James heading out into the rough stuff - Deer Group, West Coast Canada
Every now and then you come across a paddler that you see enormous potential in. I watch a lot of content streaming through social media and a certain paddler has been catching my eye for a while, a young Greenland paddler from British Columbia, James Manke. What’s even more surprising is how new to paddling James is, having only taken it up 18 months ago despite an overwhelming fear of the ocean.
For this British Columbia based Canadian, the surf is his playground
Like many new kayakers, James quickly became addicted to paddling and in particular, the Greenland styles. Living by a lake on Vancouver Island certainly helps – he spends time on the water every day (and sometimes at night) practicing different Greenland-style rolls, a key reason for his rapid skills development. Living in BC has also brought him into contact with those crazed ocean white water lovers, The Hurricane Riders, with whom he draws inspiration from and has been lucky enough to paddle with.
James surfing the standing wave, Skookumchuck Narrows, British Columbia.
Whilst originally a chef (favourite dish is a bacon cheese burger with poutine, hold the onions!) and more recently a web designer, James is aiming to apply his skills as a professional paddler, instructing Greenland skills such as boat and paddle building as well as Greenland-style rolling. He has just been announced as the Canadian ambassador for Northern Light Paddles which is positioning him well for his career switch from coder to professional paddler later this year.
But enough of the talk, the best way to see James’ skills is to watch some of the video content he is now producing of his paddles. His latest, a Greenland surfing session, is enough to get any surf lover jealous. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers, FP
Stellar SEL and Stellar SR surfskis ready to go exploring
Surfski training continued this weekend with a 22km paddle on the mostly-calm waters of Middle Harbour here in Sydney. With a 6am start, I was joined by Dez Blanchfield (BlastPaddlers.com) on a Stellar SEL surfski, Nat (SydneySurfski.com) on his Think Evo II and the Riddler (Team Fat Paddler) in his sea kayak.
Dez getting his glide on, upper reaches of Middle Harbour Creek
For me this paddle was still very much an orientation to using a wing paddle and a surfski, and I’ve struggled a bit widening my paddle grip from the Greenland-style to the wing style. I’m also still coming to terms with the stability required for lumpy water, and ended up swimming later that morning after taking on some boat chop from a passing pleasure cruiser. But regardless, time in the boat is critical with Mauritius now only 5.5 months away, so its all good. Thanks to Dez for the paddling tips and Slipstream Surf for the loan of the Stellar SR. Cheers, FP
Tags: ocean ski, Stellar Kayaks, Stellar SEL, Stellar SR, surf ski, surfski
A Neptune Ranger breaking the wave barrier on the Californian Coast
Back in March of 2011 those scallywags of the US west coast, the Tsunami Rangers, issued a challenge to find, scale and take a photo at the peak of “Neptune’s Castle“, a rocky islet somewhere on the Californian coast. Some twenty years earlier the Tsunami Rangers had done the same and hadn’t been back since. I wrote a reply calling for antipodean paddlers to take up the challenge, and had quietly made approaches to local Californian paddlers about teaming up to win the quest.
It takes a good sized set of Kahunas to ride the lips of waves like this!
In September of the same year a group of Bay Area paddlers decided over tequila and marshmallows to form a team for the attempt, a team that would take it’s name from the Castle itself. Then, using satellite imagery and local knowledge, located, paddled to and scaled the peak, claiming the victory as their own. Neptune’s Rangers were born and a new chapter in extreme ocean white water was written.
You know the rock gardening is extreme when you need to scale the cliff to escape!
The team is now well and truly established and have started filming their antics for the world to see (check out their Facebook Page). Like all extreme sportspeople, they have their share of both fans and knockers, but one thing’s for sure, their antics sure make entertaining viewing!! I’ve been a fan of extreme rock gardening for some time now and it’s great to see some more teams out there enjoying these dynamic coastal areas. If you’re not convinced, stream the next video in HD, widen it out to full screen, turn the volume up and enjoy the crazy action as they get hammered by some freakish surf. All look’s like good fun to me! Cheers, FP
Images & video used with permission of Bill Vonnegut (Neptune’s Rangers)
Tags: Neptunes Rangers, rock gardening
The surfskis we're training on - Think Evo II and Stellar SR
My old friend Nat, fellow Team Fat Paddler and blogger of Sydneysurfski.com fame, dropped around the other day with his family to spend a day of fun with us. We’d planned on an early morning paddle the next morning and decided to lay out the two surfskis we’re using side by side for comparison – his Think Evo II and the Stellar SR that I’m currently learning to ski-paddle on. This post is the outcome of that exercise.
