of the DVD was shown to some relatively novice paddlers who are beginning their involvement with Sea Kayaking.

Review

Sea Kayak Essentials proved to be a very slick production. The HD widescreen footage is well shot throughout and provides clear views of all strokes and techniques discussed from a range of angles and heights. Audio quality is also excellent with obvious use of wireless microphones on Nick as he paddles to ensure we can hear his coaching clearly above the noise of the water.

Additional commentary is added throughout the DVD at strategic points along with the use of freeze frame and still images with annotations to describe or highlight specific points or recap a set of points. For example, when recapping the key points for a given technique, a nifty spiral bound notepad page appears in the top right corner of the screen and the points appear one by one as recapped by Nick’s commentary. Similarly, slow motion is used at certain points to allow for detailed observation of skills/techniques with key parts of body/boat/blade highlighted with overlays to accentuate learning points such as angle of body, points of contact within boat and so forth.

The menu provides easy access to any chosen chapter without the need to fast forward or rewind through the entire DVD to find a specific section. Title slides are clean and modern in styling and remain unobtrusive to the overall flow of the DVD.
Altogether, this leads to a very polished and professional aesthetic to the DVD.
Sea Kayak Essentials has been filmed in some cracking locations and care has obviously been taken to select suitable tidal, sea or wind conditions to illustrate skills demonstrated. Wherever appropriate, core skills are introduced and demonstrated on calm water before being progressed in more challenging conditions with additional commentary and discussion.

The pace of Sea Kayak Essentials was something felt to be excellent by all who viewed the DVD. There can be a tendency is paddle sports DVD’s to be fast paced affairs. At times this is effective and enhances the content. However, the slower pace of this DVD with time given to demonstrations enhances the viewers ability to take on board the wealth of information being imparted and observe skills carefully without an over reliance on the rewind button of the remote control. In particular Nick and Matt have not been afraid of periods of silence in the DVD whilst a stroke or skill is shown several times from different angles as opposed to filling the silence with unnecessary music or too much commentary.

A contributing factor to the relaxed pace and calm approach of Sea Kayak Essentials is Nick Cunliffe’s coaching commentary. He has a nice relaxed style and calm manner whilst remaining highly engaging when discussing technical content.
In terms of content, Sea Kayak Essentials fulfills its aim of covering the range of Intermediate and Advanced Boat Handling skills. Although very short and snappy, the initial chapters on the 5 essentials of Sea Kayaking (boat speed, angle, trim, body position and stroke linking) set up the remaining and longer chapters for both the foundation and applied skills sections of the DVD. Nick not only explains and demonstrates skills but sets challenges and tasks for paddlers to take away and try on their next paddle.

Sea Kayak Essentials does not teach the absolute basic paddling strokes – this is covered in the Kayak Essentials DVD. Instead there is an assumption that paddlers have the basic ability to paddle forwards, backwards, turn their kayak and move sideways. From this assumed start point, Sea Kayak Essentials was felt by all who viewed the DVD to have pitch the level and quantity of content pretty much perfectly moving skills from calm water to some nice challenging moving and rough water.

Conclusion

All paddlers who viewed Sea Kayak Essentials, agreed it was a must have DVD. Personally I have been extremely impressed with not only the quality of the DVD in terms of both content and production, but also impressed with how accessible Nick and Matt have made some quite technical content.

For the more novice Sea Kayaker there is a wealth of information to help develop boat handling skills. More seasoned paddler or those looking at progressing through coaching or leadership qualifications with find some fantastic examples of technique and top tips to help them improve technique as well as enhance their own coaching skills.

Perhaps the highest praise I can give Sea Kayak Essentials is that on first viewing I only managed to get through a third of the DVD before I had to stop it and head out for a couple of hours on the water to try out some of the coaching points I had picked up.

