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A few of us made the journey up to Skye for a bit of sea kayaking instruction from the legendary Gordon Brown this summer.

Gordon has just this week released an instructional DVD to complement his brilliant book. A few friends and myself shot up to the Scottish Kayak and Canoe Exhibition in Perth this weekend for the release of the DVD (among other things).

I have to say after watching the DVD it is highly recommended. His unique way of teaching comes across very well in the engrossing film. Along with a wonderful adventure around the coastline of Skye, Gordon gets across a lot of the intermediate and advanced sea kayak maneuvers and strokes in a really 'easy to learn' manor.

If you love you yakking this really is a must have DVD.

You can order it here...
http://www.seakayakwithgordonbrown.com/

and if you fancy discovering the Isle of Skye and a bit of tuition from Gordon too you can find this here........

http://www.skyakadventures.com/

Ken

Got mine last week, really good. The out-takes at the end are class! Good history lesson on the area too. Nice work Mr Brown ;)

It's on my Christmas list!

Can't agree more Ken,

I watched it twice last night and went out on the water this morning and put some of the tuition into practice, and guess what ? It actually works, I even managed to stay dry today.. :)

Neil.

If it's on your Christmas list I'd persuade someone to buy it early if I were you - sounds like it's selling very fast. I've got the DVD and agree with all previous posters - it's excellent.

http://simon-willis.blogspot.com/2009/1 ... -with.html

Thanks Fiona - ordered (by me). Now just got to find someone to wrap it and pay for it!

As the bloke who is selling this DVD I hesitated before posting an entry. I don't want to break the rules of this forum. So please treat this more of a public information point rather than an advert.

As of 16:26 Tuesday 27 October I have 125 copies left. My next batch go into production tomorrow with scheduled delivery on 16th November. If I run out, I'll continue taking orders and fulfill them asap.

Because of the postal strike, if you are thinking of ordering soon, please could you do so before 11.30am Wednesday.

On Wednesday I'll make a special trip to Fort William post office to dispatch all outstanding orders. That PO is bigger and faster than our little village PO (where the queues behind me have occasionally snaked out of the door into the road).

Dispatching them on Wednesday will give a fighting chance of getting the DVDs to you before the postal backlog starts - that is, if the Thur-Sat strike goes ahead. I'm still offering free shipping.

Today the counter staff told me Special Delivery is back to it's usual overnight service. So if you pay the extra £4.95 for that priority service it should reach you even quicker. It's more hassle for me than just sticking a stamp on the envelope, but if you want it, I'll do it.

The only UK retailers who have copies are: Reed Chillcheater (though I can't see it on their website), Stirling Canoes (likewise with website), and KariTek all of whom were quick enough to grab a handful when I saw them at Perth. Sadly, no other UK retailer is likely to have them until the end of November.

Internationally - God Tur in Norway, Seakayak ApS in Denmark, Expedition Kayaks in Australia, and Escape KajakCentre and Horizont Kajak in Sweden all have copies as they were fast off the mark.

So..... imagine the delight of selling mail-order DVDs just as the postal strike starts - great, eh?

Sorry - make that 123 copies left. In the space of writing this entry...
S

If only he was this good at running the country !!!!!!
Warren

He told me about a couple of overseas visitors who once made the long journey from London, where they were on holiday, to the Gaelic College on Skye to hear Gordon Brown speak about his passion for sea kayaking, only to discover....
S

I just want to know which cruel person told him he could sing :-)

. . . Well thats me for a dunking next year :-)

Draw strokes on the move, followed by hanging draw followed by J stroke followed by stern rudder followed by cross bow rudder followed by opposite side powers stroke with edge followed by reverse sweep followed by .... !!!

Sometimes with eyes closed, sometimes in reverse into tidal races, sometimes in high winds with and without swell and / or lumps and in the rain amongst the rocks with or without midges and whiskey and spectacular scenery.

Wow, I think I’m going to get wet this weekend – I’ve got a heck of a lot to learn.

Best sea kayak coaching and travelogue DVD in my collection.

Pud

Really liked the coaching bit, but very glad it can be watched without the journey part, that didn't work for me. Now all I have to do is fit a waterproof DVD player so I can watch it at sea.

Got mine - nearly got it to the DVD player before being reminded that it is a Christmas pressie. Been told I can have it early if I'm off somewhere, but nothing planned at the mo. and it's just turned cold and wet.

puddled wrote:Draw strokes on the move, followed by hanging draw followed by J stroke followed by stern rudder followed by cross bow rudder followed by opposite side powers stroke with edge followed by reverse sweep followed by .... !!!

