Thursday 21 October 2004 . . .

• There's a new page on the Almanac - REVIEWS - this is intended to be an on-going development to allow people to provide us with views on gear, kit, goodies and boats that they use and like. It'll also showcase new stuff, and hopefully it will grow as a practical and useful resource. If you'd like to add to it, please let me know. Currently it's got reviews of cags, safety kit, a couple of nice new sea boats and a SOT, poggies and a rather funky sea paddle.

• New Trip Report on paddling from Goreston Beach.

• Winter's coming, and no doubt you'll be putting your sea-boat away for a rest! Put your feet up in front of the fire and pour youself a nice glass of whisky and enjoy Wes Boyd's Kayak Place. Wes describes himself as a "larger paddler" and his site has some great writing, articles and ideas. Enjoy. Wes lives Stateside, so it's heavily US biased of course, but there are some good tech articles even though it's not been updated for a while.

• The SCA's Paddlesport 2004 show is in Perth at the end of the month.

• Ideas and suggestions for articles, links or input are all very welcome, especially for trip reports (articles or picture galleries). Do please mail me with any useful material.

• Right - FREEBIES! - I acquired a few whistles, as per the ones shown in the new Review Page - essential safety equipment and very loud and shrill! The next few contributions to the Sea Section's Sea Trips, Boat Outfitting and Review Pages get one FREE! Yes, it's bribery! Include your address with your contribution and I'll send you one in the post. (Privacy:No, your address, e-mail etc won't be passed on to anyone, etc etc etc)

Above - freebies!!

Tuesday, 12 October 2004 . . .

• I've added a new article on Outfitting Sea Kayaks - the things people have devised are amazing! See right for some of the ideas!
• As ever, the Community Forum is busy, with yet more pics from Douglas Wilcox and various debates underway on everything from solo paddling to kayak storage solutions.
• Ever heard of  POINT65oN? A new entrant to the UK market it seems, with what look like a nice range of boats. They have a British dealer as well.
• Following on from the wonderful picture of the whale breaching in an earlier update, I found Mallaig Canoe Club's website - some pretty pictures and trip reports from this wonderful part of the world! Go see.
• Paddling.net has an interesting article on survival techniques - just in case you ever find yourself stranded on a Welsh rock somewhere, it could be worth reading.

• The Almanac has some new updates - ideas and suggestions for articles, links or input are all very welcome, especially for trip reports (articles or picture galleries). Do please mail me with any useful material.
• There's an interesting debate on the Forum - "Quo Vadis" - I'd welcome ideas relevant specifically to the Sea Section as well.

Guess what this is?	Or this?

A couple of novel ideas in a new article on Outfitting Sea Kayaks - one from Mike Wood of a cunning solution to a practical problem, and a pic of a seriously special mod someone has done, sent by Mark Tozer.

He's been out again!

Saturday, 2 October 2004 . . .

• More Jura trips on the Sea/Trips Page! This time by the gentlemen of Bolton Canoe Club - a pic report of a trip by Phil, Grommit and Brian in 2004. Nice. Tony Page was there in May - lovely pics.
• Lomond KC has some pics from a trip to the Summer Isles.
• Fancy some long distance kayaking? Nice article from Midland Canoe Club describing a trip to Lundy.
  

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• The Community Forum is active, with a variety of technical debates underway.
• The Scottish Canoe Association's "Scottish Paddlesport Festival and Exhibition"  is on 30 and 31 October 2004, in Perth.
• Paddling.net seems to have expanded a lot recently - and SeaPaddler.co.uk is growing nicely too.
• I've added some knotting links to the Almanac, added a new general links page and work is starting on collating further resources for trip planning. Have you found a useful site, article or resource? Please mail the details and it'll get added.
• WaveLength Paddling Magazine have just put their October/November downloadable mag on the Web. All about "Winter Getaways" - not that I'm jealous.
• Articles, trip reports, pictures - all needed and most welcome - contribute your experiences, expertise and such like, and become a published author. Fame and fortune awaits.

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• Right - Want to build a traditional kayak? Enchanted by the idea of a wooden frame held together with only wooden pegs and jute lashings? Here's the way to do it.

The gentle art of kayak creation - nothing more than wood, rope and eventually some canvas.