Rock & Roll Report

We've just returned from Rock & Roll 2009, the awesome sea kayaking symposium run by the NSWSKC. It's the club I have been a member of since 2002, as a humble novice, then a Sea Skills qualified paddler, then a Sea Leader & for the past 5 years a sea instructor.

(You can see a large format version of this clip on the Video page)

Rock & Roll has become a really professionally run, safety conscious, inclusive & out & out fun event. More than 130 paddlers came from all over the country, and a good proportion of attendees were new to the sport. The atmosphere this year was the best of any of the previous Rock & Roll's I've been to, heaps of generosity of time & experience, plenty of off-water seminars, retails stands, workshops, & of course the machine of the NSW Sea Kayak Club's trip leaders getting every single paddler who wanted to do a trip out at least once over the weekend. Most people were out on both the Saturday & the Sunday, and conditions allowed some people to get their first ever taste of paddling a rolling ocean swell; the glare from the smiles on the beach was overpowering...! I had three great days on the water, taking a forward paddling clinic on the Saturday morning, & a sea trip in the arvo around Lion Island to try to find some following conditions to ride. The highlight was a 200m ride cracked by Brad McPherson of Rjimlad fame, flying along by the side of the reef with spray flying off his bow. On Sunday morning I did another similar session with a demo of a great rescue which has been used in the UK - Tim Robinson of the the Sea Kayak Forum took a video of the drill which you can see HERE. Then on the Monday John Piotrowski led a trip with several inexperienced paddlers out around Lion Island & down the cliff line of the national park to the beautiful village of Patonga. This for me was the highlight as at least half a dozen paddlers on the trip had never been on a pulsing sea before, & the small taste of the ocean we managed to get them was exactly what a club like the NSWSKC exists to do. it is sea kayaking after all....! From a commercial perspective we were quite overwhelmed by the interest in our boats & our gear. Apologies to everyone who couldn't get a size/paddle spec/demo paddle - please let us know what you missed out on & we'll do our best to help you out as quick as we can. You've gotta love Rock & Roll, well done to the organisers on the NSWSKC Committee headed by Commodore Michael Steinfeld, & to the real gurus, Rock & Roll co-ordinators Ken & Susan Day.