Thanks very much to Bill Thompson from Downwind Sports to invite me to teach and speak at the Great Lakes Sea Kayaking Sympsoium! It was a pleasure to be at Grand Marais/ Lake Superior. It is a great place for beginners and intermediate kayakers to meet and to learn form each other!

There are hundreds of images uploaded on the symposium’s facebook website - just please have a look and browse through the great pics!

Dough van Doren – Greenland rolling star from “TITS II” – and his talented son Aiden. They both did a great rolling show!

Thanks to Ryan Rushton from Geneva Kayak Center for organizing and hosting my talk, and thanks to Paul and his lovely wife Kim for hosting me for the night!

My shirt says:

“Women who behave rarely make history!”

So true…

Thanks to Ken (2nd right), Dave (2nd left) and the great crew of the Bay Creek Paddling Center for organizing and hosting my talk in Rochester!

Thanks to Mark Jacobson and his team from Charles River Canoe & Kayak for organizing and hosting my talk in Boston!

Thanks to the crew from North Cove Outfitters (left) and to Phil Warner from ConnYak (right) to organize and host my slideshow in Essex!

And thanks to Carl Tjerandsen and his lovely wife Yolanda with their beautiful dog Rainy to give me a room in their house!

My youngest fans!

The talk in Rhode Island, organized and hosted by Jeff Shapiro from the Kayak Centre, was one of the very much perfect organized and prepared ones with a good turnout in a lovely (airconditioned!) venue. Thanks very much to Jeff and his nice crew!

Some of the many nice and qualified staff members: Kate, Jake, myself, Brooke, Emily – thanks to all!

Biff Wruszek, Margaret Mann and myself went for another paddle on Monday to the Statue of Liberty. It was another HOT day with quite some traffic on the water!

I guess I have enough now from BIG CITY river paddling in tropical heat! I need the fresh salty smell of the open sea! It was nice and interesting anyway. Thanks to Biff and Margaret being my “city tour guides”! 

Very impressive 40 min 4th of July firework (view on You Tube!) from six simultaneous firing barges on the Hudson River over Manhattan – the biggest one I’ve ever seen!

Private Fireworks picnic on the floating dock of the boathouse of the Manhattan Kayak Company: Biff Wruszek, Margaret Mann, Joe Glickman, myself, two local paddling ladys (sorry I didn’t get your names), Eric Stiller

Fortunately we had private access tickets to the Manhattan Kayak Company boathouse, the “common firework viewing crowd” had to stay on the second road, away from the Hudson River shore! Strange, as the promenade and the nearby jetty was unaccessible for people and empty…but good for us…It almost felt like being on a boat, as the dock was floating, it had beautiful wooden planks, and the ladys were barefoot without the high heels No other boats on the Hudson River allowed besides the 6 firework barges, all within perfect view from our dock. Luxury! Thanks for the invitation, Eric! 

Margaret Mann, Joe Glickman, myself

Nano from Argentina (Argentinian coastline), Biff Wruszek (Tierra de la Fuego 2010), Margaret Mann (Iceland 2009) and I circumnavigated Manhattan on Friday. It was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot and good winds. Just ideal conditions for a kayak tourist!

This is the same route the Mayor’s Cup on August 14th is taking, so I’d be having at least an idea where to go if I’d go joining the race: >”The course is a full circumnavigation of Manhattan Island starting on the Hudson River. The combination of 28 miles (45 km) in distance, very unpredictable sea states and extremely busy commercial traffic lends itself to one of the toughest courses in North America.”<

Manhattan is an island, surrounded by the Hudson River, Harlem River and East River.

Here are just some pictures along the route:

Norwegian epic?

A scandinavian epic kayaks apartment house along the way?

Yes, a floating one…

One of the many bridges to pass on Hudson River, the red dot on the bottom is…

…a real size traditional style lighthouse! Still about 20 m high, just the dimensions of the bridge are gigantic.

Lunch break on a tiny island before the Hell’s Gate: Biff, Margaret and I, Nano taking the picture.

The beautiful Pier 17 on the East River

Probably the most expensive harbour site in New York City…

A golf course driving range on one of the Piers on Hudson River, protected by high wire nets – sporting space is everywhere!

more skyscrapers and bridges…

artwork

Hudson River

Safely back “home”, not run over by a ferry to Staten Islands or a tourist boat to the Statue of Liberty (All these big boat wakes make at least some good surfing waves…): Approaching the boathouse of the Manhattan Kayak Company 

Eric Stiller, co-owner of the Manhattan Kayak Company and new proud owner of an epic 18x, was paddling up to our group to mid-East River, but had to leave us in his wake heading quickly back to “work”.

Eric himself attempted to paddle around Australia in 1992, together with Tony Brown in a double Klepper folding kayak, equipped with a sail. He wrote an exciting report about his attempt (Sydney to Darwin, including crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria) in a book named “Keep Australia on your left” – well worth a read! It was part of my own preparations.

Now, 17 years later, a bit more grey and a bit more wise, he owns eventually himself one of those world famous epic kayaks and now liked to check out how the “real” (dummy…) kayak around the whole OZ feels inside, outfitted for long distance paddling with a Skwoosh gel seat pad and a free floating Snapdragon backrest. He felt quite cozy!  

Eric has German teutonic roots…

…to my honor, he put on a shirt from the German national soccer team.

He is an honorable member of the German national soccer team since his 50th birthday!

Thanks to Randall Henriksen (New York Kayak Company) and employee John to organize my talk in Manhattan.

Two happy Ladys in Black in front of the fading Manhattan night skyline: New York based British Expedition Paddler Biff Wruszek gave me the honor to join my talk! It was a pleasure to meet you, Biff!