#156 - Paddlesports Coaching and Kayaking the Bahamas with Nigel featuring Eila Wilkinson

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.

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Isla Wilkinson has a passion for paddle sports coaching and she shares her story,

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her love for Anglesey, and memories of paddling the Bahamas with Nigel Dennis

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in today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.

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Before we get to today's conversation with Isla, James Stevenson and Simon Osborne

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at OnlineSeaKayaking.com continue to produce great content to help you evolve

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as a paddler and as a coach.

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surfing, coaching, documentaries, expedition skills and incident management and more.

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Their newest course, just released, is Playing in the Rocks,

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They did a fantastic job.

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discount to listeners with the same code ptb podcast to check out enjoy today's

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interview with isla wilkinson.

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Hello, Isla. Welcome to Paddling the Blue. Hi, John. Thank you very much for

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inviting me to come and join you.

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Yes, we've had email conversations for quite a while.

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It's wonderful to be able to finally connect with you and have you as a guest

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on the show. So thank you very much for taking the time.

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It's a pleasure. I apologize because life is quite busy, isn't it?

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And then, yeah, it's been ages, hasn't it, since you first reached out to me.

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So I appreciate your patience as well. Thank you. Absolutely.

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And it has been a while, but you're a very active coach and in high demand.

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So thank you again for taking that opportunity. So tell us a little bit about you as a paddler.

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Me as a paddler gosh when I

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first started paddling it was uh yeah quite a

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few years ago now and I just wanted to get out and and

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enjoy the sea I didn't have any particular goals I

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just wanted to enjoy the sea and it's always interesting isn't it

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the journeys that life takes you on and then before I

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knew it I was going down the the coaching

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the leadership route and I've been on some expeditions I

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was doing a lot of solo paddling and yeah I

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just I just love being out there now as a paddler i really love the coaching

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side of things to pass on the few little snippets i've picked up and if i can

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give that to other people that makes me so happy yeah so now you mentioned you

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wanted to wanted to enjoy the sea so what is it that drew you to the sea.

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One of the beauties with a sea kayak is you're you're kind of in the sea aren't

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you at sea level you're part of the sea you're part of it breathing and whispering or growling at you,

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respecting the sea being a part of it i think that's the joy i've done sailing

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another kind of tried to participate in sports that were more on the sea swimming

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but that doesn't just doesn't appeal the same you're part of nature i think

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that's the beauty of it yeah it is a it it

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It certainly is beautiful. No question.

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Now, as a coach, what then drew you to the coaching side of paddling?

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I was more drawn to it as opposed to being drawn into it.

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So I was paddling with a local canoe club, Snadonia Canoe Club,

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who are an incredibly active, fantastic local club. and we have a couple around

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here, Amluch and Snadonia.

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And they had a few of us, a few of us, and they decided that we might become the next Coach Ones.

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So we were put onto a program, and before we knew it, we were coaches.

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I was doing quite a lot within the club, within the local environment and the local area.

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And then I thought, hmm, what's beyond the local area? And I sort of started

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reaching out to further afield to broaden my horizons.

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You start to realize that as assessors and the coach providers,

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they're pretty good and they can all give you some top tips.

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And I kind of just reached out from

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that really. So it was an adversely an accident how I got into coaching.

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And then I think as I got into more coaching, I realized that by coaching other

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people, you're actually coaching yourself. and you're developing yourself as

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well, which was, I think, the key fundamental to it all.

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Yeah. Now, how has coaching developed you personally in terms of your paddling skills?

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I think awareness is the key. You become aware of what you're doing.

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As regards to my skills, that's a difficult one, isn't it? Is it coaching that's changing my skills?

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Yes, of course, it's helped develop it by being around other people,

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seeing what happens, what they do, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

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It's quite a difficult one to answer. I suppose it's like being,

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it's immersion, taking little bits and working with those.

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So out of coaching, what's your favorite type of group to work with?

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I love working with everybody. So I love brand new beginners who have never been on a kayak before.

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I don't have many of these. I try and put on a few groups each year.

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Quite often they're aimed at women, women-only groups. and the advantage of

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people who've never been on the sea before they've got no previous expectations.

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No bad habits, they have no previous knowledge.

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So everything that you install into them from that very point of,

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you know, what a kayak is, how you get into the kayak and of course how you

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get out safely of the kayak and that very, very first paddle stroke,

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I work with feet predominantly as opposed to what the hands are doing, what the arms are doing.

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That's what I love. So beginners are fantastic. And of course,

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as you go up, up the level of competence and abilities,

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anybody who wants to learn, I just love working with anybody who wants to learn

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and develop in whatever level, be it forward paddling,

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be it an instant management, be it a particular stroke, reading the water.

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That's quite one I get asked quite a lot about, reading the water.

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I love working with everybody.

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Those brand new paddlers, as you mentioned, there's so many moldable moments

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and so many aha moments that they experience that it really is quite exhilarating.

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It's fantastic. And then to have somebody go off the water and want to come

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back another time, that's what it's all about, isn't it?

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We're holding a paddler, a person in our hands, and it's our responsibility

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what happens, not just in that very moment, but that next moment.

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And the next day and whether they don't go paddling for another week,

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a month, six months or a year,

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I just always hope that some of what you've installed into them,

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they can take with them and it inspires them to want to do more and learn more at a good level.

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So now what coaching qualifications do you hold?

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I hold advanced water coaching and leading.

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And then you are an assessor as well?

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Yeah, I'm an assessor provider. Not of coaching, just of leadership. Okay.

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I don't coach coaching. Okay.

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So those who are not familiar with the BC system, give us a quick synopsis of how those fit in.

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Okay, so the British canoeing system has kind of developed quite a lot over

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the past years. I've seen several changes since I've been involved.

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Paddle UK, which is now the,

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the governing body, and I'm a member of Paddle Cymru as the home nation.

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Now it's developed and we have the three specific pathways.

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You have your personal paddling performance awards, which are really great for

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anybody who wants to develop their personal pathways within that sea environment for themselves.

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So no coaching, no leadership for themselves, just paddling. And

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that goes from the introduction of what was

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like kind of three star your kind of sea kayak award

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up to advanced whereas previously if you

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wanted to go beyond sort of into moderate water and above you had

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to go through the leadership route so now you've got an option to do

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personal performance awards which is excellent and can

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be a great tool and a great pathway then you have your

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leadership awards within the sea kayak world

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that's split into your moderate water award which

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can be taken as tidal or non-tidal so

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in the uk you can't go on the city

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without being influenced by tide

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so all of the wards within the uk are tidal

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if we go into europe and parts of america for

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example we can now offer the sea cut

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leader leadership award in moderate water being non-tidal

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and then we go into advanced water and again that

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can be split into tidal and non-tidal so parts

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of the the world where they have plenty of conditions

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but not the the tide then that award comes into its own and then we have the

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coaching pathway as well now i live in the the u.s the great lakes area so we

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certainly have conditions but we don't have tide here so those non-title leadership

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awards would fit into our area here.

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As long as it's salty water, yeah, absolutely. Ah, now if it's unsalted.

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Well, in the Great Lakes, that's an interesting one, actually.

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I'd have to take some advice from the powers that be at Panel UK.

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Because if you're freshwater, even though your Great Lakes is probably larger

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than our Irish Sea, I'm not sure how that, I don't actually know how that would work out.

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We could definitely do lots of training, but whether we do the Sea Kayak Award,

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you're digging sea kayaks?

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Yes. I suppose the area of water is so large.

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Lake is a little bit of a thought, isn't it? It's a massive area.

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It's more of an inland sea, we would call it.

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It's a massive sea, yeah. Yes.

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Now, you mentioned earlier feet, and you said that you work more with feet.

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Tell us a little bit about that.

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Paddling. When I started learning to paddle, I'd always ask for a top tip.

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So a lot of my early influences would be through mock student opportunities.

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So there was an assessment running. My hand would be up in the air,

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please, can I be a mock student?

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And I'd realize that the assessor was quite good, and I'd always ask for a top tip.

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So please, they have a top tip. And I picked up

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quite a few various top tips and then on

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one top tip I was part of a group

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of our coaching group going around Anglesey with

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the local club and I then had

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this big old plastic bathtub of a boat and I

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wanted to develop my paddling and Nick Cunliffe

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was with us on this particular occasion and I said can I

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have a top tip and he said well I can't see what you're

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doing what's what I can't give you a top tip unless you can see

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what's happening within your kayak what does that matter I

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thought to myself what does it matter having beside my kayak so of course that

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opens up the question why did that matter so as I developed this going over

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years of development and learning and asking and also going into the surf ski

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I started working into feet and realizing how Well,

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kayaking is a leg sport and not an arm sport.

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And from there, if we can start right from the very beginning.

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Working with turning our boats, using our feet, we're engaging our body,

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we're engaging our core, engaging everything else.

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And we're setting a really good presence right from the beginning.

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It certainly is a whole body activity and we don't always think of that.

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Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll always say it's a full body activity,

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but I'll always say that it's a leg support and do lots of demonstrations of

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how, when my legs are working, my torso, my body is working,

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but I haven't made it work.

