#144 - Creating Artwork on the Isle of Man with Stephen Marsh

WEBVTT

00:00:01.877 --> 00:00:05.877
Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

00:00:05.877 --> 00:00:09.557
Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

00:00:09.757 --> 00:00:14.337
I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

00:00:15.457 --> 00:00:19.297
Welcome to today's episode of Paddling the Blue. Stephen Marsh joins me for

00:00:19.297 --> 00:00:20.477
today's episode of the podcast.

00:00:20.877 --> 00:00:25.057
Many of you may know Stephen's name from his custom kayak company, Big Pond Kayaks.

00:00:25.357 --> 00:00:28.477
Today we'll talk about his home paddling waters around the Isle of Man,

00:00:28.577 --> 00:00:32.257
and we'll talk about the incredible artwork that he's known for in making his boats.

00:00:32.677 --> 00:00:36.637
We did have a small problem with the recording, so you'll hear a bit of noise in Stephen's audio.

00:00:36.817 --> 00:00:40.237
I've done all that I could to correct that out, and I appreciate you overlooking

00:00:40.237 --> 00:00:43.857
that little bit of scratching. It's still a great interview, still a good time.

00:00:44.297 --> 00:00:48.357
Before we get to today's conversation with Stephen, James Stevenson and Simon

00:00:48.357 --> 00:00:52.497
Osborne at OnlineSeaKyaking.com continue to produce great content to help you

00:00:52.497 --> 00:00:54.477
evolve as a paddler and as a coach.

00:00:54.717 --> 00:00:58.257
You'll find everything from basic strokes and safety, to paddling in tides,

00:00:58.577 --> 00:01:03.897
surfing, coaching, documentaries, expedition skills, incident management, and more.

00:01:04.217 --> 00:01:09.417
If you're not already a subscriber to OnlineSeaKyaking.com, here is your opportunity to get started.

00:01:09.637 --> 00:01:14.477
Visit OnlineSeaKyaking.com, use the coupon code PTBpodcast to check out,

00:01:14.597 --> 00:01:17.877
and you'll get 10% off just for being a member of the Paddling the Blue community.

00:01:18.217 --> 00:01:21.557
And for those who also enjoy paddling whitewater, their newest offering,

00:01:21.817 --> 00:01:25.157
Online Whitewater, they're giving the same discount to listeners.

00:01:25.517 --> 00:01:31.557
Check out OnlineWhitewater.com, Use the coupon code PTBPODCAST to check out and explore.

00:01:32.097 --> 00:01:34.537
Enjoy today's interview with Stephen Marsh.

00:01:35.137 --> 00:01:36.997
Hello, Stephen. Welcome to Paddling the Blue.

00:01:37.797 --> 00:01:40.177
Hi, John. Hi. Thanks for having me here. Oh, you're welcome.

00:01:40.577 --> 00:01:42.537
We've talked a little bit in the past.

00:01:42.657 --> 00:01:45.817
That's nice to be able to have the opportunity to connect. Yes, definitely.

00:01:46.637 --> 00:01:50.657
So tell us a little bit about you as a paddler. Me as a paddler?

00:01:50.877 --> 00:01:55.137
Oh, well, I've been paddling all my life, really. I can't really remember a

00:01:55.137 --> 00:01:56.377
time where I wasn't paddling.

00:01:57.457 --> 00:02:03.897
I come from a place called Leyland near Preston, and I paddled with a club called

00:02:03.897 --> 00:02:07.697
the Ribble Canoe Club, which was up near north of Preston.

00:02:08.097 --> 00:02:12.457
And we would do a lot of our training, we would do on reservoirs and things

00:02:12.457 --> 00:02:16.017
like that, and we would move over to rivers and lakes.

00:02:16.057 --> 00:02:20.417
So we would do a lot of whitewater paddling around settle, places like that.

00:02:20.737 --> 00:02:24.677
And we would venture up to the lake district, We'd go on Lake Windermere,

00:02:24.777 --> 00:02:28.857
Ullswater, and a few of the rivers that lead down to these lakes as well.

00:02:29.037 --> 00:02:34.237
So yeah, I've always been an avid paddler. I've never gone down the road of

00:02:34.237 --> 00:02:36.617
being a coach or teaching other people,

00:02:36.797 --> 00:02:42.197
but it's sort of all my friends that follow along with me, I always end up teaching

00:02:42.197 --> 00:02:45.497
them and getting them into the world of kayaking.

00:02:46.477 --> 00:02:48.997
I sort of push my passion onto them, so...

00:02:49.668 --> 00:02:52.508
But yeah that's uh that's my background in paddling

00:02:52.508 --> 00:02:55.448
and i moved to i left

00:02:55.448 --> 00:02:59.088
it for a little while i got busy while in my early

00:02:59.088 --> 00:03:02.068
adult life with work and one thing or another and

00:03:02.068 --> 00:03:06.048
but when i moved to the isle of man in 2007 and

00:03:06.048 --> 00:03:09.288
just absolutely fell in love with the the sea

00:03:09.288 --> 00:03:12.068
kayaking over here i first saw a group of

00:03:12.068 --> 00:03:14.728
paddlers paddling into the beach that i

00:03:14.728 --> 00:03:17.568
was just hanging out on and i thought

00:03:17.568 --> 00:03:20.828
that looks amazing and it was something.

00:03:20.828 --> 00:03:23.808
That never crossed my mind being a white water paddler and paddling

00:03:23.808 --> 00:03:26.528
on lakes and all that sort of stuff you think whoa the

00:03:26.528 --> 00:03:29.168
ocean I never thought that was a thing until I moved to the

00:03:29.168 --> 00:03:31.988
Isle of Man so yeah all right

00:03:31.988 --> 00:03:35.008
yeah it's it's one of my slogans now actually it's

00:03:35.008 --> 00:03:37.848
inspired by oceans it's just it's sort of

00:03:37.848 --> 00:03:41.088
my thing now really that's very cool so what

00:03:41.088 --> 00:03:44.208
brought you to the Isle of Man it was just work really I was

00:03:44.208 --> 00:03:47.048
married at the time and my wife she got

00:03:47.048 --> 00:03:50.488
a job offer here we didn't even know the isle of man existed and

00:03:50.488 --> 00:03:53.608
to be fair we we thought everyone would speak french here because

00:03:53.608 --> 00:03:56.448
i was thinking of like guernsey and all them sorts of

00:03:56.448 --> 00:03:59.188
places okay so i i thought that the

00:03:59.188 --> 00:04:02.368
isle of man would be something similar being a an offshore

00:04:02.368 --> 00:04:07.728
island and but no the the people here are called manx they're all obviously

00:04:07.728 --> 00:04:12.928
from the isle of man and you know they speak english with a manx accent which

00:04:12.928 --> 00:04:18.728
is lovely absolutely lovely people I think just moving to the Isle of Man was

00:04:18.728 --> 00:04:20.588
probably one of the best things I've ever done, really.

00:04:21.228 --> 00:04:25.528
The people are great. There's no crime here. I mean, you can just leave your

00:04:25.528 --> 00:04:30.348
keys in your car. If you're going onto the beach, you can leave your house unlocked.

00:04:30.548 --> 00:04:36.308
It's just, it really is. It's such a fantastic place to bring kids up as well. It's so safe.

00:04:36.628 --> 00:04:39.868
You know, it's a really good community over here. Absolutely.

00:04:40.388 --> 00:04:43.408
Like I say, it's just, I feel like I'm on holiday every day,

00:04:43.408 --> 00:04:48.148
although I've been living here since 2007. All right. Now, is it a big vacation destination?

00:04:49.108 --> 00:04:52.668
It is, yeah. I mean, it's most popular really for motorbikes.

00:04:52.908 --> 00:05:00.528
There's a race over here called the TT Races. That brings possibly 50,000 people

00:05:00.528 --> 00:05:03.668
every time the race is on just to come here and watch it.

00:05:03.748 --> 00:05:06.728
So it's got a big motorbike background here.

00:05:07.048 --> 00:05:10.328
And you had given a little hint to location. So for those that aren't familiar

00:05:10.328 --> 00:05:12.168
with the Isle of Man, tell us where it's located.

00:05:12.822 --> 00:05:17.382
Well, it's right in the middle of the Irish Sea, in between Ireland and England, basically.

00:05:17.802 --> 00:05:21.222
It can't be any more central. And then how about history of the island?

00:05:21.702 --> 00:05:25.702
The history of the island? I have researched the history quite a lot.

00:05:25.822 --> 00:05:29.222
I mean, it is a very independent island, and it always has been,

00:05:29.322 --> 00:05:33.922
but it's always been one that's been looked upon in the way of from the Vikings

00:05:33.922 --> 00:05:34.982
and all this sort of stuff.

00:05:34.982 --> 00:05:40.542
There's a lot of history, Cromwell and, you know, all that sort of history in

00:05:40.542 --> 00:05:44.582
the past, but the Isle of Man did settle and it is now its own,

00:05:44.722 --> 00:05:46.442
it has its own constitution.

00:05:47.082 --> 00:05:50.022
It's not part of the UK as such.

00:05:50.162 --> 00:05:55.842
It has its own currency and it has its own government so we can make up our

00:05:55.842 --> 00:05:58.022
own rules and laws here, you know.

00:05:58.422 --> 00:06:03.382
So yeah, it's very independent. Okay. Yeah. You had mentioned Guernsey and Channel Islands.

00:06:03.562 --> 00:06:07.542
And so similar where it's a self-governing crown dependency.

00:06:07.542 --> 00:06:10.382
Yeah exactly the the strong

00:06:10.382 --> 00:06:13.262
ties with all the islands here just at

00:06:13.262 --> 00:06:16.142
the moment they've got the island games that's going on

00:06:16.142 --> 00:06:20.482
so a lot of like gymnasts and athletes are

00:06:20.482 --> 00:06:25.842
all competing in what what would be the olympics for us really in in the island

00:06:25.842 --> 00:06:31.042
games so it's all the small islands around europe england they all get together

00:06:31.042 --> 00:06:37.102
and have uh have uh like a sporty games now out of curiosity Are there any,

00:06:37.282 --> 00:06:38.262
you mentioned Olympics,

00:06:38.462 --> 00:06:42.802
are there different types of activities in the games that you might not find

00:06:42.802 --> 00:06:45.242
in the Olympics, something that's really unique to the Isle of Man?

00:06:46.042 --> 00:06:51.242
Not really. No, not in the games as such as in the Island Games.

00:06:51.742 --> 00:06:56.722
It's all very much straight down the middle with athletics and gymnastics.

00:06:57.382 --> 00:07:02.522
But the Isle of Man does have a lot of its own little sports that are more local.

00:07:02.522 --> 00:07:08.842
You know there's one in in the new year where they they basically i think i

00:07:08.842 --> 00:07:11.162
can't pronounce it it sounds like,

00:07:13.095 --> 00:07:16.015
calac basically the the it's a it's just

00:07:16.015 --> 00:07:19.095
a rough game of hockey i mean people go to hospital after

00:07:19.095 --> 00:07:24.915
after the game of they basically find a stick that looks like a hockey stick

00:07:24.915 --> 00:07:29.655
they throw a ball into the middle of the field and they all just go for it so

00:07:29.655 --> 00:07:34.195
they have little games like that that's quite interesting to watch okay so they

00:07:34.195 --> 00:07:37.235
end up hitting people more than they hit the ball Exactly, yeah.