Useful Links

Kayak Essentials Website
Sea Kayak Essential iBook Download
Purchase individual chapters from Sea Kayak Essentials DVD

Rock and Sea Productions have recently released this trailer to their new DVD on Expedition Skills. Available for pre-order shortly it looks like it has the potential to be a cracking DVD particularly given the calibre and experience of folks featuring in the DVD.

More details can be found on the Rock & Sea Productions website.

Into the Wind is the DVD of the successful Round Ireland 2011 trip undertaken by Team Expedition Paddler (Jeff Allen & Harry Whelan). Produced by Romany Productions, it is due for release later this year. The trailer hints at this being a cracking DVD with some stunning footage from filmmaker Vaughan Roberts.

The DVD will cost £19.99 with £1 pound from each sale being donated to the Ovarian Cancer Action charity supported by the expedition.

Thanks to Ocean Paddler Magazine’s Editor Rich for access to the Vimeo version of the trailer.

Useful Links

Romany Productions – Website for purchasing DVD and discovering more about Vaughan Roberts work.
Round Ireland 2011 – Website from the successful expedition
Ovarian Cancer Action – Charity Website
Ocean Paddler Magazine – Ocean Paddler Magazine Website

It seems that 2011 will be the year of the ‘Safety & Rescue’ DVD for Sea Kayakers. With Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown 2 covering this topic (review coming shortly), Sea Kayak Essentials 2 from Nick Cunliffe and Matt Gibbens and Reelwater Productions (Bryan Smith with the Body, Boat, Blade team).

This particular trailer is from Reelwater Productions Bryan Smith and Body, Boat Blade duo Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme. They have teamed up to create Sea Kayak Rescues which they describe as a comprehensive modern guide to rescues for all paddlers. Due for release any day, I will be interested to see how this film differs from the two british offerings, not only in content and technique but also filming and presentational style.

The fact that there are three potentially competing products is, in my humble opinion, a fantastic thing. In fact I don’t see them as competing but complimentary products. Having three different perspectives and approaches to the same topic can only provide a wider range of ideas, techniques and solutions.

This is akin to receiving training/coaching from different coaches or paddling with lots of different kayakers. Everyone has their own style and little nuggets of information or technique and I relish to opportunity to experience the variety and add those gems to my own paddling ‘toolbox’. So bring it on folks, the more the merrier!

Simon And Gordon

Simon has released the following information:

I’m currently shooting & editing the second volume of the DVD Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown – Rescues, rough water & staying safe.

I’ve kept a video diary throughout and each month I’ll publish an update as a Podcast. These will show behind the scenes, out-takes and clips from the finished product.

I will also try to add fresh audio podcasts as normal mid-way through each month – if I have time.

I’ve been lucky enough to see a few bits and pieces of pre-production footage and even from just these I have picked up several salient tips and ideas which will prove very, very useful on my upcoming courses.

The official press release is due on 1st May and will contain detailed information on content, release date and Simon’s video diaries.

Links
Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown DVD Website
Sea Kayak Podcasts Website
Skyak Adventures Website

Some nice video work which, as one of the UKRSGB Forum members commented, gives a really good sense of scale to some very exciting paddling conditions.

Josh & J.J.

Paddle To Seattle is an expedition DVD, a fly on the wall documentary if you will of a trip from Alaska to Seattle via the Inside Passage by Sea Kayak. It features two seasoned adventurors; Josh Thomas & J.J. Kelley who originally met walking the Appalachian Trail and went on to cycle across Alaska from Ocean to Ocean. This is their latest adventure.

Unlike many recent Sea Kayaking DVD’s, Paddle To Seattle focuses completely on this one journey. You are taken from the planning stages to the finish of the expedition, sharing the experiences along the way. This was a refreshing experience allowing you to be drawn into the journey and experience the scenery, wildlife, and local communities that Josh and J.J. encounter.

Stunning Location

Despite all the hardships of the 1,200 mile paddle they always seem to be laughing or making light of the situation. This was certainly infectious for me and kept me smiling to the end of the credits. They seem to interact with the camera rather than simply have it follow them around.