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It's the torso, it's my legs that have been fundamental in making that work.

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Absolutely. Well, we're only a few minutes in and- Oh, I love it. Giving a great tip.

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I love it. It's a wonderful subject. Absolutely. Absolutely.

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So tell us what your journey through the Paddle UK system has been like for

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you. It's been interesting.

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There's been so many changes in developments over the years.

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When I first started, you know, you had various prerequisites that you had to

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then become a leader or a coach.

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Then as you want to become a provider, you had to have a logbook and you'd.

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Different providers. Well, of course, that was a golden opportunity,

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wasn't it, to work lots of different providers.

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And it's changed so much over the years. It's become much more student-focused,

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student-led. You can choose your own pathway.

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So if you were sufficient to paddler or you consider yourself sufficient to

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paddler, you can dive straight in at the top level without having gone through the other processes.

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It's changed a lot. It's gone very student-led. The individual can choose their

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own pathway now as to what they do and how they do it.

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Yeah, it seems to have become much more friendly over the years.

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Yes, it's become much more friendly. I mean, when I was going through a leadership

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program and I wanted to become a leader, be it as then Seagite leader and advanced

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Seagite leader as is now, well, yeah, five star, four star and five star, you had to...

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Go and do an official training. Well, isn't that a great opportunity to go and

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do many trainings with many providers?

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And from each provider, you're going to learn something else or something new.

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You can still do a formal training, but it's not a prerequisite.

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So the individual can go and choose, well, I'm going to go and do this course,

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I'm going to go and do that course.

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So for the individuals that really want to develop themselves,

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yes, of course, it's still a wonderful very friendly area

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to get into probably a lot less expensive because

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you don't have to do all these formal courses so what

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was that experience like for you personally working through the

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system and then growing and learning through it oh well i've had a fantastic

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time i've worked with some of the amazing coaches and leaders over the over

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the time right back in the day i was a long-term student for phil clegg that's

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probably why he's gone a bit gray these days i don't know his blonde highlights.

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So I was very fortunate right from the beginning to have him,

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so work through some assessments as I progressed with, of course,

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Nigel Dennis and traveling around.

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I've done a lot of traveling. I've been really fortunate to work with some of

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the most incredible providers out there.

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So for me, it's all part of a massive development for me. Okay.

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Now, what did you find as challenges going through that system?

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I think the challenges are your own head, really, isn't it?

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I suppose getting out paddling in an environment, I had a couple of people to paddle with.

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On the whole, I paddled by myself. as i did more expeditions

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obviously that you i've progressed on then and i've done those those awards

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but i think back in the day it was

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actually getting out paddling most of my initial paddling was all by myself

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so that'd be for me my biggest challenges getting out and getting that on the

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water experience for me now you mean

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getting it with other people or just finding time to get on the water.

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No, I'd always find time to get on the water because after work,

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I worked full time, I'd go paddling. So even if it's dark, I'd go paddling.

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So I suppose the biggest challenge is probably because most of my early paddling

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was for me as an individual solo paddling.

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Yeah, I did almost original paddling by myself. And then I did get a couple

00:16:06.788 --> 00:16:07.908
of people to go paddling with.

00:16:08.008 --> 00:16:11.928
But over the time, most of my initial paddling was by myself.

00:16:12.088 --> 00:16:18.888
So I'd say my initial challenges is understanding how a group works because it's about me.

00:16:19.368 --> 00:16:22.568
And as I became a leader and as I was developed as a leader,

00:16:22.968 --> 00:16:24.168
of course, it's not about you.

00:16:24.168 --> 00:16:27.508
It's about everybody else so i'd say that was probably my biggest challenge okay

00:16:27.508 --> 00:16:30.328
all right now is it just a challenge just

00:16:30.328 --> 00:16:33.008
finding others or finding others to go in

00:16:33.008 --> 00:16:36.648
the conditions that you wanted to go in when i was it's

00:16:36.648 --> 00:16:39.308
very difficult isn't it because when you start out you don't know what you

00:16:39.308 --> 00:16:42.308
don't know so you want to go out and do all the big stuff you're

00:16:42.308 --> 00:16:45.228
not ready to go and do the big stuff so a lot of my early paddling was

00:16:45.228 --> 00:16:48.588
by myself because i didn't know people to go paddling with right

00:16:48.588 --> 00:16:51.748
at the beginning when i wasn't able to join the club because i wasn't experienced enough

00:16:51.748 --> 00:16:54.648
have to go and join the club so I and that this

00:16:54.648 --> 00:16:58.528
goes right back in time my first

00:16:58.528 --> 00:17:02.048
boat I had was this bright green plastic capella which is a story all in its

00:17:02.048 --> 00:17:07.368
own and the first time I'd go up by myself and I'd go to Trather Bay which is

00:17:07.368 --> 00:17:12.948
a very local beach very friendly nice big sandy bay and I'd paddle out for about

00:17:12.948 --> 00:17:17.508
100 meters take about 20 minutes to turn the boat around and come back.

00:17:18.008 --> 00:17:20.948
And then I met Nigel for the first time that I

00:17:20.948 --> 00:17:23.648
bought the kayak in February met him for

00:17:23.648 --> 00:17:26.548
the first time in April and he said to me oh that's a

00:17:26.548 --> 00:17:29.288
nice kayak that'll blow upside down in a four seven or eight

00:17:29.288 --> 00:17:34.168
I thought why on earth would I be outside in a four seven or eight one day come

00:17:34.168 --> 00:17:39.928
to me and you can borrow a glass boat for a time for a day and I thought I thought

00:17:39.928 --> 00:17:42.968
about it what can I do to what can I do what's the what's the biggest part I

00:17:42.968 --> 00:17:47.628
could do and I was thinking about it and And then this is kind of how the history started, really.

00:17:48.008 --> 00:17:51.808
Then I met Harry Whelan from London. It was at a symposium, the first symposium

00:17:51.808 --> 00:17:54.048
in May that I was at. And he said...

00:17:54.513 --> 00:17:58.033
Paddle around Anglesea and it was like what so

00:17:58.033 --> 00:18:01.073
I bought the kayak in February and now it's

00:18:01.073 --> 00:18:04.453
May and he's saying paddle around Anglesea and it's like oh

00:18:04.453 --> 00:18:10.253
so I thought okay so I borrowed a glass boat that September to do a paddle around

00:18:10.253 --> 00:18:14.153
Anglesea was going to do it over two days but did it over one day and that's

00:18:14.153 --> 00:18:18.233
how the expeditioning side of things started but yeah so I didn't have people

00:18:18.233 --> 00:18:22.553
to paddle with so I thought that by doing a paddle like around Anglesea that

00:18:22.553 --> 00:18:23.493
folks might think oh well,

00:18:24.273 --> 00:18:26.293
she'll be right there and we can maybe go paddling with her.

00:18:26.333 --> 00:18:28.133
So I did have a couple of people to go paddling with.

00:18:28.393 --> 00:18:34.793
But again, it's that time and availability and social time, isn't it, as well? Sure.

00:18:35.313 --> 00:18:38.193
That's quite a growth curve from February to September.

00:18:38.893 --> 00:18:44.453
I paddled every single night after work and every single day at the weekend. I had my daughter.

00:18:45.331 --> 00:18:48.631
Obviously manage her make sure she's good and everything's great but

00:18:48.631 --> 00:18:51.731
every single day after work if it was very windy

00:18:51.731 --> 00:18:54.631
I'd go to the side of the island sometimes I

00:18:54.631 --> 00:18:57.731
had a little nap in my car before I went on the water and once

00:18:57.731 --> 00:19:01.091
it was pitch black at Shother Bay and the

00:19:01.091 --> 00:19:03.931
lifeboat were going out because it was their lifeboat practice day

00:19:03.931 --> 00:19:07.411
and I thought I've forgotten it's their lifeboat practice session anyway so

00:19:07.411 --> 00:19:12.111
that's okay can we use you as a exercise yes

00:19:12.111 --> 00:19:14.851
of course you can use me as an exercise let's just do your normal thing call.

