Two Minutes with ... Douglas Wilcox

Douglas is well known for his superb photographs of paddling in Scotland (Scottish Sea Kayaking Photo Gallery) and his enthusiasm for all aspects of sea kayaking.  We managed to grab a few minutes with Douglas at the Jersey Symposium.

1. How did you get into paddling?  I got arthritis and I used to do a lot of hill walking and windsurfing and I wore out me knees, hips and ankles so I am now wearing out my shoulders elbows and wrists.
2. What type of kayak do you paddle?  My favourite is the Nordkapp LV but I like using my wife’s Alaw Bach in short rough water trips and my Quest for week plus camping trips.
3. What is your favourite paddling area?  West side of the Outer Hebrides.
4. What is your day job?  Teach medicine and work as Clinical Geneticist in a local hospital.
5. Who would you say has had the most influence on your paddling development?  Gordon Brown and Kevin Mansell for attitude and enthusiasm.
6. Who do you think has done the most to develop modern sea kayaking?  From a Scottish perspective Duncan Winning and from a UK perspective Derek Hutchinson.
7. If you were paddling a double sea kayak who would you want in the front seat and why?  My wife Alison, so that I could show her the far side of the islands because in a single she only likes to see the nearside of the islands.
8. What is the best or most memorable paddle that you have undertaken?  Paddling round the north west side of Berneray with a good swell, the sun just starting to set, the tide running around into the Sound of Harris, the white sands of Berneray and if that’s not enough the Minke whale surfacing alongside.
9. What is your favourite stroke?  The bow rudder for control in the wee rocky bits.
10. If you were to offer one piece of advice to newcomers to the sport what would it be?    Practise falling in!
11. How do you see the sport developing in the next 10 years?  Hopefully cheaper, lighter kit, better clothing and the shapes of kayaks might change to give us more versatile kayaks.  Fine tuning of designs.
12. What is your major frustration with the sport?  Work getting in the way on a nice day.
13. What music would be the soundtrack to your paddling life?  In Fingal’s Cave two German music teachers were singing Handel’s Messiah in two parts and the echo making it into 8 parts with the result that the hairs on my neck stood on end.
14. Do you belong to a Club and what is your involvement?  Grassyards Canoe Club, a white water club which I joined to learn how to roll and I did  a little grade 3 paddling to give confidence on moving water and I am now converting as many as possible to sea kayaking.
15. Have you ever had an embarrassing moment?  Something afterwards that you can smile about but wished hadn’t happened.  My first visit to Jersey. I was invited out for an evening paddle and I was exuding Scottish confidence when I was tapped on the shoulder and told that my spray deck was on back to front.
16. Do you have any regrets – something that you had wished you had done but now can’t see yourself doing?  I didn’t start paddling until I was 50, so 45 wasted years.
17. Why do you think we are interviewing you today?  I think its because I am enthusiastic and I like to encourage people to start kayaking and I try to do that not just through meeting people, but also through my web site.