Labels: Anas Acuta, kayak rolling, Kayak Symposium 2005

...18 seconds before sunrise, & fire in the trees & along the creeping paths - & shedding a million paper streams down through her mountains & towns, when I returned home, Autumn was waiting, dressed like a Geisha, weaving ahead of the light & a world in flames...

Labels: Anas Acuta

Where Inuksuit come on holiday?...

Inuksuit in the form of Inunnguaq, Tammariikkuti & places of power & the sea vigilant. Following Inuit traditions of navigation, the Niungvaliruluit type of Inuksuk, give windowed alignment, acting as sight lines to places of power & importance beyond the horizon. They still have relevant precise geographical distance marking & direction use that gps is only just figuring out. They also provided doorways between earth & the spirit realm to be used by the shaman & harboured within their patterns are reenactments of ceremonial hunting...tributes to leviathan, shadowed by stone qajaq.
As much as they carry spiritual significance, Inuksuit were once also used to give the illusion of greater Inuit hunter numbers, stone human forms on the barren horizon, forcing paths upon Caribou through terrain of beast migrations far to vast for corraling & circumnavigation by foot.

These Inuksuit mark an immediate wild shoreline with only a few kayak friendly landing zones. They wait amongst sea serpents & stories & stone kayaks, strung like the very sinew of echoes, silence, patience, & grace themselves. They lean into the force winds of winters hemispherical blizzards & brace against storm surge, to lay somehow respite within their construction among tiny Arctic flowers during warmer months. Their mood is often almost mischievous. The stones taste of ocean salt when you lick them. But can anyone guess the exact location...

Umm...free woolly sock wi a hole in they toe, to the winner aye.

Dimming light over natures rolling clinic - 9pm & we retire to stone hearths, stew & warm drams. I will, in my fashion, sleep with the window ajar & reflect on each individuals progress; the last sound across my ears, being wind driven & oceanic, through rough grasses.

After thought: Leaving the ocean to silence & a winter skimmed temperament, today the ice felt as though it had drifted Southward, just an increment, but a drift nonetheless. It's noticeable like that, when you live inside the aerial boundaries & tides, it's somehow more honest to recognize it for yourself, recognize it touching your own skin, than saying, It's December, it's winter...or it's March, therefore it's Spring. Anyways, the combat rolling workshop was refreshing, the straight-jacket roll, an act of tenacity in strong, cold surf. There is nothing like a practical lesson & demo in aiding explanation how each roll develops to handle a variety of different situations & needs & I like to make sure both novice & intermediate benefit from such displays, that both hold eachother up & coach eachothers experiences forward, that they are hands-on, even in a spectating capacity. They have just learned that even the experienced, the masters, practise the basics over & over again. They have just seen & felt the reality of practical & swift rolling application when the main objective becomes simple preservation of that all important instinct to breathe. That's all it is aye. Roll to survive, a tool in the Inuit toolbox of surviving a life inextricably linked to the ocean. The rest of the rolls, the glitter on the girl so to speak, developed from a humorous & playful inter community one-up-man-ship. The group have learned that even the most advanced roller will regress into a basic bombproof repertoire of rolls when survival is on the line, leaving showmanship as a distant absurdity.
Soon we will explore combating the Walrus Pull in strong winds & an exciting surf enviroment & throughout the great strengthener, I'll do my best to guide adjustment of their spatial skills in an inverted & maytagged world, asking for performance where it counts, examination of physcology. Go into the squall & roll, running for the harbour will only make you good at running...for the harbour. To a degree, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad understanding & interpretation - The 17th will see me back home on Skye, for some clean woolly socks, a fight with a rubber chicken, & a rest.

Labels: Anas Acuta, kayak rolling

If anyone is up for a 2008 jolly around 62°00'N, 06°47'W, drop me an email or use the mobile on the left. An obligatory bivy at the Fugloy Egyptian face is traditional, & as is the customary procedure, much frenzied ensuing circumnavigation. Since I'm no longer going loaded for hard climbing & soloing either, -locums orders- anyone who turns up, will be spared any bonus exposure in the form of soaring vertical frighteners, although it's unlikely they will escape tales of past exploits, that embed themselves deep inside fire places & crackling logs.
I've missed the Eysturoy Straits, Risin & his pal Kellingin, the Vagar cliffs as well...the new 3 piece will resolve these issues once again - it's decided.
I've missed parking the black knife under huge cascading seaward bound waterfalls, screaming through tidal races, & warming my toes later at the fireside with Lars, in Gásadalur, for too long. If you've never explored out here, amongst the vast micro-climate of cordite charged walls of stone, water & ice, if you've never survived quietly & alone, in a fight against unfettered weather & soaring brilliant horizon, you should. It's really that simple.

Jan Egil Kristiansen who lives, works & kayaks around Føroyar, had concerns about my solo around the Fugloy edge, the need for week tides & subdued or favourable wind. Those concerns are there for good reason & anyone planning a repeat of that should listen in well, bring common sense & a strong intent, but still try it, & not back down until the end. The open water of Fugloy is a vastly different experience to that of the Hebridean coastlines, but again, with the right knowledge & preparation it need not be feared. Like Jan says, he doesn't have to be so tough since he can just wait for goood conditions. My trip was more a roller coaster with a time slot. Feasable but brrrr... Next trip, Jan & myself will journey somewhere together & I will enjoy life, rather than cling to its very threads.

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Righty, I'm away to sit on the floor & watch storm fronts build along the Western Atlantic edge of Harris; while more importantly, saving my otherwise nice new black Lendal carbon Kinetic from all those copiously applied advertising stickers, by peeling them off with an onion knife. It vexes me somewhat. Save a tree or sommat fellas, some tinsel maybe...I know who made the thing.

Labels: Anas Acuta, Eysturoy, Føroyar, Gásadalur, Greenland, Qajaq

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The Black Pearl is loooong, & following Greenlandic tradition, 3 times the height of the paddler. The waterline length is relatively short with sloping stems resulting in good maneuverablilty at low speed & good directional stability at higher speeds. The narrow waterline also means it's an excellent tippy qajaq, always a good sign to my mind, the total beam being hip width plus 4 fingers for a rolling qajaq or 8 fingers for at touring qajaq: approx 46-52 cm. Björns own Black Pearl is 555 cm x 48 cm & 22 cm highon the initial fore-deck. Björn is 185 cm tall, 80 kg & size 43 feet. Isn't that a Hobbit spec? Initial stability is therefore low & a novice or someone used to wide commercial kayaks will have a good few nervous & intimidating first trips, but stay with it & with an excellent secondary, it's easy to get used to the responsive movement. In wild surf or large swell a paddler who invests his confidence in the Pearl, will get a pleasant surprise, high seas often having less of an effect on initially tippy kayaks, than initially stable ones aye. When cross surfing, the Black Pearl settles in its own wave system quickly & becomes confidently stable & easy to handle. The almost flat bottom -5° deadrise-, the hard chines & the short waterline length means that the qajaq is a dream to turn, on a penny in fact, & reacts instantly to severe edging & weight shift. The low deck will take some getting used to for the un-intitiated, but after a while there are some excellent benefits. Most immediately obvious is the comfort of not needing to cram padding against the knees, hips & back etc. Working with the knees as a additional power source for strokes or fluid rolling momentum gives further enlightenment & testament to his blueprint.

Labels: Anas Acuta, Black Pearl, Hebrides, Qajaq