00:19:14.851 --> 00:19:18.351
The coast sky as normal we're going to come and find you so it's

00:19:18.351 --> 00:19:21.291
quite a windy day so my my plan was

00:19:21.291 --> 00:19:24.231
to go out to try the bay turn right going

00:19:24.231 --> 00:19:27.271
towards a local beach called port davach and then

00:19:27.271 --> 00:19:30.091
go back and turn left and go towards ross

00:19:30.091 --> 00:19:32.791
colin and then go back into try the bay

00:19:32.791 --> 00:19:35.451
it's a bit like kind of a triangle so i

00:19:35.451 --> 00:19:39.291
go out of the bay turn right i'm halfway towards port

00:19:39.291 --> 00:19:42.151
davach having paddled about a quarter of an hour and the

00:19:42.151 --> 00:19:45.071
lifeboat come up to me oh we found you fantastic and they

00:19:45.071 --> 00:19:47.771
said just continue on your trip bearing in mind

00:19:47.771 --> 00:19:50.611
it is pitch black and I've got my little red headlights on my

00:19:50.611 --> 00:19:54.251
head it is pitch black and it's quite wavy it's

00:19:54.251 --> 00:19:57.371
you know it's a good relatively decent sea

00:19:57.371 --> 00:20:00.291
state probably I should have been out there anyway I

00:20:00.291 --> 00:20:03.071
saw what I did and I turned left and carried my

00:20:03.071 --> 00:20:05.851
journey on towards Ross Collin Ross Collin is

00:20:05.851 --> 00:20:08.651
a tide race off the end of Ross Collin which I know about and knew

00:20:08.651 --> 00:20:11.511
about and as the sea got a bit bigger and a

00:20:11.511 --> 00:20:14.791
bit more you know worrying I turned

00:20:14.791 --> 00:20:17.911
my boat around to go back into Trather Bay I was

00:20:17.911 --> 00:20:20.971
going back into Trather Bay and I was coming to

00:20:20.971 --> 00:20:24.471
the entrance of the bay the lifeboat came up to me and they

00:20:24.471 --> 00:20:29.871
said we were really worried why we couldn't find you and I said well I didn't

00:20:29.871 --> 00:20:33.571
see you they said did you do your trip plan I said yes I turned around early

00:20:33.571 --> 00:20:36.671
because the sea got too big so we didn't get to Ross Collar and I turned around

00:20:36.671 --> 00:20:40.931
before then they said we were so worried about you we nearly called in to the

00:20:40.931 --> 00:20:43.071
Coast Guard ourselves and I was like.

00:20:43.846 --> 00:20:48.586
That just goes to show how as a sea kayaker, even though they knew my route,

00:20:48.746 --> 00:20:51.466
I had changed this bit and they're not going right to the end at Ross Collin

00:20:51.466 --> 00:20:54.526
and coming back, they couldn't find me.

00:20:55.324 --> 00:20:58.024
That's kind of integral, I think. So a lot of my learning, yes,

00:20:58.104 --> 00:21:02.964
I learned a lot of things the hard way, but that was, I'll never forget that exercise.

00:21:03.404 --> 00:21:06.224
As a sea kayaker out there, you're invisible.

00:21:06.944 --> 00:21:09.164
How did that change what you did in the future?

00:21:10.384 --> 00:21:13.144
Awareness. I mean, I've always called the Coast Guard. I've always had a good

00:21:13.144 --> 00:21:15.504
relationship with the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard are really,

00:21:15.564 --> 00:21:16.984
really supportive here in Hollyhead.

00:21:17.644 --> 00:21:22.804
And we'll visit occasionally when the weather's really, really bad.

00:21:22.804 --> 00:21:25.604
That they're so supportive and they show us how

00:21:25.604 --> 00:21:28.624
their systems work and what they do but it makes

00:21:28.624 --> 00:21:31.584
awareness I think I've always been super super aware

00:21:31.584 --> 00:21:34.324
people like to think or I seem to

00:21:34.324 --> 00:21:40.124
have a reputation for doing sort of more off sort of off the edge things but

00:21:40.124 --> 00:21:45.244
I'd have to say that I'm probably pretty pretty safe I'd like to think I am

00:21:45.244 --> 00:21:49.924
very safe out there the consequences are it's the sea as soon as you turn your

00:21:49.924 --> 00:21:53.724
back on the sea it's going to have you the consequences are pretty big.

00:21:53.844 --> 00:21:58.284
Of course, technology has changed massively since I started to paddle.

00:21:58.704 --> 00:22:05.064
It's normal now. You see paddlers with a PLB attached to their buoyancy aid, life jackets, etc.

00:22:05.964 --> 00:22:11.684
Radios, all the equipment that we carry is much more advanced these days.

00:22:12.124 --> 00:22:14.664
Yes, that preparation and the communication

00:22:14.664 --> 00:22:17.484
with the Coast Guard is a very important piece of the process.

00:22:17.804 --> 00:22:21.624
You had mentioned your capella and you said that was a whole story in itself.

00:22:21.784 --> 00:22:24.984
Tell us a little bit about that first boat so my daughter

00:22:24.984 --> 00:22:29.064
had gotten to doing some white water wild water racing and

00:22:29.064 --> 00:22:32.664
she had saved up all her pocket money all her money and was

00:22:32.664 --> 00:22:36.824
going to buy a little white water boat there was a canoe expo which was happening

00:22:36.824 --> 00:22:41.044
in coventry which is near birmingham right in the middle of the uk nowhere near

00:22:41.044 --> 00:22:45.604
the sea and we decided that we'd go down there she'd ordered this boat was going

00:22:45.604 --> 00:22:50.064
to go and pick it up so a little bit of an adventure little car off we go to go and get her boat.

00:22:50.895 --> 00:22:54.715
Now, bearing in mind at the time, well, I live on Anglesey, where we've got

00:22:54.715 --> 00:22:58.555
Nigel Dennis kayaks and, you know, rock ball kayaks also.

00:22:59.035 --> 00:23:03.615
So, but bearing in mind at this point in time, I don't know what a sea kayak is as such.

00:23:03.755 --> 00:23:07.635
I knew I'd like sea kayaking. I've done it like a couple of times, twice maybe.

00:23:08.195 --> 00:23:12.015
I think I had been on the water twice with a local club with borrowed boats.

00:23:12.495 --> 00:23:15.555
So we go down to this expo and Walter goes to pick up a boat.

00:23:15.555 --> 00:23:21.275
And wow, there's this huge expedition, exhibition with all this paddling equipment.

00:23:21.615 --> 00:23:24.415
And I remember Freya Hofmeister's boat was there.

00:23:24.535 --> 00:23:30.015
She had that, was it her Explorer, the Black Explorer with all the Alpha jewels on it.

00:23:30.235 --> 00:23:32.615
And all this incredibly exciting stuff.

00:23:32.875 --> 00:23:36.535
And I couldn't tell you how and why it happened before.

00:23:37.491 --> 00:23:46.411
But I did a deal and came away with this huge, bright green plastic capella, P&H capella.

00:23:46.571 --> 00:23:49.211
And people, they laughed at me and they said, ha ha, you've come from Anglesey

00:23:49.211 --> 00:23:51.731
where some of the best kayaks in the world are made.

00:23:52.151 --> 00:23:55.911
And you've come down here and bought a plastic capella. And I just thought, I've got to see a kayak.

00:23:57.251 --> 00:23:59.971
And then Nigel adapted me massively because when I met Nigel,

00:24:00.091 --> 00:24:02.711
that was that time in April.

00:24:03.531 --> 00:24:06.551
And that was February and April. and then he said

00:24:06.551 --> 00:24:09.551
so look sell that boat he said

00:24:09.551 --> 00:24:12.491
you'll be ground out of it I think he said a year and within six

00:24:12.491 --> 00:24:15.751
months I'd sold it he said sell that boat come and

00:24:15.751 --> 00:24:18.611
see me I'll sort you out and we'll help you

00:24:18.611 --> 00:24:21.591
with a glass boat and I went to see him

00:24:21.591 --> 00:24:24.371
I had the money and he said right you've got two options because

00:24:24.371 --> 00:24:27.971
back then it was only the Explorer LV that was the only smaller

00:24:27.971 --> 00:24:30.771
person's boat because I'm quite little and he said

00:24:30.771 --> 00:24:34.331
you can have a yellow over white Explorer LV or

00:24:34.331 --> 00:24:38.531
you can have a the flag boat which was a hand-painted elite

00:24:38.531 --> 00:24:41.971
layup boat that had been painted hand-painted

00:24:41.971 --> 00:24:45.551
all different flags around the world apart from Greenland that I had pointed

00:24:45.551 --> 00:24:50.971
out to me and Tris who was an amazing very big inspiration to me at the time

00:24:50.971 --> 00:24:54.611
I said what do I do what do I get she said do yourself a favor right at the

00:24:54.611 --> 00:24:59.211
beginning get yourself the lightest boat you can so I did the deal and gots,

00:24:59.708 --> 00:25:05.008
my first ever glass boat. So how I actually got that boat in the first place, who knows?

00:25:05.208 --> 00:25:09.548
It just literally just happened. It was the strangest thing ever.

00:25:09.648 --> 00:25:11.008
I can't explain it to this day.

00:25:11.288 --> 00:25:13.588
It was inspiration that got you started.

00:25:13.988 --> 00:25:19.008
It was absolute crazy inspiration. Yes. Do you still have the flag boat?

00:25:19.808 --> 00:25:22.568
No, because then the smaller boats came out.

00:25:22.728 --> 00:25:25.388
So Nigel started realizing that, you know, there

00:25:25.388 --> 00:25:28.508
are many small people in this world and Explorer LV

00:25:28.508 --> 00:25:31.148
didn't work for small people's boat you know

00:25:31.148 --> 00:25:34.828
had to move the seat a lot forward because otherwise it lee cocked and

00:25:34.828 --> 00:25:37.448
it wasn't the best boat it was wide and a

00:25:37.448 --> 00:25:40.408
lot of people need a narrower boat so that's how then the

00:25:40.408 --> 00:25:45.208
the pilgrim and then the pilgrim expedition came about so I was really instrumental

00:25:45.208 --> 00:25:50.528
in helping get those boats tested and paddling I was really lucky and then Nigel

00:25:50.528 --> 00:25:56.028
said give me that flag boat and you can have a pilgrim and then everything progressed

00:25:56.028 --> 00:25:58.288
from there really so I've been in a really,

00:25:58.428 --> 00:26:01.868
really like fortunate, lucky position right from the very beginning with a lot

00:26:01.868 --> 00:26:03.188
of support from a lot of people.