However this isn’t simply a comedy take on an expedition. The DVD touches, albeit lightly, on some serious environmental/political issues affecting the area they are paddling. This is achieved without ever developing into an environmental themed film. J.J. Kelley is quoted as saying

“We were interpreting them in real time… …We just want to let folks interpret the facts as we saw them.”

What A Backdrop

For some initial sections of the route they are joined by a third paddler to capture on the water footage, then they part ways and the remainder of the footage is shot by Josh and J.J. The quality of the production is superb and for those interested in how they did it their blog has an interesting video short (actually designed as a nod to one of their sponsors) showing the incredible amount of editing kit they carried with them.

The Team

In an email from J.J. recently he mentioned:

We wanted to make a refreshing documentary about a long distance adventure. An authentic film that would be true to the joy of outdoor endeavors. For us it was great fun producing the project, and we hope folks enjoy it.

Well, they have certainly met their aims. Paddle to Seattle is a genuine, fun film that shines through with their enthusiasm and is highly recommended viewing.

Ordering:
Paddle To Seattle can be ordered directly from Josh & J.J. on their website and costs $19.99.

Runtime: 1hr 26mins.

Eastern Horizons is the latest Sea Kayaking DVD from Bryan Smith and Reelwater Productions. It has had a fantastic reception in the sea kayaking press and blogosphere with many reviewers touting Eastern Horizons as setting the new standard for production quality and content. So, does Eastern Horizons live up to this hype???

The short answer is yes, the long answer absolutely, categorically, without exception yes. Does this mean the DVD is without it’s flaws and potential niggles? No. What it does mean (and this is coming from someone who admits they have an addiction to sea kayaking films) is that for me, Eastern Horizons stands out amongst the crowd of other Sea Kayaking DVD’s. The questions therefore is why?

Outside Cover

Eastern Horizons takes us on a journey along the East Coast of the US, from Newfoundland down to Georgia. Bryan, Lise-Anne and their companions visit 8 locations and take time to meet the locals, explore the local environment and of course paddle.

For me, what makes this such a superb DVD is that they have successfully balanced the on-water action with the off-water aspects on the film. You have a real sense of them connecting with the people and places they visit. This is no better demonstrated than by their return to Newfoundland (the first location they visit) at the end of the film and the warmth of reception they receive from the locals.

I found their visit to New York fascinating, seeing the urban landscape from a paddlers persepctive and marvelling at the storm that rages around the skyscraper. I equally enjoyed their visit to Georgia having spent time living their as a child. Each location offers something different and keeps the viewer engaged.

Inside Cover

The other aspect of this DVD that makes it stand out, is the quality of the production. If you have yet to watch a Sea Kayaking DVD of this type and are expecting shaky, hand held amateur footage then think again.

This is pure HD widescreen class. From the titles and credits with their subtle, professional fonts to the amazing quality of the video shot through to the design of the DVD case.

Every aspect of this DVD has been carefully thought about and designed setting an impressive standard for future releases.

A DVD can never replace getting out there and doing it but what Bryan and Lise-Ann have created is something seriously worth watching when you are off the water and something that inspires you to get back out there.

Summary
The best praise I can give this DVD is that having watched it through fully three times on the day it arrived, the next morning was out at 4am to paddle with the sunrise.

If this has wet your appetite, then check out the trailer below. In the UK, Eastern Horizons can be purchase via Cackle TV.

Eastern Horizons Trailer from Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

Other reviews worth reading:

simonwillis.net
Kayak Quixotica
Werner Paddles Blog

Eastern Horizons, the follow up to the excellent Pacific Horizons DVD is on the way.

With a scheduled release of 14th March 2009, Bryan Smith & Reelwater Productions have just posted a trailer on their website and it looks great.

I will keep you updated on a precise date and bring you a full review as soon as the DVD is available.

Until then, keep up to date with the Eastern Horizons blog.