Gary Forrest Endo...!

Queensland sea instructor Gary Forrest has been putting his Force 5 K-Lite through it's paces on the famous Mooloolooba Beach break, with dramatic effect.

He's managed to turn the endo into an artform, with practiced landings & a technique which allows him to actually have fun with this most unsettling of kayak manouvres. Click on the video link of Gary carving up a 6 footer on the bar, to see the slideshow of this awesome endo sequence. Superb stuff.

Instruction Paddle to Little Bay

Alan Thurman shows off his todger

Easter Sunday, 2008, Rob Mercer led a terrific NSWSKC club trip from La Perouse on Sydney's southern tip, to Little Bay & back. The group was a reasonably experienced one (John Pitrowski, Sharon Betteridge, Rod Cutting, Alan Thurman, Terry Walsh, Stuart Morgan, Sally Jacobs, Rob & I), with very mild conditions (10 knot breeze, 2m of south swell on a small sea), & the weather was nothing short of spectacular. We concentrated on a few advanced drills, including a great V-tow exercise where four paddlers rotate from tower to support paddler to victim to tower, & some rescues involving deck carries from both the bow & rear deck. At Little Bay Rob & I caught a few little waves of the reef, & then had a shot at the assisted rescue technique suggested by renowned British paddler Gordon Brown. The best of these was a 'capsize' assisted boat empty, whereby the rescuer grabs the bow toggle of the victim's boat & brings it over the gunwale to empty the cockpit, partially capsizing in the process, then simply rotates the boat back into position once it's drained. Very fast, very simple, & with a little practice a most valuable skill for any paddlers' rescue armoury.

On the return to La Perouse we practiced some rolling, with virtually all of the group managing a roll of sorts, & those yet to crack the skill at least giving it a shot.

Coffee & cakes at the Boat Shed cafe rounded off a beaut day on the water. John Piotrowski has shot a nice photo record of the day - you can see it HERE.

The author punching out a few K's

View from the Assateague

Rob Mercer entering Botany Bay