00:26:03.788 --> 00:26:08.188
So you mentioned expeditions and you mentioned Nigel. So take us back a few

00:26:08.188 --> 00:26:09.728
years to your time in the Bahamas.

00:26:10.248 --> 00:26:14.288
Well, the Bahamas have loved expeditioning. The first trip I did was around the Outer Hebrides.

00:26:14.708 --> 00:26:18.848
And then because Nigel suggested Ireland, but I couldn't get the time of work.

00:26:19.028 --> 00:26:24.768
So after the Outer Hebrides, I quit work and it went and circumnavigated Ireland.

00:26:25.208 --> 00:26:30.328
So expeditioning is there. so I've quit work so now I'm doing a bit of coaching

00:26:30.328 --> 00:26:34.728
and working in Nigel Sport Lendl so I'm working with Celtic paddles getting

00:26:34.728 --> 00:26:38.908
some you know getting out there and enjoying life and,

00:26:39.468 --> 00:26:43.948
when you're doing a bit of coaching and in this environment for us in the UK

00:26:43.948 --> 00:26:50.308
that kind of like December January February that's the time of year when coaching

00:26:50.308 --> 00:26:53.648
is not so much going to happen because the weather's pretty chronic and the

00:26:53.648 --> 00:26:56.828
days are very short and it was like we need to do something,

00:26:56.908 --> 00:26:58.448
what should we do? Well, let's go somewhere.

00:26:59.312 --> 00:27:02.692
Where do you go where do you go when you've got you

00:27:02.692 --> 00:27:05.772
know a couple of months to play around with there's this whole world

00:27:05.772 --> 00:27:08.572
and the world is so accessible nowadays but it's

00:27:08.572 --> 00:27:11.532
also quite a dangerous place when you're

00:27:11.532 --> 00:27:14.272
quite vulnerable in your little kayak with everything that you

00:27:14.272 --> 00:27:17.312
need to live on with you so I literally spun

00:27:17.312 --> 00:27:20.392
a globe I spun the globe and it came to Vietnam

00:27:20.392 --> 00:27:23.392
and it's like okay sort of 1200

00:27:23.392 --> 00:27:26.152
nautical miles what do you think to the coastline of

00:27:26.152 --> 00:27:29.392
Vietnam and I just said yeah yeah okay so i

00:27:29.392 --> 00:27:32.472
did three months of planning i was into three months of planning of

00:27:32.472 --> 00:27:36.352
looking at the coast of vietnam and then we sat in the office at newly beach

00:27:36.352 --> 00:27:40.272
road one day and he's on the phone and i was literally trying to email some

00:27:40.272 --> 00:27:45.512
consulate somewhere about some permissions or something and he said do you fancy

00:27:45.512 --> 00:27:51.932
the bahamas and it was like the bahamas he goes yeah and all of a sudden all logistics,

00:27:52.412 --> 00:27:58.012
language barriers, problems, issues, all of the issues, the logistics that came

00:27:58.012 --> 00:28:00.932
about with Vietnam disappeared out the window. I was like, yeah,

00:28:01.172 --> 00:28:02.592
thumbs up. Let's do the Bahamas.

00:28:03.232 --> 00:28:06.832
Nigel's brother was currently working out there. So we had a base.

00:28:06.992 --> 00:28:09.332
So it's like, yeah, let's go to the Bahamas.

00:28:09.672 --> 00:28:13.132
So we did the first trip in the Bahamas. That was our kind of exploration with

00:28:13.132 --> 00:28:18.012
our three-piece kayaks, which is a whole extra exciting story in all its own right.

00:28:18.012 --> 00:28:23.072
And from there we went and continued to do a few more trips of expeditions out

00:28:23.072 --> 00:28:27.672
in the Bahamas which all sounds incredibly glamorous and people say oh have

00:28:27.672 --> 00:28:32.272
a nice holiday some of my worst moments of kayaking at one point I actually

00:28:32.272 --> 00:28:37.712
thought Nigel had left us and was gone and died to this day my heart still.

00:28:38.472 --> 00:28:41.312
Goes into a bit of a black spot but yeah people

00:28:41.312 --> 00:28:44.852
go you go to somewhere like the bahamas oh have a great holiday and

00:28:44.852 --> 00:28:50.052
when nigel said he used to go when he did south georgia and antarctica etc have

00:28:50.052 --> 00:28:54.732
a great expedition it's interesting the perspective the bahamas you've got 3

00:28:54.732 --> 00:29:01.492
000 miles of fetch to the next uh coast on the the east side there's quite a

00:29:01.492 --> 00:29:02.712
big sea state on the atlantic,

00:29:03.212 --> 00:29:07.552
but so yeah we did some fantastic exploration

00:29:07.552 --> 00:29:11.012
and challenges out in the bahamas so what

00:29:11.012 --> 00:29:13.752
was that exploration like that's an area that we have not

00:29:13.752 --> 00:29:16.572
really in fact i've not had the opportunity to talk about the bahamas at

00:29:16.572 --> 00:29:20.252
all here bahamas is amazing it's

00:29:20.252 --> 00:29:23.872
very lots of it is completely untouched one of

00:29:23.872 --> 00:29:26.892
the trips we did around an island called andros we

00:29:26.892 --> 00:29:30.312
did it as a sort of figure of eight we actually carried

00:29:30.312 --> 00:29:33.772
90 liters of water between

00:29:33.772 --> 00:29:36.452
us at one stage because we knew we

00:29:36.452 --> 00:29:40.972
were not going to be able to fill up with water for at least 10 days which is

00:29:40.972 --> 00:29:44.552
why you had to do it as a sort of a figure of eight just nothing out there as

00:29:44.552 --> 00:29:51.212
well obviously lots of areas that are very expensive private islands and and

00:29:51.212 --> 00:29:54.612
all of this and of course it's because it's owned by It's got American law,

00:29:54.792 --> 00:29:59.012
then you have the American rights of no access,

00:29:59.332 --> 00:30:04.952
whereas in the UK, we have mostly right of access up to that high water point.

00:30:05.821 --> 00:30:12.161
Oh, it's fantastic. The water alone in the Irish Sea, I think 100 meters is

00:30:12.161 --> 00:30:13.901
the deepest the Irish Sea goes.

00:30:14.181 --> 00:30:19.121
In the Bahamas, on the East Coast, on one island we did, Cat Island.

00:30:19.941 --> 00:30:24.601
Three nautical miles out to sea, it's got a depth of like five kilometers.

00:30:25.061 --> 00:30:28.181
A mile out to sea, it's got a depth of about a kilometer.

00:30:28.461 --> 00:30:34.161
So the depth, that water is something else that you just can't even imagine.

00:30:34.161 --> 00:30:37.381
Beautiful now you mentioned some of those you mentioned challenges

00:30:37.381 --> 00:30:40.201
what challenges did you experience in

00:30:40.201 --> 00:30:43.081
the bahamas we had several we've had loads

00:30:43.081 --> 00:30:46.441
of challenges or lots of challenges logistics that's

00:30:46.441 --> 00:30:49.201
a key challenge so logistics how do

00:30:49.201 --> 00:30:52.841
you get you can get to the bahamas relatively straightforwardly with

00:30:52.841 --> 00:30:55.721
the three-piece kayaks but then you have to get to

00:30:55.721 --> 00:30:58.741
a starting point and they have some really great

00:30:58.741 --> 00:31:01.721
options for example the mail boats which might

00:31:01.721 --> 00:31:04.561
be a 17-hour journey but it's all part of the fun

00:31:04.561 --> 00:31:07.401
isn't it food that's a massive problem so

00:31:07.401 --> 00:31:10.381
you take what you can in your kayaks because water

00:31:10.381 --> 00:31:13.041
is such an issue you take as much kind of

00:31:13.041 --> 00:31:16.701
wet food as you can so rather than taking dry rice you

00:31:16.701 --> 00:31:19.881
take that rice that's pre-cooked that's saving less

00:31:19.881 --> 00:31:23.101
water anything dry for example pasta

00:31:23.101 --> 00:31:26.821
you can we worked out you can usually maybe

00:31:26.821 --> 00:31:29.621
a third seawater and two-thirds water then

00:31:29.621 --> 00:31:33.161
you can use it okay water's lived in clean out there so that

00:31:33.161 --> 00:31:36.821
those are some of the challenges navigation challenges in

00:31:36.821 --> 00:31:42.381
the uk we have we i think we have some of the best maps and charts in existence

00:31:42.381 --> 00:31:48.681
we've got so much information in the bahamas you've got a few charts but there's

00:31:48.681 --> 00:31:55.301
there's nothing so much of it is uncharted the bahamas is the only other country outside of bermuda.

