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Expedition Symposium, Plas Y Brenin16-18
February 2007
It felt like the gathering of a strange, diverse clan. I came to sea kayaking from a
mountaineering background so I don't hang out with other types of
paddlers. Oh, I've chatted to
river paddlers and I've seen open boaters pass with their craft on their car
roofs, but unless they're on the water in a long, pointy boat, thereÕs rarely
a chance to sit down and talk paddle-sport with them. ItÕs my loss, of course. The first Expedition
Symposium a Plas y Brenin demolished such barriers. It showed me what more all-round paddlers probably already
knew; that we have more things which draw us together than push us
apart. All praise to Pete
Catterall, Senior Instructor at PYB, and all the team of speakers for
delivering a symposium which could be all things to all paddlers. The two days were broken into four sessions, two in the morning
and two in the afternoon, with the same sessions running twice in the morning
and twice in the afternoon of both days. I donÕt think IÕve explained that too well, but the it
meant there was four chances to attend almost every session. While this reduced the sensation of
overwhelming choice which greeted me at my first sea symposium on Skye two
years ago, but meant that there were only just enough sessions to keep me
busy and interested.
Gear choice is central to expedition success, and the first session
run by Ben Lawes consisted of him tipping out his dry bags and explaining
what went into them and why.
Since starting to paddle in dry-suits, Liz and I have wondered how
appropriate they would be for an expedition, worn day after day for several
weeks. We'd heard conflicting
reports, but Ben had no doubts about their value. "For the first few days in Greenland we paddled with
them rolled down", Ben said, "and we wondered if we'd done the
right thing. But once the
weather changed we were very pleased to have the dry suits". Olly Sanders, who was on the same
Greeland trip later told me, "Providing you keep yourself clean you
shouldn't suffer any worse rash in a dry suit". However, carried a separate set of
lightweight waterproof jacket and trousers for around camp. Most sessions had a collegiate feel. The people giving the talks didn't assume they had all the
knowledge so the delegates (if that's the word) could frequently contribute
to the learning experience. Liz
mentioned we dehydrated our own food for our 5-month PCT hike, and some was
quick to pick her brains about recommended machines.
Remote first aid is always an issue which interests people who
venture into wild situations.
From the start Helen Barnard made it clear you don't have to be in
deepest darkest wild-is-tan for the situation to be remote. The west coast of Scotland, out of
VHF and mobile phone range, is wild enough. We ran through the DR-ABC basics with the 'Annie' torsos,
but the upshot of that session was to leave Liz and I thinking we needed to
go on a proper kayak specific course.
The REC, Rescue Emergency Care courses which last 3 days, tailored for
mountaineering or kayaking were recommended. "If you've come looking for the box of free money, you're
in the wrong place", was how Bob Campbell greeted us. HeÕs the marketing manager with
P&H Sea Kayaks and Pyranha and gave an illuminating talk on how to go
about getting expedition sponsorship.
Given what the companies want in return, it left some wondering
whether it's worth it! I've
recorded a Podcast interview with Bob all about how to get expedition
sponsorship and together with a download fact sheet they're available on www.SeaKayakRoutes.com
Greenland is currently THE place to sea kayak, and Olly Sanders
whetted appetites with his Saturday night slide show. Dave Manby's talk about his Òlife as
an expedition paddlerÓ was, how shall I put this, less structured - yet highly
entertaining. Dave was the
youngest member of the 1976 Everest kayak expedition, when the team drove to
Nepal, and he's been paddling ever since. Now 52, his mail still goes to his parents' address
because he doesn't have a 'proper' house. After a life of shooting the world's wildest rivers and (I
think) chairing the BCU Expedition Committee, no one is better placed to talk
about expeditions. He hurled a
guidebook across the lecture theatre with a flourish and declaimed, "If
there's a guide book, it isn't an expedition!Ó I was unable to confirm he was last seen in the early hours of
Sunday morning, sliding down the artificial ski-slope on a tray. This was clearly a
mis-identification. Possibly the most popular sessions were those on camp and tarp
craft, run by Steven Yates, which also ventured into the areas of fire
starting and open cooking. Held
under a giant parachute shelter, these were distinctly Ray Mears in flavour
and something no "song of the paddle" devotees would miss. This is how Liz and I spent day
2. WeÕll be buying a canoe nextÉ Now, I'm not one for carrying axes to whittle tent pegs. What's more, we have tried tarps and
found them not to our style for use in Scottish hills. Yet Steve showed how one can be
combined with a regular tent or used in conjunction with paddles and a kayak
to create a quick shelter. When
it came to our hands-on attempt, we seized on a GoLite tarp to use, largely
because we have one at home and wanted to see whether we could use it in a
sea kayak context. In the end we decided it was too small for kayaking, and
somewhat over-designed for this purpose. We'll try to track down an Integral
designs tarp instead. Sunday afternoon we were back in the back woods. Learning how to make fire and then
cook food on it is a useful skill for any sea kayaker. It was given all the more resonance
by Olly SanderÕs talk the previous night, in which heÕd explained his team
had been forced to cook on open fires for six days in Greeland when their MSR
stove fell apart. ItÕs worth
knowing how to do it.
First tip, for hanging a pot over a fire, was to use Òsethless
KevlarÓ cord bought from a chandlers.
It doesn't burn, and is so strong a special knife is required to cut
it. Then we were out foraging for wood and scrapings of beech
bark. Once back, we were handed
a fire-steel each, and sparks were flying everywhere. If it didn't catch, an un-folded
make-up remover pad placed underneath was a sure piece of tinder.
Best skill of all was learning how to make "fire
sticks". Using a sharp
knife, we curled shavings from a piece of wood but leaving the shaving
attached. Once the whole stick
was covered in these curly slivers it looked like a Christmas decoration but
was a hugely effective piece of kindling, which caught fire easily and kept
burning into the main wood. The whole weekend was run with the relaxed professionalism
always associated with Plas Y Brenin.
Some of the speakers confided they werenÕt sure they had it right
because this was the first, but theyÕd fine-tune it for next time. However, I'd be surprised if they
were not swamped with praise as most folk I talked to had a great weekend and
learned a lot. Although Liz and I have done a few expeditions none have been in
a kayak. So as Donald Rumsfeld
might say, there were Òunknown unknowns. That is to say, things we don't know we don't
know." We found plenty, and
while I'm sure there are more to discover, thatÕs the whole point of
expeditions. |
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