Tuesday, June 02, 2009

First pictures of the Dutch-German seakayak-meeting on Borkum


About 3 years ago, I met German seakayak-coach Holger Wessels in Café Old Laramie at Spiekeroog. After 2 beers the idea of organising a German-Dutch seakayak-meeting on Borkum was born: not a highly organised course or a symposium with a prepared and detailed program of clinics, workhops and trips, but a simple "Treffen(D)/Ontmoeting(NL)/Meeting(EN)" of seakayakers of different nationalities, clubs and associations. The participants are free to make the program themselves, paddling for those who want (with a lot of experienced kayakers, guides and instructors at the meeting)-> but the emphasis is on the social interaction, meeting, talking, drinking a cup of coffee or a beer together. Borkum is a perfect location for such an happening: a giant stretch of grass in the old (Military) Marine Harbour and an interesting and challenging seakayak destination - for an experienced seakayaker Borkum is easy to be reached from both the Dutch and the German harbours on the mainland.
The intention was to make a small start this year - a first modest try-out with handful of people. Well, 32 Dutch and 23 German seakayakers joined the meeting at Borkum!

The perfect weather (sunny with wind!), the devotion of the Emjak-team (thanks Michael, Martina, Maaike, Petra and ... !), the cooperation of the "Hafenmeister-couple" (Louke and Gemma) and the enthusiasm of all the participants made the first edition of the EMJAK-NKB-meeting a great success. What about next year?

More pictures on Picasaweb.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Hans- I have been to several symposiums that were stagnate because of how heavily organized they were. They lacked soul. I like the concept of freedom to simple meander, flow, interact, and create your own program. When is it planed for next year? -Jeff

Hans Heupink said...

Hi Jeff! You're welcome: next year at the Pinksterdagen (Pentecost). This is going to be really international! ;-)
Greetings,
Hans