Training Paddle in the Epic 18x & Wind 585

Training for our One Degree South paddle is now in full swing. I grabbed some time yesterday with a rare blank schedule & Rob & I went for a training paddle out to sea from La Perouse. I was paddling the Epic 18x, my boat for the challenge, & Rob had the Wind 585 while his Taran is being modified.
Conditions were pretty benign, a 12-15 knot breeze and a typical little sea running on top of a metre or so of swell. 

We ran 7km straight out, averaging about 8.4kmh into the wind. I shot some video of Rob in the 585 as I realised we have precious few movies showing how our boats actually look moving along in the sea. Reviewing the footage later, the 585 is a very sleek creature in the ocean! Rob was impressed by how well it chews the distance with a minimum of fuss, & once engaged with moving water just how much the stability hardens up.
We saw a container ship leaving the bay as we neared the turnaround point so headed north to dodge the shipping lane, whereby I managed to once again whip up a bluebottle & loop it neatly around my throat. As a warning for out trip it was most timely. I will now develop my paddle clothing to try to prevent this from happening again, as bluebottles are definitely going to out in abundance in the weather & wind conditions we are planning for.
The run home was a hoot. My GPS trace had me running mostly between 10-15kmh as I threaded the little runners bad into the bay. The new rudder system on the 18x is definitely a success. The only time I broached unexpectedly was when I backed off to try & get cute on a wave, allowing the boat to lift back up the following wave & release the stern into thin air. My weight was back, the rudder lost all bite & I skewed off to the right. Noting this error, I kept the foot down for the next 20 minutes & once again didn't have to call on a corrective braking stroke once. I'm salivating at the idea of 110+km downsea in this boat.
We pulled into Little Congwong Beach & swapped boats. Rob paddled the final 3km home in calmer water & marvelled at the lack of resistance in the 18x hull, and the engaging responsiveness.
I got a go in the 585 & there was a definite contrast. If the 18x is the Spitfire, the 585 is the Lancaster. Hard tracking, solid as rock on the water & as fast as any traditional sea kayak out there. For a long expedition with a group you'd be hard pressed to find a more user friendly design, capable of carrying monumental amounts of gear.
The next objective is to wait for a hanking Nor Easter & get out amongst it for the final judgement on the boat.

One Degree South Blog

Our blog for January's 'One Degree South' paddle is now live. You can see it HERE.
There is an initial post outlining the paddle, as well as a portal to allow you to donate to RU OK Day, the suicide awareness charity we are supporting.
We will be updating with training notes, gear and other aspects of the challenge over the next month or so, as we count down to the attempt

One Degree South

Forget about space, time is the final frontier. The likelihood of either of Chris or I getting another coordinated block of time to do a North Reef type trip is remote at best in the medium term, so with Rob we have aimed up at a new challenge.


Our goal some time in January is to paddle one degree of latitude in a day, or 60 nautical miles. Roughly speaking, this will link Sydney and Jervis Bay, if the locals will allow us a few km of license and include Currarong in their bay geography!


Our aim in this endeavor is to promote the idea of safe ocean paddling in groups, to lay down a time that will hopefully inspire another group even in another part of the world to have a shot, and finally to highlight another issue close to our hearts.


We have teamed up with R U OK Day, an independent, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide national focus and leadership on suicide prevention by empowering Australians to have open and honest conversations and stay connected with people in their lives. The founder of R U OK Day, Gavin Larkin, was a schoolmate of mine who sadly passed away earlier this year, and his idea has been a huge success, paying tribute as it does to his Dad Barry. In doing so we're also raising our own little tribute to local paddling legend Wayne Langmaid, who sadly passed away a couple of years ago, a victim of depression. Wayne was a mate of Rob & Chris' &  is much missed.


We'll shortly be posting a new blog site to record the build up and training, as well as providing a portal for the paddling world to donate to this worthy cause, and then of course follow our 'spot dots' as more than 12,000 people did on our North Reef Trip.