00:07:37.835 --> 00:07:42.795
Yeah, there's no referee as such. It's just there's the ball and get as many

00:07:42.795 --> 00:07:44.635
points as you can, however you can get it.

00:07:45.435 --> 00:07:47.935
All right, I'll have to look that up. It sounds interesting,

00:07:48.035 --> 00:07:48.795
but I'm not going to play.

00:07:52.815 --> 00:07:55.155
And yeah, we also have Cavendish here.

00:07:57.315 --> 00:08:03.095
He was born here, Mark Cavendish, and he's been doing well, obviously,

00:08:03.115 --> 00:08:07.555
in the cycling. I was going to ask if you happen to run into him on the street once in a while.

00:08:08.235 --> 00:08:10.855
Well, no, I've never met him. I used to work with his brother,

00:08:11.095 --> 00:08:15.035
but I've never met him myself. So getting there, tell us a little bit about

00:08:15.035 --> 00:08:15.955
getting to the Isle of Man.

00:08:16.975 --> 00:08:23.075
Getting here, you can fly. So you can fly from Liverpool or Manchester.

00:08:23.535 --> 00:08:27.355
I think there's a couple of other smaller ports that can bring you here.

00:08:27.595 --> 00:08:28.835
You can fly from Ireland.

00:08:29.735 --> 00:08:32.955
But most people come over on the ferry. So you can get the ferry.

00:08:32.955 --> 00:08:36.155
Uh there's a fast craft from liverpool or there's a slightly

00:08:36.155 --> 00:08:39.175
slower one that's a bit more like a floating hotel now that

00:08:39.175 --> 00:08:44.235
comes from heysham and liverpool but that's that's a ferry over it so it's about

00:08:44.235 --> 00:08:48.275
it's around about a three-hour journey really okay i think the fast one may

00:08:48.275 --> 00:08:52.035
be two and a half hours on a good day and the the slower ones may be three and

00:08:52.035 --> 00:08:57.015
a half hours so now in addition to the ferry in addition to flying people paddle over correct,

00:08:57.708 --> 00:09:00.528
well this is the other thing yeah and it's very

00:09:00.528 --> 00:09:03.768
rare that people do it and and you but

00:09:03.768 --> 00:09:08.508
we do get it you know maybe once or twice a year people attempt it or actually

00:09:08.508 --> 00:09:13.188
do it one of the recent ones that i know about was john willesey he paddled

00:09:13.188 --> 00:09:17.648
over from anglesey to the isle of man he didn't paddle back it tends to be what

00:09:17.648 --> 00:09:23.308
people do they'll paddle one way realize how hard it is and then they get the ferry back. Okay.

00:09:23.848 --> 00:09:28.808
You know, because it is a bit of a, it's a mind game, so I've heard.

00:09:29.128 --> 00:09:34.668
There's a friend of mine, George Shaw, and he's done the crossings from the

00:09:34.668 --> 00:09:37.748
Isle of Man to Southern Ireland, Northern Ireland.

00:09:38.008 --> 00:09:40.028
He's done Scotland, Wales, and England.

00:09:40.728 --> 00:09:44.528
I think he's the only man to actually do that in a sea kayak.

00:09:45.268 --> 00:09:50.948
So he's doing well for himself. But there's a few people here that do crossings.

00:09:50.948 --> 00:09:58.548
I think when you look out from the Isle of Man, you can see what they call the Seven Kingdoms.

00:09:58.968 --> 00:10:04.168
So you've got England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and you've got the Kingdom

00:10:04.168 --> 00:10:08.708
of Heaven, you've got the Kingdom of the Ocean and the Kingdom of obviously the Isle of Man as well.

00:10:09.168 --> 00:10:13.328
So it's called the Seven Kingdoms. So looking out from the Isle of Man,

00:10:13.408 --> 00:10:16.468
you can see all these places. And as a sea kayak, you think to yourself,

00:10:16.708 --> 00:10:23.668
I would love to paddle across that ocean to Scotland where I can see, you know, or England.

00:10:23.828 --> 00:10:27.628
But it is a treacherous crossing. It's not for the faint hearted and it's really

00:10:27.628 --> 00:10:28.908
got to be done on a nice day.

00:10:29.248 --> 00:10:33.048
And the only other thing here as well is there's so much tide.

00:10:33.628 --> 00:10:39.748
Because we're in the middle of what is a massive big bay, which is the Irish Sea, it just floods.

00:10:40.428 --> 00:10:43.348
So when it's flooding there's obviously tide

00:10:43.348 --> 00:10:46.288
that's just ripping past the isle of man and obviously when

00:10:46.288 --> 00:10:50.068
it's going the other way it's you know it just empties out

00:10:50.068 --> 00:10:52.948
and takes all the water with it so we've constantly got

00:10:52.948 --> 00:10:55.748
a tide here so when you're planning doing a

00:10:55.748 --> 00:10:59.488
crossing you have to plan on ferry gliding in

00:10:59.488 --> 00:11:02.348
a nest shape really so you'll you'll spend half

00:11:02.348 --> 00:11:05.328
of the time say paddling west and then

00:11:05.328 --> 00:11:09.268
half of the time paddling east just to counteract

00:11:09.268 --> 00:11:14.048
the tide that you're on there's a lot of planning to do a crossing to the isle

00:11:14.048 --> 00:11:19.408
of man well certainly sounds complex yeah definitely all right now in terms

00:11:19.408 --> 00:11:24.968
of in terms of crossing we first made our connection in having a conversation

00:11:24.968 --> 00:11:28.288
where you connected me with nick ray and nick made the crossing correct.

00:11:29.162 --> 00:11:33.842
He did, yeah. I was actually surprised at that because I was so grateful for

00:11:33.842 --> 00:11:35.762
Nick actually ordering a boat from me.

00:11:36.202 --> 00:11:42.062
I've kept in contact with Nick for a little while because I was avidly following

00:11:42.062 --> 00:11:45.202
his expeditions, which he thought was fantastic.

00:11:45.522 --> 00:11:50.962
And I had spoken to him and he recognized that I make the kayaks.

00:11:51.062 --> 00:11:54.622
And I once mentioned to him, look, would you paddle one of my kayaks?

00:11:54.622 --> 00:11:59.062
I would absolutely love for someone like yourself to be doing your adventures

00:11:59.062 --> 00:12:02.162
in one of my kayaks. Anyway, one year he chose me.

00:12:02.582 --> 00:12:07.282
So he was planning on doing 12 months. So on his 59th birthday,

00:12:07.282 --> 00:12:09.662
he was heading off and doing a tour of Scotland.

00:12:09.922 --> 00:12:13.762
He didn't know where he was going to go. All he wanted to do was just visit

00:12:13.762 --> 00:12:19.422
every nook and cranny and get around as much of the Scottish coastline as he possibly could do.

00:12:20.242 --> 00:12:23.162
And he chose to do it in my kayak which for

00:12:23.162 --> 00:12:25.942
me i was almost quite nervous at the time

00:12:25.942 --> 00:12:28.962
because i'm thinking well this could be the make or break from

00:12:28.962 --> 00:12:31.782
of my kayak really if it

00:12:31.782 --> 00:12:34.622
fails it's an epic fail for me but if it

00:12:34.622 --> 00:12:37.642
does what it needs to do and he enjoys paddling

00:12:37.642 --> 00:12:40.902
it then you know what what better testament you

00:12:40.902 --> 00:12:43.862
know for the kayak that i make so yeah

00:12:43.862 --> 00:12:46.962
and i was we were trying to organize delivery and

00:12:46.962 --> 00:12:49.862
he says oh i'll just paddle across and i was like are you sure about

00:12:49.862 --> 00:12:55.162
that so he paddled across in his old boat and he left his old boat with me to

00:12:55.162 --> 00:12:59.882
be fixed up because obviously it's it was it was well used from his expeditions

00:12:59.882 --> 00:13:07.322
so he left his old one with me and he paddled his new one back and again i i i waved him off.

00:13:08.205 --> 00:13:11.165
When he paddled away in my kayak and i thought to myself this is

00:13:11.165 --> 00:13:14.385
the kayak's maiden voyage he's never kayaked in my

00:13:14.385 --> 00:13:18.065
kayak before and he's just about to do a big open crossing so i

00:13:18.065 --> 00:13:20.765
was like oh god you know this this could go one way or another

00:13:20.765 --> 00:13:24.045
anyway it went fantastic and the the

00:13:24.045 --> 00:13:27.225
he had like a gps tracker so every

00:13:27.225 --> 00:13:30.825
couple of minutes it would give you his location and i.

00:13:30.825 --> 00:13:34.545
Could see that he was going a

00:13:34.545 --> 00:13:37.225
different way and i thought well i wonder if he's just on the

00:13:37.225 --> 00:13:39.965
tide and if the tide changes i wonder if the tide will take

00:13:39.965 --> 00:13:43.345
him back again anyway he he what

00:13:43.345 --> 00:13:46.205
it was he lost he lost sight of land in

00:13:46.205 --> 00:13:49.265
the fog and he was just basically following

00:13:49.265 --> 00:13:52.425
the compass heading but but obviously because of the tide was

00:13:52.425 --> 00:13:55.645
rushing i think at the time it was rushing going towards

00:13:55.645 --> 00:13:58.445
the muller galloway so it was

00:13:58.445 --> 00:14:01.305
sort of pushing him that way so i think he he was

00:14:01.305 --> 00:14:04.045
when he eventually hit land he was a he was an

00:14:04.045 --> 00:14:06.885
hour away from his destination than than where he wanted

00:14:06.885 --> 00:14:10.325
to be yeah you know but thankfully it

00:14:10.325 --> 00:14:13.945
wasn't anything down to the kayak or anything like that it was just basically the

00:14:13.945 --> 00:14:16.765
weather changed the tide was strong and it

00:14:16.765 --> 00:14:19.965
and it was foggy okay you know so it

00:14:19.965 --> 00:14:23.285
was a bit nervous nerve-wracking for me because i was thinking has something

00:14:23.285 --> 00:14:26.825
gone wrong with the boat you know you know but anyway when

00:14:26.825 --> 00:14:29.685
he eventually made contact he got back to his car

00:14:29.685 --> 00:14:32.565
and he was more than happy so he was delighted with the boat and

00:14:32.565 --> 00:14:35.505
he'd filmed the crossing as well and he's

00:14:35.505 --> 00:14:39.365
put it on his youtube channel all right yeah and

00:14:39.365 --> 00:14:42.025
so the boat performed well through the episode got him through

00:14:42.025 --> 00:14:47.665
12 months of scotland it did yeah which to me was amazing i mean just i mean

00:14:47.665 --> 00:14:52.345
i see i see it from a different point of view because the first time i saw the

00:14:52.345 --> 00:14:57.025
kayak was a bucket of resin and a couple of rolls of fiberglass you know so

00:14:57.025 --> 00:15:00.165
i've got i've got to put it together into the shape of a kayak.

00:15:00.605 --> 00:15:06.105
So for me, somebody taking something that I've put a lot of effort into.

