The Canoe Boys - New BBC Website with extras & TV stuff^

[Simon Willis]

I just saw it! Holy s**t I had no idea that would happen, but I know my colleagues in Online who do the Scotland Outdoors pages have been working hard. One of them just happens to be a sea kayaker ....

The image will change, so I've put it on my blog. Thanks to those who e-mailed copies.

I'm starting to sweat it whether the progs are good enough for this kind of attention. (of course they are) All three are very different, and my favourite is prog 2.
S

[Mark R]

Great work Simon and Cailean, but I still find Kate Silverton more photogenic.

[CaileanMac]

Great work Simon and Cailean, but I still find Kate Silverton more photogenic.

Wearing swimsuits on the West Coast of Scotland ain't practical on a day to day basis... ;-)

Good coverage for the sport of sea kayaking though - front page of the Beeb website for a couple of hrs!

CaileanMac

[Simon Willis]

Mark
I used to work with Kate in Newcastle at the very start of her career - she's some woman!
S

[Douglas Wilcox]

Wonderful programmes Simon, well done! :o)

Sea kayaking's profile has been really high recently and I have noticed an increase in friends and work colleagues asking about it. I am even having a meeting with the University's Sports Development Officer about it next week. Even the Scottish Tourist Board's ScottishAventure Guide Brochure has sea kayaking on the front cover.

We should all benefit from increased numbers, there is quite a lot of space out there! More participants should lead to greater investment in design and technology of gear and maybe even a fall in price as a result of increased scale of production. Clubs and coaches should also benefit. I just hope the accident rate does not increase disproportionately or we may be in the headlines for other reasons.

Whatever, it is very pleasant to see our sport so widely in the public eye (and ear) and thoughtful programmes like Simon's are generating a response, the public are talking about sea kayaking!

Douglas

[Helen M]

Loved the programme - very well presented - made me want to get out paddling! Looking forward to next installment.

H - x

[Jonathan.]

Gloomy frosty morning on the edge of the Cambridgeshire fens. I'm posting while listening, magicked off to Jura and Ardnamurchan. Wonderful stuff, Simon.

I'm curious about the instrument adding a note of suspense and accompanying you through the Corryvreckan. Not a banjo surely? Shades of Deliverance?

[Simon Willis]

I have this special paddle with strings...

Actually, I think it was done on a synth. Triple Echo had it composed for the radio prog and Adventure Show feature by a member of their extended team who does a lot of music for them.

Thanks for all the kind comments above.
S

[Jim]

I have this special paddle with strings...

Actually, I think it was done on a synth. Triple Echo had it composed for the radio prog and Adventure Show feature by a member of their extended team who does a lot of music for them.

Thanks for all the kind comments above.
S

Coast got it right when they used the intro to 'The thing that should not be' by Metallica in their piece on the corryvreckan, highly recommended!

Still not found time to listen to these (and obviously I read the post about it being on at 11:30 yesterday at 12:30....)

jim

[ian.miller]

Simon
you might be interested to know that earlier this year at Kinghorn I met a man in his 80's who had owned and paddled a Marshall kayak exactly the same as the ones used by the canoe boys. I intend to take my copy of the book along to show him. Also in our local club one of the members is the grandson of Marshall.

[geyrfugl]

Wearing swimsuits on the West Coast of Scotland ain't practical on a day to day basis... ;-)

The intro sequence to "This is the sea" was filmed in Penrhyn Mawr in February - if Justine can do it in a bikini with no Buoyancy, I'm sure the West Coast of Scotland should be no problem (although you'd need a tuilik to put on before getting within midge-reach of the shore :)

Still can't get any of this stuff to work. I guess I'll need to wait until kosher open-source versions of all the software becomes available that I can compile for non-PC hardware... I filled in the feedback form as requested.

Is there any way to download the files and save them until I get something that I can play them with ? Streaming seems such a bandwidth-wasteful way of doing this stuff so you have to download it repeatedly if you care to watch it more than once... and hopeless if you might like to watch it more than a week after it was broadcast (people have holidays much longer than that - that's why we have video recorders !!)

Andy

[Simon Willis]

Hi Andy

The BBC makes lots of permanent downloads available as podcasts in both audio and video. However, the BBC produces so many programmes, not all are available for download in this way.

I'm not sure, but I suspect it's in part due to copyright issues. All the Canoe Boys material, for example, is made by Triple Echo Productions and sold to the BBC for use on radio and TV for a limited period.

It's entirely possible that Triple Echo might make the programmes available later as a CD to buy, but I can't say for certain.

Future sales are part of the budget considerations when independent companies make programmes. For example, if people could download and save every episode of a popular comedy programme off the web (where it's much easier to top-and-tail and cut out adverts than on a VHS), then the sales of a subsequent DVD would suffer, even with bonus material. Those sales are not "extras" but part of the initial financial calculations when the programme is made.

Not that I'm suggesting we're going to make a Christmas DVD of the Canoe Boys! Anyway, I think that might be why I haven't found a way to save streaming audio or video. Legally.

Of course, if you're in Scotland and having problems with the online offering, the easiest way to record the programmes is directly off the radio and TV. Good luck with the search for open-source version of RealPlayer - I'd like to know if you find one.
S

[Chris Bolton]

Andy - have you seen Helix It's apparently an Open source Real player for linux but I haven't tried it.

Chris

[Simon Willis]

I'm not sure how long the progs will stay online. Today might be the last day to hear Programme One of the Canoe Boys. As discussed above, you need RealPlayer installed on your PC or Mac.

Programme Two will be linked from the BBC Canoe Boys Website where you can listen live or after transmission at 11.30 on Friday morning, 23rd Nov. I've put photos of some of the contributors in Prog Two on my blog to help put faces to voices.
S