Hides H2O, a Sunglass Retainer

One of Rob's clients, Dave Rowan, bought Rob a brilliant pair of sunglass retainers a few months back as a thank you, called Hides H20. We reckon they were clearly designed by a kayaker who has committed untold expensive pairs of shades to the depths, because in a lovely compact little package, they pretty much cover all the bases familiar to every single paddler with a lamenting look on their face as their prize Oakleys disappear into the harbour. 
Yes, yes, I can hear everyone saying, there isn't an invention out there to stop me being stupid enough to lose yet another pair, but check out these features.

Firstly, these things float, with a removable float that doubles as a thin neoprene glass case. If you're heading to the bar afterwards & don't want to look like a dork with your floatie flapping around off the back of your head you can take the float off. The strap then clips together to give you a solid, fitted strap, in the mould of Croakies or Chums that most of you will be familiar with. When it gets dark or you want to stow your glasses in the day hatch, the float unravels to form a protective case. Sayonara to the mystery scratches on your lenses after paddling, that were caused when you blindly put the sunnies in the hatch next to your multi tool. 
We sought out the manufacturer & have now got them in stock in red, blue, high vis. orange & groovy inner city black, for $17.00 including postage nationally. You can order them through our online store. We can now lay claim to the most expensive sunglass straps on the planet, but are happy in the knowledge that our expensive Maui Jims or Kavu glasses stand a much higher chance of seeing out the season! 

Demo Paddles

What happens on a demo paddle? How do you paddle a couple of boats over a short period & get some semblance of an idea of what it will be like, before committing a substantial amount of your hard earned towards a purchase? What do you look for if you're not an experienced paddler & seriously don't have much of a clue about the nuance of hull designs? How are you supposed to know what's going to happen to you & your new boat the first time you get into challenging water, if your test paddle is in controlled & calm conditions? How about your general skills, what's going on when the best reviewed boat on earth feels difficult on the water. Is it a crook boat, or are you desperately in need of some instant on-water feedback from a skilled paddler to maybe help you correct your own technical problem, which is perhaps giving you the wrong responses from the hull?
Buying a kayak is always a bit of a leap of faith. We try to minimise this by providing demo paddles in real conditions - at least as real as the paddler is comfortable with - and being alongside to offer technical advice on general paddling so you can get a proper understanding of what a particular boat is capable of.

Tim in the Zegul 520LV

This morning I took Tim out for a paddle in blustery conditions just inside Botany Bay, with 15knot winds generating short, sharp, uncomfortable wind waves. He'd expressed an interest in the Zegul 520, & the Nordkapp LV, neither of which are true novice boats, both of which offer rough water performance, but very, very different boats both in concept and on the water. We spent two hours paddling into, across, & downwind, stopped in the lee of Frenchman' Bay a couple of times to get a feel for some of the chine performance of the boats, & generally messed around trying to test & push both Tim & the hulls of two very different designs.

An aerial GPS Track of the demo paddle. Wind was 15-18kn from the SSW corner

Tim had a fantastic go. He pushed hard on the following seas, fell in more than once in his efforts, paddled across the wind in the uncomfortable chop & challenged himself beyond tipping point. He's a novice, but he's fit, brave & prepared to learn the skills required to become a sea kayaker. It was a brilliant morning, and Tim went away with a very good understanding of what boats shaped like the Nordkapp LV do, as opposed to what boats shaped like the Zegul 520 can do.
I love these sorts of test paddles because, well, hell I don't get on the water that often & we had fun. I love seeing people have a go, face the cruel reality that it's not easy to get good, but it's a brilliant thing to commit to something & begin the long & enjoyable process of attaining skills.
Sure not everyone aims so high, and more power to those with milder ambitions with their paddling - all paddling is good paddling. I just thought I'd share a nice story I had this morning from the perspective of an instructor, with the concept of a real demo paddle at it's heart.
Next time you go to buy a boat, ask about the style of demo paddle that is available, & then see if you can't get a bit more than just a solo paddle on a flat stretch of water, without any advice from a skilled instructor or guide. You will make a better choice if you're better informed.

Tuesday Night Paddle from the Deck

Here's a short video Rob shot from his Lumix FT10, mounted on the Ram Locking Camera Mount, set on the the deck of the Rockpool Taran. It shows his Tuesday night crew rounding North Head, and features some nice footage he captured while paddling backwards, of Wendy Stevenson & Shaan Gresser. These guys are good, note their terrific rotation & assured boat handling in the steep little meter or so seas, great to watch. I guess you'd expect Shaan to be in decent nick after just becoming the first woman to cross Bass Strait solo, here she shows a little of the poise & form that propelled her across to Tassie.

