Greenland Paddles

I've recently had a few chances to play around with a Greenland style paddle, both the traditional flat blade & Greg Simson's superb triangular Aleut paddle, & I'm starting to think they might actually have a place in the paddling world (postscript - OK, stop sending me abusive emails everyone, my Greenland paddle was firmly planted in my cheek when I wrote this...). I've previously considered them to be a bit of an old codgers relic, but the things you can do with them with regards rolling & strokes are quite astounding. On a demo test paddle on Wednesday morning with Tom Nicholson, I even managed a pretty clean roll with a broken end of Tom's hand crafted stick (after he actually snapped it in half), which hit home to me the teaching capabilities of these ancient designs. Rolling is actually much less to do with the paddle & much more to do with the dynamic body movement under the deck, and using a paddle with a different 'lift' to that which wing & Euro Blades offer really does make you concentrate on the pure body mechanics. Paddlers who understand that it's more about the body mechanics than the paddle invariably learn faster & become much better rollers. Given the rising interest created by the likes of Dubside, Freya Hoffmeister, Greg Stamer & Cherry Perry, we are going to stick our toes in the water & import the Horizon paddle from Peter Mitchell, the famous timber paddle maker in the US. We will have a good play around with them ourselves, & also offer them for sale, for the first time in the Australian market. Mitchell Paddles have long been the benchmark for timber paddles in the huge US market, & the Horizon is the a beautifully finished product. Keep an eye on our online store for prices.

Instructing in Tasmania

I've just returned from an awesome weekend of instructing with the Tasmanian Sea Canoeing Club, at their third annual 'White Beach Weekend', at Nubeena on the stunning Tasman peninsula. In so many ways Tassie is the birthplace of Australian sea kayaking, and it was great to finally get down there to see at least a few of the mythical paddling destinations I've read about for years, & to exchange ideas with these hardy paddlers.
The trip began with a drive down to Melbourne to meet up with Peter Treby, the highly regarded Victorian sea kayaking identity, for a bit of a play in our boats prior to me hopping on the Spirit of Tassie. Luckily the wind was up over 20 knots creating the best little wind waves you could ever get to test out a boat, & we spent a good couple of hours racing in & out of the waves surfing & messing around. Another VSKC member, Bob, also came down to beach with his Nordkapp & added to the merriment. After a couple of quiet beers in the pub across from the passenger terminal with Peter & Bob, I boarded the Spirit of Tassie. A long night in the bar ensued with another highly regarded Tasmanian born paddling identity with a big red beard, and after a brief but heavy kip, the morning brought the shoreline of Tassie into view. I then had to drive to Hobart to collect Rob from the airport, & we headed on down to Nubeena on the bottom end of the Tasman peninsula to set up for the weekend.
The first thing that struck me about the local paddlers was their attention to detail with gear, epecially immersion clothing. These guys respect the water, & it's little wonder with summer water temps sitting in the mid teens. They are almost all very well set up with safety gear, sails, 'stuff that works'. The second thing that struck me is the wonderful sense of community which exists within this club, something I rarely experience in the cut & thrust of living in a big city like Sydney. I was very jealous.....
My first session on the water was an instruction workshop on boat control, and there were several paddlers in the group who's experience went to decades - pretty bloody intimidating for a mainlander (or is that north islander) upstart like me! Suffice to say, our ideas on boat control stemming from better use of big muslcles & rotation, as opposed to paddle flourishes, was slowly contemplated by the group & hopefully everyone learned something. This theme continued on the water over the whole three days, with paddlers willing to embrace & have a go at our drills & challenges with great committment.
The evenings were laced with tall stories, a few glasses of Tasmanian Pinot Noir & some sketching.
Just joking about the sketching....
Then to top of the weekend, Tony, Laurie & Tim snaffled some juicy Abalone off Wedge island & fried them up as an entree to a rip roaring dinner at the local club.
On the final morning Rob led a session on how to teach rolling for some of the more experienced paddlers, so that this ambitious club can advance their training program and begin to develop a 'club' roll.
The experince was one of the highlights of my paddling life, and I thank Greg Simson & the club for organising everything so seamlessly & taking a punt on inviting us down to share our ideas.
Keep an eye out for this event next year, it's a beauty.

Selk Bags - bring out the Yeti in you.....

Considering the country is currently baking in a record heat wave, it's probably not the timeliest of posts about a product I'm trying to sell, but this thing is so much fun I figure I need to get it off my sweaty chest...!
A couple of years ago at a trade fair in the US I wound up at an ungodly hour in a bar with a Chilean dude who was telling me about his brand new product. It was a sleeping bag that allowed you to sleep any which way you wanted, go for a midnight pee without sacrificing too much of your hard earned core warmth, and sit around the camp site at night in your warmest PJ's, without having to pack an extra night time, campfire jacket. I thought it sounded pretty cool, especially after a dozen Budweisers, and went & checked out his display the next day. I bought one off him & have been using it ever since, on those rare & precious occasions these days when I get to camp. This summer that's only been in the backyard in my high tech mountain tent, with my 4 year old daughter & Finding Nemo or the Bee Movie on the mini DVD player....
Suffice to say, it's an awesome product. I love my super warm down sleeping bag, but I hate the fact that it's too damn warm for anything except really cold nights in my climes, & I've always felt restricted by the mummy shape. The Selk bag lets be spread-eagle myself on the tent floor, just like I'm do when I sleep in my own bed, wriggle around without getting twisted, run outside for a pee, and like the blurb says, sit in my sleeping bag with full & warm movement, while enjoying the campfire bonhomie.
We've managed to get a few into stock for you to buy & test out, in a more sensible Aussie warmth rating - I reckon they're something of a revolution in sleeping bag technology. Order them through our online store for $219 including national overnight delivery.

