May 15th Tromso Norway 
It is 12am and it there is still light in the sky; sitting in the hold of a small live aboard boat, half asleep, I am writing this. Outside the water is glass calm yet the boat creeks gentle with the oceans pulse, small hills surround the area and framing the Fjords are covered in sugar white snow. While it looks like a winter scene every time i look outside the air is cool but not cold, the warmth of spring is upon the arctic Norwegian air. 
I arrived here in Tromso Norway yesterday after a 24 hour travel day from Nanaimo BC Canada, collecting my array of bags, consisting of 2 large bags containing TRAK Kayak and expedition gear, 2 carry on pieces of a medium sized back pack and Kayak deck bag as a personal item, I walked out into the midnight un to find Jeff Allen waiting with a clean Shaven grin. I was a bit shocked as last time i had seen Jeff 6 months earlier he had a full beard “ I just shaved it off this morning actually” Jeff stated with a chuckle “I was sick of being thought of as 60 something”. Loading into the outside car I was also shocked to find a RockPool Taran on the roof of the car, the Taran was a very fast high volume sea kayak, where as the TRAK was a low Volume 16 foot folding kayak, I had been expecting to be paddling along side Jeff in a SKUK Explorer… Alas this was not going to be the case. After some brief chit chat and a drive across the Islands that make up the area of Tromso, Jeff unloaded me outside a Marina and took me on board a boat owned by Bjorn —– of www.bjornkajakks.no who was putting us up here for as long as we needed before setting of on our trip by Kayak along the coast. Bjorn had been supporting Jeff a lot over the last few years as he attempted to Circumnavigate the Scandinavian Peninsula. I was now joining Jeff to either head north paddle around Nordkapp to finish the coastline of Norway, or to head south and paddle out and along the Lofoten Island Chain, we had to decide which one in the next day. 
After a eggs sandwich, a good night sleep and a hearty porridge breakfast, the next day found us driving about town, buying food, fishing lures and visiting Bjorn at his underground bunker Kayak shop. Bjorn had purchased and old military bunker from the government and set up his online Kayakshop storage here, and fondly called it “The Cave”. We then rolled back to the boat, made a great meal of Fish burgers and sat down with Bjorn and some maps, and decided we would head south to the Lofotens as the weather for the north did not look good for the next week or two and we did not want to get stuck in bad weather and not paddle. Thus our course is set, we pack and set off from SummerOya in the morning. I am excited and happy to go paddling, to camp out, to fish and to just take in Norway in a new way (it has been over 3 years after I last visited read about that first day here ) and to see Lofotens from the northern coast. Any way my eyes are barely staying open I must sleep….. tomorrow we paddle. 
SKGABC Guides Exchange to Tromso Norway
May 13th Sea Kayak Guides Exchange
The past weekend I found myself at the SKGABC Guides exchange on Quadra island. I had been asked to come and present and talk on the Grand Canyon by Sea Kayak adventure from last Christmas, read more on that adventure here, this also meant a great social/ learning occasion with industry pairs, and of course surfing kayaks at Surge Narrows.
The event basically composed of two nights and two days. I got my big Van back on the road, cleaned out and loaded up with Kayaks, with my friend Arnaud on board and we chugged our way up the coast of Vancouver island in “The Portable Diesel Powered Kayak Shop” of a van that contained three full sized composite sea kayaks, 3 folding TRAK Sea Kayaks, and a white water play boat (not to mention a bed, clothes, kayaking gear and all the kitchen gear and food needed).
After crossing the 10 minute ferry to Quadra Island http://www.quadraisland.ca/, we drove to the spit campsite to meet up with all the other people attending. The campsite was an amazing thin spit of land with all sites looking into the sheltered lagoon it created, truly one of the most beautiful drive in campsites I have ever been too!
That night there was eating, drinking and socialising at the local Inn, that then lead to a campfire and movie watching back by the water, where we all got to see Justine Curgenven’s “This is the Sea 5”.
The next day everyone awoke to a rainy day after almost 6 weeks of sun on the coast, and the keen ones partook in self rescue training and rolling practice, while others toured the Nimbus paddle Factory or learnt about moving water theory. I myself spent the morning getting my talk finalised, and I ended up making it about more than just the Grand Canyon trip, I incorporated some of my best adventures to date and how I ended up doing what I am now doing for living.
