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“Full Circle” – circumnavigation of Britain and Ireland 2024

March 16, 2024 by Midlifekayak

In 2012 Geoff and Andy took 115 days to get round Britain (GB360) and in 2015 they took 40 days to get round Ireland (Emerald 360). They thought that would be it for big kayak adventures but the bug has bitten again. They have been thinking about this one for a few years but COVID and life generally got in the way. If the ageing bodies hold up to the rigours of training, they plan to leave Portscatho in Cornwall, around the end of April (weather dependent of course), turn right out of the harbour and keep going. They will cross the Irish Sea from Pembrokeshire and continue clockwise round Ireland until they hop across the Irish Sea once more into Scotland. From there they will weave their way up through the islands of the west coast, over the top and head home. They believe they will need to cover some 2,500 miles, longer than their two previous expeditions, and that it will certainly be their toughest challenge yet, not least because the boys are not getting any younger. If the kayaking doesn’t do them in, then surely the living rough for 4 months will! They are calling this final Midlifekayak adventure – “Full Circle”.

So if you want to join in and follow their adventures, follow along with this blog. They will be raising money for charity – more news on this shortly.

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Posted in Britain, Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Circumnavigation, Cornwall, Ireland, Paddle trips | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments »

“Full Circle” expedition charities

April 23, 2024 by Midlifekayak

For their “Full Circle” expedition between May and August 2024, Geoff and Andy will be raising money for three charities:

  • Cornwall Air Ambulance – provide critical care to seriously sick and injured people across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Responding to over 1,000 missions annually.  Operating with no direct government support towards running costs, they rely on the generosity of people like you to keep them flying 365 days a year – registered charity number 1133295
  • Child Bereavement UK – Child Bereavement UK helps families to rebuild their lives when a child grieves or when a child dies. They support children and young people (up to the age of 25) when someone important to them has died or is not expected to live, and parents and the wider family when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying – registered charity number 1040419
  • Royal National Lifeboat Institution – The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Powered primarily by kind donations, their search and rescue service has been saving lives for 200 years – registered charity number 209603

If you would like to make a donation click on the link below:

DONATE HERE

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Sea Kayaking Cornwall – back in action as lockdown eases

July 3, 2020 by Midlifekayak

Great news! The Sea Kayaking Cornwall family is back in action. If you fancy stretching your sea legs again now that the lockdown is easing, get in touch with Shaun and Geoff and book yourself in for some salt water therapy……

For those that don’t know Shaun and Geoff and their friendly band of instructors, they put the experience of their customers first, always.  They are skilled coaches, have thousands of expedition miles between them.  All their instructors have also had careers outside of the sport and bring that diverse experience and perspective to your learning experience.  On top of that, they show a genuine interest in their clients.  People who learn to kayak with them, keep coming back year after year.

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If you plan on being in the South West this summer, book some time with them.

Cheers
Andy

https://www.seakayakingcornwall.com

 

 

 

Posted in Cornwall, Friends, Paddle trips, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Book quick for the Sea Kayaking Cornwall Symposium……

September 23, 2019 by Midlifekayak

The 12th Sea Kayaking Cornwall Symposium is coming up on the weekend of the 12th/13th of October. As always this amazing fun packed (and beer packed) weekend, will be followed by a courses week from 14th – 18th October.

The symposium has grown from strength to strength over the years and is a favourite end of year paddling event before those winter nights draw in.  Relaxed atmosphere, intimate venue and a well organized event with quality, diverse and friendly coaches.

If you haven’t been before – give it a go!  If you have, look forward to seeing you there!

Follow the link below to book up, hurry courses are filling fast!!

https://www.seakayakingcornwall.com/symposium/

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Geoff joins Shaun Rogers and Jeff Allen as a partner in Sea Kayaking Cornwall!

February 2, 2019 by Midlifekayak

Fabulous to share that Geoff has just joined the Sea Kayaking Cornwall team as a joint partner alongside Jeff and Shaun! Going to be an exciting future for this amazing south west kayaking team!! Good luck Geoff!! See link for full announcement…..

Geoff Cater Joins SKC

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Talk on our Ireland adventures at Stackpole Seakayaking Festival 20-22 May 2016

May 7, 2016 by Midlifekayak

Found this shot of a Lion’s Mane jelly fish in amongst some photos from our trip around Ireland last year.

If you want to hear more about our little adventure, Geoff will be heading off to the National Trust’s Stackpole Seakayaking Festival 20th – 22nd May to give a talk about it. The event is being run by our mate, Mike Greenslade, who is now living the dream as an Area Manager for the National Trust.

There are still tickets available if you fancy a weekend of stunning coastline and great kayaking courses.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stackpole-outdoor-learning-centre/features/stackpole-sea-kayaking-festival-2016

Andy and Geoff

Lion's Mane Jelly Fish

Lion’s Mane Jelly Fish

Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Circumnavigation, Paddle trips | Tagged , , | 3 Comments »

Thank you!

July 30, 2015 by Midlifekayak

It has been just over two weeks since Geoff and I finished our adventure.  Most of the kit has been washed, repaired and stored away, swollen hands have just about returned to normal (although I still can’t get my wedding ring on).  Neither of us has yet got back in a boat but we’ll be putting that straight very soon.  We’re  looking forward to getting out on the water and not having to worry about cracking out 30 or 40 miles or where we’ll sleep for the night.