We plan to go light and fast, downwind if the weather gods are kind, this time without sails.
It's an awesome 'day trip' to contemplate and I can't wait!

The Balanced Boater: Lesson on a stick..

Rob has just written a beautiful blog on paddles.

I think it very succinctly points out the folly of the strange & bizarrely evangelical fundamentalism that some people out there in blog world attach to their particular paddle choices.

The Balanced Boater: Lesson on a stick..

The Epic 18X Downwind

I'm planning on paddling the Epic 18X in an upcoming trip with Chris & Rob, & have been busy this past week or so testing it out in the context of what we're planning. The new rudder system is of particular interest, as so far it does seem to have revolutionised the way the boat performs downhill.

It was a blustery start to the day, with a solid southerly wind blowing 19-27 knots across the bay, so I took the opportunity to get out amongst the steep little wind waves on offer. I put my head down into the stiff breeze and managed 40 minutes into the teeth of it averaging bang on 6kmh. While the boat does tend to fall off the back of steep oncoming waves this has little or no impact on forward speed, and once I worked out how to manage the boat over the crests I minimised the effect

Turning with steep, quite slow wind waves from astern, I flew back to the shore in just under 20 minutes, mostly on or above 11-13kmh. Where possible I held the boat on the sweet spot of the waves to stop it from charging into the troughs. An indication of just how good the rudder works, and how well it complements the hull is the fact that in that speedy 20 minute burst I didn't use a single stern rudder. In other words I was able to continue being aggressive & chase runners without having to put on the brakes, ostensibly a neccessity when you feel your directional stability sliding on a following wave.

I plan on a longer open sea outing with some more size to the following conditions & will try to get some video as well as a trace to share.

It shows you what innovation can deliver. A boat that was always fast now looks as though it really will handle the kinds of steep following seas that it's siblings in the ski stable are built for. 

Released - the Epic Double Ski

The wraps have come off Epic's latest design, a superb new double ski. Oscar & Greg paddled it together to launch the boat on the weekend's Dragon Run in Hong Kong & put some serious strain on the timekeeper.

It looks sleek, fast & everything you come to expect from Epic's innovative design team.

I'm going to pester the Epic guys for a loan so I can get Rob out for a blast, I reckon it would be a heap of fun.

Remounting a Ski

Rob, Chris & I have a new challenge on the horizon, so this week marks the point where I've deigned to try once again to get my fitness back to levels required for the rigours of long distance sea paddling.

I do this by getting out on my ski & doing short, sharp interval sessions, 'cheating' my way to decent cardio & strength conditioning using the limited time I have available for paddling that isn't work related.

Yesterday was day zero, a new marking point to lay down some times, heart rates etc & give me something to measure & hopefully improve against. Our respective fitness programmes for the North Reef trip produced great results and it's good to have a successful template to work back over. Based on yesterday's effort it's a nice low marker point to begin from!

More time on the ski means becoming reacquainted with the self rescue skills that are necessary for safety. Hands up, I'm no great practitioner of the surfski remount that has been so nicely described on Surfsi.info HERE. I find the sidesaddle re-entry easier in really rough water so have practiced it over the past couple of years at every opportunity.

Then Oscar Chalupsky made THIS neat video a month or so back showing his preferred technique, which is something of a hybridised version of the two wider known methods.

I gave it a go yesterday after an hour of pushing hard along the glassy waters of the Bay, so I at least had fatigue to escalate the challenge, and it is a cracker. Next test is out in some rough water, but the method is so flowing & stable I can't imagine having any dramas out at sea either.

Ski paddling is attracting a much wider demographic since the launch of the Epic V8, and anyone that buys a ski from us gets a very stern talk about making sure this remount technique is mastered before any solo or challenging paddling is undertaken. I still consider myself essentially a ski-paddling beginner, and from this perspective I can heartily recommend Oscar's way, it's instinctive, effective & surprisingly simple.