Through an Instructor's Eye

There are definite benefits to being a sea kayak instructor, especially one who does it the way Rob Mercer does it, well & truly challenging his students to experience the sea.
Click on the Vimeo link above to see the past few months through Rob's lens, in locations ranging from Bateman's Bay in southern NSW to the Central Coast.
There are even a few photos of Ginni Callahan in there demonstrating her Greenland skills, and a couple of Sharon Betteridge, the real engine room of EK, getting out on the big bad sea.

The Hand of Mercer...

My business partner in EK and leading sea instructor, Rob Mercer, regularly challenges his clients on surf days at beaches like Umina, Bundeena & Wanda. I can never work out whether this is serious work for Rob, or a paid opportunity for him to get out on the water in his favourite sea environment & rip it up, all the while of course keeping a close eye on his students. The jury is out on that one, regardless of what he says!

Yesterday he had a strong group out off Umina Beach in perfect surf conditions, with the odd bomb set rolling through. It was one such bigger set that Rob chose for an orchestrated reverse endo, and the camera mounted off his bow here shows him at the tipping point, attempting to turn the endo into a pirouette 'so I didn't land on my head...'
There aren't many people around good enough to do this sort of stuff for fun, it takes every bit of nerve & skill you acquire over years of paddling all sorts of boats in the surf, not to mention the good judgement to pick the right wave, in the right place. 
Enjoy the photo, just the foredeck of his Aquanaut LV RM, and a grim hand stuck fast to a Bombora Paddle in amongst the fury of the soup (taken on Rob's GoPro HD).
Rob's excellent training can be booked through his website, www.balancedboater.com.

Geoff Murray Photos

Sea kayak instructor & photographer Geoff Murray has sent me some beautiful photos of his flotilla of boats set against the landscapes of his native Tasmania. Geoff & his wife Lynn are sea kayakers through & through having travelled to all points of the compass seeking out a breadth of ideas on skills & techniques related to our sport. They were instrumental in getting Gini Callahan out here in March/April, something which generated a lot of ideas & teaching concepts. 

I'm sure you'll agree that Geoff's photos are beautifully constructed, open it in the HD Vimeo setting to get them in a nice full screen. If you want to see a broader range of Geoff's work visit his excellent website at www.geoffmurray.com.

Geoff & Lynn kitting up on Sydney Harbour.

Beau Miles - Africa by Kayak, in Sydney this Friday night....

Just a reminder to those of you in Sydney that Beau Miles is bringing his film, Africa by Kayak,  to town this Friday night, at the terrific theatre in the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. You can make a night of it with dinner in one of the myriad restaurants beforehand, and a cocktail or two to round things off afterwards.. 

Beau is one of those 'make it happen' adventurers who manage to turn a dream into an expedition, a bit of a character with a very honest approach to his exploits.

In 2007, Australian Beau attempted to paddle a sea kayak from one side of Africa to the other. Hand in hand as filmmaking and expedition project, a state-of-the-art, HD camera was mounted to the bow of his 15 foot kayak. The journey would follow the coastline for over 4000 kilometers, through 3 diverse, often volatile countries. Mostly solo and unsupported, Beau had allowed five months. That was the plan.

Malaria, cyclonic weather, massive swell, freak waves, enigmatic locals and constant corruption, is back dropped with typical adventure, hardship and reward. All on film, it returns to the basics of expedition travel and shows that true, modern day adventures are still out there.  

As a paddler, the idea of 30 days paddling a remote coastline with vertebrae crushing surf, a big landing & launch at every sunset & sunrise is about the most committing thing I can imagine. I remarked to Beau after the film that it was the sort of trip you'd only do in your 20's! Add to that the logistical nightmare of negotiating his Australis Kayak through corrupt customs, visas which expired before countries coastlines were finished, and the terrible impact the disappearance of Andrew McAuley had on Beau, happening as it did during a tough period of his own trip, and you have a combination of big water surf survival & raw emotions.

Dates are below, and the show features not just an awesome adventure film, but the soundtrack is played live in the theatre by Melbourne band, the Animators. Get along if you can, it's one hell of a story, and you'll be supporting a real, true-blue kind of bloke who is fast becoming one the country's boldest adventurers.

You can book tickets through the National Maritime Museum, or at  www.moshtix.com

Sydney: Friday May 21 

7pm at The Australian National Maritime Museum

Capital Fun

Rob & I have just returned from a terrific sojourn to Canberra where we held a demo day & attended the annual SOTA show. Thanks to our mate in the capital, Marty Holden, we had a beaut venue on the scenic & surprisingly clean(?) Lake Burley Griffin, and had no less than 40 paddlers turn up for a splash. Scotty from Canberra's own Wetspot Watersports came along to demo a few of his boats & the Epic ski's, and for the first time in the country, a crowd got the chance to try out the entire Tahe & Zegul range in one place.
Included in the eager demo paddlers was, err, me. I always know when a boat is a good one because I don't manage to get it off Mercer for a go, sometimes for months, so this was my first chance to have a crack in the Zegul 550, and the Greenland T. I think it took about 4 months until I was able to have a paddle in the Rockpool GT, so a meagre 3 week wait was a bonus.....
The Zegul was first cab off the rank for me & impressed with it's blinding speed, hard tracking & super stability. I don't think I've paddled a skeg boat with such incredible tracking, and the punters doing the test paddles found it hard to separate the 550 from the Wind 585, which several good judges have rated the fastest 'real' sea kayak they have paddled.