PaddleFest 2011 - A Brilliant Day on the Water

Paddlefest has been run for another year, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Macquarie. We were invited along by Lynn Parker from Paddle NSW, who along with her merry bunch of volunteers had arranged  a whole series of events revolving around paddlesports, all going off without a hitch during the day.
There was a 20km race, part of the Harbour Series that runs through Autumn, a shorter 10km race & a 5km fun paddle. Crews of chanting Dragon boaters ran heats along the lakeside to the cheers of the 500 strong crowd, Outrigger canoes competed against one another, sea kayakers paddled, edged & rolled in amongst the mayhem & there was a even a scratch race of craft constructed on the day using garbage bags, duck tape & cardboard.
We had a display set up with our demo boats which as usual were all out on the water being turned over by keen paddlers looking for their next purchase, and Rob, Chris James & I ran impromptu instruction sessions throughout the afternoon. We had a good turnout from the local Hunter Klanners, caught up with the ski racing guys we've gotten to know so well over the last year or so, & all up had a great day.

The short video below captures some of the colour & action of the day, & has a brief section showcasing Rob's Greenland rolling.

Thanks to the local Rotary club for putting on such a comprehensive paddling event, and also to Paddle NSW for broadening the spectrum by including the Harbour Series racers & instruction sessions. The team at Paddle NSW are doing some excellent work behind the scenes & deserve the support of all kayakers who like the idea of a body capable of representing our interests. Check out their website for a rundown of what they're all about.
Roll on PaddleFest 2012.

Getting to know the Epic V12

I've spent the last two months getting my head around the Epic V12 ski, a boat that I never really had any intention of graduating to when I started paddling the intermediate V10S last January.
I'd read that it is a reasonably stable boat for bigger guys like me, but not so for lighter paddlers. So far so good, the initial & secondary stability feels very much like the V10S did when I first started paddling it, but boy does it fly in comparison. It shows you how quickly you can become accustomed to lower stability if you have a bit of a go. These tiny little waves are at Dolls Pt in Sydney, perfect runners for getting a feel for the boat at speed. 

I shot this short video using my new toy, an Oregon Scientific ATC9K Point of View HD camera. I was wanting a GoPro, but the results I saw around from a kayak-eye perspective with the GoPro weren't so impressive. The wide angle lens tended to flatten things out & not really represent the action as it happened live. This camera was recommended as having a less wide lens, & I think the video bears that out. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks in comparison to how it really looked. As you can see it wasn't exactly Waimea Bay, although I swear one of those waves was at least 8ft - the camera must have switched to 'flatten out' mode at just the wrong time! Yeah sure....
It's an excellent compact waterproof unit & it has a remote control, allowing you to turn it on & off at sea without any fiddling. It's like the manufacturers have put all the features of the current genre of these types of cameras together & come up with the perfect package. Time will tell how durable it is, but I was pretty happy with the first run.

Expedition Kayaks at Paddlefest, March 6

Paddle events are springing up all over the country as the various disciplines seem to grow in popularity. The fifth annual Lake Macquarie Paddlefest is on Sunday week, March 6, at Speers Point Park, Warners Bay. Over the previous four years the event has raised more than $50000 for it's worthy selection of local charities, & this year the beneficiaries are the homeless folks in the area.
It's a massive event, with more than 500 people expected to attend, with everything from a ski race to Dragon boats, Outrigger boats, stand up paddling & of course sea kayaking.

We'll be on hand with our full demo range, as well as Rob Mercer, myself & Chris James running sea kayak instruction sessions throughout the day. If you've got a question about your own paddling, Paddlefest is a good opportunity to come & say G'day & spend some time on the water ironing out the puzzling thing in your technique that has been bugging you! It's also the perfect chance to get in the Nordkapp you've read about in books, take the Rockpool Taran for a blast, or roll around in a Tahe Marine Greenlander.
You can get all of the details of the event on their excellent website (click HERE).

Time for a change…..

It's time for a change. I've put my trusty Aquanaut on the market for $2500. It has a few cosmetic scratches & bumps as you would expect from a boat that has been used in all sorts of sea conditions over the past 3 years. It's a full carbon kevlar layup, complete with a foot pump, which would have been a $5500 kayak had it been for sale new to the general public. Valley built it for me, to my specs, it weighs about 22kg & is one strong unit. It's the first Valley boat I've owned & even as late as last Wednesday out paddling with Rob & Axel I was having sellers remorse as I bounced around in the brilliant rough water off Blue Fish Point!

You can read my thoughts on the Aquanaut HERE.

Not quite sure what I'll be paddling next, but with some very exciting new designs due in between now & Autumn I'll be joining the ranks of demo paddlers looking for the perfect boat. At this stage I'm thinking Etain, Zegul 520 or Taran, but they're all so different it's a bit bewildering. Now I know how our customers feel!

Drop me a line if you're interested in buying the Aquanaut from me - note it's a personal sale & not associated with EK in any way.