We haven’t yet sorted through all the photos and video clips – but when we do, we’ll put together a short video of the paddle and post it on here.

In the meantime we both just wanted to say a further THANK YOU to all those who have donated to our two charities (Samaritans and West of England MS Therapy Centre) since we arrived home:

Bobbi and Dave for organising the raffle at the Royal Standard in Gerrans; Diana; Samaritan Volunteers; Anne and Terry; Steve and Lucy; Toby; Maggie; Derek; Cynthia (again!); Chris and Nett and Liz.  

Our total, including Gift Aid, is now £2,312.50 – amazing.  Thank you so much!

We will be closing down the fundraising page very soon so that the money can be handed over to our chosen charities – so if you did intend to donate then you’ll need to get your skates on!

The link again:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=Midlifekayak&pageUrl=2

Geoff and Andy

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Posted in Challenges, Circumnavigation, Ireland, Paddle trips | 7 Comments »

Day 40 Job Done

July 12, 2015 by Midlifekayak

With bellies full of tea and sausage sandwiches we kept all our paddling kit on and climbed into our bivy bags last night at around 12.30 am. The forecast for our final day looked better – west south westerly F4 gusting F5 – a notch or two lower than it had been. We just hoped that by only leaving 31 miles we would be able to get the job done.

We were up at 4am and on the water at 5am. That’s a total of 7 hours sleep in the last three days as we have attempted to paddle both ebb tides a day down this stretch of coast.

Feeling a little emotional to be finishing this incredible adventure, we paddled the 31 miles in a ‘oner’ and pulled into Rosslare fishing harbour at 12.15pm.

Geoff and I climbed out of our boats gave each other a big hug and opened a bottle of Proseco.

We feel incredibly privileged to have been able to paddle round this amazing country. We have seen incredible wildlife and scenary, experienced some exhilarating conditions and met some wonderful people. Thank you Ireland!

Thank you to all those that have helped and supported us along the way or made donations to our charities – can’t mention you all but special thanks to the gang at Seakayaking Cornwall for all your support and advice.

And of course a special thank you to our wives Sue and Tanya for putting up with our crazy adventures. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

   
   

Don’t ask……   

Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Circumnavigation, Ireland, Paddle trips | 10 Comments »

Day 39 Ballymoney

July 12, 2015 by Midlifekayak

Eeking out a few more miles this evening in awful conditions to give us a chance of finishing Sunday. We left Arklow at 7pm and managed 10 miles before we decided to pull over in fading light just after 10pm.

Another battering by the wind but then the Manigo family at Ballymoney came to the rescue and invited us in and made us tea and sausage sandwiches at midnight! How amazing is that. Was a perfect way to spend our last night of the expedition. Such a lovely family. Thanks guys!  Hope we didn’t leave too much sea water behind on your floor.

Tomorrow we have 30 miles to finish.

A big thank you to Toby, Ruby. Alex, Jess and  Pickle, Tim and Pip, and Maggie for your very generous donations!

  

Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Circumnavigation, Cornwall | Leave a Comment »

Day 38 Wicklow

July 11, 2015 by Midlifekayak

Landed just after midnight in Wicklow harbour (once we managed to find the entrance in the dark) – another 32 miles today leaving around 55 to go. 

The last few days have been tough and a bit of a roller coaster.  We had hoped to finish today (Friday) but the Irish Sea has given the pair of us a real hiding on three separate ocassions now – forcing us either to run (paddle) for a safe harbour or certainly slowing progress right down.

When the sea picks up on this coast it produces a short steep chop and winds can accelerate quickly round mountains to deliver conditions way above what was forecast. It is certainly making us work for these last few miles.

But spirits are high – the singing hasn’t improved but the repertoire is growing. We’ve added some Frank Sinatra and Pink Floyd – and booked the O2 for our return……

Two amazing coincidences today. We crossed Dublin Bay, dodging three ferries, but as we tried to slip through between the mainland and Dalkey Island the winds got up suddenly and fiercely. We battled against it for fifteen minutes or so but failed. We had to turn in to the Bay and headed for Dalkey Harbour.

There we met Jenny Kilbride who runs a kayak school www.kayak.ie – if you are in the area and fancy a crack at what Geoff and I enjoy so much you should look her up. Some great coastline to explore and Jenny has a huge amount of experience and knowledge to share.  The coincidence? Jenny was at college with a friend back in Cornwall, Roz Osborne. We also met a great colleague of Jenny’s – Mac who gave us a history lesson of the area.

Next a chap walking by stopped and asked if we had paddled round Ireland. Which was odd because most people don’t come straight out with that question. He then said he’s been following our blog. Now we were confused. What are the chances?

He told us he had walked past our tents and kayaks late at night on a beach at Roundstone near the Aran Islands – he made a note of our web address which is in the boats and he’d been following is ever since.

Derek (Hughes) popped off to get his car before giving us a tour of the area and buying us breakfast. Such a great chap and hoping we stay in touch after this trip too.

This trip never seems to amaze us – the conditions force us off the water and instead of feeling low about it we end up meeting some fabulous people.

  
  
The view from my tent at 5.30am – 3 hours sleep and time to catch the tide gain…..

Hope to finish Sunday.

  

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