00:15:07.008 --> 00:15:14.348
You know, love and attention in building that kayak for him to go off and to do it.

00:15:14.428 --> 00:15:19.128
It was almost like a part of me was going with Nick cause he was in my boat, you know?

00:15:19.228 --> 00:15:22.688
So all the travels that he was doing, all the videos that he was putting up

00:15:22.688 --> 00:15:27.228
and, and the quality of paddling he had was absolutely amazing.

00:15:27.588 --> 00:15:31.308
I just looked through his YouTube channel at the videos that he's got.

00:15:31.488 --> 00:15:36.688
It's just fabulous. Some of the caves that he was going through the coastline, the.

00:15:38.048 --> 00:15:44.968
Even now, when somebody wants to have a look into the manta that I make,

00:15:45.168 --> 00:15:47.148
I always send them Nick Ray's videos.

00:15:47.548 --> 00:15:53.248
I just say, look, if there's any ambassador for paddling the manta,

00:15:53.428 --> 00:15:56.928
it's Nick, and just go on his YouTube job and have a look at some of his videos

00:15:56.928 --> 00:15:59.288
because they're amazing. Absolutely amazing.

00:16:01.148 --> 00:16:04.848
He didn't capsize once. That was one of the other things.

00:16:04.988 --> 00:16:10.708
I said, have you never capsized it? No, he's just never capsized once. Wow.

00:16:11.635 --> 00:16:16.375
So before we get to, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the boat and the

00:16:16.375 --> 00:16:20.175
work that you do there, but I just want to come back to the Isle of Man for just a moment.

00:16:20.435 --> 00:16:22.895
So tell us a little bit about paddling on the Isle of Man.

00:16:24.335 --> 00:16:28.415
Yeah, again, the Isle of Man, it's such a, at the moment, you know,

00:16:28.495 --> 00:16:32.795
we've got a good group of kayakers here and we're all looking out at the weather

00:16:32.795 --> 00:16:35.835
and seeing when we can paddle. It's just one of them places.

00:16:36.315 --> 00:16:40.035
You know, the weather can change here in an instance. and

00:16:40.035 --> 00:16:43.355
but i've honestly the the

00:16:43.355 --> 00:16:46.215
quality of paddling that you can have over here is second to

00:16:46.215 --> 00:16:49.475
none we've got a bit of everything and it's right on the doorstep the

00:16:49.475 --> 00:16:52.575
the island man is it's 45 miles long and

00:16:52.575 --> 00:16:58.655
15 miles wide and we've got roughly about 100 miles worth of coastline we've

00:16:58.655 --> 00:17:04.535
got tide races we've got we've got calm days we've got a little island off the

00:17:04.535 --> 00:17:08.495
south coast of the isle of man called the calf of man and that's the favorite

00:17:08.495 --> 00:17:10.815
paddling destination for everybody.

00:17:11.355 --> 00:17:14.115
And it has a treacherous crossing to get

00:17:14.115 --> 00:17:17.075
there which is only a couple of miles wide but it's called

00:17:17.075 --> 00:17:20.015
we call it the sound so there's a little sound

00:17:20.015 --> 00:17:22.775
and there's a big sound and there's a little rock in the middle called

00:17:22.775 --> 00:17:26.215
the kitaland so your first challenge as a sea

00:17:26.215 --> 00:17:29.155
kayaker when you sort of get good enough to

00:17:29.155 --> 00:17:31.935
venture out would be to try and do

00:17:31.935 --> 00:17:34.635
a crossing first so you first of all you

00:17:34.635 --> 00:17:37.475
you tackle the little sound which has like

00:17:37.475 --> 00:17:40.175
it can have like seven knots of tide

00:17:40.175 --> 00:17:42.995
just racing through it has standing waves that we

00:17:42.995 --> 00:17:46.135
all well play on and surf on and stuff like that and then

00:17:46.135 --> 00:17:49.255
if you venture around the other side of kitalang this little rock you

00:17:49.255 --> 00:17:52.455
then have the big sound to cross which has a lighthouse in

00:17:52.455 --> 00:17:55.335
the middle and then obviously you go and

00:17:55.335 --> 00:17:58.895
do a circumnavigation of the calf of man which takes about an hour and a half

00:17:58.895 --> 00:18:04.395
really something like that but it it's when you take a group around the calf

00:18:04.395 --> 00:18:12.855
of man people stop talking and you can see the antitipatization on people's faces that the.

00:18:13.886 --> 00:18:17.166
It's it's it's a beautiful place to paddle but

00:18:17.166 --> 00:18:20.306
it also has some really big tide races and it's

00:18:20.306 --> 00:18:23.826
it's one of them that you have to commit to once you're in the flow once

00:18:23.826 --> 00:18:26.506
you're in that tide race you're you sort of go in that

00:18:26.506 --> 00:18:30.006
direction whether you want to or not you know so it's it's

00:18:30.006 --> 00:18:32.926
not for the faint-hearted some of the some of the big tide

00:18:32.926 --> 00:18:35.706
races that we have and it's always in the back of

00:18:35.706 --> 00:18:38.346
your mind is it going to be flat today is it going to be

00:18:38.346 --> 00:18:41.526
big today you know it's it's quite exciting

00:18:41.526 --> 00:18:44.406
you wouldn't believe it but the far end of the calf of

00:18:44.406 --> 00:18:47.066
man we have this rock called the drinking dragon which is a

00:18:47.066 --> 00:18:50.086
huge big rock right in the middle of a tide race and it actually

00:18:50.086 --> 00:18:53.566
looks like a dragon with its wings tucked in drinking

00:18:53.566 --> 00:18:57.146
the water i mean who put that there you know

00:18:57.146 --> 00:19:00.426
it's such it's such an iconic photograph you

00:19:00.426 --> 00:19:03.626
know so when you're a first time paddler around

00:19:03.626 --> 00:19:06.606
the calf of man just to see that and take a photograph of

00:19:06.606 --> 00:19:09.586
it you know is it's that that's your challenge done

00:19:09.586 --> 00:19:12.426
really you know you're you're one of the sea kayakers over here once

00:19:12.426 --> 00:19:15.326
you're doing that sort of stuff so you've got your you've got your wings at

00:19:15.326 --> 00:19:18.286
that point yeah that's it that's it yeah yeah the

00:19:18.286 --> 00:19:22.706
rest of the isle of man is absolutely fantastic we've got big long beaches a

00:19:22.706 --> 00:19:28.086
lot of them we can we camp on as well one of the challenges here again which

00:19:28.086 --> 00:19:33.206
is weather depending there's there's there's you could plan a certain navigation

00:19:33.206 --> 00:19:35.506
there's people come over to the isle of man clubs.

00:19:36.546 --> 00:19:41.166
And just solo people coming to do a circumnavigation and just can't do it because of the weather.

00:19:42.086 --> 00:19:45.986
It's such a small island, and yet sometimes you just cannot get around it because

00:19:45.986 --> 00:19:49.706
it could be calm on one side and at the other side of the island it could be

00:19:49.706 --> 00:19:52.146
a 4.6 with two-meter swells.

00:19:52.606 --> 00:19:58.226
It's just exciting, but it makes it a challenge as well, doing a circumnavigation.

00:19:59.286 --> 00:20:02.046
And there's two ways of doing the circumnavigation.

00:20:02.760 --> 00:20:05.900
You've got people that come over like the likes of John Willissey.

00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:10.860
I think he's got around about a 12-hour circumnavigation of the Isle of Man,

00:20:11.060 --> 00:20:15.480
which when you think, let's say you're doing 80 miles, if you cut out some of

00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:19.640
the bays, to do 80 miles in 12 hours, how is that even possible?

00:20:20.180 --> 00:20:23.140
It's just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:27.620
Most people I know will probably do it in about 18 to 20 hours in one go,

00:20:27.620 --> 00:20:30.760
but the the normal humans

00:20:30.760 --> 00:20:34.100
would probably do it in about a four-day trip so

00:20:34.100 --> 00:20:37.960
you you know you split it into like a to do 20

00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:42.820
miles a day and and camp out on a beach you know and have a rest and then do

00:20:42.820 --> 00:20:48.020
it do it over four days that's what most people do it yeah i know uh i've interviewed

00:20:48.020 --> 00:20:52.980
a lot of paddlers who've been done record-breaking paddles and speed paddles

00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:56.540
and almost every time they say you know, I would, if I did it again, I'd slow down.

00:20:56.760 --> 00:21:00.700
I'd really experience it. And it sounds like a pretty spectacular place.

00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:05.640
We've not had a chance to really talk the Isle of Man on paddling the blue yet,

00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:09.120
but now I think I've just added another place to my bucket list to paddle.

00:21:09.340 --> 00:21:13.320
Oh, it really is. I mean, there's so much footage to see.

00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:16.480
If you just jump on YouTube and have a look at some of the footage,

00:21:16.700 --> 00:21:20.580
just basically type in Isle of Man, see kayaking, and just have a.

00:21:24.140 --> 00:21:28.140
And sometimes with us being in the middle of the Irish sea, we're out of the

00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:31.980
algorithm of a lot of like Google searches and all that sort of stuff.

00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:35.360
So it's like a bit of a hidden gem for kayaking.

00:21:35.540 --> 00:21:37.680
I would compare it really to Anglesea.

00:21:38.020 --> 00:21:42.080
You know, so the similar paddling that you would get around Anglesea is probably

00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:45.220
what you would get around the Isle of Man. A beautiful place to paddle.

00:21:45.620 --> 00:21:47.880
It really is a hidden gem for sea kayakers.

00:21:48.689 --> 00:21:53.949
So we talked a little bit about Nick, just a minute, and his connection with you and Paddle Over.

00:21:54.129 --> 00:21:58.929
And if folks want to hear more about Nick's paddle, we did talk to him on episode 101.

00:21:59.709 --> 00:22:03.289
So folks can check that out at paddlingtheblue.com slash 101.

00:22:03.989 --> 00:22:09.409
But many of people know you through Big Pond Kayaks, and you had mentioned the kayaks.

00:22:09.549 --> 00:22:13.129
So let's talk a little bit about that. How did you get start building boats?

00:22:13.929 --> 00:22:16.529
It was a hobby. It really was just a hobby.

00:22:18.009 --> 00:22:23.769
When I started getting into the sea kayaking, I realized they do cost a little bit of money as well.

00:22:23.889 --> 00:22:28.009
So I was looking into different ways. Do I buy a second-hand kayak?

00:22:28.769 --> 00:22:32.909
Anyway, through my research, I thought to myself, well, oh, you can build one.

00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:36.849
So I started making the stripwood kayaks because I'm a joiner by trade.

00:22:36.949 --> 00:22:38.749
I'm actually a bricklayer and joiner by trade.

00:22:39.009 --> 00:22:43.189
And with them hand skills, I thought to myself, well, I've got a garage outside.

00:22:43.349 --> 00:22:46.509
I just emptied the garage and basically turned it into a...