That afternoon everyone headed onto the water to paddle in moving water, either learning basics on smaller side channels or attempting to shred the challenging Surge Narrows. Now I have surfed Surge probably 6 times now over the last 6 months, and every time it is different and throws new challenges of how to get on to the wave or how to stay on the wave. On this trip the wave had to be the hardest to have fun with I have experienced yet, to get on you had to navigate through an large space of swirling boils and cross currents from small channels, before pushing onto the wave, a wave which to start with was an angled wave that you had to fight with to stay on. As the flow increased it became more a big boiling hydraulic that took those who managed to get on for a bucking bronco ride, later in the flow it shifted in shape again and became slightly easier to get on, and lots of fun to play on, then from there it pettered down to a small wave only for fast boats. Luckly for me with the adjustable rocker of the TRAK Kayak I was able to adapt to the changing wave easily, though I still struggled to get good rides, and probably only ended up getting 4 good rides in the 4 hours we were there.
Here is some random footage Liam Mcneil got of me surfing the TRAK at surge Narrows.
I was glad to have the chance to paddle with and witness the skill of Albert ____ who lives near Surge at 
Discovery Lodge. This young soft spoken and humble young paddler, is awesome and eats up the wave or foam pile with ease. The best thing I witnessed that day was albert pulling off a 360 degree spin in his 16 foot sea kayak, then continue surfing. Albert is also very skilled at staying on top of the foam pile, keeping the nose of the boat loose and getting some great aggressive turns out of it, where others (like myself) would drop in get our nose caught up in the current, then have our selves fired off the wave in whatever direction the nose was pointing on engagement, or bury completely and do a bow stand.
Tired and sore we all loaded back into vehicles with boats on trailers or roofs and headed to the Legion for dinner , prizes and off course my talk. I had managed to piece together a rough collaboration of photos and video about my journey of life change and embracing becoming an professional kayak adventurer. I spoke on my life changing Decision to leave my loving Fiancé, and risk everything to go back to NZ and realise my dream of an epic adventure by attempting to paddle the length of NZ down the east coast from North to south. Here is the the rough video I threw together for the presentation.
I then went onto discuss what I learnt, lost and gained from the trip. I learnt a power and humbleness of taking a step to a life I wanted, I learnt to find the success in perceived failures (eg I failed to paddle the length of NZ, though learnt the success of daring to live), I learnt what it was like to be put in hospital by a poisonous spider. I lost a love of my life (my Fiancé had moved on and found a new man, which was fair enough as I broke off the engagement to go do all this and had been gone for 6 months), though I gained a new job with TRAK kayaks and a new direction in life.
TRAK Kayaks had sponsored me with a boat two years earlier and I had done some fun things with there great performance folding boat, and now they financed me to make the video series I had wanted to make about the boat, and so began the TRAK Files series and many great adventures traveling the world to make it over three and a half years. Here is the episode I played that night
see more of the TRAK Files Here
From there I lead on to talk about the Grand Canyon trip, how it came to be and more importantly show images and film on the experiences. Read more about our “Project Grand Canyon” Trip here.
That night, after we returned to camp most went to sleep early, though I partook with a hardy few, nestled bellow a large tarp sheltering us from the light rain in the darkness by the waters edge, in some beer drinking, shit talking, Joke telling, guitar playing, singing and of course laughing and merriment until the wee hours of the morning.
The last day found everyone tired and happy, no paddling happened and no one returned to paddle Surge narrows again, despite the fact it was flowing again, nor paddle at all. We partook in an industry seminar, ate lunch packed up, said our fond farewells and headed home.
After Chugging home in the beast I call a van, I finished packing for my coming Adventures in Norway and Namibia, at the time of writing this (the day After getting home from the Guides Exchange) I am on the plane to Norway to meet Jeff Allen and explore the coast for two weeks. Read a little more about the adventure proposal in this post http://expeditionpaddler.blogspot.ca/2013/05/back-to-northern-norway.html?view=classic or in the next few to come after this one.
Jaime Sharp.
