A few aerial shots

I can never understand people who actually select a non window seat when flying because, without doubt, the best onboard entertainment is found from looking out of the window.  Frequently the flights pass over some of the more classic paddling destinations, so the advice would be to always keep your camera at the ready.  You are unlikely to be disappointed.

 An early morning departure from Heathrow gave superb views of London.   The Isle of Dogs is clearly visible and the more eagle eyed will be able to find the location of Shadwell Basin, where we were paddling last weekend. 

 Lihou is a small island off the west coast of Guernsey, where we have passed many a happy weekend.  This was taken in the aftermath of a February storm, hence the swell breaking on the north and west coasts.  We are there this weekend but the forecast is for much calmer conditions.

 Brecqhou, off the west coast of Sark.  The narrow channel is the Gouliot Passage, where the tidal streams can reach 7 knots on springs.  A very entertaining location.

 Just after take off from Ilulissat in Greenland and before the plane turns to the west and the south.  These waters had been much more ice choked when we had paddled south a couple of days earlier.

 Approaching the Isle of Wight.  The entrance to the River Medina at Cowes is clearly visible.  Calshot is largely obscured by the bank of cloud.  This picture was taken when heading south towards Jersey

 Heading north from Jersey you have a different perspective from the Isle of Wight.  We are just to the east of the island looking down Southampton Water.  Portsmouth Harbour is visible in the middle of the picture, whilst Langstone Harbour is to the right.

 Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands and the closest to France.  The harbour at Braye is clearly visible, whilst the small island is Burhou, a fascinating bird colony.  Between Alderney and Burhou is the Swinge, with tidal streams of 7 knots, whilst on the other side of the island is the famous Alderney Race, where speeds can reach 8-9 knots in places.

 Bonne Nuit bay on the north coast of Jersey, a popular place for the start of kayaking trips.  In the middle of the bay Cheval Rock is clearly visible.

 Departing from Jersey in a westerly direction, the cliffs at L'Etacq are exposed to the Atlantic swell.

Flying out of Milos in Greece, after what would have been another great weeks sea kayaking.  We are looking across to the summit of Mount Profitis Elias 748 metres (2,454 feet) high.  On one particularly windy day we did walk to the summit, from which we were able to see some of the finest sea kayaking destinations anywhere.

A few more aerial shots

It has been a while since I posted some images taken from the aircraft window, the last few months has seen some pretty turbulent flights so I haven't managed to get too many pictures.  Below are a selection of some of those I have taken over the last few years, generally illustrating some superb sea kayaking waters.  Remember the best entertainment on a flight is the view out of the window so keep your camera handy.

 The Cherbourg Peninsula, seen whilst flying north.  The infamous Alderney Races separates this tip of France from the most northerly of the Channel Islands.  Very challenging waters best visited for the first time on neap tides.

 Approaching Athens, landing in Athens is always exciting because it has inevitably resulted in some superb sea kayaking.

 Looking back towards Bonne Nuit, on the north coast of Jersey.  This was a particularly memorable flight as I had been running a course for the local Air Training Cadets, which resulted in a flight around Jersey in a Hercules.  Very memorable

 These are the Casquets, a wild group of rocks  with an unusual lighthouse about 8 miles west of Alderney.  As we were flying at about 18,000 feet it gives an idea of the size of the waves.  August 1989 was the only time that conditions came together to allow me to paddle out to this remote outpost of the Channel Islands.

 Cap Vani, the north west corner of Milos, in the Greek Islands.  Always great sea kayaking.  Contact Rod at Sea Kayak Milos for a superb trip.

 The Ecrehous, the shingle bank of this memorable reef is clearly visible.  Any sea kayaker visiting Jersey should aim to visit this delightful offshore reef.

 The north western corner of the Nuussuaq Peninsula on the northern side of Disko Bay.  A small piece of land can just be seen jutting into the ice.  This is the village of Niaqornat.  The 2013 film "Village at the end of World" was made here and is well worth watching.  I visited the village in 2012.

 The entrance to the harbour at Portsmouth.  From this height it is not obvious just how busy the waterways are in this area.

 Last Thursday morning as we passed over the Isle of Wight the Dorset coast was just about visible.  I have spent some great weekends kayaking along this coast with Portsmouth Canoe Club in the last few years.  Although not great views it seemed to be the first time for months that anything at all had been visible from the aircraft window.

Some thoughts on forward paddling

As sea kayakers forward paddling is the most important stroke that we have in our repertoire but possibly the one that we practice the least, once we reach a certain skill level.  Something that we rarely think about is cadence, the rate at which we perform the stroke.

This weekend I have spent a very enjoyable two days with members of Portsmouth Canoe Club, paddling in Swanage Bay.  We conducted a number of 5 minute time trials recording the number of strokes performed on the right hand side of the kayak, there were 16 of us in the group and over half of the paddlers were within 10 strokes of each other.
This is an exercise, which I have conducted in many areas of the world with a large number of paddlers of all abilities, for nealy 30 years, and from the results I would suggest that an appropriate paddling rate is between 135 and 145 right hand paddle strokes every five minutes.  This would appear to be suitable for paddlers of all sizes and abilities, all paddle lengths and types and weather and sea conditions.  There is no scientific evidence for this number but it seems to work.  For most paddlers it results in an appropriate forward paddling speed.

Try it when you are out on the water and see what figures you come up with, as an exercise it also helps to pass the time whilst on open crossings.

Remember that if you have an effective forward paddling rate of 145 right hand strokes every 5 minutes this translates into 10,440 strokes on a six hour day trip, whereas if you have a rate of 180 strokes in the same six hour period you will end up doing 12,960 strokes.  Over 2,500 more strokes, which on a two week trip translates to an extra 35,000 strokes hence the need to develop an efficient technique.  

These are my thoughts and observations but comments would be welcome. There are plenty of other ideas regarding forward paddling plus a variety of other strokes available in my e-book The A - Z of Sea Kayaking, which is available from Amazon.

 John Crosby leaving Polyageos for Folegandros, nearly 12 nautical miles.  An effecient forward paddling stroke is essential when paddling in waters like these day after day.

 Pete Hargreaves en route to Sark with a reasonable westerly swell.  Sark is just visible in the top left.  A  fluent forward paddling style is required on such crossings.