00:31:56.054 --> 00:32:01.334
In the Bermuda Triangle. And there was one challenge that we didn't realize at the time.

00:32:01.614 --> 00:32:05.414
And we were paddling on the west coast of an island, Andros,

00:32:05.974 --> 00:32:07.574
and we used to take it in turns.

00:32:07.874 --> 00:32:10.814
One person would paddle, the other person would check the compass.

00:32:11.454 --> 00:32:14.954
One person paddle, sort of check the compass. If you know what I mean,

00:32:14.994 --> 00:32:16.574
so you've got a person at the front on the compass.

00:32:16.834 --> 00:32:21.294
And then I had a little GPS and I would occasionally check the GPS because it's

00:32:21.294 --> 00:32:25.174
such a low-lying land, you don't have much visibility. So once you've paddled

00:32:25.174 --> 00:32:27.894
three miles away from shore, that's it. You're not seeing anything.

00:32:28.954 --> 00:32:34.414
And I'm, Nigel's paddling on his compass bearing and I'm checking the GPS and

00:32:34.414 --> 00:32:40.034
he's paddling and I'm checking and it's like, something's not right, right here.

00:32:40.234 --> 00:32:44.274
Nigel, what are you paddling on? Are you paddling on a bearing or are you paddling to a cloud?

00:32:44.814 --> 00:32:47.954
No, no, I'm paddling on my bearing. What bearing are you paddling on?

00:32:48.214 --> 00:32:52.254
This bearing. I said, can you just make sure just the next 20 minutes really

00:32:52.254 --> 00:32:54.434
strictly paddle on that bearing?

00:32:54.814 --> 00:32:58.954
Yes, of course. That's what I'm doing. So he carried on and I checked the GPS.

00:32:59.214 --> 00:33:07.994
We were 30 degrees out. No explanation other than it must be just one of those anomalies.

00:33:08.834 --> 00:33:12.274
So carrying a GPS is quite a handy thing. So that was one instance.

00:33:12.854 --> 00:33:17.314
Another story that's quite a bizarre story. There's kind of two key stories.

00:33:17.894 --> 00:33:22.814
Another story was we'd already had some instances that we were at with.

00:33:23.484 --> 00:33:26.344
We were paddling back. This is the follow-on from another story.

00:33:27.004 --> 00:33:32.604
And we're paddling back to Nassau, that area, to Paradise Island,

00:33:32.944 --> 00:33:37.464
via Cat Island, via Half Moon Cay, via Eleuthera.

00:33:37.724 --> 00:33:43.484
So we've left this island called Eleuthera, and we have to go across this little currant island.

00:33:43.744 --> 00:33:48.924
And this little island called Six Shilling Cay, and it had a little tree on it.

00:33:49.064 --> 00:33:52.504
And it's all that kind of really raggedy stone that

00:33:52.504 --> 00:33:55.464
you can't really walk on and there's a little tiny

00:33:55.464 --> 00:33:58.944
tiny bay there's quite a lot of tide of course the area is not charted so

00:33:58.944 --> 00:34:01.884
you don't know there's any tide but you see there's the tide well we

00:34:01.884 --> 00:34:05.384
can't panel through that that's far too fast we've got to wait so

00:34:05.384 --> 00:34:08.924
we stopped and we pulled in there's a duff room on this little tiny bay

00:34:08.924 --> 00:34:12.184
for two kayaks and we scramble up and

00:34:12.184 --> 00:34:15.024
sit to sit and wait and there's nothing to do rather than

00:34:15.024 --> 00:34:17.924
just sit and wait the weather's quite kind it's

00:34:17.924 --> 00:34:21.864
fortunate so we just sit and wait anyway i

00:34:21.864 --> 00:34:24.564
decided to try my best at walking just to the

00:34:24.564 --> 00:34:27.484
other side of the the bay where the kayak swore which

00:34:27.484 --> 00:34:31.404
is quite difficult because of the terrain it's this very spiky treacherous kind

00:34:31.404 --> 00:34:36.404
of terrain and like nigel shouts at me from across the other side of the bay

00:34:36.404 --> 00:34:42.904
it's like flipping heck what but i couldn't i couldn't really hear him because

00:34:42.904 --> 00:34:44.624
there's this distance between us.

00:34:45.144 --> 00:34:49.184
I have to go back. Of course, have to go back takes a bit of time.

00:34:49.807 --> 00:34:53.707
And he's like, I think I'm going to pass out. What on earth happened?

00:34:54.347 --> 00:34:58.487
So what happened prior to that was the best love is handheld compass.

00:34:58.827 --> 00:35:03.047
You always have the two compasses. You have your deck compass and you have your

00:35:03.047 --> 00:35:05.087
handheld compass. You can check they're right.

00:35:05.567 --> 00:35:10.387
It was stuck. So can I say this? This is very politically correct.

00:35:10.687 --> 00:35:14.367
Do what a man might do. Bit of brute force. What does a girl do?

00:35:14.487 --> 00:35:17.987
Gets the compass, washes it in the water. What does a man do? Get his knife out.

00:35:18.807 --> 00:35:21.947
And as he kind of tries to extract the

00:35:21.947 --> 00:35:25.307
compass he slices his hand

00:35:25.307 --> 00:35:27.987
and it's bleeding and this is where

00:35:27.987 --> 00:35:30.747
i find out he's not very good with blood i think i'm

00:35:30.747 --> 00:35:33.707
going to pass out oh no so i put his pointe's aid

00:35:33.707 --> 00:35:36.567
yeah put his pointe's aid behind him we haven't got any flat

00:35:36.567 --> 00:35:40.347
ground it's this kind of treacherous kind of ground anyway

00:35:40.347 --> 00:35:43.227
pointe's aid behind him and poof he passes out goes a lovely shade

00:35:43.227 --> 00:35:46.027
of grey eyes wide open and of course

00:35:46.027 --> 00:35:49.307
I do exactly what I'm supposed to do Nigel shaking him

00:35:49.307 --> 00:35:52.687
kind of vigorously Nigel wake up wake up Nigel

00:35:52.687 --> 00:35:55.707
of course nothing that minute then he wakes up

00:35:55.707 --> 00:35:58.667
completely oblivious oh my god bursts into tears

00:35:58.667 --> 00:36:01.507
are you okay you're okay what happened I said you passed out no I

00:36:01.507 --> 00:36:04.807
didn't you did anyway this that

00:36:04.807 --> 00:36:08.407
took some time so we sat there debating because

00:36:08.407 --> 00:36:12.927
he was adamant he hadn't passed out of course anyway this it was you can imagine

00:36:12.927 --> 00:36:17.647
that my heart saw quite kind of full on and we eventually we sat out to see

00:36:17.647 --> 00:36:24.947
again the tides calmed down and we set out to see again as we come out around the corner he says to me.

00:36:25.618 --> 00:36:28.738
Oh, look, there's JCB. I don't know if you know what JCB is.

00:36:29.118 --> 00:36:36.958
It's a big, bright yellow road kind of works or land moving vehicle.

00:36:37.118 --> 00:36:39.018
It's a huge plants machinery.

00:36:39.538 --> 00:36:43.398
And he goes, very much in the middle of the sea. No, just from this island.

00:36:43.558 --> 00:36:46.058
There's nothing around us. Oh, look, there's a JCB.

00:36:46.698 --> 00:36:51.018
What? And I thought, oh, great. He's not only passed out. He's now gone completely

00:36:51.018 --> 00:36:53.278
to Lally and he's seeing things. He's hallucinating.

00:36:53.838 --> 00:36:56.938
So I paddled out alongside him and yes there

00:36:56.938 --> 00:36:59.778
was a JCB it was some kind of

00:36:59.778 --> 00:37:02.798
extractor or dredger or something that had broken free

00:37:02.798 --> 00:37:05.578
and was wandering around in the sea so that was a

00:37:05.578 --> 00:37:08.338
fortunate little one but I'll never forget that on the heart of

00:37:08.338 --> 00:37:14.598
my mouth and of course I did have a PRB and I suddenly realized we're carrying

00:37:14.598 --> 00:37:19.598
radios radios are great for each other but there's nobody else out there so

00:37:19.598 --> 00:37:23.878
they're not you can't really use them for a relay because then it could be no

00:37:23.878 --> 00:37:27.258
good to hear anybody else either.

00:37:28.198 --> 00:37:31.058
So that's kind of a, I like that as a little bit of a funny story.

00:37:31.138 --> 00:37:32.518
Everything worked out well and...

00:37:33.423 --> 00:37:37.303
No, the worst story, the worst challenge, and we never took helmets with us.

00:37:37.423 --> 00:37:38.743
Would I in hindsight again?

00:37:38.943 --> 00:37:42.243
It's difficult, isn't it? Because you don't deliberately want to do something

00:37:42.243 --> 00:37:43.423
whereby you need a helmet.

00:37:43.603 --> 00:37:46.703
When it's only the two of you paddling together with a group and you've got

00:37:46.703 --> 00:37:49.783
responsibility for other people, that's a completely different story.

00:37:49.903 --> 00:37:51.843
And yes, helmets go on heads.

