The Sun's Out! What's Ahead for EK this Paddling Season

A short but wild Sydney winter has abated to the point that the fleece & Aquatherm can be kept in the fish bucket for all but the most crappy Spring days.

We use the quiet couple of paddling months each year to plan & allocate our time to a series of events & sponsored weekends & days among the kayaking community, and this year we have some hot irons in the fire.

First off, we are pleased to announce that we have full council & Waterways approval to conduct kayak & surf ski training on Botany Bay. These instruction sessions will include everything from calm-water boat control & stroke development, to forward stroke clinics, to intro surf ski, to lessons on rough water paddling in skis & kayaks, including the wonderful downwind training ground Botany Bay offers on a summer afternoon. Keep an eye on our website for details, launching later in the month.

We're also moving premises in early November, to a new warehouse in MIranda that will give us an enhanced retail space for customers who prefer to come & have a chat rather than order online. It means the 'secret handshake' appointments at our current Marrickville warehouse will be consigned to history, and we'll finally have a physical appearance to match our leading online presence.

We have some great community events planned, including the excellent 'All at Sea' weekend with the Sutherland Shire Canoe Club (now in it's third year), our continued sponsorship support of the Hawkesbury Classic, and a number of single day events with local clubs & pods of paddlers, aimed at developing safety on the sea. I'm paddling the Classic again this year, and Rob has teamed up with Mark Hempel to have a crack in a double.

And perhaps most exciting, we've been busy helping with the formation of a new local paddling club, the Dolls Point Paddlers. The formation of this club has been driven by a desire for a local paddling hub, affiliated to a licenced community club, which facilitates a weekly social time trial in the early evening, moderate water of Botany Bay, with a place to gather post-paddle for a cold beer & a chat with like-minded people. 

Essentially it's going to be an 'on-the-way-home-from-work' once a week summer paddle which allows paddlers less confident on their skis or sea kayaks a chance to get out in a summer Nor' Easter & pushing their boundaries within the safety net of an organised event. Details of this venture are all but finalised, so again, keep an eye out for membership details. And yes, this will be a club that welcomes sea kayaks, with the near certainty each evening of some moving water to paddle.

It's great to see the sun shining & the afternoon sea breezes beginning to build, roll on summer....!