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Four members of the Slugs have finally decided to pack their bags and leave Scotland in search of creeking heaven. Discover the Team and the great adventures awaiting them during their round the world trip. This article also contains a video clip featuring some gnarly scottish creeking action.

You may remember the Slugs, a group of happy scottish paddlers providing us regularly with nice coverage of their adventures in Scotland and abroad. Four of them left the UK about 4 weeks ago and headed to Nepal, the first destination of a round the world trip. Dave Kwant described the world tour plans like this:

" Especially of late, more and more kayakers have taken to the 'beach bum' lifestyle, everyone seems to be jetting off around the world on these world tours these days. However since we are Slugs, we decided to do a slightly different world tour. We will be leaving our well used and abused playboats behind in the slurry isles whilst we jet off around the world looking for adventure in our creek boats. The whole aim of the trip will be to do as much creeking across the globe as we can. "

The Team

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1. Dave Kwant. Dave will be taking care of logistics (yes, himself!). He also makes kayaking films (he just won the UK Paddle Film Festival with Alex Nicks) and will be filming all the goings on during the trip. Dave is a regular contributor to PLAYAK.COM, see for instance the Paddling Calendar that the Slugs offered to the PLAYAK readers free of charge last year.
2. 'Porno' Pete Kyriakoudis, team doctor and source of finances! Pete is also famous for his legendary laziness and ability to hold his breath for up to 10 minutes. 'Porno' Pete will be providing the carnage.
3. Colin Aitken. Radiographer by trade, Colin represents the mad side of the team. His perfect mix of human and collie dog genes makes Colin a formidable force on the river, all you got to do is throw in a stick for him to chase.
4. Greg Nicks will also be joining for most of the trip. Posh brother of Alex, Greg will be upping the class of the trip and as a vet he will also take care of the others. All this will be done with his usual cool as well as nailing the gnarliest of gnarl without getting his head wet.

These guys practice their creeking skills all year round in Scotland. Check out this sweet video clip (Windows Media, 4.7 Mb) to watch them paddling what they know best.

The Places

• Nepal - October / November 2002
• New-Zealand - December 2002 /January 2003
• Chile/Argentina - February / March 2003
• Peru/Ecuador - March / April 2003
• California - May / June 2003
• Washington - July 2003
• British Columbia - August 2003
• Alaska/Yukon - September / October 2003

The Plan

Dave describes the plan like this:

" Since these world tours are becoming ever more popular the Slugs decided it was time to put the world tour back where it should be: adventure, expeditions, exploration and above all fun! We decided the best way to equip ourselves for this was to go simply armed with creekboats. As such we will be concentrating on river running wherever we go with an emphasis on exploration and adventure. The cherry on the cake will be the attempt at four of the biggest canyons in North America in the one season. We are currently looking into a possible first descent of one of the biggest unrun canyons of North America too. Essentially the rest of the trip is going to be getting us in the vibe. So if you know of a scary river in your back garden and reckon it would be quite amusing to see the Slugs hurl themselves down it, then tell us about it ! "

Coverage

You will read about the Slugs in international paddling magazines but the regular coverage will be provided on PLAYAK.COM, with pictures and video clip of the latest epics. At the end of the year the Slugs will be releasing a film of their adventures.

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To play the video clip, you need Windows Media Player (Free Download).

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They support the Slugs. Visit their websites !