Atlantic II Double

We'll be landing a couple of the excellent Atlantic II double sea kayaks in our next shipment due in April. The Atlantic II is rather a unique boat in the limited market for seaworthy doubles in Australia, in that it retains much of the user-friendly characteristics of the Atlantic single, while still providing a reasonably quick ride with good carrying capacity. The feature of all of the good British designed doubles is their effectiveness when things get rough, however in the Atlantic II, North Shore have managed to come up with a kayak that deals with the 'skill imbalance' which is a reasonably common feature of double paddling partners. It achieves this by reducing length - at 20 feet long (6 metres) it's eminently handlable by a single skilled paddler, while a beam of just 65cm (only marginally wider than some of the single production kayaks on the market) keeps the boat moving long at a good cruising pace. Those who have seen the North Shore boats since they landed earlier this month have all commented on the amazing finish of the aerospace vacuum bagged layup, and this cutting edge manufacturing process will keep the Atlantic II reasonably light, tipping the scales around 30kg.

We'll have a demo boat for interested paddlers in the April shipment - contact us to arrange a test paddle.

North Shore now really famous....

I had the slightly surreal experience of taking part in a photo shoot for Lexus this arvo at the Toyota ad agency. They needed a premium quality sea kayak to show off their newest Lexus, & asked me if they could borrow one of our stock North Shore Atlantic's as the 'talent'. In a photo studio the size of a tennis court, with whited out walls that made it impossible to distinguish wall from roof from floor, photographer Bill took a few well aimed shots. Look out for the North Shore on the roof of the new Lexus, on a billboard coming to you....! Unfortunately you don't get a free one when you buy your Lexus, but the most famous sea kayak in the country is still available from stock for anyone interested....

Thursday Morning Paddle - now on Fridays...!

I've had to move the Thursday morning fitness paddle from Thursday's to Friday's from now on. My youngest daughter has started pre-school & Thursday was our only choice. Same venue, Kyeemagh Boat Ramp, same kick off time, 7am sharp. Numbers have been good lately, get along if you're looking for a good workout, but maybe not good conversation (heads are down & there's a lot of grunting).....
12.5km return trip, about 80-90 minutes of just-above-comfort-zone paddling.

Click HERE for a map of the launch point.

A Night with the Hoff.

Freya Hoffmeister, Sharon Betteridge, Rob Mercer & I enjoying a few pre-circumnavigation drinks.

I had the great pleasure of spending an evening with Freya Hoffmeister, the famed lady in black, who is about to attempt to emulate Paul Caffyn & circumnavigate Australia. This Sunday, all going well, she will depart Queenscliff in Victoria & paddle anti-clockwise 20000+km around the continent. Most Europeans have a vague notion about the size of our wide brown land, but Freya is under no illusions about the scale of her odyssey. Breaking her trip into sections, you can just barely get an idea of what she will face. Starting with a 2500km stretch from Victoria up through the East Coast surf zone where just about every single day you will have a very serious surf landing & exit with a fully loaded boat. Factor in the afternoon Nor'easterlies that predominate through the 2 months of her journey north, & her goal of 60km + per day, & she will have very early starts & a very solid pace to beat the demoralising headwinds. Then the 'pleasure' of the protected reef zone, with the onset of the trade winds, 25-30 knot daily winds which produce technical, almost surfing following paddling conditions. Then the vast loneliness of the top end, with the crocs, huge tidal zones, heat & humidity, & the lack of regular re-stock. Consider that this stretches right across the top of the continent, eventually giving way to the rugged WA coast, with it's unbroken cliffs stretching as far as 130km at a time. Clear that & you hit probably the biggest surf zone in the country, down through Margaret River & Esperance, where 16 second wave periods create miles of unlandable surf, then turn the corner to the Great Australian Bight for the 'run home'. Don't be surprised if this lady has a go at a 'complete' circumnavigation if she makes it as far as western Victoria. I'll leave it to the Einstein’s to work out what that might entail....
So, from being a bit skeptical about this attempt, I now think she has as good a chance as anyone I have come across to pull it off. Her apprenticeship looping the South Island of NZ was a microcosm of the sorts of paddling she can expect in Australian waters. If experience, drive, determination & out & out focus (hate that word…) count for anything, I reckon she will give this thing a bloody good shake. Keep an eye on her journey through her blog.
Go Freya….!