Crossing the Ditch

Hooray for Justin and James in finally setting out on their heroic attempt to cross the ditch in a completely inappropriate vessel. It's no different from flying to the moon in a tiny tin can. Except of course the astronauts had no choice of better gear. The ditch crossers could take any number of safe options to get to NZ. It's not the destination that's important, it's surviving the journey. It's doing the incredible that's important. To be Paul Caffyn requires more than doing the odd club paddle or to beat around the bays and rivers (which is where I am about now). You need to be incredible.
To GO, DO & BE.
I still think about Andrew McAuley fairly regularly. I didn't know him but I wanted him to make it. Dying hasn't diminished him and I think about the impact on his family. But there's a part of me that still hopes that he survived and that he will reappear having drifted the last 80ks to Fjordland and after being stranded finally gets home. Like Tom Hanks. It's a fantasy but Andrew is now legendary for the vastness of the endeavour. It was a standard Mirage 580! The mystery shrouds him and mythologizes him. In the seakayaking community his name will loom large. I know it's no consoloation to the surviving McAuleys but it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees. Better to die at sea in a heroic adventure than rot away a lifetime in safety and mediocrity wondering about what you might have done.
I doubt I will have the capacity for such vast boldness, at least not at sea. I think I have some of those qualities in business but each trip in my yak I make I get a feel for the spirit of the Andrew McAuleys and Paul Caffyns.

Reed Chillcheater

I got my first real cag in the post today. I ordered it from the UK after emailing Chris Reed about their stuff. The service was fantastic and the cag fits great. The only problem is the weather. It's getting warmer in Oz now and I may not get to wear this cag until next season. There's a fair amount of cred that comes with Reed so I think I'll wear it anyhow, no matter how hot. Just for a while at least. My next buy will be pants and a new PFD. My Kokatat doesn't sit right and ends up under my chin when paddling so it'll have to go.

At last back in the water

It's been months and at last I have been out in Eco. The flood in June which wrote off my car, no winter paddling kit and a multitude of other issues prevented any maritime activity. And now that I've been sacked from Wineselectors I can't justify the expense of replacement roof racks on my Volvo until I find a new place to work.

However, my old school mate and rival Steve has reappeared in my life. He is reasonably wealthy (I suspect), has taken up kayaking and has a Lexus 4wd with roofracks and is is keen to paddle with me. So today we hit the water at Newcastle harbour and paddled out the heads and south to Merewether beach. We attempted a beach landing with hilarious results and rested for a bit before carrying out a surf re-entry. Fortunately, my entry was clean and I got out OK. Steve got smashed by shore-dumping waves and was frustrated every time. Eventually, he just pushed his Touryak out and swam after it. Both of us were competitive swimmers when young and he is still very strong so it was the easiest option for him. I helped him with an assisted recovery and pumped out his cockpit and we were away. Looks like we need some serious practice here. I looked pretty good on my re-entry but was also lucky with the sets. Steve wasn't.

The paddle back was good until the wind changed and a North easter pushed us into the swell and some choppy water. When we got into the harbour we were totally knackered but also very happy with our day.

Mountain Designs

I am a bit of an anti-logoist but a total brandist. This means I generally have high brand loyalty but I don't think that means I should be a billboard for them. Unless I want to. If I buy a sport shirt, I have already supported the brand by buying it so if they want me to display the logo, which is essentially an advertisement, they should either pay me or sponsor me with the stock. I have a Hugo Boss suit but that doesn't mean they get to put "Hugo Boss" all over the back of the jacket; and they don't. I don't mind a little discreet logo above the pocket or a little patch like on Levi's jeans but Nike and Reebok can get stuffed if they think I'll be their sandwich board boy. Bogans who put a big "Commodore" sticker across the windscreen of their Commodore are a bit sad really. I CAN SEE IT'S A BLOODY COMMODORE YOU WANKER!