In a similar vein, it was easy to see why none of our Greenland T stock made it to the warehouse, all 7 being pre-sold on the hunch from hopeful buyers that they'd paddle as well as they looked. For a fun day boat, with rollability only surpassed by it's bolemic sibling, and the versatility of being perfectly usable as a light tourer, you'd be hard pressed to find something so lively & nimble as the 'T'. Of course, there is also the added bonus of Vogue Living looks on the roof of the Forrester.
Rob jumped in the T & rattled off a few of his party tricks, I followed suit in an underwhelming way after shoe-horning myself into the Greenland, but when the startled locals starting waving arms we figured Lake BG might not be the best spot for some nasal ingestion. Always be suspicious when it's only the out-of-towners with wet hair.
Special thanks to all of the Wetspot guys for taking part in the day, and also to Marty Holden & Tony Mee for helping us out with organisation & loading the fleet back onto the EK trailer, and to Marty for the special home brew & parking spot for said trailer. 
The Canberra paddling scene is quite obviously dominated by the Lake BG expanse, and it was unusual to see so many demo paddlers mount a GPS on the foredeck & go for it. On most of our test paddles the victim, err, I mean paddler is too busy letting the power of the sea wash over them to worry about how fast they're going, but clearly this is a big deal to the fitness paddlers of the lake. There was a bit of a split between those smitten with the serious speed offered by the Zegul 550 & the Wind 585, as opposed to the more subtle appeals of the Greenland & British boats. Bateman's Bay is a regular sea paddlers venue from Canberra & it was great to hear from so many ambitious sea kayakers hoping to get their skills up & find out just what the real rough water boats in our range can offer.
We then headed to the SOTA show in search of new products to add to our burgeoning range & came away with a few very innovative paddling designs. Stay tuned for details.
Thanks so much to all of you in Canberra for coming along to see what we're all about & for making us feel so welcome.

Racing....

Taking the bait from fellow ski novice Stacka, I lined up on Sunday morning for the inaugural Rose Bay Challenge, primarily a ski race around a 15km course on Sydney Harbour. Apart for the Hawkesbury Classic, I've never been in any form of race so it was a new experience for me, and the organisers had drawn some of the big guns of the ocean racing series to take part. Checking the forecast beforehand, I thought I'd give my Rapier a blast instead of the ski, due to the very light conditions, & the fact that the Rapier is a faster boat on flatter water.

Stacka - 'Come on Sundo I dare ya...'

So after some tips & advice from Max Walker before the gun - get onto someone's wash & stay there - I lined up with about 130 other paddlers for the start. Lesson 1, this is not a Wednesday morning paddle where you have the luxury of pacing yourself from the beginning and easing into a rhythm. The start was huge fun, wash everywhere, paddlers jockeying for a spot, zig-zagging across in front of me, heaps of stuff to concentrate on, foot down & go as fast as you can! Lesson 2, if you tear out of the blocks like all the supermen in the field, because you're just having such a great time in the excitement of it all you'll very quickly hit a big wall... 
Apart from the fact that I was knackered after 10 minutes, I was regretting my decision to take the Rapier - the over the back rudder was nowhere near as efficient at grabbing the little wash rides as the super-responsive rudders on the skis. I was going fast when I got into a rhythm, but it was much harder to get into a rhythm in the mess in a boat designed to cruise very quickly, rather than get down & dirty in the mayhem of a ski race.

Anyway, I slugged it out for just under 90 minutes to finish the 15km course averaging just on 10kmh, a bit slower than I've been managing over 12.5km on Wednesday mornings. Lacking the 'ringcraft' and rudder system to properly wash ride made a huge difference to my time. Clearly there is more to this racing caper than having a good forward stroke & fitness, but by hell they help! 

Trying to cut it with the ski's....Image Ian Fevre

I'd say I finished in the bottom 30% of the field which is about where I expected to be first up. I'm not sure I'm, sold on the idea of this sort of flat water racing, if you could call the wash chop at the start flat water. The ocean series starting in September, where the aim is to ride down wind on the sea most of the time, looks like a lot more fun. If I'm not getting any assistance from wind & waves my dodgy conditioning is shown up very badly! My ancestors didn't paddle single boats on flat water, they rode great canoes on the wild ocean, and they had about 40 cousins to help them out...

It was great to experience a different paddle culture, one where fitness, technique & competitiveness (even if it is against yourself) rule. Watching the eventual winner Tim Jacobs cruise past me at about 15kmh was worth the entry fee alone. Man that guy can go - picture perfect forward stroke at a cadence which would generate enough energy to power a small city.  

Tim Jacobs

There is one more race left in the series at Pittwater on May 8. You can get to the race info page through www.epickayaks.net.au.

Canberra Demo Day, Sunday May 2

We're bringing a good selection of our range of kayaks down to Canberra on Sunday May 2, for one of our famous instruction-laced demo paddling days. The arrival of the Tahe Marine & Zegul boats has created a lot of interest & this will be the first opportunity for anyone in the country to try them all out in the one place.
If you're interested in coming along let us know, likewise if there's a particular boat you'd like to paddle drop us a line so we're sure to put it on the trailer. Unlike past years we have a large selection of excellent high terminal hull speed, 'Lake BG' boats in the range, including the Zeguls, Wind 585 & Rapier 20 as well as our beautiful & engaging British boats.
Our scouts in Canberra have recommended Yarralumla Bay next to the designated swimming zone, map below. 

We'll be there from 10am - 3pm but please let us know if you plan on coming down, as we'd like an idea of numbers for safety etc.