00:22:46.529 --> 00:22:49.969
A stripwood kayak workshop you

00:22:49.969 --> 00:22:53.309
know and I was literally doing it as as a hobby just something

00:22:53.309 --> 00:22:59.469
to do really but it it sort of I just got a passion for it I couldn't get enough

00:22:59.469 --> 00:23:02.709
of it I couldn't wait to get home from work at the end of the day and go into

00:23:02.709 --> 00:23:07.229
the workshop and just you know work on the boat and when I eventually got it

00:23:07.229 --> 00:23:10.469
onto the water it was just it just felt amazing and,

00:23:11.009 --> 00:23:15.409
you know the the stripwood kayaks they get so much interest from people even

00:23:15.409 --> 00:23:19.189
people that don't know what a kayak is they'll look at it and go that's beautiful

00:23:19.189 --> 00:23:21.289
you know how have you made it and

00:23:21.729 --> 00:23:26.349
so anyway i i ended up building three stripwood kayaks and i thought well i've

00:23:26.349 --> 00:23:31.129
got to stop at this point i can't i can't have any more but what happened was.

00:23:31.918 --> 00:23:34.778
All the sea kayakers on the Isle of Man were coming to me and saying,

00:23:34.898 --> 00:23:39.418
look, you've got some really good skills there at building the wooden kayaks and all that.

00:23:39.598 --> 00:23:43.678
Do you fix kayaks up? Because I soon realized that everybody on the Isle of

00:23:43.678 --> 00:23:49.038
Man was paddling around in boats that had just been patched up or masking tape

00:23:49.038 --> 00:23:50.478
over cracks and stuff like that.

00:23:50.598 --> 00:23:54.458
So I was inundated then with people wanting me to fix the boats up.

00:23:54.458 --> 00:23:58.658
And i think it was through that through fixing up the fiberglass boats i was

00:23:58.658 --> 00:24:04.358
thinking well maybe i should make my own fiberglass boats so what i did was

00:24:04.358 --> 00:24:09.738
i made i then made a fourth strip was kayak and took a mold from it and from

00:24:09.738 --> 00:24:11.678
the mold i made a fiberglass version,

00:24:12.238 --> 00:24:16.278
and straight away someone said can i buy it and i was like well i suppose so

00:24:16.278 --> 00:24:20.158
so i sold it and i thought well i better make another one and that's how it

00:24:20.158 --> 00:24:24.438
started okay literally is how it started I just never turned back from there

00:24:24.438 --> 00:24:27.218
and I just got I got busier and busier and busier and.

00:24:27.938 --> 00:24:30.738
I was self-employed at the time as a builder so I was doing

00:24:30.738 --> 00:24:33.898
less work as a builder and more so

00:24:33.898 --> 00:24:39.678
on the boats yeah so that's how it started so that first boat that you molded

00:24:39.678 --> 00:24:44.158
off the off the strip boat so how does that mold process work I don't even I

00:24:44.158 --> 00:24:48.718
don't I don't know what that looks like yeah it is tricky so the thing that

00:24:48.718 --> 00:24:52.318
you're taking the mold from is called a plug so in the industry,

00:24:52.578 --> 00:24:58.738
no matter what shape it is, it could be a car panel, it could be a plant pot or anything.

00:24:58.918 --> 00:25:01.078
If you're taking a mold from it, it's called a plug.

00:25:01.318 --> 00:25:03.938
So my plug basically was a sea kayak.

00:25:04.198 --> 00:25:09.858
So again, I had to do quite a lot of research because it's a very secret industry.

00:25:10.298 --> 00:25:13.398
Learning how to make a kayak is almost

00:25:13.398 --> 00:25:16.198
impossible to research because nobody really tells the

00:25:16.198 --> 00:25:18.878
trade secrets you know so it was a

00:25:18.878 --> 00:25:21.978
big learning curve and i did make some mistakes in

00:25:21.978 --> 00:25:25.558
the early days but anyway i sort of found

00:25:25.558 --> 00:25:28.738
a rhythm but yeah so basically you have

00:25:28.738 --> 00:25:31.638
to make the plug which is the model of kayak you

00:25:31.638 --> 00:25:35.618
want as neat as you possibly can do any mistakes

00:25:35.618 --> 00:25:38.618
any any anything that's misshapen or

00:25:38.618 --> 00:25:41.538
anything will be on every single kayak you ever make from

00:25:41.538 --> 00:25:45.838
that mold going forward you know so it has to be absolutely perfect and then

00:25:45.838 --> 00:25:49.278
basically you just take a mold from it so you just absolutely cake it in wax

00:25:49.278 --> 00:25:53.638
get it as shiny as you possibly can do you have to make a rim so you have to

00:25:53.638 --> 00:25:59.698
split the deck from the hull so you sort of have to make a rim that you can mold to.

00:26:00.338 --> 00:26:03.958
And then you just basically just put as much fiberglass as you possibly can

00:26:03.958 --> 00:26:06.978
do on it you know just just to take that shape.

00:26:07.783 --> 00:26:12.903
Yeah. So once you've got the shape, you hope that it will release from the kayak

00:26:12.903 --> 00:26:16.743
that you made, you know, because that's where you get the sleepless nights.

00:26:16.863 --> 00:26:20.183
You think to yourself, have I put enough of releasing wax in it?

00:26:20.483 --> 00:26:27.023
Have I just basically glued a, you know, 20 kilogram of fiberglass to a lovely boat and ruined it?

00:26:27.323 --> 00:26:30.323
Yeah, that's what I was wondering is how do you make sure that it releases?

00:26:30.523 --> 00:26:35.603
So you're effectively building the boat and then you're covering that with the wax.

00:26:36.163 --> 00:26:39.023
Yeah and then yeah wrapping it's only

00:26:39.023 --> 00:26:41.963
it's only a thin it's only a thin layer of wax it's like

00:26:41.963 --> 00:26:45.823
you would polish in a car basically okay so you know once you wash your car

00:26:45.823 --> 00:26:48.983
and you get some wax and you and you basically wash the car up that's how you

00:26:48.983 --> 00:26:53.123
do it but you probably put about six layers of wax on it okay just to make sure

00:26:53.123 --> 00:26:57.583
there's there's so this is where things can go a bit wrong because there's there's

00:26:57.583 --> 00:27:01.383
so many different release wax on the market there's like a pva,

00:27:02.803 --> 00:27:05.883
and it's like a pva glue that that's colored

00:27:05.883 --> 00:27:08.943
blue and i don't like it if i've ever

00:27:08.943 --> 00:27:13.943
failed at releasing something it's because i've used the pva so i've basically

00:27:13.943 --> 00:27:20.123
now i just rely on a product called honey wax if you put honey wax on it it's

00:27:20.123 --> 00:27:26.823
just guaranteed to release now that plug is that slightly smaller than the actual

00:27:26.823 --> 00:27:28.243
boat that you want to build so then.

00:27:28.863 --> 00:27:33.143
No it's exactly the same size because the the

00:27:33.143 --> 00:27:36.563
mold that you're making is on the surface of the kayak and

00:27:36.563 --> 00:27:39.763
it doesn't change so when you take the mold off the plug

00:27:39.763 --> 00:27:42.883
model it's exactly the same size a

00:27:42.883 --> 00:27:46.163
lot of people think that a lot of people think well when you

00:27:46.163 --> 00:27:48.963
make a boat it's going to be smaller because you've took them off and it's

00:27:48.963 --> 00:27:52.523
not it's exactly the same size you know the the

00:27:52.523 --> 00:27:55.603
mold is touching the surface of the model

00:27:55.603 --> 00:27:58.463
and that surface of the model will imprint onto the

00:27:58.463 --> 00:28:01.663
new boat so it's in exactly the same place okay now

00:28:01.663 --> 00:28:04.503
how long does it take to build a boat it can it can

00:28:04.503 --> 00:28:07.363
take a while depending there's a.

00:28:07.363 --> 00:28:10.263
Lot of there's a lot of uh things that can

00:28:10.263 --> 00:28:12.983
go wrong and and that could be

00:28:12.983 --> 00:28:15.743
like temperature moisture you know some days

00:28:15.743 --> 00:28:18.623
i'll look out there and and and there's fog in the air

00:28:18.623 --> 00:28:21.483
and you think well i'm not going to fiberglass today because

00:28:21.483 --> 00:28:24.743
that'll just the more it won't lighten moisture you

00:28:24.743 --> 00:28:27.863
know so you've got to get the temperature right in the workshop you've

00:28:27.863 --> 00:28:30.823
got to keep it nice and dry you know there's a

00:28:30.823 --> 00:28:33.663
there's a lot there's a lot that can go wrong but you know

00:28:33.663 --> 00:28:36.523
if i was to start a kayak i would hope that

00:28:36.523 --> 00:28:39.863
i'd have it finished within three weeks but i

00:28:39.863 --> 00:28:42.583
have been known to take longer than that you know i've still

00:28:42.583 --> 00:28:46.783
on some kayaks i've been still working on them six weeks later okay you know

00:28:46.783 --> 00:28:51.143
because because and i don't fully know why that is it's just the nature of the

00:28:51.143 --> 00:28:55.843
game with fiberglassing you know i think things can go slightly wrong you know

00:28:55.843 --> 00:29:00.423
you might pull the kayak out the mold and part of it's not.

00:29:01.428 --> 00:29:05.748
The resin's not fully wetted it out, so you've got a few days of fixing something,

00:29:06.068 --> 00:29:09.008
or it's just all sorts can happen, you know.

00:29:09.288 --> 00:29:13.688
So it's hard to say. I mean, like I said, if everything goes well,

00:29:13.848 --> 00:29:16.228
you could have a kayak done within three weeks.

00:29:16.628 --> 00:29:22.148
But if you're struggling and, you know, everything's against you,

00:29:22.608 --> 00:29:27.728
you know, it can take a lot longer than that. And you've got some special artwork,

00:29:27.868 --> 00:29:31.408
which we'll talk about in just a moment that could extend that time just a little bit.

00:29:31.588 --> 00:29:35.248
So you've got two different models of boats, the Manta that you'd mentioned

00:29:35.248 --> 00:29:37.068
that Nick paddled and the Surge play.

00:29:37.228 --> 00:29:39.968
Did you design both those boats? i did yeah

00:29:39.968 --> 00:29:44.948
both of them are exact are my designs you know i mean this is the other thing

00:29:44.948 --> 00:29:51.028
when you're designing a boat i mean if you put 10 kayaks together all different

00:29:51.028 --> 00:29:55.808
makes they're all going to look like a sea kayak you know that so it's it's

00:29:55.808 --> 00:29:59.268
trying to somebody somebody mentioned it as.

