While most of us were grumbling at the cold and stormy Easter  weekend John Richardson and Dave Priddis were out kayaking.

Not just a couple hours afloat. Instead they were competing in the Devizes to Westminster 125 mile kayak race.

Their time of 24 hours 25mins 50secs placed them 34th out of 60 pairs who completed the race. Two thirds of competitors retired due to the appalling weather conditions. Overnight temperatures dropped to -6 degrees and snow

This was John and Dave’s’ first long distance kayak race but it’s not their last.

In June they are off to Canada to paddle the Yukon challenge starting in Whitehorse. A mere 460 miles in 4 days.

Gary Kemp, Krista Hairon, Chantal Quaeck and Derek Hairon  are the first to be accredited Wild Life Safe (WiSe) guides.

The course was a joint initiative between Planning and Environment and Jersey Tourism. It was run by Stephen Westcott and Colin Speedie of Wildlife Safe (WiSe) UK.

The WiSe scheme is the only programme in the UK offering training and accreditation to outdoor activities specialists interested in the development of sustainable marine eco-tourism. The course is the national standard for companies running eco-tours to observe marine wild life.

This was a great opportunity to learn about good practice and to obtain nationally recognised training. We are one of the first companies to obtain this award in Jersey.

A draft code of conduct for all marine craft has just been released by the Environment department in Jersey UK.

The code will set the benchmark for activities around our coast.

Comments are invited from kayakaers. This will help me to formulate any responses.

Though many non Jersey sea kayakers may not consider this as relevant to them existing codes of conduct are often used in the development of codes for other locations.

Pages 21-27 and the section on sea kayaking page 30 are worth looking at.

Comments are welcome before the deadline of 5 April ether by e mail or on the reply section below.

Click here to view the draft document in adobe pdf format.

7 March 08

I have just received this review of my book from Anglers.net

Take a look at the rest of the Anglers.net site. It has lots of good stuff on kayak fishing.

Uploaded 3 March 08