Links

"So you've been on a course and you've now got the sea kayaking bug and want to take it further. The Internet is the obvious place to look however there is so much information out there it can be hard to find what your looking for. Added to that your not sure exactly what to look for anyway."

Whenever you do a course with us we want you to go away with a clear idea of where to go next to further develop your sea kayaking. So that we don't have to spend too much time off the water writing it all down we have put together a few of the links that we think you will find useful and/or interesting and sprinkled it with a little bit of advice along the way.

Clubs

One of the first things we advise people to do who have come on an Introductory course with us is to join a sea kayaking canoe club. They are a cost effective way to put into practice the things you have learnt on the course and they are a great way of meeting other people to go paddling with. The British Canoe Union has a list of Canoe Clubs however unfortunately not all clubs provide sea kayaking and the ones that are really committed to it are few and far between. The following clubs are ones that we know of that are committed to sea kayaking and have equipment that you can use until your ready to buy your own. (If you know of any more please let me know)

In England Chelsea Kayak Club are based in London, on the river Thames at Cremorne Riverside. Isle of Portland Canoe Club are based in Weymouth in a fantastic location on the Jurassic coast. Poole Harbour Canoe Club is based in Dorset with great access to both sheltered and exposed trips. Wansbeck Paddle Sports Club are based on the river Wansbeck in Ashington in the heart of Northumberland.

Scotland has Edinburgh Kayak Club which has a small core of sea kayakers and a couple of club sea kayaks. Oban Canoe Club have a strong sea kayaking contingent. The South Skye and Lochalsh Kayak Club is on the North West and more or less exclusively sea kayak.

Wales has the Cybi Kayakers based on Holy Island on Anglesey. Although they are primarily a family based club they have a committed sea kayaking contingent. North West Sea Kayakers are an Internet based club that meet regularly all over the North West UK. They don't have club equipment but they often meet near places where you can hire kit. Snowdonia Canoe Club meet all over North Wales and are a committed sea kayaking club.

Shops

Once you are ready to start kitting yourself out with all the gear you'll no doubt start looking around on the Internet. Although there is plenty of opportunity for finding deals online sometimes you need a bit more than that. The following shops provide an opportunity to try things for size and have experienced staff that can advise you on the sea kayaking products they sell. If your looking to buy a boat the best shops are ones with demo boats and access to the water. We have only mentioned the British sea kayak manufacturers but this is because we genuinely feel they are the best.

In England there is Brookbank, the largest supplier in the UK. They have shops in London, Stockport, Lancaster, Warwickshire, Perth and Carlisle. They have North Shore and Valley demo sea kayaks. Desperate Measures have a shop in Nottingham and they have North Shore and Valley demo boats.

In Scotland, Karitek are based in Ayrshire. They have a demo loch on site and stock SKUK, Rockpool, Kirton and P&H demo boats. Knoydart are based in Penrith.

In Wales Summit to Sea are based on Holy Island on Anglesey. They are close to lots of good quality sea kayaking and stock North Shore, SKUK, Tiderace and P&H. They run a 'Deal of the Day' that's worth adding to your favourites. Surf Lines based on the side of Llyn Padarn in Llanberis have North Shore, Valley, Necky, and Wilderness Systems demo boats.

Media

As the sport continues to grow in popularity there's more and more sea kayaking media out there and it's getting to be of a very high quality. Some of the best that we know of are: Cackle TV who produce the award winning 'This is the Sea' series of DVD's. Ocean Paddler produce a high quality bi-monthly sea kayaking magazine both online and by post. Sea Kayak Podcasts produce podcasts of interviews about people, destinations and expeditions. Pesda Press publish books for outdoor people including sea kayaking.

Blogs

There are lots of sea kayakers doing incredible things these days and the blogosphere is the place they tend to share there adventures. Some of the highest trending ones at the moment are: Axel Schoevers who writes a regular blog about his globe trotting kayaking experiences. Freya Hoffmeister is currently paddling solo around her second continent, South America. Justine Curgenven blogs about her regular sea kayaking trips at home and abroad.

Other Useful Links

Some other links you may find useful or interesting are: the Association of Paddlers/Coaches is a collaboration of Level 5 coaches providing high level coaching. If your looking for a coach this is a good place to start. Performance Sea Kayak details UK based records, challenges and events undertaken by sea kayakers. See Kayak is the largest directory of sea kayaking related web sites. UK Sea Kayak Guidebook has forums, trip reports, articles, links and commonly asked questions.

Other things to do on Anglesey

Outdoor Active is one of Snowdonia’s top adventure activity centres. We are the activity centre to visit in Snowdonia! We provide outdoor activities including rock climbing, kayaking, gorge scrambling, coasteering and more.