Let me state up-front that this is in no way a performance comparison piece. This is simply a visual comparison of the two surfskis that Nat and I are training on for the Mauritius Paddlers challenge ahead. We are two relative newcomers to the sport and have no basis of expertise whatsoever – ha!
First thoughts - damn, those racing stripes look cool. But orange??
STELLAR SR | THINK EVO II
Length = 19’2″ (5.84m) | Length = 20’6″ (6.25m)
Beam = 18.9″ (48cm) | Beam = 19.0″ (48cm)
Capacity = 295lbs (135kg) | Capacity = 240lbs (110kg)
Weight = 14kg (Advantage layup) | Weight = 15kg (Fibreglass layup)
The Think is clearly longer, and seems narrower in stern and bow
When looking at the two boats upside down, you can see the real difference in shape between the two surfskis. The Evo maintains its full beam at the paddler-point but very quickly tapers front and rear, making the ski look narrower than the SR. The Stellar maintains more volume throughout the length of the ski, most likely making it both more stable and able to contend with bigger paddlers, which the capacity difference proves.
Two quite different cockpits - Stellar SR on left, Think Evo II on the right
In the cockpit there are quite discernible differences. The Stellar SR has quite a roomy, boxy cockpit that takes up almost the entire beam of the boat. The Think Evo II has a tapering cockpit that narrows into the footwell. I’m guessing this keeps your legs together for more drive and means less water in the cockpit if you tip it over (Nat would know!). The wider roomier cockpit of the Stellar SR is more accommodating to the, er, “wider” paddler, with considerably more room for both arse and legs. The wider footwell also means you can spread the legs a touch, which adds a little stability.
Respective foot-plate setup on both skis (Evo on right, Stellar on left)
The foot-plate set-up is quite different on the two skis. Whilst the Evo has a fairly standard two-point securing system, the Stellar SR has a three point system that I’ve been told has been taken from rowing shell design. It’s easy to adjust and is very secure once locked in place. Both skis feature individual foot-straps rather than the single strap favoured by some other brands.
The Stellar SR and the Think Evo II - two great surfskis for two average paddlers!
In all you have two fairly different skis. The Evo II is longer and tippier but has a very fast profile to it. The Stellar SR is shorter and has more width along it’s length for added stability. For Nat and I however these skis are great for our individual needs – for a Fat Paddler, Nat is a lightweight at sub-90kgs and the Evo is great for his smaller stature. For myself at sub-130kgs, the extra room and stability of the Stellar SR makes surfski paddling accessible and gives me a great platform to build my skills at this new style of paddling.
The Facebook page for Sydneysurfski.com
Lastly, to celebrate his love of his surfski, Nat is running a give-away competition on the Sydneysurfski.com Facebook page with a bunch of THINK tshirts to giveaway. All you have to do is go to the page, “Like” it and post a message on why you think the THINK tshirt would look better on you than on Nat…. which is WAY too good an opportunity to give him a kicking to miss (the tshirts are just a bonus – ha!). Cheers, FP
Tags: ocean ski, Stellar, Stellar SR, surf ski, surfski, THINK, Think Evo II
Nat loves to spend more time in the water than on his surfski, apparently
On a recent paddle on my loaner Stellar SR I had a first-time experience of falling off the ski. My re-entry was awful and fortunately I had another paddler there to help a touch, but it worried me that I didn’t quite know how to get back on. So I turned to Team Fat Paddler member and Sydneysurfski.com blogger Nat, since he’s fallen off his surfski more than any other man on the face of the planet! Now he’s no expert of course, and gracefulness has never been his speciality, but he is effective!
So there you have it, a demo of The Bradford Method of fat blokes surfski re-entry. I expect I’m going to get lots of practice myself very soon! Cheers, FP
The Stellar SR surfski - stable, fast,a big cockpit, and can hold up fat blokes!
Tags: ocean ski, remount, Stellar SR, surf ski
