Tuesday Night Paddles- 11 Year Anniversary

Ian Fletcher

What's so special about an 11 year anniversary? Umm, plenty if you all managed to allow the 10 year anniversary to pass by a year ago without remembering…
Last Tuesday I went out for a paddle to celebrate eleven years since Rob Mercer first began his Tuesday afternoon training paddle. It was also a de facto Xmas paddle with a picnic on the grass at Watto Bay afterwards. Like most of the Tuesday night paddles when the forecast is pretty timid, there wasn't a huge roster, contrasting the days when there is a bit of sh-t in the forecast & Rob gets 12-15 paddlers along for the experience. It's probably one of the few sea paddles where you throw in a forecast 20kn nor' easter or some solid groundswell & everyone wants in….

Ian Rounding a benign North Head

One of the paddlers on Tuesday was Ian Fletcher, who told the tale of his first Tuesday paddle many years ago when very much a novice. It was his first 'live' sea paddle & to this day he says it was the biggest day he's ever been out on, with many sea miles under his belt since. He recounted being encouraged to capsize & be rescued, perform a rescue in water that he considered unthinkable to be out of your boat & immersed in, & came away from this first experience wanting more. 

Rob cruising along in his backyard

It's a common tale among the regulars, everyone seems to remember the day when this happened or it was breaking over South Head or we saw a waterspout out to sea or whales or such & such managed to run aground on those rocks et etc. 
After such a long time it's become an institution in Australian paddling, with scores of guest paddlers from interstate & overseas, & offers a unique & regular opportunity for sea kayakers to get out on the sea in nearly all conditions & learn & develop. 
As always it was great to be out on the sea with Rob & his group, and the event was worthily celebrated afterwards with a few cold beers & cold chicken at the peerless Watson's Bay.

EK through the eyes of Kiri

Daddy & Rob doing Kayaking, by Kiri Sundin.

My eldest daughter, six year old Kiri proudly presented me with this picture after I returned from another overseas trip last week. I asked her what it was, & she said 'it's you & Rob doing paddling in your kayaks, past an island in Singapore, on a sunny day. You just did a roly poly, but Rob is still the best at kayaking'. 

She is wise beyond her years, and in love with Justine's latest canoeing DVD where a great Dad takes his young son Douggie down a beautiful wild river in Canada. She is pestering me daily on when we can go paddling together, & loves nothing more than a few minutes on my new Ergo machine, punching out some miles. She still talks about Freya, having charmed the lady in black for a morning on the day she headed back to Germany, and thinks she might want to paddle around the world, rather than just Australia. It brings a smile to my face, and I'm looking forward to getting my little girl out for an overnight paddle over the Xmas holidays.

The artist & budding paddler in typical cheeky monkey mode.

6 Degrees North, Sri Lanka

The dream home my Mum has been building on the beach coast of Sri Lanka is finished. Mum began going to Sri Lanka just after the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, and has formed some very strong relationships with the villagers in the ravaged areas around the hippie destination of Hikkaduwa. Being the generous lady she is, Mum has sponsored kids to uni, helped raise money to build wells & schools, all in the aid of seeing this beautiful part of the world regain some of it's mojo after such a devastating event.

When she mentioned that she would love to build a house in the area, her mate Udi kept his ear to the ground & found out about an old family block on the beach at Ambalangoda that was selling as freehold, a rarity in the village culture of Sri Lanka. 

Mum snapped up the land & then put Udi & his villagers in charge of building a traditional Sri Lankan home, with a touch of her own western chic. Six months later, with employment for more than 50 people, and all local & recycled building materials & techniques utilised, her dream home is finished. Mum plans on visiting as often as she can during the year & renting the home out to visitors at other times. Local interest has been intense, as the house is a real work of art, and she's already managed to get the International Cricket Council book it for the umpires in all of the international games in Sri Lanka's coastal cities. Billy Bowden & Rudi Coertzen won't have a poor sleep as an excuse for a crappy decision!

Built around the ruins of an older building that was rattled, but not flattened by the wave, it's a sprawling 4 bedroom beach house, with an en suite in each room, which would comfortably sleep 4 couples, or two big families. There is a full time caretaker who looks after the home, and a local chap who comes in the mornings & evenings to tidy up the guests mess & make the beds etc. The house is right on Madampe Beach, a calm coral reef-protected sandy beach from November to March, & a gentle surf beach in the wet season when the wind comes from the west. Paddlers staying for a week could carve out miles of coastline with headlands, surf & inland lagoons to fill your days. 

Or, you could stay the whole time in the house, cook your own meals with fresh local produce, & lounge around the pool….

I've just finished the website for the house if you're interested in reading more. There are a few bits to finish, but unfortunately I'm flat out selling kayaks & might not get to them until the break. The website is www.sixdegsnorth.com

Eventually I'm going to have a few sea kayaks & gear freighted in from the UK so I & guests can enjoy some proper kayaks in a place that is just a beautiful, unspoiled place to paddle….

