What's on
June is the month of long-distance swimming events on the lakes of Northern Italy.
Sea kayaks contribute to the safety of these events in the role of escort craft for swimmers.
This year seems to be exceptional in the number of events we have been requested to participate in: 17th June, the Grand Prix Lido di Bagnera on the Lago D’Orta with swimming distances of 1, 2 and 5 kilometres; and a week later on the 23rd June, the same lake will host the Traverlonga with a challenging distance of 14 kilometres.
We are sure to be there, and anyone is most welcome to come and join us.
Please let us know if you intend coming, the more the merrier!
We also look forward to the 21st July where once again we will be kakaying ambassadors in the Nuotata dell’Eremo or Hermitage swimming event. This popular swim takes place on the Lago Maggiore and participants swim across the water from Stresa to Reno, Lombardy to Piedmont and West to East...

Kayak snippets
This month we are going to talk about paddling slowly. Slowing down our fast-paced existence is sometimes forgotten - or perhaps even lost - in our modern society. In contrast, when inside our kayak it is very important to paddle slowly. The benefits of executing a slow paddling movement helps avoid muscular problems as well as to better concentrate on what we are doing. A slow paddling cadence allows us the time to reflect on all aspects of the paddling movement thereby helping us evaluate errors in technique and eventually overcoming them.
A kayak is the perfect way to rediscover the joys of living slow...

The call of the Inuit
Tatiyak’s library has recently been enhanced with the addition of a publication in two volumes that has the culture of the Inuit as its theme. Paul-Émile Victor and Joëlle Robert-Lamblin are the authors of "The seal civilisation". The first volume deals, as the title implies, with the games, gestures and techniques, whilst the second recounts the legends, rituals and beliefs of the Ammassalimiut, the Inuit of Ammassalik in south-eastern Greenland.
We have already mentioned these books in our blog and will, with the aim of spreading Inuit culture, continue to reproduce excerpts on our website. Happy reading!

Over the horizon
The CK-Mer is the national association of our French cousins "kayakistes de mer".
It was established in 1981 to promote awareness, self-sufficiency and responsible open-sea kayaking and publishes a quarterly bulletin, a monthly newsletter and has its own website.
To celebrate thirty years of activity (thirty!!!) a kayaking rally is being organised between
18th and 26th August of this year.  It will be held at the Ile Grande Pleumeur - Bodou
in the district of Cotes d'Armor in Brittany (see photo): it is a favourite haunt of Corto Maltese
(an Italian comic-book character) and also where, incidentally, tidal streams are very strong.
 An ideal location to spend your summer holidays – in a sea kayak of course!