Sydney to Hobart Start Mayhem

After a planned catch up with some old mates on Boxing Day got canned, I thought it might be a good idea to go for a paddle among the spectator fleet watching the start of the famous Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Sydney Harbour.
Rob was happy to join in my lunacy, so we arranged to meet down at Vaucluse Bay & paddle across to South Head just before the race start. We weaved our way through the fleet until we reached Camp Cove, where a Waterways guy motored over to check our credentials.

Rob greets his legions of admirers on South Head

Deciding we knew what we were doing (just as well he did because I wasn't so sure) he pointed us to the best spot & advised us to stick in tight to South head once the gun went off. Anyway, as we reached South Head a bunch of ski paddlers went tearing past heading for the edge of the course - at this point there was about 5 minutes to go before the gun. I convinced a reluctant Mercer that it would be a good idea to go out to the edge as well, so we threaded through again for a better look.

Rob Mercer - 'Are you sure this is a good idea, mate?'

A big police jet ski then picked us out & the smiling fuzz gave us a very friendly warning that he couldn’t guarantee our safety once the fleet started to move. We decided it might be better to head for the cover of the reef at South head.

Then.....
The gun went off & the Maxi's started to charge, and the spectator fleet fairly raced out to the heads alongside the yachts. It was like a 16 lane freeway of churning whitewater with Sydney's flotilla of Gin Palaces tearing along at breakneck speed - think the running of the bulls on water.

Wakes rolling through the heads

The risks the motorboat skippers were willing to take with their own safety & ours on the shallow reef at South Head was something to behold – we very quickly had 40ft cruisers tearing past within a boat length of our spot on the 3m deep reef to get a gap on the rest of the spectator fleet.

Boat shoes, striped shirts, big boats, no brains

Obviously they’re wealthy enough to own one of these beasts, so they’re also wealthy enough to pay for the repairs. If we had stayed where I had wanted to go – note my preference, not Mr Mercer’s – we would have most likely found ourselves in game of dodgem with 10,000 charging half-pissed skippers in boat shoes & striped shirts.
The water surface went from a small chop being spun up by a 10 knot Nor' Easter, to an awesome frothing whitewater which presented us with some great technical paddling. This of course was the real reason I went out there......

The Gin Palace charge

Within about 10 minutes the combined boat wakes were pushing metre+ waves out of the harbour, so to our delight we caught a few waves out of Sydney Harbour, which was a first. Anyway, we caught wave after wave from the South head reef all the way around to the Gap & had a ball.

The crowds on Sydney's Gap

We stayed clear of the mad buggers in the Gin Palaces & rode their wakes & wash for the next hour or so.

Only the masts are visible above the wash

It was only a bit later in the day I realised that we & the mad ski dudes were the only paddlers out in amongst it, probably for good reason.
We followed it up with a six pack on the sand at Watson’s Bay & paddled back to our cars.

The crowds depart Watto Bay while we suck on a few Boags....

An awesome afternoon, but think twice about mixing it with the boats if you plan on going out next year…!

Eventual Winner Wild Oats leaves the heads

Latest shipment has arrived....

Our latest shipment of Valley, SKUK & North Shore kayaks has arrived. You can see from our stock list (on the Kayak Prices page of the website) that we have precious few boats remaining from this shipment available, with just a single Rapier 20, two Aquanaut LV's, three NDK Explorers & the new North Shore Atlantic's. If you've been considering a superbly made British performance sea kayak for this summer, please be quick - we've had several disappointed buyers who have missed out to procrastination......

We will also be re-ordering within the next couple of weeks, for our next shipment landing in early April. If you'd like a custom made boat - maybe a carbon kevlar lay-up, a customised bulkhead or your own specific colour - let us know before January 15.

Merry Xmas & thank you....

As the year draws to a close I'd like to take the opportunity to say thanks to everyone out there in paddling world who has taken the time to read my dipsarate blog offerings, and also to those of you who have given us your valuable custom in 2008. For something that was supposed to be a bit of a hobby for Rob & I, & also maybe a chance for a couple of kayak junkies to get our hands on some new designs, Expedition Kayaks has pretty quickly turned into a rather serious enterprise. Of course, none of that is possible without the kayakers who have been prepared to listen to our sermons on rudderless kayaking, & commit themselves to learning how to use our boats, the way they were meant to be used. It's very satisfying to see kayakers in our boats who have made noticeable improvements in their paddling since beginning to paddle their EK kayak.

To you & yours, a safe & happy Xmas, & may there be many hours on the water in 2009.

Regards,

Mark.