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| photo from last time I was paddling in Norway, blog post here |
James Manke Coached Me Into my Sculling Rolls Today!
Such and Awesome Feeling to Figure out quite an Odd Roll! Thanks James, you the man.. check out All things Qajaq
TRIP TO THE OREGON COAST
This weekend was all about surf and Tech, TRAK needed to do some testing on their hydraulic system
in real conditions, so I headed to the USA. I Seattle I picked up Lloyd Penner and his son Spencer, Lloyd is the engineer for TRAK and he had brought with him a really cool testing system to be placed in a TRAK Kayak, that would measure the stresses put on the system in surf, it also measured the pitch and anlge of the boat and the G forces! so cool. I also got to meet up with Jason Self and Chris Bensch of Out of Sight Out of Mind (OSOM), who took a couple of TRAK Kayaks on an adventure to Hawaii in their film series In Search of the Perfect Day. Chris even came out and helped test the boats and off course have a good time. 
Here is the story as told by Spencer who got to see the ocean for the first time! “TRIP TO THE COAST” Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The noise seemed to last forever. (Just wait a second; I should probably re-wind a little bit and explain a few things.) It all started when I woke up at 3:30 a.m. on April 10, 2013. That was all because my dad works for a company called TRAK® Kayaks, and my dad and I were going to the Pacific coast to test a couple kayaks! So there we were in a cramped turbo- prop airplane. At least I was at the window seat and could see the towering mountains between the breaks in the clouds. But wait! After an hour and forty-five minutes (which felt like forever), I started to see a lush-green city, and there I was staring at Seattle, Washington! Then the plane calmly came to a stop, and I stepped off it and onto American soil for the first time in my life! 
After looking in the terminal for a little while, we found a man named Jamie Sharp. Jamie has traveled the world in TRAK® Kayaks and is quite amazing! He and Chris (who is another character you will meet along the way) were going to test the kayaks while Lloyd (my dad) would collect data of the pressure in the kayaks. Next with Jamie behind the wheel, we stopped at a shop called Alder Creek. (Alder Creek is a kayak shop that sells boats and accessories.) 
There we learned about some places we could stay and we chose a town called Pacific City, which is in Oregon. So after driving on a little, windy road for four hours we finally got to Pacific City. Guess what happened our second day there? We met Chris! (You see, Chris works at Alder Creek and though Chris had never seen Jamie in real life, he had talked to him on Facebook). 
So together, the two of them went “surfing,” which is really just paddling in big surf. Meanwhile on shore, I was using Jamie’s camera and videoing the “fun stuff.” But it wasn’t just for fun, it was also for data. After some videoing, it got a bit boring, and I moved on to building sand castles, playing with jelly fish and standing in the Pacific Ocean! 
Dad, on the other hand, was collecting data by using a red box that was hooked up in the kayak with a little recording devise that would record the pressure of the jacks. (The special thing about TRAK® Kayaks is that they have three jacks that can make it more manoeuvrable. The skin and the frame of the kayak are made so it can fold into a golf bag). After Chris and Jamie came in, Dad plugged the recorder into the laptop to collect the data. 
That very same night, we bought a family size pizza and ate it by the ocean blue. Just before we sat down to eat, we watched a whale jumping in the water! The next day we drove all the way back to Alder Creek because they had a shipment of TRAK® Kayaks, and then on to SEA-TAK (which is really the airport in Seattle). We boarded the plane, and flew home to Calgary. 
For me, this trip to the coast was one of my favourite experiences, and I hope you have enjoyed learning about my trip! Spencer J. PENNER
March 22nd Pure Life, Rich Coast “Pura Vida, Costa Rica”
My first week in Costa Rica has been spent helping run an Client Group on the Osa Peninsula with Martine Racette. This Itinerary will become apart of my Company “World Wild Adventures” Key trips offered in Central America, and offers a wonderful rustically luxurious soft adventure trip for people keen to see one of the most amazing places in the America’s. 
I personally have travelled extensively through central America over the last 7 years and spent a lot of time in the jungles and on the coasts of the area, though no place beats the Osa with Wildlife and Natural beauty. Four Species of monkey, Scarlet Macaws flying around like seagulls, primary rainforest, pristine ocean beaches and sheltered inner Gulf, friendly people and endless adventure options, this place is a mecca for Wilderness adventure seekers, surfers, fishermen and people who just want to escape and relax from the rush of modern life. 
