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

Huge congratulation to Gordon Brown and Simon Willis, whose second DVD ‘Rescues’ has won best sea kayaking film in the 2012 Reel Paddling Film Festival. This follows their success with the first DVD, ‘Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown’ which won best instructional film in 2010.

I had an excited email from Simon when he heard the news and he has since blogged about their success, thanking all those who were involved in the DVD, particularly the group of paddlers who took part in the St Kilda trip.

He is now selling the award winning DVD’s as a bundle, saving on the overall cost if purchased separately. Both DVD’s come highly recommended and make a very worthwhile addition to any sea kayakers DVD library.

It was with a feeling of sadness that I read recently that Simon Willis has decided to draw to a close his series of podcasts over on Sea Kayak Podcasts.

I know that a great many people have enjoyed Simon’s series of interviews with some fascinating Sea Kayakers and covering a wide range of topics. For me personally they have had a huge impact on my life.

It was listening to one of Simon’s early podcasts that sparked a conversation with my Wife about the fact I had almost dropped out of paddling completely due to work commitments and geographical location. That conversation continued for a day or so on and off and led to us deciding to relocate to the coast. Three weeks later we had moved our, at that time, new family into a new house and I’d started the Solent Sea Kayaking website.

I dropped Simon an email to thank him for the podcasts and shared this story which prompted a swift reply of thanks and proved to be the start of a ongoing friendship.

Thankfully, Simon intends to keep the library of podcasts archived online for folks to discover and continue to enjoy.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Simon for all his hard work putting the podcasts together and knowing Simon, am sure there will be another project in the pipeline soon!

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.

Two videos deal with Sea Kayak maintenance and safe loading of boats. The remainder look at some of the P&H range and take a close look at the new Corded Skeg System fitted to newer P&H Sea Kayaks.

Here, we see Doug introduce himself:

Dorset paddler Mark Rainsley completed his attempt to paddle the entire West & North coast whilst Simon and Liz Willis completed their fact finding mission prior to writing the Scottish Sea Kayak Trail Guidebook.

Mark’s solo trip was hampered by poor wind conditions but despite a few shore-bound days and a flying visit back to Dorset for 1 day of work, he managed to complete more miles than hoped.

Mark made frequent posts on the UKRGB forum allowing people to track his progress and has a short write up on his blog.

My eventual progess was 557 miles over 25 days of paddling, with day paddles ranging from 8 to 35 miles. I’ve covered all of Scotland’s west and north coasts, which without a doubt offers some of the finest sea paddling to be had anywhere.

Meanwhile, Simon and Liz Willis finished their fact finding mission for the forthcoming Scottish Sea Kayak Trail Guidebook. They paddled a linear route along Scotland’s west coast, from the Isle of Gigha off the Kintyre peninsular, to the Summer Isles near Ullapool.

Simon made regular posts on his blog and is now busy working on the guidebook due to be published by Pesda Press in May 2009.

Congratulations to all involved and thanks for the inspirational, if envy-inducing, updates over the summer period.

The route has been devised by Liz and Simon Willis, who live and kayak on Scotland’s west coast, and whose preliminary research is based on day-trip experience. This summer they’ll paddle the whole route, emphasising minimum impact camping. Follow their progress from June at ScottishKayakTrail.com

“It’s really a virtual trail”, says Simon. “There’ll be no sign posts, and we’ll certainly not be telling people where to camp. We don’t want to concentrate kayakers on a few beaches. We hope this trail will spread the impact of sea kayaking along the entire coast”.

The Scottish Kayak Trail route will run from the Isle of Gigha, off the Kintyre peninsular in the south, to the Summer Isles near Ullapool. “It will be divided into four sections”, Liz Willis explains, “so visitors can either spend a month or more paddling the entire trail, or pick out the best sections for a two week trip”.

The heart of the book is accurate pilot information relevant to sea kayakers. The emphasis is on practical advice; the best state of tide to tackle tricky sections; places to visit; the availability of food re-supply in local shops; where kayaks can safely be left unattended; how to shuttle a vehicle around the trail; public transport. A more complex, historical thread is woven through the text as the author uses place names and sights, such as ruined castles, to tell ‘Scotland’s Story’.

Incorporating advice from Scottish Canoe Association and Mountaineering Council of Scotland, the book emphasises minimum-impact wild camping within the terms of the Scottish Access Code and Land Reform (Scotland) Act.

For more information please contact Simon Willis at Simon@ScottishKayakTrail.com

Covering a range of topics, such as equipment, routes and history this is a must listen for all Sea Kayakers. Shows can be subscribed to via iTunes or listened to on the actual pages of the website.

The Sea Kayak Routes website also has a range of useful links to other projects Simon is involved in and is a great resource, particularly for Scottish paddling routes.

As an example, one podcast interviews an expert from Werner paddles and would be worth downloading if you are in the market for some new blades. Possibly a must listen for all Sea Paddlers is the episode interviewing the Coastguard which provides an insight into how they work and how we, as responsible paddlers, can best help the coastguard should we need to call upon their services.

Look out for information on Simon’s latest project in a future article.