00:37:52.063 --> 00:37:55.663
When it's the two of us, in this instance, we didn't have helmets.

00:37:56.543 --> 00:37:59.543
And we were paddling this island of Cat Island.

00:37:59.543 --> 00:38:02.483
We're already on plan c having had

00:38:02.483 --> 00:38:05.543
plan a and plan b having to change it due to

00:38:05.543 --> 00:38:08.263
weather currents and all sorts

00:38:08.263 --> 00:38:11.643
of things that gone on so we're panning up this east

00:38:11.643 --> 00:38:14.643
side which the locals called the south side of cat island

00:38:14.643 --> 00:38:18.363
an island shaped like italy along

00:38:18.363 --> 00:38:21.403
the long side of cat island we'd had one night

00:38:21.403 --> 00:38:24.243
we'd camped you can imagine we've got a lot of

00:38:24.243 --> 00:38:27.703
a lot of sea coming in you

00:38:27.703 --> 00:38:31.143
can have challenging surf of course and this

00:38:31.143 --> 00:38:34.803
huge volume of water which goes from five

00:38:34.803 --> 00:38:37.623
kilometers to nothing within just

00:38:37.623 --> 00:38:40.523
a couple of miles so it landed the first

00:38:40.523 --> 00:38:43.443
night not a problem helped each

00:38:43.443 --> 00:38:46.243
other get on the water the next day not a

00:38:46.243 --> 00:38:49.163
problem what happened you've got a reef then a

00:38:49.163 --> 00:38:52.063
couple of miles out to sea so what happens as

00:38:52.063 --> 00:38:54.783
you're paddling along and paddling along at some point the

00:38:54.783 --> 00:38:58.083
reef sort of joins up with the land and you

00:38:58.083 --> 00:39:01.043
have to paddle out to the seaward side of

00:39:01.043 --> 00:39:06.223
the reef that's fine the water changes color deep deep deep darkest blue you

00:39:06.223 --> 00:39:12.243
can imagine and the sea goes up and the sea goes down and the sea goes up and

00:39:12.243 --> 00:39:17.103
the sea goes down and then there was one point and I looked and Nigel was on

00:39:17.103 --> 00:39:19.083
top of this breaking waves.

00:39:19.830 --> 00:39:24.150
And I thought, oh, that was not the best place to be. Had he gone there to take

00:39:24.150 --> 00:39:26.010
a photograph, that wasn't a great idea.

00:39:26.370 --> 00:39:29.510
Had he got caught out by accident, that's not great.

00:39:29.710 --> 00:39:33.750
So both the answers were not answers that I wanted to hear the answer to because

00:39:33.750 --> 00:39:36.050
neither of the answers were great answers.

00:39:36.530 --> 00:39:39.870
So when you're on the outside of the reef, you obviously then have to come back

00:39:39.870 --> 00:39:45.370
inside the reef, which means finding a place where you can travel through it safely.

00:39:46.070 --> 00:39:51.170
And also then waiting for that point of time where the waves aren't going to

00:39:51.170 --> 00:39:53.750
be sufficiently huge that you're going to get annihilated.

00:39:54.330 --> 00:39:55.710
So we're paddling along.

00:39:56.370 --> 00:39:59.990
It's dark about 6.30 at night, so we usually start looking for somewhere to

00:39:59.990 --> 00:40:04.890
land about 2 o'clock in the afternoon with the hope of being off the water by about 4.

00:40:05.390 --> 00:40:08.470
That was how the routine went, day in, day out. That's what it is.

00:40:08.870 --> 00:40:12.850
So we're looking for somewhere to land and get in through the reef when we couldn't find anywhere.

00:40:13.210 --> 00:40:16.230
And we're paddling on. We'd stop, we'd look. what do you think about this

00:40:16.230 --> 00:40:19.550
big wave no thanks let's carry on and we

00:40:19.550 --> 00:40:22.170
carry on again what do you think about this same thing would happen we sit and

00:40:22.170 --> 00:40:27.250
stop sometimes for quite a few minutes should we go here no maybe not and then

00:40:27.250 --> 00:40:32.750
niger's look he said there's a marker and there was a big white sort of post

00:40:32.750 --> 00:40:36.490
because you could see it's not that far you know to the the other side of the reef,

00:40:37.123 --> 00:40:41.063
And it's, maybe that's a mark of post where we can come in through the reef.

00:40:41.303 --> 00:40:44.343
It was the mast of a sailboat that had been washed up.

00:40:44.723 --> 00:40:49.283
So eventually, Nigel said to me, right, we're going to go in through here.

00:40:49.623 --> 00:40:54.743
Are you okay? And I said, yeah, he knows best. I'm just going to, he knows, he knows.

00:40:55.043 --> 00:40:57.623
Yeah, I'm going to trust 100%. Let's do it.

00:40:57.963 --> 00:41:00.003
And he goes, you're going to have to paddle fast.

00:41:00.403 --> 00:41:06.703
So you've got to bear in mind that our boats are so heavy that the water's literally up to the seams.

00:41:07.123 --> 00:41:10.683
You can't turn them like you would normally an empty sea kayak they're like

00:41:10.683 --> 00:41:15.323
a massive container ship it takes a lot of effort a lot of time to turn the

00:41:15.323 --> 00:41:19.603
boat are you ready yes right we're just gonna go for it you ready yes right

00:41:19.603 --> 00:41:23.123
ready yes let's go so we go and as soon as we've gone.

00:41:23.863 --> 00:41:26.863
Just like this freight train coming down

00:41:26.863 --> 00:41:29.823
behind me and that's it boom so I'm under

00:41:29.823 --> 00:41:32.803
the water and I'm holding onto my paddle because

00:41:32.803 --> 00:41:35.683
of the force of the water trying to drag it away from me

00:41:35.683 --> 00:41:38.643
and I'm saying to myself do not let go

00:41:38.643 --> 00:41:41.963
of your paddle do not let

00:41:41.963 --> 00:41:45.343
go of your paddle three times really

00:41:45.343 --> 00:41:50.643
slowly like that and I pop back up again and all around me there's stuff all

00:41:50.643 --> 00:41:54.103
of the stuff that we've got stuffed in the cockpits and even it's tied onto

00:41:54.103 --> 00:41:58.723
the decks there's stuff everywhere and then there's Nigel and I can see his

00:41:58.723 --> 00:42:04.443
his head at this point and his boat and then the next wave gets me again.

00:42:04.583 --> 00:42:09.263
And so it gets a bit blurry because I think we both got hit by two waves.

00:42:09.723 --> 00:42:12.723
Now, in the seconds between the waves...

00:42:13.403 --> 00:42:16.723
You haven't got enough time to get all that air back into your lungs.

00:42:17.103 --> 00:42:22.003
So the first time you're upside down in the water, obviously there's adrenaline as well.

00:42:22.403 --> 00:42:26.943
You roll up, not a problem. The second time, boom, I was out of my kayak.

00:42:27.363 --> 00:42:31.903
So I'm out of my kayak, stuff everywhere. And I look across and I can see Nigel's

00:42:31.903 --> 00:42:34.123
boat, which is now upside down.

00:42:34.443 --> 00:42:37.883
And I can see the skeg, because we'd always have the skeg stands a tiny bit,

00:42:37.943 --> 00:42:38.763
just keep going straight.

00:42:39.303 --> 00:42:42.223
A little bit of the skeg. and my head just

00:42:42.223 --> 00:42:44.943
followed his kayak and I honest to

00:42:44.943 --> 00:42:47.683
God thought that he wasn't there and

00:42:47.683 --> 00:42:50.503
that he had gone and that blackness that

00:42:50.503 --> 00:42:54.383
completely drained into my soul I

00:42:54.383 --> 00:42:57.463
was literally sick to the stomach and in

00:42:57.463 --> 00:43:01.023
that it was micro milli milliseconds and as

00:43:01.023 --> 00:43:03.823
my head followed my eyes followed his boat then I

00:43:03.823 --> 00:43:06.643
saw his head oh I can't tell

00:43:06.643 --> 00:43:09.463
you that relief anyway so we'll work

00:43:09.463 --> 00:43:12.283
together to get back into the boat and again this

00:43:12.283 --> 00:43:16.063
is again an interesting an interesting one because as we train and

00:43:16.063 --> 00:43:19.023
we develop and we learn to do rescues and

00:43:19.023 --> 00:43:22.143
self-rescues and I'll always encourage folks to

00:43:22.143 --> 00:43:27.543
if you can self-rescue one way try another way and if you can do two ways try

00:43:27.543 --> 00:43:31.763
another way try something else try something that hasn't been discovered yet

00:43:31.763 --> 00:43:35.403
just play around with lots and lots of different things because you don't know

00:43:35.403 --> 00:43:40.023
what's going to happen at a particular time and Anyway, it's fun to try different things.

00:43:40.263 --> 00:43:44.663
Same thing with rescues. Always try a different rescue, getting somebody into

00:43:44.663 --> 00:43:46.223
the boat a different way.