The lodge we stay is is called “Finca Exotica” or exotic farm in English, it is a sustainable eco lodge designed and set up by Markus, an eccentric German architect who originally planned it as an Artist retreat. The place has grown over the last 13 years from old clear cut farm to a bustling beautiful jungle orchard. The property is littered with fruit trees and edibles, with quaint little tepee tents and Cabaña’s nestled about the premises (Some with astounding ocean views from aloft the hillside). Organic fresh food is served at the open planned Dinning room/ Bar/ communal area which sits half way up the hill and boasts a large deck with amazing views across the canopy to the ocean. Higher still is a wonderful yoga platform that gives you a large vista form its open walls out across the jungle canopy, the surf beach and the Pacific Ocean. Nothing beats a early morning session of sun salutations gazing across the blue, while Macaws squawk and fly in pairs between the trees and Howler monkeys great the new day with a roar of appreciation. 
I have enjoyed the experience immensely and so have the clients, daily hikes and activities, of kayaking, horseback riding and hikes to stunning waterfalls where you can swim, interspersed with beach time and educational talks and Naturalist walks, keep everyone intent. Martine is originally from Canada though has 
been living and operating soft adventures in The Osa for 7 years, she has been telling me about its magic for a while now and I am now relieved to know it. I am happy to have my friend Martine Joining our World Wild Adventure Team and together we will bring some amazing trips on the Osa to people looking for that special trip to a special place. The next couple of weeks we will be exploring the Osa to get to know it better and create a more involved expedition style Itinerary for clients that explores more of the Osa and involves, Kayaks, horses, Hiking, and Camping out in amazing places. So stay tuned as I share the adventure that unfolds. 
Canoecopia 2013; Madison Wisconsin
I have just arrived back in Seattle after a great weekend in Wisconsin at the Canoecopia tradeshow. This was my first time at this show and I was wonderfully surprise by the event, not only was it a condensed toy store of most of the latest and greatest paddle sports toys, but also of all the tried and true goods, pool demos, instruction and speakers from all over the world. I was here to represent TRAK Kayaks and share my stories of the boats in action and help sell the product off course. The cool thing for us with our booth this show is the addition of a big screen stand that can support two TV’s, and also the addition of a big banner reading TRAK performance Kayaks two images, one of myself surfing the TRAK at Surge Narrows and the other of Allie Carroll paddling in a tidal lagoon on Isla Coiba in Panama. It is a nice addition to the booth, really stating TRAK’s presence, while the TV played a loop of the TRAK Files Series and some rough water footage of the boats in action. 
I got to attend some great talks, particularly one by John Turk about his Ellesmere Island expedition with Eric 
Boomer, A journey where there was more walking and dragging kayaks as rafts than there were times that they actually sat in the boats and paddled. This journey was a huge undertaking and almost killed Jon, though hasn’t seemed to have slowed him down and at 6? He is still planning amazing trips to come. Jon is a most entertaining speaker and has a great way of sharing his adventures and conveying some of his deeper philosophies in life. Jon and I talked more about some concepts of adventure and of ideas to come; I am excited to here more of his new adventures as they develop this year. Read more about Jon’s adventures and his books at his website http://jonturk.net/ 
Justine Curgenven was also a wonderful speaker and I attended her talk on her Tierra Del Fuego Expeditions, and how the first attempt was aborted due to injuries of her paddling partner Barry—– then continued to success some time later. Justine is an amazingly honest and open person who shares all the honest highs and lows of her journeys in a very exposing way that other people would more than likely shy away from in horror. This willingness to share the true nature of adventure, with lows and highs, the journey of the mind while on these trips is most amazing and I respect her immensely for it. Justine’s Website here http://www.cackletv.com/ I was lucky enough to share some tales with Justine over a couple of pints, and then there was the band at the Canoecopia event on Saturday…..half the room couldn’t resist dancing to the “Rasta Billy” band Mad Polecats http://www.myspace.com/madpolecats, they were a great Fusion of Blue Grass and Reggae and did fun covers of Led Zeppelin, ACDC and more. Mad Polecats – Crazy Train from chris on Vimeo.
