May Sunshine

The Sunshine has been out lately. So not to miss out we headed off on a little weekend adventure in the van with the Canoe on the roof.

The Sma Glen Road to Kenmore

River Tilt 

Loch Faskally in the Sunshine.

So a great couple of days camping and canoeing not more than 50 miles from home. We are very lucky where we live in Highland Perthshire to have this on our doorstep.

Autumn Open Canoeing

Autumn is in my opinion the best time to go Open Canoeing. If the weather settles as it has for the last couple of days, you get flat calm lochs and amazing colours in the trees.

After a very busy couple of weeks I really needed to recharge my batteries. I was so grateful that I could. I didn't even have to travel that far. Loch Craiglush and Loch Freuchie are within 20miles of our house.

Drive to the Loch. Unload the Canoe. Paddle to spot with a view. Make a coffee, Enjoy!

Batteries recharged.

#74 what to say

Quiet day at home today. Wish I was out doing something today, on the water or on the earth, but it was just garden fun today. Found this pic on another blog and thought it was cool. Quiet days.

Open Canoe Christmas

I've decided to buy an Open Canoe. A Novacraft Prospector 15 RX Lite will be the new toy for 2012. Looking forward to it.

Kanu Messe 2010

I got the pleasure to attend the annual Canoe and Kayak Trade show Kanu Messe held in Nuremberg Germany last week. It is a show our company has attended for the last 5 years at least. It is a great opportunity to see alot of our suppliers in a few days. We get the chance to talk sales for last year, look at new products and try and take a stab in the dark for sales for next year.
We left on Monday and were in Nuremberg for Monday evening. I had had a bit of a cold and was still suffering a little from my ear op. The first full day of meetings was Tuesday.

These shows are great, we get a chance to speak to the owners and designers of the gear we sell in store. Above, here we are speaking to Robert Somer owner of Robson. They produce paddles as well as canoes and kayaks. Here we are discussing his new 16ft sea kayak due out early next year. This was the first one out the mould and was only produced on the Monday.

A new brand to pop up at the show was Totuga. They are producers for a company already so we know their quality. They will be producing a range of Touring and Fishing Sit On Tops to start with. Above, Steve is going through the range of Fishing SOTs for us.

Shred Ready were there on the SystemX booth and showing off there all Carbon Super Scrappy. They also had a great new range of the odds and sods you are always looking for from Select Designs. Look out for these in store very soon.

Sweet Prophecy Cag

It was great to catch up with Danny from Werner. Arguably the best Tech Rep in the business right now. He was going through some great ways to help us sell what is already an easy brand to sell. With his techniques we will sell even more Werner's.


Alex from Avoncraft who sell us Prijon kayaks amongst other things was there and proud of the new Prijon Pure range of whitewater Kayaks. Above he is telling Craig our Lancaster Store Manager the finer points of the Footrest System


Mad River had on display there new Journey 158. Maybe not an ideal boat for the UK Market. But I may have to eat my words.

One of the highlights of the show was the changes Palm have made to their range. Almost a complete revamp of all their cags. New colour ways and some unique new designs. Look out for these to hit the store in 2011

On the plus side all the features have stayed with all the cags and they have been replacements not additions. So this will make things a little easier to work out.

Lorna here trying on one of the 9 new woman's specific garments added to the 2011 range.

Ben the technical rep for Palm and Dagger Europe here going through the new products with us.

Yak were also on the case with some new colour ways and some new PFD's Pete Ford here showing off the new colourway on the Force Jacket.


Tahe Marine were there showing off a new entry level brand. Marine Fit. They also had there new Zegul Range of sea kayaks including this Bairdarka with Teak deck Fittings. The Zegal range comes in Carbon Kevlar and is truly stunning.

Gatz Canoes based in Germany were there and Olaf Gatz was there showing us just how string their Carbon Kevlar construction is by happily standing on this £2000.00 boat.

So that is my brief outline of KanuMesse 2010. We look forward to getting in the products and selling them over the next 12 months.

SCA Touring Photo Comp 2010

So I have decided to enter the 2010 SCA Touring Photo Comp. Here are my potential entries. Just got to send them in before the deadline.

Morning Reflection - Loch Oich - May 2010

Lake View - Ullswater Lake District - Nov 2009

Woodland Launch - Loch Tay - Nov 2009

Flat Calm - Loch Ness - May 2010

Long Way Up - Loch Ness - May 2010

Drummond Hill View - Loch Tay - Nov 2009

It's a Tough Job

The plan was simple. I was going to drive down to Ullswater in the Lakes and we would spend a day Open Canoeing using other methods of propulsion as well as paddles of course.

Sailing rigs were constructed.

We stopped for a spot of lunch and looked at ways of using Tarps to stay dry. The Lakes was a nice place to be.

Knots were tied for lining.

And of course we did use our paddles. It was a great day catching up with collegues from other stores, and the weather even held a little.

Product Testing

For a while I have been wanting to get out in an Open Boat. The Mad River Reflection 15 to be exact.


Yesterday I took the chance to take the afternoon off and go for a paddle on Loch Tay. It was like the calm after the storm. We have had some crap weather with raging storms and heavy rains. Yesterday it was calm with only a drizzle in late afternoon.


The boat was great. It tracked well and was very easy to handle off the water. The Brookbank Canoes Demo boat is kitted up with a kneeling thwart which is alot better than sitting on the bow seat facing the rear. I headed out from the beach at Kenmore out to the small island and made a quick coffee with me new optimus crux stove and pots.


The Loch was mirror like and just a joy to paddle on. Having work here over ten years ago it was very nice to be back. The autumn colours were coming through and Drummond Hil was looking stunning. I'm looking forward to my next Open Canoe trip in a week or so down in the Lakes with the rest of the Brookbank Team.

Saddle and Paddle

I've been meaning to post this for a while. When we were out in Alaska we also got the chance to get over to the Yukon. We spent a day there and went horse riding and Canoeing.

It was the best weather we had the whole time we were in Canada and Alaska.
I wasn't as comfortable on the horse as I was in the Canoe.

Jax was only keen because it was sunny.

Stunning views all around Spirit Lake.