00:29:59.468 --> 00:30:02.148
Like a dagger in the sand you've sort of got

00:30:02.148 --> 00:30:05.328
to find your niche your you know

00:30:05.328 --> 00:30:08.548
when i started making the kayaks in the in people

00:30:08.548 --> 00:30:11.308
the the the most question that

00:30:11.308 --> 00:30:14.128
people would ask me is well what makes yours better than

00:30:14.128 --> 00:30:16.868
anybody else's you know and it's a really

00:30:16.868 --> 00:30:19.908
hard question to answer like is there

00:30:19.908 --> 00:30:22.888
any room for somebody building kayaks when it's

00:30:22.888 --> 00:30:25.768
already been done you know there's there's kayaks out there that

00:30:25.768 --> 00:30:28.808
are perfect and and don't need to be changed

00:30:28.808 --> 00:30:32.008
i get that you know but still it's

00:30:32.008 --> 00:30:35.288
it for me it was a hobby for me it was what what

00:30:35.288 --> 00:30:38.168
can i design and what do i need out of a kayak that

00:30:38.168 --> 00:30:41.128
maybe i can't find in another one

00:30:41.128 --> 00:30:44.168
you know so when i

00:30:44.168 --> 00:30:47.368
built the manta uh it's slightly longer really

00:30:47.368 --> 00:30:53.628
than other kayaks that are on the market and one elusive factor i wanted to

00:30:53.628 --> 00:30:57.788
put into the boat as well is is the the amount of carving that you can do on

00:30:57.788 --> 00:31:01.788
it you know you you it's easy to make a boat that will go forward and track

00:31:01.788 --> 00:31:04.728
well then making a kayak that you can put on edge,

00:31:05.308 --> 00:31:08.908
to a point where it's not going to be tippy and you're going to be capsizing

00:31:08.908 --> 00:31:16.328
all the time but one that you could put on edge and turn quickly or you know just having that more.

00:31:17.328 --> 00:31:22.348
Maneuverability than than what you could find in other kayaks you know that

00:31:22.348 --> 00:31:27.168
that that was my interest that that was what sparked me into designing kayaks

00:31:27.168 --> 00:31:29.068
and what could i do you know,

00:31:29.713 --> 00:31:33.253
in in the way of designing kayaks so they

00:31:33.253 --> 00:31:36.213
are slight my kayaks are slightly different than

00:31:36.213 --> 00:31:39.353
other kayak brands on the market you know

00:31:39.353 --> 00:31:42.313
but it's sort of i've taken that

00:31:42.313 --> 00:31:45.413
bit of a risk in designing something that may

00:31:45.413 --> 00:31:48.313
or may not work and it works you know that's i

00:31:48.313 --> 00:31:51.173
think that for me it's just i took a risk that paid

00:31:51.173 --> 00:31:54.113
off and as you see you had an important word in

00:31:54.113 --> 00:31:57.053
there which is different so it's not necessarily making

00:31:57.053 --> 00:32:00.213
something better as much as it is making it different

00:32:00.213 --> 00:32:03.133
so it fits somebody in the way that they would enjoy the

00:32:03.133 --> 00:32:07.173
boat yeah this is it and so when

00:32:07.173 --> 00:32:10.093
you look at the manta that i make it does look

00:32:10.093 --> 00:32:14.733
like a mainstream kayak and that's one that's uh nick ray paddles but for nick

00:32:14.733 --> 00:32:18.173
he was interested in getting something that was a bit more customized to him

00:32:18.173 --> 00:32:24.393
as well in the way of moving bulkheads because he's got shorter legs so he was

00:32:24.393 --> 00:32:28.073
like well if i could have the bulkhead nearer to my feet i'm going to have more

00:32:28.073 --> 00:32:29.373
room for putting storage,

00:32:30.053 --> 00:32:33.913
you know that sort of thing so there's a lot of things that i'm willing to do.

00:32:34.753 --> 00:32:37.393
From a custom point of view you know because they

00:32:37.393 --> 00:32:40.333
are like a one-off kayak and i think

00:32:40.333 --> 00:32:43.213
nick appreciated that really because he could work with me

00:32:43.213 --> 00:32:46.893
and get a boat made for some

00:32:46.893 --> 00:32:49.813
of the stuff that he needed as a as a sea kayaker so

00:32:49.813 --> 00:32:54.753
as a custom as a custom builder if someone purchases a boat and they go to your

00:32:54.753 --> 00:32:58.173
website and buy a boat it's not that they're just pulling something from inventory

00:32:58.173 --> 00:33:01.013
they're making a purchase and then you're then you're working with them to say

00:33:01.013 --> 00:33:04.893
what how would you like this what color would you like it what shade would you

00:33:04.893 --> 00:33:07.513
like it and you're custom building that boat from that point forward.

00:33:08.189 --> 00:33:13.609
Exactly. Yeah. And all of my customers have always got something that they want to add to the boat.

00:33:14.109 --> 00:33:18.969
I'm speaking to somebody at the moment and he's six foot two and he's got really long legs.

00:33:19.349 --> 00:33:25.109
And one of his problems is that he just can't get his feet out of a cockpit

00:33:25.109 --> 00:33:29.129
without lifting his bum off the seat first and sitting on the back of the kayak.

00:33:29.129 --> 00:33:31.889
What he wants to do is sit in the seat and lift

00:33:31.889 --> 00:33:34.869
his feet out you know that's the way you would portage a

00:33:34.869 --> 00:33:37.789
kayak you sort of put a foot either side of the boat

00:33:37.789 --> 00:33:40.849
while you're still sat in the seat and stand up

00:33:40.849 --> 00:33:43.509
onto the beach that's the best way of getting out of

00:33:43.509 --> 00:33:46.229
a kayak but because he's tall and

00:33:46.229 --> 00:33:49.709
he's got long legs he can't do it so he's trying the conversation

00:33:49.709 --> 00:33:52.889
was along the lines of can you make me a custom cockpit

00:33:52.889 --> 00:33:56.269
where i can easily get my feet out you

00:33:56.269 --> 00:33:59.669
know and the answer is yes i can do that i'd love to do that and that's actually

00:33:59.669 --> 00:34:05.409
what drives me as a kayak builder is having being able to do them sorts of things

00:34:05.409 --> 00:34:09.769
you know and and help people out if they need something that's custom built

00:34:09.769 --> 00:34:14.589
okay then you just need to find a spray deck for to fit that that's it yeah,

00:34:15.069 --> 00:34:17.969
i mean yeah there are a few companies out there that will uh

00:34:17.969 --> 00:34:20.709
that will uh sell that will you know

00:34:20.709 --> 00:34:25.109
make make a spray deck to fit so now your differentiator is not only like the

00:34:25.109 --> 00:34:28.829
custom you know that design so where you can actually you know move a bulkhead

00:34:28.829 --> 00:34:33.189
you can change the size of the cockpit but where you've seemed to have differentiated

00:34:33.189 --> 00:34:38.049
yourself in is deck designs so you create some amazing artwork with your deck

00:34:38.049 --> 00:34:39.549
so tell us a little bit about that artwork.

00:34:40.569 --> 00:34:44.049
Well you know this is you know i

00:34:44.049 --> 00:34:47.069
would love someone to ring up and say oh can i have a red kayak i'll

00:34:47.069 --> 00:34:52.809
be like yes that would be so it'll give me a little break from all the stress

00:34:52.809 --> 00:34:57.209
really but yeah what what i think one of the things that sets me apart from

00:34:57.209 --> 00:35:02.529
everybody else and it's not just the design of the kayak as such it's the artwork

00:35:02.529 --> 00:35:05.669
that i put on them so i use a polyester gel coat,

00:35:06.344 --> 00:35:12.044
And most companies would just spray or brush in a plain colour.

00:35:12.364 --> 00:35:15.824
Either it be red, blue, white, you name it, you can have a colour.

00:35:16.144 --> 00:35:20.244
And some companies will play around with putting their logo on the deck.

00:35:20.284 --> 00:35:24.384
So they'll put a stencil in there and they'll play around with,

00:35:24.384 --> 00:35:27.244
you know, putting logos in or something like that, you know.

00:35:28.344 --> 00:35:33.444
But for me, I go on full on artwork. Why I started doing this, I don't know.

00:35:33.444 --> 00:35:37.224
But people have asked for sea otters they've

00:35:37.224 --> 00:35:40.164
asked for like crazy designs like different

00:35:40.164 --> 00:35:43.744
colored hexagons on the deck one of

00:35:43.744 --> 00:35:46.424
the one of the repeat kayaks i've been

00:35:46.424 --> 00:35:50.044
doing which are all slightly different i put octopuses so

00:35:50.044 --> 00:35:53.744
a full-on octopus over the deck of the kayak and

00:35:53.744 --> 00:35:56.724
the way i do it i use a clear gel coat

00:35:56.724 --> 00:35:59.584
with mica powder so mica powder is similar to

00:35:59.584 --> 00:36:03.204
what you would get in makeup you know that shimmery powder

00:36:03.204 --> 00:36:06.044
that you find everywhere okay coming off.

00:36:06.044 --> 00:36:09.604
Makeup it's that sort of stuff and it's mixed in clear resin

00:36:09.604 --> 00:36:12.544
so when i've made the

00:36:12.544 --> 00:36:15.644
octopus it the octopus ends up being layered

00:36:15.644 --> 00:36:18.564
and it almost looks like a hologram on the

00:36:18.564 --> 00:36:21.424
deck of the kayak it's bizarre it's bizarre

00:36:21.424 --> 00:36:24.184
even i'm quite impressed when i when i look at

00:36:24.184 --> 00:36:27.084
the kayak when it's finished and i go wow that's actually

00:36:27.084 --> 00:36:30.064
what it looks like because one of the major things is i call it

00:36:30.064 --> 00:36:32.884
reverse art because if I'm putting artwork onto a

00:36:32.884 --> 00:36:35.744
kayak like an octopus I've got to start with.

00:36:35.744 --> 00:36:39.384
The finer details and I cover it up so as

00:36:39.384 --> 00:36:42.864
I'm working with the art I'm covering

00:36:42.864 --> 00:36:45.584
up the artwork that I'm making to a point where I'm then

00:36:45.584 --> 00:36:48.944
layering up the fiberglass on the back of it in the mold so I

00:36:48.944 --> 00:36:51.984
don't know what the artwork looks like until I actually finish the

00:36:51.984 --> 00:36:55.884
kayak it's all seamed together and it's ready to come out the molds and

00:36:55.884 --> 00:36:59.044
then I work out whether it's nice or not you know and i

00:36:59.044 --> 00:37:01.924
love doing it i do these little reveal videos so i'll

00:37:01.924 --> 00:37:04.784
i'll film from above and i'll crack

00:37:04.784 --> 00:37:07.864
the mold apart take the the deck mold

00:37:07.864 --> 00:37:11.004
off and it reveals what the artwork looks like and

00:37:11.004 --> 00:37:14.324
it's at that point i can look at it and go oh i've actually

00:37:14.324 --> 00:37:17.064
done that so it's a bit it's a big surprise to

00:37:17.064 --> 00:37:19.804
me and it almost looks like i've not done

00:37:19.804 --> 00:37:22.644
it because i've not seen the artwork i've sort

00:37:22.644 --> 00:37:25.504
of followed a process in my own mind of how i can achieve

00:37:25.504 --> 00:37:28.384
it it's some of it is look whether it actually turns out

00:37:28.384 --> 00:37:33.644
that way or not the gel coats it's a it's a big misconception because when a

00:37:33.644 --> 00:37:37.324
lot of people that come across my kayaks they think i just paint them they think

00:37:37.324 --> 00:37:41.484
i've just got a fiberglass kayak and i've just got a load of i don't know automotive

00:37:41.484 --> 00:37:45.104
paints and i've painted the deck of the kayak because one of the questions that

00:37:45.104 --> 00:37:47.324
people say to me is will they not scratch off.

