Rockpool Taran 16 Plug Shaping – Gallery
by John Willacy
Images showing the shaping of the Taran 16 Plug, along with the maiden voyage.
A Little Taran History
by John Willacy
The idea for the Taran came about while Mike Webb and myself chatted about the limitations of the boat I was using at the time. I’d designed a couple of White Water Racing boats and we spoke about incorporating some of their ideas into a faster sea kayak. A floating test-bed boat was made, but eventually it became too heavy to paddle effectively. So we needed a floating proof-of-concept boat to test. I shaped a rough plug and then a mould was made, and eventually out came the first prototype Tarran – the yellow/green ‘Citron’. Something like a year had gone by by now I think…
The Taran – Touching a Nerve and Spilling the Beans
by John Willacy
A number of years ago I drifted into the Rockpool fold and found myself shaping a couple of wild water racing (WWR) boats. We used these boats to try out some new ideas and hull features, we were pleased with what we learnt and how the boats paddled. Later following my first record, the Anglesey Circumnavigation, I was chatting with Mike Webb about what I saw as the limitations with the boat that I had used. The conversation ebbed and flowed over a few days and before we knew it there was an idea for a new Rockpool kayak – something different to complement the fleet, a sleek fast boat.
GB Circ – The GB Sea Kayak Circumnavigation
by John Willacy
So… you want to paddle a kayak around the UK?
And why not?
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Well let’s not look too deeply at the changeable British Weather, the long stretches of exposed coastline or speedy tidal flows. Don’t worry about the busy shipping lanes, the hauling of heavy boats or dodging Jet-skis, and pretty much everything else that goes with poncing about on a big ocean in a little plastic boat…
Don’t Hang Up Your Paddles Over The Winter Months
by Brian Turnbull
The days are growing shorter, temperatures are on the decrease, the sea and rivers are losing some of the gentility they showed us over the past few months. This usually means we start to get that urge to stay in and ease off on the paddling – but why stop paddling over the winter? If we do then we are likely to have lose a lot of the physical conditioning we had built up towards the end of the previous summer. With a little imagination and some enthusiasm I believe it’s not that difficult to keep a degree of fitness over the winter months.
Self Confidence and the Psychological Fundamentals
by Jonathon Males
Jonathan Males is a sport psychologist and executive coach, who I met through our mutual work with the Canoe Wales Slalom Team. He has been kayaking since 1975, covering pretty much every aspect of the sport. Over the years his delight in paddling has been interwoven with a fascination for the inner world, the psychology of Performance. Perhaps this was kicked off when he first realised how much his own performance as a slalom paddler was influenced by his thoughts and feelings. Jonathan offered to write an article for the PSK Journal after we had a lengthy discussion about the role of Self-Confidence in my 2012 and 2015 UK Circumnavigation trips. This article is based on writings from within Jonathan’s book – ‘In The Flow’.
Training Dirty
by Joe Leach
Prior to my 2015 solo Ireland circumnavigation I took some time to reflect on how best to train for expedition kayaking. What we sea paddlers do on expedition requires honing a peculiar set of skills and yet, like the coastline itself, our journeys are shaped by environmental factors beyond our control…
The Reluctant Time-Trialer
by Frank Harradence
In 2009, following 38 years in the NHS, at the ripe old age of 63 I decided to retire. At the time I was blissfully unaware of sea kayaking. However, a chance meeting with a party of New Zealanders who were kayaking around Kefalonia stirred an interest.
What followed was a move into kayaking and, over the years, lots of self-practice, supported by skills courses in North Wales, Anglesey and Cornwall. On one visit to Anglesey, staying with Paul & Catherine at Stick Cottage, I was introduced to Paul’s handmade Greenland paddles known as the Anglesey Stick. This lead me to research Greenland Kayaking history and before long I was no longer using my carbon Werner paddle and fell ‘hook, line and sinker’ into the Greenland way. I had found my own kayaking niche, or so I thought…
GB Circumnav – Chocolate and Tolerance…
by Katie Ellis
As 2015 arrived Katie was still looking for a paddling partner to accompany her on a looming UK Circumnavigation trip. She met Lee Taylor on a paddle to Lundy Island in February, Lee decided there and then to join the party and a plan began to form. The intrepid pair set out on from Falmouth in April, only 2 months later. Katie’s article tells how the new friendship coped with the stresses and strains of 128 days and 2000 miles on the water…
Paddling Out of Depression
by Dan McGonigle
Dan has a lifetime background in sea and surf paddling; more recently he has become known on the UK scene for his 2015 circumnavigation of Ireland with Steve Miles and latterly for his two 2016 circumnavigations of Anglesey – the first with Jonny Eldridge and the second solo. The following is a rather frank and honest article from Dan.