OK, I’m not going to say this is the loveliest picture we’ve seen, although the colors are quite nice. But anytime I can work in a photo about or featuring kayaking, well, I have to do so. And so we have this photo of an attractive array of kayaks lined up and ready to go. Entitled Big Island, the shot comes from the able lens of GraceD.
2007 Webby Award Winners Announced
The winners of the 2007 Webby Awards have been announced, and while Gadling didn’t take home a trophy this year (though we were named an “Official Honoree“), several other great travel-related websites did. Here are the nominees and winners in the travel category of the 2007 Webby Awards:
- Winner: WikiTravel
- People’s Voice Winner: TripAdvisor
- Nominees: Expedia, Gods of Chinatown, Kayak.com
- Official Honorees: Clear Registered Traveler, Fodor’s Travel, Frommers.com, Gadling, gaurdian unlimited Travel, Hungry Suitcase, Lonely Planet, NYTimes.com Travel, SeatGuru, Sidestep, Travelocity
Maybe next time we can take home a Webby!
Tragic Shot Missing Kayaker
A friend of mine sent me this rather tragic shot taken by kayaker Andrew McAuley, a very experienced paddler who went missing in the Tasman Sea back in February. McAuley was attempting to become the first person to take a kayak across the Tasman Sea, and he was very close — just 30 nautical miles — from doing so. He’d paddled for a long time, hard core during the day, and then drifting at night, sleeping for brief periods in his kayak. He’d crossed some 1500 kilometers and was close enough to the South Island of New Zealand to photograph its mountains. He was also able to snap this photograph, the last of himself on his camera, before he disappeared. He apparently sent a distress signal to the New Zealand Coastguard with two clear words: “help” and “sinking”. That was all.
The coast guard found McAuley’s kayak in the water ,but his body has not been found. Sadly, and perhaps irresponsibly, he did not have an immersion suit, which might have helped due to the cold water. But still, they found his camera, and the photo here was the last shot of him. A gruesome self-portrait.
Paddling the Altiplano
Kayaker extraordinaire and videographer Alex Nicks makes me green. With envy. He is constantly globetrotting with a team of National Geographic explorers to bring us some of the most lovely and inspiring reportage from far off places where kayaks can go. And though you might not think that the Altiplano of South America is such a place (it is one of the driest places on earth and the place that most closely approximates Mars on our planet) this video shot by Alex shows what a hospitable place it actually is for kayaks.
The video here, though short, is chock full of breath-taking scenery and sweet shots, well, people paddling. The short is part of the epic paddling series Oceans 8 with Jon Bowermaster, a gadling hero. Check it out.
Greenland Kayak Rolls
As cold as it is outside here in New York City (and it is cold, damn cold), this video gave me the chills. But it is also a wonderful little educational vid about how to pull off the perfect eskimo roll in your kayak.
The video features one Andrew Elizaga as he performs a range of traditional Greenland kayak rolls in his skin-on-frame East Greenland replica qajaq. A BEAUTIFUL, nay gorgeous boat. Elizaga is all gussied up in a complete wet suit, which, once you take a gander at the environs in which he performs said rolls, you will know why. I’d love to take a pano here.
I imagine in a way that this would be a fairly educational bit of video, but I doubt you’d want to carry along your computer when you try out some of these rolls. Maybe bring your video ipod in your handy H2O waterproof case.