I also was given a new tool (or toy depending on how you look at it) from Lendal. one of their new Rebel White Water Paddles, customized to my preference. The prototype Rebel paddles had been used by us on the Grand Canyon Sea Kayak project over Christmas and I had been also using one in the surf and in Canoe Polo games, so I am keen to give the new production version and good beating. The last day was a tiring one for most as we had been up till 2am dancing and now we worked the show till 5pm, packed up the displays and then headed out into the strangely rainy night of snowy Madison to have burgers before I crashed. What a fun venue, if you get the chance to attend in coming years I recommend it. Now I am prepping for travels to Costa Rica in the next couple of days, bring on the surf, sand and jungle. ~J~
Big Beats at Jordan River
It was the start of the week and with a nice twist of luck I needed to do some filming for TRAK Kayaks and the surf was up at Jordan River near Victoria in BC Canada. So loading up the folding boats into the back of the truck I drove down island to meet James Manke at the campsite on the beach. Pulling in at 11pm after a two and a half hour drive I set up my tent by Manke’s Camper Van woke him up for a bit of a chat, then hit the sleeping bag. Day 1 
We awoke to a ripple, but bye lunch time there were some solid sets coming through and the surfers were turning up. The large sets (forecast was saying 8-9 foot swell) had a face of about 8 feet, but were fast at closing out and reasonably heavy, this made the rides in long boats short step and thumpy. if you didn’t get off in time. In one instance I took good beat down by a wave that broke on me as I turned to work my way back out. This beat down put some good stress on the TRAK and I ended up with a bent frame, though couldn’t see it until I got out at the end of the session. The bent frame did not stop me from surfing and I continued for another hour or two, though got very frustrated by the fact the boat would turn right on the wave and would not come back to the left unless I almost broke the paddle pulling it back. ( if you are interested in the TRAK Kayak more
and how the Frame of a kayak could be bent check out the TRAK website www.rethinkkayak.com). I was surfing with a Lendal Rebel White Water Paddle that we had taken on the Grand Canyon. It was a short paddle about 193 cm and I had some fun with its quick cadence and he big blade face, though Ultimatley I was missing the reach and mechanical torque of the 210cm Lendal Kenitik touring paddle or my Greenland paddle. Though it is always fun to mix up the paddles some time to keep the brain alert and to discover new nuances in boat and paddle control. As the day progressed the swell became smaller and more predictable as the tide turned and James, Gerhardt and I surfed the closer break for some smaller though longer rides. At JR the outer break will reform in closer and often create a nice predictable point break into the river mouth, however out back the waves are more committing and often very punishing, which Day two came to show us. Day 2 Costain Leonard and Kate Hives turned up, the morning had been similar small waves, that slowly built with the rising tide, soon there where huge fast breaks running right across the river mouth and around the point to the next beach and board surfers where getting some amazing long and huge rides. There was still a great 
inner break great for Long boat surfing however out back the face height was pushing 13 -14ft in some sets, and was not a place for a long boat to play on this day. However Kate headed out in an HP Surf kayak, got some fun runs and some major beat downs, the last and final one had her limping back to shore with a swamped boat and all the fins broken off after a huge wave broke on her and took the boat to the bottom. I also took the folding TRAK Kayak out the back a bit (after straightening the Frame again) to try my luck with pushing through the big stuff, this day I was also using a laminated wooden Greenland Paddle by VIPPaddles, I ended up with some good air of the back of the first big wave, and then a good beat down from the third. With no way to surf the step faces effectively, and a good possibility I would bend the frame of the TRAK again, I worked my way back in, To surf the inner break for some fun rides with Costain, James and Kate (who was now in her long boat). We were also joined by Taver and Kelly who came out in their Delphins. It was a fun day surfing with a big crew, and there were some good beat downs, some swims and tolerable amount of gear breakage to equal that we were pushing some limits though in a reasonably safe way. Thanks everyone for a great day, and to those wanting to get into kayak surfing some more, please don’t surf alone, Learn surf etiquette thoroughly, develop your skills slowly and don’t surf near surfers, SUP’ers or any other water users until you know how to control your boat safely. Check out this great link for more info on surf etiquette. http://tsunamirangers.com/2011/08/15/surf-kayaking-etiquette/
Surge in the Black TRAK.