00:43:46.543 --> 00:43:50.723
And when I look back on it, it's fascinating because I got into my boat fairly

00:43:50.723 --> 00:43:58.163
straightforwardly, despite the fact it was so full of water and sinking because they're so heavy.

00:43:58.891 --> 00:44:03.311
But it got me in, not a problem. It was okay. We couldn't get Nigel into his boat.

00:44:03.611 --> 00:44:08.211
And it was silent. We literally did it without any words because we'd done so

00:44:08.211 --> 00:44:13.031
much practice and independently, not just together, so much stuff.

00:44:13.191 --> 00:44:17.151
There was just do this, just do this, just do this. Couldn't get him into his boat.

00:44:18.491 --> 00:44:22.051
Eventually got him into his boat and off we sat, off we sat.

00:44:22.691 --> 00:44:26.471
And then we'd been paddling for a minute and a half or something and he says

00:44:26.471 --> 00:44:31.531
to me, Isla, yes Nigel you're going to have to tow me what?

00:44:32.071 --> 00:44:34.871
Anyway we didn't realise at the time because he couldn't control

00:44:34.871 --> 00:44:37.811
his boat we didn't realise at the time but he'd completely

00:44:37.811 --> 00:44:44.191
smashed his boat up and we had to go to plan D and do quite a substantial boat

00:44:44.191 --> 00:44:47.751
repair but that's the end of that story because I could talk about two hours

00:44:47.751 --> 00:44:52.771
about that so sorry that goes on quite a long time needless to say we ended

00:44:52.771 --> 00:44:56.111
up on plan kind of Z and on all was well Yeah.

00:44:57.595 --> 00:45:02.935
That's a pretty harrowing time. It's not what you would normally think of when

00:45:02.935 --> 00:45:03.855
you think of the Bahamas.

00:45:04.035 --> 00:45:09.455
You normally think of tranquil waters and easy paddling, but there's certainly some challenges there.

00:45:10.295 --> 00:45:13.155
Absolutely and on current islands which is

00:45:13.155 --> 00:45:16.155
a very very narrow at one point it's a very very narrow strip of

00:45:16.155 --> 00:45:21.075
land and you can walk across the road and you can see the caribbean sea on one

00:45:21.075 --> 00:45:26.835
side and it's as you say john it's beautiful green not a movement of the water

00:45:26.835 --> 00:45:31.415
you walk across the road look at the atlantic and it's deep deep blue and white

00:45:31.415 --> 00:45:34.055
with all the waves crashing against the land.

00:45:36.335 --> 00:45:39.295
Now how long were you there our trips

00:45:39.295 --> 00:45:42.075
were normally about a month okay all right

00:45:42.075 --> 00:45:44.795
and sometimes stay a bit longer to go to

00:45:44.795 --> 00:45:47.555
junk canoe festival to to do something like

00:45:47.555 --> 00:45:50.315
that but generally speaking be away for a month six weeks something like that

00:45:50.315 --> 00:45:53.775
now would you go back oh absolutely

00:45:53.775 --> 00:45:56.655
we met up with a chap who's out there

00:45:56.655 --> 00:45:59.535
he lives out there called wolf we were put in touch with him from

00:45:59.535 --> 00:46:02.555
our dearly missed beloved friend

00:46:02.555 --> 00:46:05.515
who's no longer with us russell farrow so we

00:46:05.515 --> 00:46:08.275
met wolf so he's still out there and i

00:46:08.275 --> 00:46:11.095
would love to go back and do some more out there there's so

00:46:11.095 --> 00:46:16.715
much more to explore so much that's been undiscovered yeah fantastic amazing

00:46:16.715 --> 00:46:23.735
place and generally speaking the local people are wonderful so so kind so yeah

00:46:23.735 --> 00:46:28.935
so cool it's brilliant wonderful so outside of the Bahamas and the good experience

00:46:28.935 --> 00:46:30.775
there. Favorite place to paddle?

00:46:31.561 --> 00:46:35.521
That's that's such a hard question and

00:46:35.521 --> 00:46:39.241
and it's very very difficult because everywhere is unique

00:46:39.241 --> 00:46:41.901
and everywhere is very very special i was recently i was

00:46:41.901 --> 00:46:45.281
really fortunate i was honored enough to paddle with

00:46:45.281 --> 00:46:52.041
um at a camp paddle park camp in in the netherlands and they were apologizing

00:46:52.041 --> 00:46:57.261
to me because it's sand and sand and sand and sand and i said guys you've got

00:46:57.261 --> 00:47:01.681
a fantastic place they've got their dykes and you've got tide you've got little

00:47:01.681 --> 00:47:04.321
islands you've got wonderful seal life,

00:47:04.881 --> 00:47:07.641
it's a wonderful place to be what creatures in

00:47:07.641 --> 00:47:10.981
the water dolphins etc and shipping lanes you've

00:47:10.981 --> 00:47:16.161
got a really really fantastic place and enjoy it it's what they're used to I

00:47:16.161 --> 00:47:20.001
live on Anglesey it's only 75 miles if you paddle it from point to point to

00:47:20.001 --> 00:47:25.301
point and yet you know we've got the tide and you could paddle the same bit

00:47:25.301 --> 00:47:28.881
of water every day for a year is always going to be different.

00:47:29.661 --> 00:47:32.381
It's a really different question i paddle in lots of different places i

00:47:32.381 --> 00:47:35.701
have to say that i'm really sorry to the world that

00:47:35.701 --> 00:47:38.801
between ireland scotland and here

00:47:38.801 --> 00:47:41.661
i think that's the best place in the world to

00:47:41.661 --> 00:47:45.241
paddle i think we just have everything everywhere

00:47:45.241 --> 00:47:49.661
is unique everywhere is fantastic it has its merits absolutely i really do think

00:47:49.661 --> 00:47:55.021
i really do think this is spectacular here scotland island and of course shetland

00:47:55.021 --> 00:47:59.801
yeah wow now of all the places that you could run trips i see that you run a

00:47:59.801 --> 00:48:02.981
number of trips in the shetlands what is it specifically about the shetlands

00:48:02.981 --> 00:48:05.121
that makes that area area so special to you,

00:48:05.815 --> 00:48:11.315
Well, again, I have to be honest, it was the Americans who made me go to Shetland.

00:48:11.695 --> 00:48:18.115
I had turned down offers to go and help run courses in Shetland throughout my

00:48:18.115 --> 00:48:21.335
paddling career because time is such a big issue.

00:48:21.555 --> 00:48:24.255
And of course, the summertime, that's when you're at the busiest.

00:48:25.915 --> 00:48:30.495
Nigel and I came along running expeditions out of Hebrides and everywhere.

00:48:30.755 --> 00:48:33.995
Then I'd put on some expeditions in the southwest of Ireland.

00:48:34.455 --> 00:48:39.155
When you run expeditions, you're kind of lucky because you can go, where do I fancy going?

00:48:39.635 --> 00:48:42.895
Fancy going to the southwest of Ireland? Let's run some expeditions there.

00:48:43.075 --> 00:48:46.775
And it's wonderful that you can share those experiences with other people.

00:48:47.215 --> 00:48:51.675
So when we're in a situation, it's wonderful. So I put on expeditions in southwest

00:48:51.675 --> 00:48:56.655
Ireland, and Dale Williams came along for a week, and Greg Paquin came along

00:48:56.655 --> 00:48:59.635
for a week, and had a local group from the UK for a week.

00:49:00.015 --> 00:49:02.215
And they were like, but we really want to go to Shetland.

00:49:03.249 --> 00:49:06.369
Next year, it was Greg, if I'm honest, we want to go to Shetland,

00:49:06.489 --> 00:49:08.689
but we're going to go to Southwest Ireland.

00:49:09.409 --> 00:49:13.849
Why? Because, oh, okay. So they came along fantastic. But next year,

00:49:13.929 --> 00:49:15.489
can you promise us we'll go to Shetland?

00:49:16.069 --> 00:49:20.589
Okay, we'll do Shetland. Shetland's a long, long way away and the logistics

00:49:20.589 --> 00:49:24.149
are pretty immense to get there. It's like we did Shetland.

00:49:24.469 --> 00:49:33.149
So I ran two trips back to back and I was like, why has it taken me so long to get here?

00:49:33.689 --> 00:49:38.969
So if Greg had insisted on going to Shetland to be honest I probably wouldn't

00:49:38.969 --> 00:49:44.489
have made the effort because the logistics are so immense but then once I went

00:49:44.489 --> 00:49:47.909
there and then life continued,

00:49:48.549 --> 00:49:51.269
and then I had some requests can we go back to Shetland can we

00:49:51.269 --> 00:49:54.609
go back to Shetland okay I'll run some expeditions to Shetland and

00:49:54.609 --> 00:49:57.469
then it was like oh well can we run some expeditions to

00:49:57.469 --> 00:50:00.069
Shetland okay we'll do some more I've got

00:50:00.069 --> 00:50:03.209
some surgery coming in a couple of weeks so next year i'm not

00:50:03.209 --> 00:50:08.489
going to go to shetland i'm going to go in 2027 and i've already got inquiries

00:50:08.489 --> 00:50:14.529
of people to go in 2027 just a magical place to go yeah i've had the opportunity

00:50:14.529 --> 00:50:19.529
to talk to a number of paddlers about about the shetlands and i recall uh talking

00:50:19.529 --> 00:50:22.149
with bonnie perry and uh she just,

00:50:22.669 --> 00:50:24.429
raved and raved and raved about the area.