00:37:47.998 --> 00:37:51.778
You know, it's lovely seeing the artwork on a kayak, but everyone knows if you

00:37:51.778 --> 00:37:53.598
paint a kayak, it will just scratch off.

00:37:53.818 --> 00:37:59.278
So it's trying to educate people into the way I do the artwork is it's actually

00:37:59.278 --> 00:38:01.438
the skin of the kayak. It is the gel coat.

00:38:02.098 --> 00:38:07.658
If you was to order a plain red kayak, it's exactly the same thickness of gel

00:38:07.658 --> 00:38:12.358
coats, same materials, but I just done it in an artistic way.

00:38:12.598 --> 00:38:16.298
And the octopus that you'd mentioned, I've seen a couple of them.

00:38:16.298 --> 00:38:20.418
One that I've seen is a blue deck over, I believe it was a white hull,

00:38:20.658 --> 00:38:28.418
with the octopus spread across the deck, but then the tentacles of the octopus wrap around the boat.

00:38:30.138 --> 00:38:34.798
I've done three octopus kayaks, and one, the customer said, just do the octopus

00:38:34.798 --> 00:38:37.098
on the deck of the kayak, I don't really want it on the hull.

00:38:37.238 --> 00:38:41.158
But the others have said, yes, I want the tentacles wrapping around onto the

00:38:41.158 --> 00:38:45.358
hull, which again is really hard work, because I'm covering up all the artwork.

00:38:45.358 --> 00:38:49.298
I've really got to mark on the hulls where the legs are going to go from the

00:38:49.298 --> 00:38:54.298
deck to the hull because I build them separately you know so what I do before

00:38:54.298 --> 00:38:57.338
I start I'll fix the hull and the,

00:38:57.918 --> 00:39:02.558
deck mold together and then I'll put some like pen marks in there or something

00:39:02.558 --> 00:39:06.378
like that so I've got a point of reference where I can work out where the legs

00:39:06.378 --> 00:39:09.398
are going to go and things like that but yeah when you when you've got eight

00:39:09.398 --> 00:39:12.758
legs on an octopus it can be really confusing the amount of times I've counted

00:39:12.758 --> 00:39:17.578
them to make sure I've got eight legs on the deck and eight legs on the hull,

00:39:18.138 --> 00:39:21.238
you know but so yeah it can be quite difficult but

00:39:21.238 --> 00:39:24.138
I think there's added difficulties to

00:39:24.138 --> 00:39:27.798
doing this sort of artwork and I think that's why a lot of companies stay

00:39:27.798 --> 00:39:33.578
away from it because polyester gel is really quite solvent it's it's really

00:39:33.578 --> 00:39:41.298
quite an active chemical as such so there's a fine line on doing layering up

00:39:41.298 --> 00:39:46.218
and things like that so it's not best to layer gel coat you want just one.

00:39:46.878 --> 00:39:49.858
Layer of gel coat rather than multiple layers and

00:39:49.858 --> 00:39:52.598
multiple layers will also give you added weight to the

00:39:52.598 --> 00:39:56.238
kayak so what i try to do is separate so when

00:39:56.238 --> 00:39:59.558
i'm doing the artwork i'll separate the colors so i'm

00:39:59.558 --> 00:40:02.478
not overlapping you know i'm not i'm not causing any

00:40:02.478 --> 00:40:05.358
bridging of gel coats or it won't cause any

00:40:05.358 --> 00:40:07.998
debonding or anything like that so that's one of the

00:40:07.998 --> 00:40:11.318
difficulties and the other one is as well is when you're

00:40:11.318 --> 00:40:14.918
doing different colors say like i'm doing the octopus the

00:40:14.918 --> 00:40:17.978
color that you put next to it wants to burn and etch

00:40:17.978 --> 00:40:21.498
into what you've already put on so there's

00:40:21.498 --> 00:40:26.818
a fine window as well of of when you can but the you know the time allowance

00:40:26.818 --> 00:40:30.898
to do all the gel coat you've got to do it quite quickly so when you look at

00:40:30.898 --> 00:40:36.658
that octopus on the blue deck it actually looks really quite realistic and holographic

00:40:36.658 --> 00:40:38.658
in a way. And you look at it and you think.

00:40:39.401 --> 00:40:42.881
Well, I've had to do that in hours. I've not got like days to do it.

00:40:43.001 --> 00:40:46.621
I've got hours to do it, you know, and each pot of mix that I do is,

00:40:46.621 --> 00:40:49.161
is set in within 20 minutes, you know?

00:40:50.241 --> 00:40:54.921
And again, any finer details you think, well, is this just going to burn up

00:40:54.921 --> 00:40:56.881
the finer details that I've put on?

00:40:57.001 --> 00:41:00.301
And, oh, it's just, there's so much can go wrong, but,

00:41:00.561 --> 00:41:04.301
and in sometimes as well, that chemical reaction that you've got between the

00:41:04.301 --> 00:41:06.301
gel coats and the colors and all that sort of stuff,

00:41:06.301 --> 00:41:09.121
i'm making it work for myself because i

00:41:09.121 --> 00:41:11.921
know that happens so one of the kayaks that

00:41:11.921 --> 00:41:14.761
i'm making at the moment i'm just about to finish it today

00:41:14.761 --> 00:41:18.841
and do a bit of a photo shoot for it i've done the northern lights over the

00:41:18.841 --> 00:41:25.261
deck of the kayak so the client said to me i love space i love things like nebulas

00:41:25.261 --> 00:41:27.781
northern lights stars all that

00:41:27.781 --> 00:41:32.681
sort of stuff so can we create like a northern lights on a starry sky.

00:41:32.961 --> 00:41:35.781
And I was like, oh God. And I always say yes.

00:41:36.641 --> 00:41:40.801
I'll always try. So anyway, I tackled it and I thought, well,

00:41:40.901 --> 00:41:42.661
this is all going to be all sorts of different colours.

00:41:42.761 --> 00:41:46.201
And one of the colours, which is a beautiful colour, and it's actually called

00:41:46.201 --> 00:41:48.361
Hummingbird. I thought, well,

00:41:49.088 --> 00:41:51.988
that's going to be a nice colour to start off with. But that gives you that

00:41:51.988 --> 00:41:55.068
really nice turquoise colour that you would get from the Northern Lights.

00:41:55.548 --> 00:41:59.268
So I started putting it in with a sponge, just rather than brushing it in with

00:41:59.268 --> 00:42:03.008
a brush, I thought, well, I'll put it in with a sponge, and then the next colours

00:42:03.008 --> 00:42:06.788
that go over the top of it are etching in and burning into what you've already

00:42:06.788 --> 00:42:10.208
put on, and that actually gives it a realistic effect.

00:42:10.748 --> 00:42:15.708
So all the little sponge marks that I'm doing, the next set of colours that

00:42:15.708 --> 00:42:18.308
you put over the top burn into it, And I don't know,

00:42:18.428 --> 00:42:26.348
it's almost like creating its own little process in the materials that I've no control over.

00:42:26.488 --> 00:42:30.668
But I know it happens, if you know what I mean. But anyway, so I finished the

00:42:30.668 --> 00:42:32.908
kayak and again did all the layers on it.

00:42:32.988 --> 00:42:36.048
And I thought, what is this going to look like? I'm not even sure.

00:42:36.288 --> 00:42:38.508
This is just going to look like a blotchy mess.

00:42:38.808 --> 00:42:44.808
When I did the reveal and I took the deck mould off, I was amazed by it myself. I was like, wow.

00:42:45.328 --> 00:42:51.688
I didn't even know i could create that myself you know and again it's just following the process of,

00:42:52.188 --> 00:42:55.048
the timing on the gel coats the colors i can use

00:42:55.048 --> 00:42:57.788
on the gel coats how much pigments to

00:42:57.788 --> 00:43:00.748
put in gel coats and all that sort of stuff and the way it eats into

00:43:00.748 --> 00:43:04.188
each other and the solventness all that process made

00:43:04.188 --> 00:43:06.988
the artwork come alive so for me it's

00:43:06.988 --> 00:43:09.788
a surprise i took the deck off and i was like whoa i've done

00:43:09.788 --> 00:43:12.628
it it's amazing and i could not wait to

00:43:12.628 --> 00:43:15.308
tell the clients because there's a client on the

00:43:15.308 --> 00:43:18.628
other end of the spectrum anticipating what

00:43:18.628 --> 00:43:21.348
it's going to look like as well you know and and they're

00:43:21.348 --> 00:43:25.388
buying the kayak they're they're funding the the process of building it so to

00:43:25.388 --> 00:43:30.628
get something to work and and look really nice and and better than what the

00:43:30.628 --> 00:43:34.568
client actually wanted is amazing i just can't wait to send them photographs

00:43:34.568 --> 00:43:39.048
of it and get their reaction brilliant i'll just love it it's just really a

00:43:39.048 --> 00:43:40.668
such an addictive thing to do.

00:43:41.472 --> 00:43:46.892
You know, time and time again, getting that reaction of clients and exposing

00:43:46.892 --> 00:43:49.052
the artwork and all that. It's just amazing. Love it.

00:43:49.332 --> 00:43:53.072
Well, we'll make sure that we include pictures of that Northern Lights kayak

00:43:53.072 --> 00:43:56.592
in the show notes for this episode so folks could see that for themselves.

00:43:58.092 --> 00:44:02.232
Now, adding the gel coat, you can't just spray all that gel coat on because

00:44:02.232 --> 00:44:04.032
of the artwork. So you're hand applying that.

00:44:04.532 --> 00:44:08.832
Yeah. Again, there's all sorts of different ways I can hand apply it.

00:44:08.832 --> 00:44:11.752
Most of the time i'll try and use a brush because you've

00:44:11.752 --> 00:44:14.812
sort of got to get it like two millimeters thick

00:44:14.812 --> 00:44:17.772
so it's not it's not about just making the

00:44:17.772 --> 00:44:20.572
artwork look right because if you put the gel cut on too

00:44:20.572 --> 00:44:24.032
thin when you go over with the fiberglass it'll

00:44:24.032 --> 00:44:28.912
wrinkle it all up like a crocodile skin you know it'll just destroy it and if

00:44:28.912 --> 00:44:33.492
it's too thick when the kayak's made it'll crack so you know if you push a knee

00:44:33.492 --> 00:44:38.212
against it or you're tying it down to the top of the car with some straps you

00:44:38.212 --> 00:44:42.692
can actually crack the gel coat if it's too thick so it's it's getting the gel coats with,

00:44:43.272 --> 00:44:47.272
optimum thickness you know which is around about two millimeters i would say

00:44:47.272 --> 00:44:52.012
and and applying it i'd look so like i say the easiest way is to do it by a

00:44:52.012 --> 00:44:56.492
brush but sometimes you just you can't do that level of artwork with a brush

00:44:56.492 --> 00:45:00.312
you've got to use other things so sometimes i'll use a stencil.