A couple of weeks back, Nolin from TRAK kayaks had returned from the Philippines, where TRAK parts are made, with a New for 2013 BLACK Skin for the TRAK T1600. This skin Meet up with me at the Chicago Boat Show while I was Rep’ing for TRAK there, and Came home with me.
Not only did I get to have a little fun, rolling the boat at show, but now I get to take the skin out for a photo shoot where ever I go, and this past weekend it happened to be a surprise run to Surge Narrows just of Quadra Island in BC. I had about two days notice for the Sunday Flood tide from Local Paddler Alan Dunham, but I was in.
So on Sunday 26th Jan 2013 I woke up at 7am, despite having being out snow shoeing under the full moon till 2am that same morning. I drove up to Campbell river to meet the boys at the Ferry to Campbell river by 9am. There was a good turnout for the fun, Brent, Alan, John, and Brad, I was the youngest of the crowd, but that was awesome, I am highly inspired paddling with active and very able older generation paddlers. There is always so much to learn and you know you are always going to be safe if it happens to be a bad day for you. Thankfully no one was having a bad day, and even Brad, who was having his first visit to Surge, got some rides and slowly learnt to get some good rides.
It was a beautiful west coast winter day, you know the ones where it constantly drizzles light rain and there is no wind at all, little dimples all over the glassy water… love it. The current quickly stepped up to 6 and A half Knotts, which gave us a great building wave that soon stood high and deep for what seemed like 4 hours, with about an hour of build up and build down on either end. To begin with some of us played in the rocky features to that back of that wave that through in all sorts of different fun, from holes with piles, “V” waves, large eddies behind rocks. I was having a blast and so was everyone else, and It was great to have a sexy new Black TRAK along for the fun. The other new toy I was enjoying playing with was a Lendal Xrange Ti paddle, from Lendal NA. I had been given this paddle to play with by Lendal and it was fun, It is a great paddle to compete with Werner, it is just as light, has the foam core blades and is a four piece break down (great for Travel), the coolest thing is that it uses Titanium for its locking spigots, making an ultra tough join at all three points, the paddle performed well and was very quick and agile for linking strokes.
The end of the day seemed to take a long time to come, which is great when you are having to much fun, though with Aching muscles and a killer thirst and hunger, it was time to head back to the cars and get the ferry home.
Thanks Al for thinking of me when you went, and for some great shots of the TRAK and I on the wave.
Check out Al’s trip Reports here http://www.capemudgekayakers.com/
A Short Video From the Grand
James Manke put together this short piece from our Project Grand Canyon Trip.
More to come Later in the year.
Returned From the Grand Canyon Sea Kayak Expedition.
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| James Manke finding out if the Rafting Class 9 rapids are actually 6’s if you do them backwards in a Kayak. A: No. |
On new years day we loaded up our sea kayaks and gear onto a trailer with 5 cross river boats and a OC1 and headed for Flagstaff up the Diamond Creek access road; this would be only on small step in the 4 day journey to get back home to the Pacific Northwest of Canada. We had just finished taking four fully loaded Sea Kayaks down the Grand Canyon on a self supported trip and the whole thing seemed like a dream and still does.
It was certainly a different trip for all (even for those who paddle rivers often), throwing in loaded sea kayaks into the dynamics of the river created some high octane fun and tension the whole way, even when we felt comfortable the long spear like heavy boats, could punch most features with some intent. There were beat downs, Swims, Many Rolls, airborne highs and submerged lows, as well as some great epic fun, challenge and enjoyment in a most amazing place! For those, like James Manke, who this was their first real River trip, the trip was a step learning curve and proved to me that sea kayakers with the right skill set could survive and learn to negotiate a river system, even with a Greenland Paddle!
Everybody is now back in there respective homes and processing thoughts, Images, film and stories so stay tuned for some of that to come over the following months as we aim to share the adventure and eventually get a short film out near the end of the year.
~ Jaime ~
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| The Crew Getting back in our boats after scouting a Rapid. |