NZ Tip to Tip

Jaime Sharpe is a NZ paddler & adventurer currently attempting to paddle the east coast of his homeland from Cape Reinga in the north to Bluff in the south. Interestingly, he's doing the first leg of his trip in a TRAK T1600 folding kayak.

 Image Jaime Sharpe

Having paddled the TRAK a fair bit over the past year I have wondered about it's application to a serious trip, & Jaime is out there doing it in good style, from the reports in his blog.

You can follow his trip on his excellent website, Kayak Downuder NZ 2011.

Klancopia - Inside the HKK

We have had a close association with the keen bunch of paddlers known as the Hunter Kayak Klan, since they formed a couple of years ago. Last year we attended their inaugural Klancopia event at Umina, essentially a training & development weekend aimed at raising the level of skills among the Klan members who aim eventually to do their paddling on the sea, in safety. It was a great success & a lot of fun, so we looked forward to catching up with our mates from the Klan this year at the same venue.
This year we added in an assessment on the Friday through Rob Mercer's Balanced Boater for any of the members Klanners hoping to have a shot at their AC Sea Skills award, and Campbell Tiley & Owen Walton stepped up to the plate on a pretty testing afternoon to do their thang.

The forecast southerly had blasted through in the early hours of Friday & whipped up a solid 2m sea, and winds remained on or about the 20 knot mark for the duration of the assessment. We remarked later that it wasn't Rob doing the assessing on this day, it was the sea.

Owen Walton riding up the southerly swell

Owen & Campbell ran through the gamut of skills that are required to pass the mark, including rolling, re-entering & rolling, performing rescues & showing good boat handling in the demanding conditions. The highlight was during Campbells rescue of Owen, when a fat ocean wave broke clean on Campbell & sent him reeling back 20m upside down.

Campbell rescuing Owen, just before the crunch. Bruce in the background watching the wave roll in...

We watched waiting for him to pop the coaming & float free as he wasn't holding his paddle when the wave broke, but he had the presence of mind while upside down to feel for his paddle leash, haul the paddle back into his grip & do a nice roll recovery.

Owen performing his rescue on Campbell

Owen asked what he would have to do if that was what the other candidate was capable of! On the paddle back I reminded Campbell that it was at this event last year when he first had an explanation & a short lesson on rolling, & here he was in the middle of some very real conditions, doing it for real. It shows you what some dedication & practice can achieve.

Owen running down the back of a wave

Bruce McNaughton helped us out on the water, & by the time we got back into the beach every member except Rob had managed an unplanned roll. Mine was a capsize on a runner after I got cocky & drove my edge too hard & ended up doing a 40m 'face brace'.

Riding the swell, just before the face brace

After a brief rest we then hit a good sized surf break to put the guys through the surf phase of their assessment, & both passed with a competent display of support strokes, boat control & rolling under fire. Owen in particular copped a real cruncher, & managed to hold it together all the way in, much to the delight of the crowd on the beach.
It's easy to forget that Owen is a gent well into his sixties. Watching this determined bugger get his sea skills in the conditions we encountered was one of the highlights of my paddling days, well done Captain Grumpy!

Owen punching out on his way to his Sea Skills award

After a gourmet meal on the Friday night at 'Hotel Patonga' (note, it's NOT called the Patonga Hotel), we assembled on the beach for Saturday's skills sessions. I had Chris James helping me out, after he took the opportunity to rocket up the coast from Neilsen Park on Friday arvo, covering 55km in about five & a half hours in his Aquanaut on the back of the southerly.

Rob & Chris James give the Saturday briefing

We spent the whole day working on stroke blending, incorporating our core strength into our strokes, & some innovative drills on supports strokes & bracing. On the whole it was a lot of fun & 13 tired paddlers hit the showers with sore guts!

The Klan….

Anne Moore doing a nice cross bow draw

Bruce McNaughton in classic form

Saturday night featured the now mandatory beer & pizza, and Sunday dawned bright & sunny for our demo day, which we shifted across to Patonga. This was the first sighting en masse of the Rockpool Taran, the Epic V8 & the Zegul 520, and also the first opportunity in NSW for anyone to paddle the entire range of Tahe Marine boats in one spot.

As with all of our demo days, everyone had a smile on the dial as they swapped & compared, rocked & rolled, & generaly mucked about in boats.

Camp EK

Thanks to the Klan for another great weekend, congrats to Owen & Campbell on attaining their sea skills awards, & here's to a bigger & more comprehensive Klancopia in 2011. Thanks to Sharon for making my lunch & making the weekend so easy for Rob & I, what a lady….

Rolling the Epic V8 Ski…??!!

With such a stable, kayak like performance, we wondered if it was possible to roll the Epic V8 Ski at a recent demo day.
With the help of a well-placed tie down & a Mitchell Horizon Greenland paddle, Rob Mercer showed just how easy it was….

Customised Valley & Rockpool Boats Deadline

Just a final reminder folks that the last day for a customised Valley or Rockpool kayak, due here at the end of January, is Wednesday. Space in the next shipment is limited due to a huge response to paddlers wanting their next boat made to order, so please give Rob or myself a call if you want yours included.