00:45:01.012 --> 00:45:03.932
Sometimes i'll use detailing tape and again

00:45:03.932 --> 00:45:07.732
all the detailing tape out there is made from

00:45:07.732 --> 00:45:10.632
vinyl you know like sellotape and vinyl tape

00:45:10.632 --> 00:45:16.192
and the polyester will burn it and melt it you know so early days i used to

00:45:16.192 --> 00:45:21.652
do artwork and i'd be taking my time with it and i'd go to take the tapes out

00:45:21.652 --> 00:45:25.192
and they're all melted like chewing gum and i'm like what's happened here so

00:45:25.192 --> 00:45:30.352
again you're you're You're working not to the timing of the gel coat,

00:45:30.472 --> 00:45:34.672
but how long you've got for your detailing tape that you've used before it melts,

00:45:34.852 --> 00:45:39.012
you know, so it's just ridiculous, you know, that, but I think cause I've been

00:45:39.012 --> 00:45:40.932
doing it for so long, I've like homed in on.

00:45:41.823 --> 00:45:44.643
Exactly how everything works and all

00:45:44.643 --> 00:45:47.743
the tools that i can use to place the artwork in

00:45:47.743 --> 00:45:52.003
you know it's not easy it's not really something that i could teach someone

00:45:52.003 --> 00:45:56.943
you know it's you gotta learn by making them mistakes really now speaking of

00:45:56.943 --> 00:46:00.683
that what's been your biggest disaster biggest disaster was actually losing

00:46:00.683 --> 00:46:06.423
a full kayak and the molds and that was down to using the it was,

00:46:07.023 --> 00:46:11.043
it was being a bit of a novice not

00:46:11.043 --> 00:46:14.103
knowing some of the pitfalls so like

00:46:14.103 --> 00:46:19.743
i say i've learned by my mistakes and one of them was i i took a mold from a

00:46:19.743 --> 00:46:24.323
different model of kayak that i was playing around with and i left the molds

00:46:24.323 --> 00:46:29.663
maybe a few days to a week and then i put the pva in there and i even put some

00:46:29.663 --> 00:46:33.603
wax in there and i thought everything's looking great this is absolutely perfect.

00:46:34.263 --> 00:46:37.783
And so i built the full kayak in the molds and

00:46:37.783 --> 00:46:40.683
i went to demold it and it won't come out and to

00:46:40.683 --> 00:46:43.463
this day it's probably it's in a scrapyard somewhere i had

00:46:43.463 --> 00:46:46.183
to throw the kayak and the molds away it just

00:46:46.183 --> 00:46:49.123
would not come out it just stuck together as as

00:46:49.123 --> 00:46:52.303
as if i was just adding more layers to the mold it just

00:46:52.303 --> 00:46:55.703
just it just destroyed and it

00:46:55.703 --> 00:46:58.703
it was such a wake-up call for me because i was like how has

00:46:58.703 --> 00:47:01.543
it not come out and what it was i should have just left

00:47:01.543 --> 00:47:04.463
the molds two weeks rather than a week so the

00:47:04.463 --> 00:47:07.083
chemical reaction in the molds was still happening in the

00:47:07.083 --> 00:47:10.163
polyester resin and so when

00:47:10.163 --> 00:47:13.583
i came to dress up the new kayak inside the molds the

00:47:13.583 --> 00:47:17.163
chemical reaction between each other just bonded you

00:47:17.163 --> 00:47:20.163
know it just completely ignored all the wax and all the pva and

00:47:20.163 --> 00:47:23.063
releasing agents are put in there and it just all bonded together

00:47:23.063 --> 00:47:26.083
so bizarre but heartbreaking

00:47:26.083 --> 00:47:29.303
as well and costly oh i imagine so you know

00:47:29.303 --> 00:47:32.223
because you've just lost you've lost all that time making

00:47:32.223 --> 00:47:35.123
the molds all the time making the kayak all the

00:47:35.123 --> 00:47:38.743
material cost and all that sort of stuff just crazy yeah

00:47:38.743 --> 00:47:42.103
you know so it's not it's like i say the fiberglassing

00:47:42.103 --> 00:47:45.183
is not for the faint-hearted and i know i've even

00:47:45.183 --> 00:47:48.483
heard from some of the bigger companies that make

00:47:48.483 --> 00:47:53.683
kayaks and they've reported there's going to be a big delay in making some of

00:47:53.683 --> 00:47:57.823
the orders because the mold's been ruined and that's because they've just the

00:47:57.823 --> 00:48:02.743
process has just gone wrong somewhere along the line you know and and it's just.

00:48:02.743 --> 00:48:06.483
Messed up and ruined the mold you know how about your favorite design.

00:48:07.183 --> 00:48:09.843
Favorite design that doesn't make

00:48:09.843 --> 00:48:15.043
anybody else's design lesser it's just the one that struck you the most i think

00:48:15.043 --> 00:48:19.223
one of the favorite ones i've done is is probably one picked myself so there's

00:48:19.223 --> 00:48:25.163
three really one of the ones that i love doing is the hexagons design so i put

00:48:25.163 --> 00:48:27.923
hexagons on the deck and I can do different colours then.

00:48:28.103 --> 00:48:32.683
So I'll do the hexagons different colours, do the front and the midsection different colours.

00:48:33.223 --> 00:48:37.903
Love doing them. I think they look really sporty. The kayak looks fantastic.

00:48:39.294 --> 00:48:45.454
And it's it gives it a bit more of manufactured look if you know what i mean so because a lot,

00:48:46.174 --> 00:48:49.954
a lot of people sometimes when you see artwork it's

00:48:49.954 --> 00:48:52.734
very personalized you know so the person that owns the

00:48:52.734 --> 00:48:55.974
kayak absolutely loves it but it's not for everybody if

00:48:55.974 --> 00:48:58.854
you will so when i went

00:48:58.854 --> 00:49:01.874
designing a kayak and i'm thinking well i've i want

00:49:01.874 --> 00:49:05.934
the kayak to be sporty and all that sort of stuff in its design putting

00:49:05.934 --> 00:49:08.694
that sort of uh artwork onto them is my

00:49:08.694 --> 00:49:11.454
is what one of my favorite things to do so putting the

00:49:11.454 --> 00:49:14.234
hexagons on there and doing all the different

00:49:14.234 --> 00:49:17.034
colors and then standing back and going whoa that looks like a

00:49:17.034 --> 00:49:20.114
sports car you know that that's that's

00:49:20.114 --> 00:49:23.034
what i like to do you know that's it's so it's more of

00:49:23.034 --> 00:49:26.274
a graphic rather than art because like

00:49:26.274 --> 00:49:29.714
i say art is just personal to the person that's ordered it

00:49:29.714 --> 00:49:32.894
you know and what they want on the kayak well that's

00:49:32.894 --> 00:49:35.574
one i've also seen in your uh in your gallery so we'll make

00:49:35.574 --> 00:49:38.314
sure we include that so so folks can see those as well

00:49:38.314 --> 00:49:41.094
um how much does it take to create a custom deck i know

00:49:41.094 --> 00:49:44.554
i know each one can differ but just average time to it can

00:49:44.554 --> 00:49:50.294
well so we talked about the northern lights one there yeah now believe it or

00:49:50.294 --> 00:49:56.414
not i did the whole artwork within two hours wow a lot and it's probably one

00:49:56.414 --> 00:50:03.214
of the most realistic artful decks i've ever done really you know as opposed to how it looks.

00:50:04.034 --> 00:50:09.274
The the finish that i've got on it the the quality of the art as such and yet

00:50:09.274 --> 00:50:13.914
it just took two hours to do and yet i could i could be working on an octopus

00:50:13.914 --> 00:50:17.354
that maybe has taken five days to do,

00:50:17.974 --> 00:50:22.214
you know and and so that's the difference between them and i feel to myself

00:50:22.214 --> 00:50:25.794
i don't actually charge people for the art that's that's a hobby that i actually

00:50:25.794 --> 00:50:30.454
just take on myself really okay because Because I think one of the things as

00:50:30.454 --> 00:50:32.654
well is people are really scared of using the kayak.

00:50:33.174 --> 00:50:37.074
And I say to them, look, it's exactly the same price to buy a plane color as

00:50:37.074 --> 00:50:40.394
it is to do the artwork. The artwork is just a bonus for you.

00:50:43.291 --> 00:50:45.991
Feels better to them that when they're going out and

00:50:45.991 --> 00:50:48.811
actually using the kayak you know it's not it's not i

00:50:48.811 --> 00:50:51.691
mean i'd love people to just put them over the fireplace hanging on

00:50:51.691 --> 00:50:54.531
the wall as a piece of artwork but they've got to be used you

00:50:54.531 --> 00:50:57.171
know that's why it's made them with the paddles they're going to be

00:50:57.171 --> 00:50:59.951
putting spare paddles on and deck bags on there and

00:50:59.951 --> 00:51:02.931
all that sort of stuff so you know i think

00:51:02.931 --> 00:51:05.831
it makes it less painful for them to know that you know

00:51:05.831 --> 00:51:08.811
the artwork's just there as a as a bonus piece really

00:51:08.811 --> 00:51:12.051
for choosing one of my kayaks well it

00:51:12.051 --> 00:51:15.371
is truly artwork so thank you for doing that and uh bringing a

00:51:15.371 --> 00:51:18.971
little brightness to the to the kayak world yeah so

00:51:18.971 --> 00:51:21.931
how can listeners connect with you uh i'm

00:51:21.931 --> 00:51:25.691
all over the place really i'm on instagram youtube facebook

00:51:25.691 --> 00:51:28.611
and i've i really want to direct people towards

00:51:28.611 --> 00:51:32.091
my website really because i've put a lot of work into my website there's

00:51:32.091 --> 00:51:34.711
there's quite a few pages so i've got a

00:51:34.711 --> 00:51:38.071
welcome page i've got a few pages of featured

00:51:38.071 --> 00:51:40.771
kayaks so quite a lot of the artwork ones that

00:51:40.771 --> 00:51:46.551
have you know a bit more or inspiring i've put on the website for people to

00:51:46.551 --> 00:51:52.431
see and i've also got featured paddlers so the likes of nick gray i've put his

00:51:52.431 --> 00:51:58.831
story on there and links to his bios other people that have bought my kayak

00:51:58.891 --> 00:52:05.611
that may be like coaching or the owner club or you know they're a bit more in the public eye.

00:52:06.151 --> 00:52:09.191
That I've sort of put featured paddlers on there as well and

00:52:09.191 --> 00:52:13.611
each one of the featured paddlers amenable so you can contact them and talk

00:52:13.611 --> 00:52:17.211
to them about the kayaks and all that sort of stuff and how they work I've also

00:52:17.211 --> 00:52:20.631
got some pages on there with just some merchandise that I like to play around

00:52:20.631 --> 00:52:24.691
with and I've also got a blog page so I've put a lot of work into the website

00:52:24.691 --> 00:52:26.831
and not a lot of people go there,

00:52:27.091 --> 00:52:29.571
they tend to find me on Facebook and all that sort of stuff.

00:52:29.731 --> 00:52:34.111
But if you just put into Google search, Big Pond Kayaks, I'm sort of established

00:52:34.111 --> 00:52:38.531
enough now for it to bring up everything everywhere I am, you know,

00:52:38.791 --> 00:52:43.551
but the website is www.bigpondkayaks.com.

00:52:43.831 --> 00:52:47.131
All right. We'll make sure we include that in the show notes for folks to check out as well.

00:52:47.671 --> 00:52:50.811
And you mentioned some of those videos, so we'll make sure we include that.

