By Mark Laker

We’re going to The Orkney Islands and Scotland for our holiday this year for hiking, sightseeing and to catch up with Karen’s family. We’ve also booked a day’s sea kayaking exploring caves and wrecks around Orkney’s coast on what is labelled a ‘novice trip’.

Just before Covid we had joined our local canoe club

I did a lot of slalom canoeing in my youth and am still comfortable in a kayak. Karen on the other hand had a lot of enthusiasm and needed to work on her technique – in fact that is the problem, she only seems to be strong in one arm – going in a straight line alluded her for a while. Then she decided to apply her sports psychology skills, which look like this:

• Think of the dream – paddling in sea caves
• Consider what is needed to achieve that dream
• Break it down into a long term goal – written in current tense with emotions and senses: ‘The rugged beauty of the cliffs covered in nesting birds is mingled with their cries, the smell of the sea and the taste of salt water as we confidently paddle along the coastline.’

Then turn that dream into Short Term Goals written using SCCAMP criteria:

• Specific – By the middle of July I will be able to do a day’s sea kayaking in Orkney.
• Challenging – The trip I’ve booked is for novice paddlers – am I at novice level yet?
• Controllable – I can book sessions and the trip…not to be confused with controlling a sea kayak!
• Achievable – We are now regularly paddling for a couple of an hours at a time
• Measurable – The more I practise the stronger I will be so I will measure how many hours practice we get in.
• Personal – I spent many a happy holiday in Orkney on my uncle’s farm and would love to experience some of the islands from the sea.

Now I consider the skills required to reach those goals

One of the skills I need is to know how to deal with a capsize situation, which we practised last week. I felt my body strength needed to pull myself back into the kayak in water was lacking and so I find myself on a similar fitness regime to agility. Weight loss, planking and running for aerobic strength as well as time on water.

The rest of the holiday we plan to be sightseeing and walking the dogs.

CSJ products are going to be well used:

• Kibble – easy to feed – dry or wet if they need more fluid
• Billy No Mates keeping the fleas and ticks at bay
• Skinny Spray for protection before they go running in moorlands
• Skinny Cream in case of any irritations
• Skinny Dip Shampoo – Chic will surely find something to roll in and I must remember to order,
• DemBones – ideal if they get ‘deli belly’

I hope you have fun planning for your own holiday whether you use it to push yourself to achieve something or are just relaxing.