Sometimes with eyes closed, sometimes in reverse into tidal races, sometimes in high winds with and without swell and / or lumps and in the rain amongst the rocks with or without midges and whiskey and spectacular scenery.

Wow, I think I’m going to get wet this weekend – I’ve got a heck of a lot to learn.

Best sea kayak coaching and travelogue DVD in my collection.

Pud

If you really want to learn how to paddle in tide races, and do all of the above, I can highly recommend Ken Lacey's Intro to tide race course at Caun Sound. He's a really top rate coach. I have a copy of this DVD, and it's great, but you really need to get out there and do it for yourself.

I've worked with Ken as a safety officer when filming and he's a top bloke. But don't forget a Mr G.Brown. Don't just watch him eddy spin Kyle Rhea with his eyes shut, try it yourself! (With him to pull you out, just in case).
S

Simon - this post should realy be in the products section - That is why it is there. Plenty of other quality coaches available - can I suggest people PM people recommendations when asked for - might make it a more level playing field?

Ollie

On this occasion I disagree.

Others raised the topic, it's only fair for Simon to expand on his product and the paddlers involved (mildly).


As far as a 'level playing field' is concerned, I think the market is wide open for some more sea kayak coaching videos ... get to work, UK sea kayak coaches.

active4seasons wrote:Simon - this post should realy be in the products section - That is why it is there. Plenty of other quality coaches available - can I suggest people PM people recommendations when asked for - might make it a more level playing field?

Ollie

Having recommendations flagged "here" is an excellent way to find a good coach. I do agree that if someone wants to initiate an advertisement for their own products / services then there is a specifc section in which to do it.

Mike.

Simon Willis wrote:I've worked with Ken as a safety officer when filming and he's a top bloke. But don't forget a Mr G.Brown. Don't just watch him eddy spin Kyle Rhea with his eyes shut, try it yourself! (With him to pull you out, just in case).
S

Gordon does seem to be very popular which is partly why I flagged up Ken's courses. I'm sure there are other equally good coaches around. I should also point out, for those who can't get to Kyle Rhea or Caun or any other tide race. That breaking in/out and eddy spins are really just basic white water moves. You can learn a lot from a few sessions on an easy grade river.

Hi Ollie. As you'll see in my first post to this thread, I've been trying very hard not to make comments which could be construed as 'advertising'. If you think I've crossed the line then I'm genuinely sorry.
S

I've been asked a couple of times when my review was coming for this - I'm not doing one, I think another editor on the site is going to do one.

Best wishes,

Hehe, I reviewed it here: http://www.qajaq.no/article.asp?id=100 But I guess most of you don`t speak or read Norwegian:)

I really liked the DVD - It`s a good instructional tool!

Harald

29er wrote:Hehe, I reviewed it here: http://www.qajaq.no/article.asp?id=100 But I guess most of you don`t speak or read Norwegian:)

I really liked the DVD - It`s a good instructional tool!

Harald

But one click with the Google task bar and it translates in English :-) nice review and very nice site

Ken

Watched it a couple times so far and really like it. I think I'll be watching several of the coaching bits over and over (between paddling sessions), mostly for the the transitions between different strokes. I for one am lazy and my linking of different types of stroke is clumsy and markedly less elegant than Mr B - but then, I've never been coached. I think the DVD will certainly make me think a bit more about several aspects of my paddling.
Well done and thank you Simon and Gordon.

Nick

Here is Harald's review translated by Google.
Thanks for the comments Nick P.
S

carpyken wrote:But one click with the Google task bar and it translates in English :-) nice review and very nice site
Ken

Thanks Ken, we are very proud of our site, and specially the short films of tecniques:) The translation was a bit funny though:)

Harald

And Google translates my word whisky to whiskey - I have alwas believed that whisky was from Scottland and whiskey from the US?

Harald:)

to me the opening post looked suspiciously like an advert ;-) ha ha!! good old capitalistic fun and games

Scottish whisky and Irish whiskey. Both from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic for water of life.

Looking forward to getting a look at the DVD…

Aha, thanks! I didn`t know that the Irish spells it whiskey:) All this video footage from the Isle of Skye has wettened my appetite for a Talisker whisky - I have to order me a bottle soon:)

Harald