Interesting change of scenery. Foto: Sean Morley

Beutiful place for spending the night. Foto: Sean Morley

Whales are good comapny. Foto: Sean Morley

Sean Morley. Foto: Sean Morley

A star in This is the sea 2
The first time I saw Sean was in "This is the sea 2". Sean was first shown when he played very impressively in a rock garden in a Kirton Inuk kayak with a wing paddle, then when he surfed very hard in the sequence "Black Belt Sea Kayaking" in a Valley Avocet paddling with a paddle that looked like a Werner white water paddle.

Harald: Sean, can you first give our readers a presentation of your self, your kayaking background etc?

Sean: I began kayaking at the age of ten and I often paddled alone, exploring the relatively sheltered waters of St Austell Bay on the south coast of Cornwall, England. I used to wonder what lay around the corner and dreamt of continuing around the next headland until eventually I had paddled all the way around Great Britain. 

I took part in my first kayak race in 1978 and have competed in many disciplines of paddle sport since then including slalom, whitewater racing, marathon, sprint, wave ski, surf life saving and surf kayaking with success at national and international level.  I began expedition sea kayaking in 1996 and in 1998 set a record for the fastest crossing of the Irish Sea in 11 hours 6 minutes.

In 2004 I achieved my childhood dream by completing the first solo circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland, the first ever to include all of the inhabited islands. The 4500 mile expedition took 183 days and is the longest kayak journey ever undertaken in British waters. 

Harald: I seem to remember something about you and a national championship title in kayak surfing - is that right?

Sean: In 2005 I assisted British kayak manufacturer Valley Sea Kayaks with the design of a new surf kayak called the 'Rush'. I began participating in kayak surfing competitions in 2006 as a way of promoting the new kayak and in 2007 became the World Masters High Performance Champion and gained 2nd place in the Men's High Performance Class at the World Surf Kayak Championships in Spain.  

Harald: The "This is the sea" DVDs have become quite popular among Norwegian sea kayakers, and lots of our paddlers play the ocean like we see in the DVDs. Is rock hopping and surfing a big part of the British sea kayaking scene?

Sean: We do not have that much sheltered water around the coast of the UK so most people tend to paddle on the open coast which can often mean having to deal with surf. For me a sea kayak is not the ideal craft in the surf. They are fairly difficult to control and can be dangerous. I much prefer to use a shorter surf specific kayak where you have a much greater degree of control and thus have much more fun.

A playful sea kayak such as the Valley Avocet is the perfect craft for rock hopping however. You can cover quite a distance whilst weaving in and out of the rocks and it is such good practice for your strokes, edge control and balance. Timing the swell to paddle through narrow gaps and over ledges is such good fun and gives you a good sense of the rhythm of the ocean. Be careful though - it can hurt you or your boat if you get it wrong!

Often I will paddle close to the shore and rock hop on the first half of my day's journey and then paddle a little further offshore on the way back. That way I get to see the intimate beauty of the shoreline from close up and then take in the panoramic views on the way back. The best of both worlds!

I have also done some fairly extreme rock hopping in whitewater kayaks on the ocean. That is like a combination of surfing and whitewater kayaking where you surf waves up into and onto rocks and then ride down the backwash like shooting a rapid. It is pretty crazy but good fun!

Harald: Having moved to the US, you now run the company River & Ocean in California, what kind of business do you run?

Sean: I am the US west coast importer and distributor for Valley Sea Kayaks. I also represent several other paddle sports manufacturers, including Kokatat Watersports Wear, Lettmann and Mitchell paddles, Gaia Sports, Gath Headgear and Snapdragon Sprayskirts. It is a challenging but interesting job. I get to travel up and down the west coast of the US and have met and got to paddle with some great people in some beautiful places. We are very lucky that we have a beautiful coastline and some really challenging conditions to play with here on the west coast of the US.

Harald: Ok, let's talk about the new record for circumnavigating Vancouver Island. First, what is it like to be in an almost 20 days long "race" against the clock?

Sean: You know it was just like that. I felt I was in a race and for that reason it was hard, even brutal at times with a lot of pressure which took away some of the enjoyment. It is a style of expedition that I seem to have adopted but not one I would necessarily recommend. I would much rather take my time to explore, meet more of the locals and have more of a cultural experience. Instead I always seem to spend all day in my kayak without seeing anyone!

There was also a difference between my UK and Ireland expedition where I was trying to be the 'first' to do something, and the Vancouver Island expedition where I was trying to break an existing speed record. The latter was a much more intense experience and not quite as satisfying as having been the 'first' to do something.

That said, I am very glad that I did it. It is always gratifying when you set yourself a challenge and then have the good luck to complete it. I also saw some beautiful scenery and incredible wildlife, sharing my campsites with bears, wolves and eagles and paddling amongst whales, porpoises, seals, sea lions, sea and river otters. Vancouver Island is a very special place.
 
Harald: What was the worst part of the expedition: That you were out there alone, or being away from your family for so many days? Or was it the conditions you encountered?

Sean: For the first six days of the expedition I didn't see or talk to anyone. That was a new and interesting experience for me. I had all types of sea and weather conditions from perfect calm to big stormy seas but by far the worst part of the expedition was being away from my family for so long.

I combined the expedition with attending the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium which meant I was away from home for a month. My daughter is just 18months old and a month is a long time in her short lifetime. I missed her terribly. I don't think I will be going away again for such a long time until she is much older.

Harald: Let's talk kayaks and stuff. Being one of Norways biggest "Valleyheads" myself, I noticed with pride that you set your record in a Nordkapp - did you go with a standard laminate or a light weight composite kayak?

