By Sam Baldwin
Twenty-one years have passed since I bought my first Sea Eagle. That SE370 inflatable
Sport Kayak opened up a new world to me; deserted mountain lakes, stunning rivers,
and craggy coastline in the little-known prefecture of Fukui, Japan, my home for two
years. I would go on to write a book about life in this backwater gem – For Fukui’s Sake:
Two years in rural Japan – where I witnessed wild monkeys, creatures of the deep, and
rogue bears.
I loved that boat and everywhere it took me but when my time in Japan came to an end,
I sold it to a friend. Moving back to my motherland – the UK – I found myself in Scotland
and was keen to explore this land of lochs. There, I purchased my second Sea Eagle,
another SE370. That one gave me a decade of paddling adventures, largely in the Loch
Lomond and Trossachs National Park, a lush, woodland region, peppered with beautiful
bodies of water.
In 2017 I relocated to Slovenia, a tiny country in Europe with exquisite lakes and rivers.
It was a long-held dream to live somewhere closer to the natural world, and when the
planets aligned after a breakup, I moved to a mountain cabin as a heartbroken hermit.
are popular with whitewater kayakers and rafters.
After some time living in the hinterland hut, I found a top floor apartment in Ljubljana,
Slovenia’s picturesque capital. I had left my SE370 in Scotland but wanted to now
explore the waters of my new home. I felt it was time to upgrade my boat; I was looking
for something a little bigger, a little slicker and a little faster, but a craft that could still be
carried by one person. I had no space for a hardshell and wanted the convenience of
being able to stash my boat in a cupboard and throw it in the trunk when needed; no
messing around with roof bars and straps; no problems finding storage space.
Revisiting the Sea Eagle website, I was reminded of how user-friendly it was. Clearly
organized, with excellent photography and data on each product, I soon homed in on the
473rl RazorLite™. Big enough for two people but easily handled by a solo paddler, it’s
also super-sleek and incredibly light.
The Supermodel of Slovenia
enchanting church that stands upon the island and the castle-crowned cliff.
If you’ve seen just one picture of Slovenia, it was almost certainly of Lake Bled:
Slovenia’s supermodel. It adorns the covers of guidebooks, is splashed over glossy
travel magazines, saturates social media feeds, and dominates the results of a
‘Slovenia’ Google image search.
Bled deserves the fame; its blue-green waters, lily-fringed shallows, and delightful island
upon which a church tower stands, are the epitome of an enchanted, fantasy landscape.
Zoom out from the island, and you’ll see the waters are surrounded by forest, and at one
end, Bled Castle keeps watch from a steep, high crag (rock outcropping). Beyond that lie
mountains that stay snow-capped until early summer.
Bled is a rare example of a place where human hands have enhanced nature’s already
exceptional good looks. Aside from the garish casino that rises from the northeastern
shore, the “fairytale,” and “picture-postcard” clichés normally used to describe the lake
are accurate, though perhaps overused.
I made numerous trips to kayak on Bled, gliding over its calm waters, exploring its shady
nooks, and sometimes stopping on the island to explore the shoreline, observe the
wildlife, or to simply chill. Quietly paddling not too far off the bank aboard the
RazorLite™, it was possible to get close enough to view carp cruising on the surface
and shoals of roach (a fish species native to Europe and western Asia that can grow to
4.5 pounds) without spooking them. In every respect, the RazorLite™ proved perfect for
such soul soothing adventures. At 15’ 6” and only 45 pounds, it’s light to carry, easy to
transport, fast to launch, and smooth to maneuver.
Kayaking Lake Bohinj
largest permanent lake. The surroundings are dominated by the Julian Alps.
Lake Bled is Slovenia’s most popular body of water. But if Bled is the pretty princess,
Bohinj – the country’s largest permanent lake – is the rugged prince. Where Bled has its
perfect island and castle-crowned cliff, Bohinj has a stoic stone bridge. Where Bled is
rounded and curvy, Bohinj is long and broad-shouldered while stretching out four
kilometres along a forested valley. Bled’s waters are warm, Bohinj’s are cool. Where
Bled is edged by gentle hills and far-off mountains, Bohinj has dramatic walls of sheer
rock that shoot up from its shoreline and tower over it, imposing vertigo upon all who
look.
Bled is a manicured beauty; Bohinj sports a wild, raw handsomeness. The glacier that
carved the valley and dumped the dam of moraine cut a deeper and darker abyss for
Bohinj. And while Bled’s banks are dotted with restaurants and gift shops, Bohinj lies
within the protective shield of Slovenia’s only national park and thus remains almost
entirely free of shore-side consumerism.
With my RazorLite™ I made many explorations of this most beautiful lake, peering into
the dark waters, pausing at sandy bays, spying trout swimming below. I have often
visited during the off season, having the lake almost to myself. One time, I saw a dormouse drop from a beech branch, presumably it was sleepwalking. When the water
was calm and I looked up at the spikey Julian Alps high above, there were few places
more spectacular.
It was experiences like this that inspired me to write about the delights and challenges of
life in Slovenia in my second book: Dormice & Moonshine, Falling for Slovenia.
Kayaking on Croatia’s Adriatic
One of the many pleasures of living in Slovenia is that it’s just a two-hour drive to
Croatia’s coast. Although Slovenia itself has a short slice of shoreline, Croatia offers a
far greater expanse of seaside. When my wife and I headed south for a summer trip, the
RazorLite™ came with us.
The Croatian coast is characterized by small, rocky beaches; it tends to lack the long
expanses of sand seen elsewhere in the Mediterranean. This terrain was ideal for our
Sea Eagle, enabling us to reach tiny, hidden coves and have them all to ourselves.
Without this superior kayak, they would have been off limits. You might think that
bumping off barnacle-studded boulders would be a hazard for an inflatable. Not for the
RazorLite™; it’s built of tough stuff. The sharp rocks were no match for its patented, all
drop stich, 1100 Decitex Reinforced PVC hull and floor, enabling us to navigate tight,
craggy waters at paddling speeds of up to six-mph with ease.
The Sea Eagle Adventures Continue
With my RazorLite™ always on hand, I continue to explore the lakes and coastline of the
region I now call home. I’m grateful to Sea Eagle for making such well-designed
watercraft, without which I would not have been able to access so many special places,
from deserted Japanese lakes to hidden Croatian coves.
Where will my Sea Eagle take me next? Well, I now live in Austria’s Deep South – the
lake district of the country – and my aquatic adventures with the RazorLite™ are sure to
continue…
Sam Baldwin is the author of two travel-memoir books: For Fukui’s Sake: Two years in
rural Japan (over 11,000 copies sold) and Dormice & Moonshine: Falling for Slovenia,
which has been translated into Slovenian and Bulgarian. Learn more about his work at
www.sambaldwin.me.