00:50:25.197 --> 00:50:30.817
It's incredible. And because it's so sparsely populated, there are so many islands.

00:50:30.817 --> 00:50:34.037
There's usually something you can always go and do to paddle.

00:50:34.337 --> 00:50:37.637
I run explanations in Shetland via a base.

00:50:37.917 --> 00:50:43.757
We have a fantastic camp, base camp, which is a wonderful big house.

00:50:43.937 --> 00:50:51.277
So from that, our base camp, we can maximize the weather and take in all the best paddles.

00:50:51.497 --> 00:50:56.117
Or if the weather's not so great, go and find the opportunities where we can still go and paddle.

00:50:56.417 --> 00:50:59.717
But yeah, it's absolutely stunning.

00:51:00.057 --> 00:51:07.837
And there are still caves, channels, and chutes that I need to go and explore and find out.

00:51:08.017 --> 00:51:13.337
There is such... You could literally spend more time inside exploring caves

00:51:13.337 --> 00:51:15.237
and channels than outside.

00:51:15.977 --> 00:51:20.817
What's next on your expedition list? So on the expedition next year,

00:51:21.377 --> 00:51:23.537
it's the eight day i work with the

00:51:23.537 --> 00:51:28.457
dutch with the dutch group and we'll be running our trips paddle part to.

00:51:29.497 --> 00:51:34.197
Scotland which is eight days camping we set off on day one and go and explore

00:51:34.197 --> 00:51:39.817
with our kayaks and do some exciting cool stuff all wild camping and then come

00:51:39.817 --> 00:51:44.857
back on day eight so that's my that's my only expeditions for next year tell

00:51:44.857 --> 00:51:46.097
us a little bit about your coaching center,

00:51:46.847 --> 00:51:55.987
Well, it's me and I'm based on the northeast tip of Anglesea.

00:51:56.167 --> 00:52:00.767
I relocated from the west coast here four years ago now, just over four years ago.

00:52:01.067 --> 00:52:06.067
And I love it. The people are wonderful, very kind. It's very rural, very green.

00:52:06.407 --> 00:52:11.387
My little base is, it's a three-minute drive to the nearest beach.

00:52:11.647 --> 00:52:16.107
And from the nearest beach, I think it's about a whole five-minute paddle.

00:52:16.847 --> 00:52:19.647
To the closest tide race which is pretty

00:52:19.647 --> 00:52:22.607
fantastic so I run Seag

00:52:22.607 --> 00:52:25.687
Hacks I have the best equipment that I

00:52:25.687 --> 00:52:28.627
consider is available so I work

00:52:28.627 --> 00:52:31.627
with Karatek products who are in Scotland

00:52:31.627 --> 00:52:34.347
and they help me with my all my

00:52:34.347 --> 00:52:37.287
trailers and my high lift and my roof racks

00:52:37.287 --> 00:52:40.147
and my vehicles I work with Chris Reed

00:52:40.147 --> 00:52:43.907
Reed's Jill Cheetah so we have all the best kags

00:52:43.907 --> 00:52:46.627
and they also have spray decks etc and all the bits and pieces

00:52:46.627 --> 00:52:49.427
we need for for paddlers i work

00:52:49.427 --> 00:52:52.687
with nigel dennis so i only have sea

00:52:52.687 --> 00:52:56.687
kayaking kndk kayaks glass and

00:52:56.687 --> 00:52:59.807
i have a plastic fleet as well so people

00:52:59.807 --> 00:53:02.927
can get the best kayaks and they're kept in excellent

00:53:02.927 --> 00:53:06.747
condition and they get renewed every so often so people come and have a cart

00:53:06.747 --> 00:53:10.887
that looks as if it's new which is really important to me i work with steve

00:53:10.887 --> 00:53:15.587
wetman wetman equipment again for well obviously my personal equipment and then

00:53:15.587 --> 00:53:21.147
And all my spray decks come from him as well, well, mostly.

00:53:21.507 --> 00:53:27.787
And then also Typhoon, who I'm very fortunate and have, at my personal day,

00:53:27.887 --> 00:53:33.707
dry suits and the long johns for the beginner groups and that type of equipment.

00:53:33.967 --> 00:53:39.027
So, yeah, buoyancy aids, CAGs, all that comes from Rachel Tutor.

00:53:39.610 --> 00:53:46.150
So I try and use everything British that I can. Of course, Celtic paddles, other paddles.

00:53:46.350 --> 00:53:51.650
I do have two non-NDK kayaks. I have two double kayaks. So I could take a family

00:53:51.650 --> 00:53:53.830
out with a baby if that was the case.

00:53:54.190 --> 00:53:57.310
18 months old is the youngest client I've ever had.

00:53:57.610 --> 00:54:03.370
And I also have a set of surf ski, which I dabble in a little bit as well.

00:54:03.850 --> 00:54:07.210
Oh, super. Well, good gear, good coaching. You're ready to go.

00:54:07.730 --> 00:54:15.110
How can listeners connect with you? So I have a website, which is islawilkinson.com.

00:54:15.270 --> 00:54:20.890
That's quite hard because obviously not everybody can spell my name or work it out. So UK.com.

00:54:21.281 --> 00:54:25.021
Kayak work sets and stuff but isla wilkinson.com is

00:54:25.021 --> 00:54:27.621
is the website all right well i'll make sure i'll put

00:54:27.621 --> 00:54:30.561
i'll put links in the show notes to uh to your website so

00:54:30.561 --> 00:54:33.861
people can go right to it so well isla

00:54:33.861 --> 00:54:36.721
this has been wonderful uh talking to you and learning about uh

00:54:36.721 --> 00:54:39.621
your experiences and your journey through

00:54:39.621 --> 00:54:42.501
the uh the paddle uk system as well as talking about

00:54:42.501 --> 00:54:45.161
your time in the bahamas and elsewhere so thank you very much for

00:54:45.161 --> 00:54:48.101
taking the time with me i appreciate it i do have uh

00:54:48.101 --> 00:54:51.021
one final question for you and you've given a few names

00:54:51.021 --> 00:54:54.081
here but who else would you like to hear as a future guest

00:54:54.081 --> 00:54:56.881
on paddling the blue i would love to hear

00:54:56.881 --> 00:54:59.861
you interview and talk with chris reed from reed

00:54:59.861 --> 00:55:07.061
chill cheetah he is such a wonderful person he provides all of us sea kayakers

00:55:07.061 --> 00:55:11.461
everything we need but there's so much more to him than just the sea kayaking

00:55:11.461 --> 00:55:15.421
equipment that he makes i think i might go down the route of paddlers that are

00:55:15.421 --> 00:55:18.541
also produced the equipment because you've got Steve Wettman, Wettman Equipment.

00:55:18.741 --> 00:55:21.881
Yeah. That might be quite an interesting one. You've probably spoken to Nigel.

00:55:21.921 --> 00:55:23.401
I'm pretty sure you've spoken to Nigel already.

00:55:23.661 --> 00:55:26.401
I've talked to Nigel and we've actually talked to Steve as well.

00:55:26.781 --> 00:55:28.701
Both one interview. Oh, you talked to Steve? Yeah.

00:55:29.121 --> 00:55:32.901
Well, I think I would definitely go down the Chris Reed route because he's been

00:55:32.901 --> 00:55:38.641
such a big support to me and he's such a brilliant, funny guy.

00:55:39.361 --> 00:55:43.621
Yeah, I'd go down to him. I'd chat with him. Super. Well, we'll connect offline

00:55:43.621 --> 00:55:47.361
and get in touch with Chris. So, Isla, again, thank you very much.

00:55:47.461 --> 00:55:49.621
I appreciate your time. Thank you, John.

00:55:50.421 --> 00:55:54.241
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:55:54.241 --> 00:55:57.881
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The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

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Use force generated from your lower body to make your paddling strokes more efficient,

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And who wouldn't mind that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

00:56:36.159 --> 00:56:40.159
Thanks to Isla for joining today's episode. We can all appreciate a top tip

00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:41.259
to improve our paddling.

00:56:41.419 --> 00:56:44.279
And her passion for paddle sports certainly shows through.

00:56:44.659 --> 00:56:47.979
You'll find links to Isla's website along with a few resources for paddling

00:56:47.979 --> 00:56:53.939
the Bahamas by visiting the show notes for this episode at paddlingtheblue.com slash 156.

00:56:54.219 --> 00:56:58.219
And remember, if you're not already a subscriber to onlineseacogging.com or

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Thanks again for listening, and I look forward to bringing you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

00:57:14.059 --> 00:57:17.579
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:57:17.579 --> 00:57:22.879
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00:57:23.059 --> 00:57:26.019
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00:57:28.059 --> 00:57:31.319
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00:57:31.639 --> 00:57:37.079
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00:57:37.239 --> 00:57:40.359
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