About Nigel Foster

Nigel Foster is one of the world’s most skilled sea kayakers. He doesn’t boast of his prowess. He is a soft spoken, almost shy individual, but the grace and elegance he displays when paddling demonstrates an unparalleled depth of knowledge about his kayaks, his skills and the ocean.

His international reputation is built on his designs (he has designed six sea kayaks), his books, (`Nigel Foster’s Sea Kayaking’, `Nigel Foster’s Surf Kayaking’, `A Sea Kayaking Guide to Southern Florida’ published by Globe Pequot Press, and `Kayaking, a Beginner’s Guide’ and `Open Canoe Technique’ published by Fernhurst Books in the UK), his teaching, his instructional videos and DVDs (available from Starling Productions), and his expeditions.

He developed his kayaking skills as a teenager in England; he crossed the English Channel several times, sometimes at night, he soloed 400 miles around the Southwest Coast of England and also explored the wild and exposed coast of Scotland. He was the youngest paddler to circumnavigate Iceland (he was 24). He did this expedition with his friend Geoff Hunter. He became a very active kayak instructor and led groups to the arctic islands of Norway, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, and the wilder parts of the Western Isles of Scotland, The Shetlands and Orkney Islands.

His adventurous spirit led him to expeditions on the coast of Newfoundland and to cross France, from North to South, by paddling a racing tandem through its rivers and canals.

In 1981 he undertook a major expedition from Baffin Island to Resolution Island and then across the 40 miles of open water in Hudson Strait to the Button Islands and the Northern Coast of Labrador. In this area tidal range can exceed 40 feet and tidal streams can run at more than seven knots. After fighting the tidal streams in the dark near the Button Islands, suffering frostbitten fingers and loss of gear, he eventually gave up on this expedition and hitched a ride on a passing tanker.

In the late summer of 2004, accompanied by his companion Kristin Nelson, he finally completed that expedition by paddling from Kuujiaq in Ungava Bay to Nain. A distance of over 600 miles of uninhabited coastline. It’s not quite uninhabited, his latest slide show covers this expedition and notes numerous encounters with polar bears!

Nigel Foster is an international kayak teacher and has become an icon of modern sea kayaking. He teaches simple, functional techniques devoid of dogma and his pupils gain a greater understanding of not only how a kayak works but also how to maximize their effectiveness as paddlers. He instructs in Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Spain, the U.K, Canada and the U.S.A. He presently lives in Seattle, WA and can often be found instructing classes in the famous passes of the San Juan Islands.

 
 
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