Travels with Paddles

a sea kayaking journal

Axel Schoevers (Photo: A. de Krook) Name:
Axel Schoevers
Location:
Rijswijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Rolling On

Freek hosted another very successful Greenland rolling event with Helen Wilson and Mark Tozer. Generously sponsored by Tahé Marine and Arjan Bloem it was also the first ever "Dutch Greenland Competition".
All of the 30+ participants had (over the two day event) time with Helen and Mark to learn new Greenland rolling skills and improve on their existing ones.
The rolling competition was very exciting as both Peter and Gerard managed quite a few of the very difficult rolls.
In the end it was Gerard that won the Rolling competition with Peter coming in second. The harpoon throwing competition was decisively won by Roel. He made a big impression on the judges (Helen and Mark) to enter the rolling competition and to show one roll 'only', the Greenland roll he learned that day. After a bit of insisting, Jolien entered the ropes competition and came in second after Gerard. Leaving me way behind in the dust (sand) in 4th place with lots of purple bruises (the next day).
Because the number of points for the Rolling the overall competition winners were also Gerard and Peter with me coming in third on rolling and overall.
The prize winners next to Helen are Roel, Jolien, Axel, Gerard and Peter with Yort and Steyn in the front row.
We all took pity on "Poor Willy". While the throwers took great care to only have the blunt back of the harpoon drift to and 'hit' him, Willy took a serious hit by Gerard (out of competition) that deflated our enthusiasm a bit on the harpoon throwing part of the event. Roel took care of Willy to have him recover from his injury in his bathtub at home.
A big thanks to Freek for organizing this (annual?) event and Tahé Marine and Ajan Bloem for generously supporting this event with Greenland kayaks and paddles and bringing over Helen and Mark for inspirational Greenland-style Coaching.