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.

The Epic V8 - The Inclusive Racing Ski

I've just picked up our demo Epic V8, a boat which has had Apple-style secrecy surrounding it's prototyping, testing & design since whispers about it started late last year.
I'm an unabashed advocate of the V10 Sport as an ocean ski for sea kayakers as the secondary stability is very sea-kayak-like, once you get your head around the fact that it has no deck. The general ergonomics of the V10S make it a superb trainer for sea kayakers looking to transition to ski paddling, but not wanting 'learn by immersion' on the elite designs.
Even so, I've had our demo V10S around the various sea kayak expos & symposiums we attend as instructors & sponsors, encouraging sea kayakers to hop onto this sleek & slightly intimidating-looking beast & give it a whirl. A straw poll of testers shows a 'nup, can't even imagine paddling that thing' at about 25%, a 'gosh that looks like fun but could I really get the hang of it' at about 40%, and the rest hopping on & falling into the same lust driven obsession that befell me when I first paddled it.
The V8 is aimed squarely at the 40% who can't quite decide on whether they'll ever master a boat that still calls on a degree of core strength for balance. It's essentially the fast & stable hull shape that saw Freya circumnavigate the country in her Epic 18, with the latest developments forward of the cockpit that the V12 offers in cutaways for close paddle placement & hydrodynamics. The key to the design is the wide aft, or exaggerated Swede form. This boat is stable. Did I mention how stable it was? S-T-A-B-L-E. The good ski paddlers around would probably use it as an SUP to show off, but like the Epic 18, that doesn't stop it having an impressive turn of speed. On a brief test paddle this arvo I had it sitting comfortably on 10kmh over 3km without breaking a sweat. Anyone who has seen my few race results will know that I'm no speedster. On the water it feels very much like the Epic 18, except that the cutaway foredeck lets you really catch high & get a lot of power into your stroke.
It has some nice touches like a water bottle recess & a tether point for your leg-leash, & features that sea paddlers will appreciate like bow & stern carry handles. The 'heavy' club layup weigh in at about 16kg, so it's an easy one to car-top even for our weight conscious lighter paddlers out there worried about boat loading RSI.
The muscular world of ski paddling can be a bit of a turn-off for some sea kayakers, but in my opinion this particular design promises an inclusive, high quality, well designed & eminently paddleable ocean ski that will see many more sea & recreational paddlers including a ski in their quiver of paddle craft.
There are only a handful of V8's in the country, with plenty more arriving next month, so please give either Rob or myself a call if you'd like to take one for a spin.
Price on the Club layup is the same as the V10S, $2750, and you can read more about it HERE.

Rumblin' in Currumbin #3

Another year, another National Sea Kayak Symposium on the Gold Coast. The event is getting more and more comprehensive & better organised, & invariably features paddlers & adventurers at the cutting edge of our sport. This year was no exception, with the venue switched to the cavernous Tallebudgera Recreation Centre, where everything from sea kayaks to performance surf skis to SUP's to surf kayaks was on offer, as well as superb presentations from Graham Charles & the one & only Beau Miles. Rob & I had a great time catching up with all of our mates north of the border, and it was really great to see the Symposium blossom into a top notch social, as well as paddling event. I'll let the images tell the story….

 Tallebudgerigars on the loose, Forest (centre) leading the charge…..

 Demo's as far as the eye can see

 Sundin & Mercer, following the advice on the sign

 The rec centre hall, venue for Saturday

Gnarly Dog after wiggling into the 'T'

 EK's Travelling HQ

Craig & Dylan McSween test out the Wind 585 

Greg Schwarz taking another bath (didn't he see the sign..?)

Reminder - Queensland Demo Day next Friday

Just a reminder to our northern cousins that the day prior to the National Sea Kayak Symposium on the Gold Coast, we'll be holding our now annual demo day. 

We're joining forces this year with CraigMcSween's Adventure Outlet, and between us we'll have the entire range of Tahe Marine, Valley, North Shore, Rockpool, Trak & Epic boats on display, ready for you to  come along & paddle. We're hoping to also have the newest Zegul an out & out tide racer in the mould of the Rockpool Alaw & Tiderace Xcite, for those of interested in trying a new sportscar....!

The demo day kicks off at 10am at the boat ramp at Murlong Crescent, just around from the camp ground at Tallebudgera (map below). Rob, Craig & I will be on hand to offer on water tips & instruction while you're paddling, at an event that has been a lot of fun the past two years. Please let us know in advance if you're planning to come along. We'll be packing at 3pm to get to the Symposium opening. Full details are HERE.