00:52:50.931 --> 00:52:53.571
I know those are on the website as well, but we'll make sure people have the

00:52:53.571 --> 00:52:54.451
opportunity to see that.

00:52:55.417 --> 00:52:59.477
I also want to do some exciting things as well, because from an outside point

00:52:59.477 --> 00:53:03.957
of view, people just see my kayaks, you know, so either they're out and about

00:53:03.957 --> 00:53:06.417
or what I post on social media and all that sort of stuff.

00:53:06.597 --> 00:53:10.217
But what I see is all the clients that I've got on customers,

00:53:10.377 --> 00:53:15.017
which most of my customers end up friends. You know, we keep in contact.

00:53:15.437 --> 00:53:17.197
I love seeing what they get up to.

00:53:17.677 --> 00:53:22.297
Quite a few of them are quite social media shy, you know, so they do some epic

00:53:22.297 --> 00:53:27.857
adventures in the kayaks and nobody gets to see it so one of the things i want to do is.

00:53:28.337 --> 00:53:31.517
Similar to what we're doing now like a little podcast where

00:53:31.517 --> 00:53:34.917
i can interview people that actually paddle my kayaks what.

00:53:34.917 --> 00:53:37.837
Have they been doing in them you know they're like nick ray's agreed

00:53:37.837 --> 00:53:40.857
already he sent me a message saying once he's finished this

00:53:40.857 --> 00:53:43.897
epic walk that he's doing in scotland at the moment yeah he's

00:53:43.897 --> 00:53:46.657
doing the four corners of scotland walking he says once i've

00:53:46.657 --> 00:53:49.677
got that i've finished we'll sit down and you know record a

00:53:49.677 --> 00:53:52.417
conversation and he can talk about that but i'd love to

00:53:52.417 --> 00:53:55.457
do that with more people that have my kayaks just so

00:53:55.457 --> 00:53:58.457
i can show other people what they're up to you know yeah create

00:53:58.457 --> 00:54:01.677
a little community around them yeah definitely because that's

00:54:01.677 --> 00:54:04.477
it it's just i'd love i'd love for other

00:54:04.477 --> 00:54:07.657
people to see what people do in my kayaks basically so

00:54:07.657 --> 00:54:10.497
it's not you know a lot of the time people see

00:54:10.497 --> 00:54:13.357
the artwork but they don't actually see how good the kayaks are

00:54:13.357 --> 00:54:16.077
you know a lot of my clients and the people that

00:54:16.077 --> 00:54:18.897
have my kayaks say look i know the artwork's really

00:54:18.897 --> 00:54:22.657
good steve but tell people how good the kayaks are you

00:54:22.657 --> 00:54:25.717
know i'm a bit modest when it comes to that side of things really so

00:54:25.717 --> 00:54:29.777
it's uh now do you ship worldwide yeah

00:54:29.777 --> 00:54:33.097
you know what that that is one of the hardest things in

00:54:33.097 --> 00:54:36.437
the world is to ship them further than europe most

00:54:36.437 --> 00:54:39.397
people just come and pick the kayaks up okay you know that's they

00:54:39.397 --> 00:54:43.057
basically people like to come and visit the isle of man because as soon as they

00:54:43.057 --> 00:54:47.137
know that they're ordering a kayak and then i they get to know me and we make

00:54:47.137 --> 00:54:50.457
friends on social media and they see the type of paddling that i do they're

00:54:50.457 --> 00:54:53.037
like oh i've got to come and pick my kayak up because i want to come and paddle

00:54:53.037 --> 00:54:57.737
with you you know i want to i want to have a go in that tide race and i want to go and camp on a beach.

00:54:58.457 --> 00:55:02.117
It's lovely when people want to come and pick up the kayaks there's other ways

00:55:02.117 --> 00:55:06.097
of doing it which is slightly more boring but i can send it via freight over

00:55:06.097 --> 00:55:08.317
to lancaster for people to pick up,

00:55:08.977 --> 00:55:11.697
or like i say you can jump on as a

00:55:11.697 --> 00:55:14.697
foot passenger it's free to actually

00:55:14.697 --> 00:55:17.477
trolley put a kayak on a trolley and trolley onto

00:55:17.477 --> 00:55:20.517
the ferry if they don't charge you at the moment that's totally

00:55:20.517 --> 00:55:24.177
free and you just basically walk on with the cars other

00:55:24.177 --> 00:55:26.917
ways are that i've got that many friends from the isle of man that

00:55:26.917 --> 00:55:31.457
are going up and down the uk to different paddling spots sometimes they can

00:55:31.457 --> 00:55:35.917
just put a kayak on top of the car and deliver it for me on their travels you

00:55:35.917 --> 00:55:40.537
know so there's so many ways of getting the kayaks about but getting them worldwide

00:55:40.537 --> 00:55:45.697
really hard work i mean it's it had cost us i've had so many.

00:55:46.488 --> 00:55:50.308
Inquiries from canada and america

00:55:50.308 --> 00:55:53.248
all these different places and the

00:55:53.248 --> 00:55:56.828
prices that i've been getting are you know ridiculous it's

00:55:56.828 --> 00:55:59.528
just unaffordable just to send the kayak yeah it's

00:55:59.528 --> 00:56:03.068
as much to get it here as it is to make the boat yeah

00:56:03.068 --> 00:56:06.308
i'm just not a big enough company to be able

00:56:06.308 --> 00:56:09.128
to make a container full and send them off to america or

00:56:09.128 --> 00:56:11.848
canada i just i'm not that big enough yet

00:56:11.848 --> 00:56:15.308
i'm just an artisan kayak builder really although

00:56:15.308 --> 00:56:18.628
i'd love to ship worldwide it's just impossible sure

00:56:18.628 --> 00:56:22.928
it's impossible so but i've gone as far as denmark one

00:56:22.928 --> 00:56:25.768
of my one of my customers he just basically got

00:56:25.768 --> 00:56:28.868
in his car and drove all the way to the isle of man from denmark picked

00:56:28.868 --> 00:56:31.688
his boat up and went home which i thought was

00:56:31.688 --> 00:56:34.548
amazing well good luck with

00:56:34.548 --> 00:56:37.308
the growth so yeah so one final question for

00:56:37.308 --> 00:56:40.028
you who else would you like to hear as a future guest on paddling the

00:56:40.028 --> 00:56:42.868
blue yeah well it's a friend that i've

00:56:42.868 --> 00:56:45.568
known through paddling i've i've gone to

00:56:45.568 --> 00:56:48.228
a few of her events and i've she's got

00:56:48.228 --> 00:56:51.248
a cracking story to tell but that's

00:56:51.248 --> 00:56:54.228
so amy apple gulden she's more

00:56:54.228 --> 00:57:00.848
famous for making the wave design woolly hats so amy's an avid paddler she coaches

00:57:00.848 --> 00:57:04.808
as well she's working up at open sea kayaks at the moment doing some coaching

00:57:04.808 --> 00:57:13.668
and she's done some open crossings from Pembrokeshire to Ireland and more so she runs events.

00:57:14.008 --> 00:57:20.208
She's a great ambassador for female paddling and she runs a couple of events

00:57:20.208 --> 00:57:26.608
in Anglesey and one of the events that's more personal to her is the Hattie Rigetta.

00:57:26.848 --> 00:57:30.188
So everyone that's got one of her hats, she invites

00:57:30.188 --> 00:57:33.488
them to like a symposium a get together in october

00:57:33.488 --> 00:57:36.828
and it's normally held in anglesey and so

00:57:36.828 --> 00:57:39.848
everyone that's got one of their hats the event

00:57:39.848 --> 00:57:45.868
coaches there's a few coaches that volunteer their time we all raise money for

00:57:45.868 --> 00:57:50.848
the rnli basically i could be wrong in this exact figures but i think last year

00:57:50.848 --> 00:57:57.468
it was about 1800 pounds raised for the rnli and we all got together and handed the money over,

00:57:58.548 --> 00:58:00.748
in Anglesey to the RNLI.

00:58:01.008 --> 00:58:04.308
So it's a really good event to go to, but the other ones that she does,

00:58:04.528 --> 00:58:05.728
the events are good as well.

00:58:06.468 --> 00:58:09.908
And everybody's wearing a fun hat. Yeah, the hats are brilliant.

00:58:10.348 --> 00:58:15.748
Yeah, if you're a UK kayaker, you're just not a kayaker if you don't have one of Amy's hats.

00:58:17.608 --> 00:58:21.048
Well, Stephen, thank you for sharing the Isle of Man and thank you for sharing

00:58:21.048 --> 00:58:23.928
Big Pond Kayaks and the artwork that you do with us.

00:58:24.288 --> 00:58:27.868
We appreciate it, appreciate your time, and it was good to get a chance to have a chat.

00:58:29.636 --> 00:58:32.356
That's great. Thanks for having me again. Thank you. It's been a good chat.

00:58:33.276 --> 00:58:37.096
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:58:37.096 --> 00:58:40.736
is packed with fitness guidance and complete descriptions, along with photos

00:58:40.736 --> 00:58:45.156
of more than 50 exercises to improve your abilities and enjoy your time on the water.

00:58:45.316 --> 00:58:49.156
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

00:58:49.256 --> 00:58:50.796
and they can make a difference for you too.

00:58:51.096 --> 00:58:54.756
The exercises in the book can help you reduce tension in your shoulders and

00:58:54.756 --> 00:58:58.636
low back, use the power of your torso to create leverage and use less energy

00:58:58.636 --> 00:59:02.536
with each stroke, Use force generated from your lower body to make your paddling

00:59:02.536 --> 00:59:03.396
strokes more efficient.

00:59:03.796 --> 00:59:08.276
Have the endurance to handle long days in the boat. Drive through the toughest waves or white water.

00:59:08.636 --> 00:59:11.756
Protect your body against common paddling injuries. And while you're at it,

00:59:11.876 --> 00:59:13.176
you might even lose a few pounds.

00:59:13.336 --> 00:59:18.496
And who wouldn't mind that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

00:59:19.616 --> 00:59:22.436
Considering all the guests who've joined me from England, Scotland,

00:59:22.756 --> 00:59:26.516
Wales, and Ireland, we've never had a conversation about paddling the Isle of

00:59:26.516 --> 00:59:29.396
Man. and I've now got another place that I need to paddle.

00:59:29.996 --> 00:59:33.556
Stephen's artwork is pretty amazing. I've added links in the show notes to some

00:59:33.556 --> 00:59:35.396
of Stephen's work. I hope you'll check it out.

00:59:35.676 --> 00:59:39.916
Thanks again for listening and I look forward to bringing you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

00:59:40.896 --> 00:59:44.456
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:59:44.456 --> 00:59:49.756
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

00:59:49.956 --> 00:59:52.896
Please take the time to leave us a five-star review on Apple Music.

00:59:52.896 --> 00:59:57.176
We truly appreciate the support. and you can find the show notes for this episode

00:59:57.176 --> 01:00:01.436
and other episodes along with replays of past episodes, contact information,

01:00:01.776 --> 01:00:03.976
and more at paddlingtheblue.com.

01:00:04.076 --> 01:00:07.236
Until next time, I hope you get out and paddle the blue.