Thursday Morning Fitness Paddle

We've been doing our Thursday morning fitness paddle now for about 4 months, & more & more people are starting to tag along as regulars. The route is a flat water 12.5km along the shoreline of Botany Bay in Sydney, which we aim to do in our sea kayaks in about 80 minutes, averaging about 8.5-9km/h. This is pretty good workout pace for most sea kayak designs, & improves accelaration, as well as fitness, and also allows a paddler to get an idea of how fast they actually go over an extended time, rather than simply guessing. This is an important peice of safety knowledge for sea kayakers, as it greatly assists navigation if you have a decent idea of how quickly you can cover ground, especially when you need to....
Here are a few scenes from today's paddle, the last one before Xmas, 2008.

As always it was a beautiful Sydney morning. We're lucky to live in such a great paddling city.

The Rapier 20 - First Impressions

Roger Boardman putting the Rapier 20 through it's paces.

Rob brought his shiny Rapier 20 down to our demo day at Ramsgate Beach yesterday, so I took the opportunity to take it for a bit of a spin, seeing as I've got my own one arriving in a couple of weeks. It's is definitely something out of the box, 20 feet long, 42cm wide, very aptly named considering it looks as close to a deadly weapon as you could imagine a kayak looking, and fast. The initial stability was a concern for me, with no background whatsoever in surf ski paddling, and everyone considering the Rapier 20 to be akin to a surf ski with a deck. Where it differs greatly from a surf ski however, is in the chine profile, which offers a reasonable amount of secondary stability. We're not talking eat your sandwich while taking a photo & sending a text message secondary stability here, but for something capable of the speed the Rapier 20 manages, it's pretty good. The close catch is something a sea kayaker would need a bit of time & adjustment to get used to, as you really do feel like you're planting your blade on top of your feet, but the response when you get your stroke right is something else. This thing absolutely flies........

I realise now that I am going to have to be a bit more dedicated to this kayak than just about anything else I've paddled, but what's life without a challenge. The idea of riding some big ocean swells out at sea in the Rapier is the gold at the end of the rainbow.........

Sydney Demo Day, Saturday, December 13

Following the great success of our demo day at Currumbin prior to the Queensland Sea Kayak Symposium, we're offerring an opportunity for Sydney paddlers to come along & try out our range of kayaks & Mitchell Blades. We will have available on the beach the NDK Explorer, the Valley Nordkapp, Nordkapp LV, Aquanaut, Aquanaut LV & Aquanaut HV, as well as the Rapier 20, and from the Impex range the Assateague, Montauk & Force 5.
We'll be on the beach from 7.30am, this coming Saturday, December 13, and will be offering instruction on rudderless paddling, as well as individual forward paddling tips for those on the water in the demo boats. The venue is Ramsgate beach on Botany Bay, entrance to the beach via the car park opposite Florence St (GPS Ref. 33°, 58’, 56.82S; 151°, 08’, 53.95E). If you’re travelling south along Grand Pde from the city, the car park is 4.1km from the Cooks River bridge, on the left. If you’re travelling north along Grand Pde, the car park is 1.25 from the beginning of the Grand Pde at Dolls Pt. For a more detailed overview click HERE. It's a great opportunity to pick up a well deserved Xmas pressie......! If you intend on coming along along, please register your interest with me on 0417-924-478, or at mark@expeditionkayaks.com.

Tasmania Sea Kayaking Weekend

The Tasmanian Sea Canoeing Club have announced a new annual symposium style event for February next year, the inaugural White Bay Weekend. With the success of the long established New South Wales Sea Kayak Club's Rock & Roll Weekend, and the well received National Sea Kayak Symposium held in November this year in Queensland, it is a terrific addition to the calendar. I think it's another step towards establishing an annual event calendar for sea kayakers such as those which keep everyone busy in the US & Europe. Those great symposium weekends are something of which I've always been pretty jealous, considering the introverted nature of sea kayaking in Australia. Listening to Nigel Dennis describe his famous Anglesea symposium was rivetting, especially when you consider that attendees are lucky enough to be able to rock hop, surf a tidal race, do a cruisy cliffline paddle & some flat water coaching all on the one day within about 5 miles!

Sunset off White Beach, Nubeena

Rob Mercer & I are heading down to the White Beach weekend do three days of instruction, & hoping to pick up some different perspectives on paddling from the Tasmanians, who are mostly paddling in very challenging & cold water, compared to what we on the mainland are used to. Organiser Greg Simson has organised a great venue, the White Beach Tourist Park at Nubeena, just south of Hobart, where there is a good variety of water & excellent facilities. I reckon it's a great opportunity for people who have always wanted to do some paddling in Tassie, but weren't sure of where to go or who to talk to, to make some contacts, enjoy the company of our southern cousins, & have a fun weekend to boot.

The fee for the event is $30, including all on water activities, instruction & entertainment, some guest speakers on the Saturday night & dinner. Value straight from the 1950's if you ask me....!

If you're interested in attending you can contact Greg on (03 62353534) or simson.greg@abc.net.au.