DVD Filming

I'm just back from a trip to Wales with my friends Helen Wilson and Mark Tozer. While you might expect when three sea kayak coaches get together in a world renowned sea kayak location there will be a lot of paddling - not this time. I was over there to film Helen and Mark's latest DVD project: Yoga for Outdoor People. We had a lot of fun and some adventures, even some paddling, but it was definitely a working trip for all involved.

As many of you know, I filmed and edited Helen's Simplifying the Roll video a few years ago. Helen and I had met teaching at the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium and she had seen the Paddle California video I made myself. She was looking for someone to shoot a rolling video and it was a natural fit. We did that project up by her place in Arcata and it turned out quite well. (you can check out the trailer for it HERE)

For a few years Helen has been talking about doing a yoga DVD - she's also a registered yoga instructor - but we never had the time. During that time she also met Mark Tozer at another GGSKS and they ended up getting married and teaching together at Greenland or Bust. In addition to being a level 5 BCU coach Mark is also a certified rock climbing instructor and yoga practitioner. He's also lived in Wales for the past twenty year.

So when it turned out that this spring contained a window of free time for all three of us it was the perfect opportunity to film a new yoga DVD, one focused on yoga for both kayakers and climbers. And Wales makes the perfect back drop with stunning scenery and plenty of paddling and climbing venues around.

The filming went well though we did have to dodge a lot of weather - Spring in Wales can be quite temperamental. In between rain showers and snow storms we got lots of footage on the rock and on the water, several yoga sequences, and even some talking in a pub.

We were based out of the Anglesey Outdoor Center which is an awesome facility for visiting paddlers - I can't wait to go back for just a paddling trip. We got to see some of the famous paddling venues -north and south stacks, Penrhyn Mawr - and some classic climbing locations - Mt. Snowdon and the Lanberis quarries. We also saw lots of sheep. It's a beautiful country and it was a lot of fun to have a local tour guide in Mark. I think the scenery will definitely help make the video more appealing than yoga poses in some generic studio.

Now I've got hours of footage to comb through and edit, so it's long hours sitting at a desk for me. Luckily whitewater season is starting here in California so I hope to get some teaching and paddling in on the local rivers to keep me in shape. In the meantime, enjoy some more pictures from Wales on my Picasa Page.