Ocean Paddler Magazine Review

Just got the 1st issue of Ocean Paddler magazine through my letterbox yesterday. I think I may need to buy a coffee table to put it on - it is very glossy with high-quality pics and poshly produced. Not at all what I was expecting for the low subscription price:

Special offer £25 for first 12 issues, offer available until 1st Aug only.

Articles include expedition reports from Tasmania and other far flung places, by famous names: Jeff Allen (expedition paddler), Justine Curvengen (film maker “This is the Sea” DVD series) and others. Also articles about places the average paddler has rather more chance of visiting: the gradually growing popularity of Croatia as a sea paddling tourist destination, along with detailed logistics of how to arrange it yourself, lists of operators et. Practical sections include one on basic incident management, and a “Photo class” from Doug Wilcox, who many will know from his regular contributions perfect pics of scottish  coast and islands on ukseakayakguidebook community pages.

Its a very good mix. Exactly what you’d want: Some stories from people who’ve taken the trouble to go to dangerous, remote or extreme places so that I can enjoy hearing about them in the comfort of my armchair / bath; Some dream holiday destinations to aspire to visiting; Some practical advice to think about. Also a lot of reviews of equipment for shiny-gadget-gazing.

The only small quibble I have with this magazine is that the writing is a bit small. Being a so-called “Young’un”,  my eyes just aren’t as good as they used to be… But I guess that small print also means you get more words for you money, baragin!

This is a super magazine, and is obviously instantly popular with the sea kayaking community, see more opinions on this thread of ukriversguidebook and this blog review at southwestseakayaking.