Sean: I used a standard Nordkapp in the Pro-Kevlar construction, i.e. with a carbon Kevlar hull and a fibreglass deck. It had the new 2009 seat in it; otherwise it was a standard off-the-shelf model.

Harald: Were you pleased with the Nordkapp on your expedition? I mean, the last record around Vancouver Island was done with a 6 m long NDK Greenlander Race, and I really think that is a faster kayak than the Nordkapp?

Sean: I was really pleased with its performance. I have won a couple of local sea kayak races using a Nordkapp so I knew it was fast enough. The rounded hull is much more efficient than the hard chine on the NDK Greenlander Race.

I also knew it would carry the kit and food I needed and its performance would not be significantly affected. Sure there are faster boats on flat water but you need a boat that is fast in rough water and that will handle a variety of conditions and I am pleased to say the Nordkapp performed superbly. It gave me the confidence to keep going even when the conditions deteriorated and I always felt like I was in control, even with a forty knot tail wind and 3 meter breaking seas on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
 
Harald: You were originally planning to use the ultra fast Rapier 20, what made you go for the Nordkapp instead?

Sean: I hadn't had the opportunity to previously test the Rapier 20 in rough seas with it fully laden until I got to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island and loaded the kayak I was intending to use. It was blowing about 30 knots and there was a 1-2 meter sea running.

I tested the Rapier 20 and whilst it felt okay, I knew that if the conditions got any worse, it would have been difficult to control, especially in surf. I was also unsure how it would feel after several hours and days in the boat.

So I decided to be cautious and opted for the Nordkapp. In retrospect, I think if I had prepared more thoroughly and spent more time training in the Rapier 20 with it fully loaded it might have been a better boat for the record attempt. It would certainly have been significantly faster on the calmer days.

That said it was nice to use the Nordkapp as the design has such a great history. 

Harald: What about paddles, do you do most of your sea kayaking with wing paddles? Which wing paddle do you prefer?

Sean: As I've said, I have competed in several types of kayak racing. I find the wing paddle very efficient for racing and expeditions but I switch to a regular paddle for general sea kayaking, playing in surf or tide races.

I use a Lettmann Nordic LCS70 medium blade size wing paddle (215cm, 75 degree feather) for racing and expeditions and a Lettmann Liberty large blade size (210cm, 55 degree feather) touring paddle for general sea kayaking.

I also use a Lettmann Profile large blade size (190cm 45 degree feather) white water paddle for surfing and whitewater. I find I can switch between each paddle very easily and it just takes a few strokes to adjust to the different technique and feather angle. The theory being the higher the stroke angle (e.g. for racing) the greater the angle of feather that I need.

Harald: The rest of the stuff; can you fill us in on what paddling gear you used, what kind of stove and fuel you had? How did you manage to get supplies for so many days in the kayak?

Sean: All my kayaking clothing was made by Kokatat. I used a Gore-Tex Meridian dry suit or a Gore-Tex Paclite Paddling Jacket and Surfskin pants on the warmer days. I wore a Kokatat Orbit Tour pfd which is ideal for racing and fast touring.

I used an Optimus Nova+ multi fuel stove and ate dehydrated food in the evenings and oatmeal in the mornings. I did not stop for lunch but ate energy bars in the kayak as I paddled. I carried 12 days of food and got my friend Doug Alderson to leave a dry bag of food for me to collect on day 13. I had managed to purchase some extra food and treats during my day storm-bound at Ucluelet.

I had enough space left in the kayak to have been able to carry food for three full weeks if I had needed to. I used a Stilletto single person tent made by Mountain Hardware. It withstood a 60 knot wind one night! I used dry bags and Stow Floats made by Gaia Sports and none of them leaked.

I took a Silva Multi-Navigator GPS. I love it because it is so simple even I can use it. I actually only used it on one day when the visibility was poor. The rest of the time I just followed by carts and used the Silva compass mounted on the foredeck of my kayak.

I used the BC Coastal Recreation Kayaking and Small Boat Atlas Volumes 1 and 2, produced by John Kimantas as an accompaniment to his The Wild Coast series of guides. They were excellent and told me everything I needed to know. I could pick my campsite in advance which was a big help when I had such little daylight left at the end of a long day. I used a Spot Satellite Messenger so that friends and family could track my progress. That was a great success and thankfully I didn't have to test its 911 function. I carried a VHF radio and flares but I was aware that it was highly unlikely that anyone would either hear my radio transmission or see a flare on some of the more remote stretches of coast.

Harald: What are your plans for the future, any new expeditions or races?

Sean: I want to do a lot more surfing and sea kayaking on the Northern California and Oregon coast which is exceptionally beautiful. I am also heading down to Baja, Mexico this winter guiding a trip down there.

I will be going to Alaska and Australia next year for Symposiums and I am helping to organise the first Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium on January 9/10/11, 2009. This is going to be a really exciting event and we hope to attract kayakers from all over the world to this fantastic sea kayaking destination, right under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. You can find out more information at www.ggsks.com

I do hope to do more expeditions in the future. I would love to come to Norway one day. I have heard the coastline and fjords are exceptionally beautiful. I have also contemplated making the crossing from Scotland to Norway in a double kayak but I will probably leave that for someone else to attempt now.
  
Harald: Ok Sean, thank you for taking your time with us. If you ever come to Norway, we'll take you to some cool sea kayaking.

Harald Rishovd : 31. oktober 2008, 12:44 : © qajaq.no