I had been planning that expedition for 2 years. It started off as all trips do as a simple idea. I blame my Dad for the idea.

He just mentioned maybe to take some time off and go paddle in Quebec once I graduated. So it began.

I planned to follow the Great Lakes all the way to the sea but a Canadian friend of mine told me about the old voyageur canoe route through Northern Ontario and I knew that was the route I wanted to follow.

It would include the familiar and the unfamiliar, open water and small rivers, rapids and portaging, big cities and tidal flows, English and French.

A month away from my ‘normal’ was exactly what I needed at that moment in my life.

Besides exploring open water I also love the thrill of whitewater paddling and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the rush of paddling racing surfski kayaks.

But my real passion lies in traditional Greenland style paddling.

Not a lot of people know about this type of paddling but there is a lot to learn about kayaking if you go back to the source.

Qajaqing (traditional spelling of kayaking & pronounced the same way) as we know it today developed in the Arctic by the Inuit people as a means of hunting marine mammals and for transport.

The skills they came up with to stay alive in those hostile waters translate perfectly to modern equipment.

I really jumped into traditional paddling with both feet and no hesitation. It just seemed to fit.

It felt natural where most other sports were a struggle. It was just the right amount of challenge and reward, a combination that is always difficult to find when exploring new things.

I learned dozens of new special techniques and pushed myself to be better.

I had a goal through all of this, to compete in the Greenland National Qajaqing Championship, a week-long set of competitions held every summer in Greenland (events include races, qajaq rolling, harpoon throwing, and rope gymnastics (www.youtube.com/kayaktothesea).

In the traditional paddling community, Greenland is the holy land.

As the place where the paddles and kayaks and techniques we use originated it is often seen as the pinnacle of qajaq achievement to go paddling in Greenland.

I have an ongoing youtube series about travelling to Greenland to compete.

Take a look at my youtube channel to watch. I try to get a new one out every few weeks.

I feel really lucky to have found a sport and passion that can be so many different things.

It can be my adrenaline fix or my meditation, or often both at the same time.

Kayaking for me is just like the water: some days it can be calm and relaxed, other days tumultuous and exciting, and everything in between.

It flows and changes and no two days are exactly the same.