Anyhow...this pointless diatribe is leading up to my endorsement of a brand. Now, considering I have nothing to offer and largely no talent in the kayaking world, any endorsement I make is an exercise in futility but being the brandist that I am, I feel I should at least go on record to say that my new Mountain Designs gear is bloody marvelous. I don't know if it's the best you can get and really don't care. The fact is, it's far superior to any other clothing I own except for the $6 flanno I got from Target which is a masterpiece in versatility and cost-effectiveness. I think I mentioned my Wentworth jacket previously. It's the second echelon of MD technical wear so it's pretty cheap compared to hard-core outershells you could buy but it is light, breathable and comfortable and kept me bone dry and snug during our recent killer storm.
The revelation is in the Icebreaker Merino 190g/m2 T-Shirt I got on sale. It's made from some New Zealand super-merino wool and woven by a process retrieved from Area 51. The upshot is that you can wear this for days at a time, never taking it off, and it doesn't stink or get clingy or uncomfortable in any way. I wore it as a base layer for days under the aforementioned flanno and I felt very sexy indeed. Samantha preferred it without the flanno. So Mountain Designs, consider yourself officially endorsed. (BTW, that's not me in the pic).

A city drowned

In the hours since my last post, the city of Newcastle and all the towns in the region have been devastated by extreme weather caused by a violent low pressure cell. This produced winds up to 106kph and unbelievable torrential rain. An hour after I went to see the stranded ship at Nobby's my own car was flooded and the city centre was submerged. It happened real quick and there was madness as people tried to get out. I live about 20km south of the city and it took an hour to get home. Everywhere I went there was devastation and blockages. Fortunately, my house and suburb were safe but we were like an island in a sea of floodwater.

That night the wind went to a new level and we tried to sleep it out but we were worried about losing the roof or the windows. We had no power and it took two days to get it back. At this time, 100,000 houses in the region are still without power and the floodwaters in the Hunter Valley are still rising. My friend Scott Simpson at Singleton is in real danger of inundation and that town is now isolated.

Australia is used to extremes. We have just spent years in the worst drought on record only to cop this. It's normal but this time it's shocking in it's ferocity. So, you sea dogs out there, spare a thought for the people of one of the great surfing and watersport destinations in the world.

Bulk Carrier runs aground on Nobby's Beach

I haven't done much paddling of late for a variety of pretty lame reasons but today the weather in Newcastle went nasty. I mean very nasty. Last night the news gave severe weather warnings and this morning we got winds up to 100kph. By the time I got to work in Newie we got the news that a bulk carrier had beached itself at Nobby's so at lunch time I went for a walk to see. When I got there with Jason,one of my staff, we were amazed to see the ship right on the beach. Emergency services people had a cordon around the area and two resuce helicopters were struggling against huge winds. The beach was a mess and on buoy measured a 17m wave. We then found out two other ships nearby were struggling to stay off the coast and another in danger at Stockton. Fortunately, there appeared to be little danger to people so far as the rescue services are very good but anything could happen. Jason and I were walking at 45 degrees and the rain was like needles. He had a Driza-Bone on which gave great protection and I had my new Mountain Design Wentworth jacket which was brilliant. My canvas jeans got drenched so my next purchase will be some waterproof trousers. You can't have too much gear and I now live by the mantra "there's no such thing as bad weather, just a bad choice of clothes".

14th & 15th April 2007 Marks Point

This weekend we returned to Marks Point and this time Sam came with the Gecko. Though not her first time out, it was the first real day out to practice and have some fun. We brought the kids and Dad and as usual there were plenty of people and plenty of boats. We met Alan and Ingrid, a seakyaking couple with a pair of Prijons, and had a good yarn and traded some information. Once we put in I had a brief paddle with Alan before he and Ingrid left.
Sam and I had several good hours of paddling and catching wake waves and swell while Dad and the kids fished and swam. Sam is looking pretty sharp in the boat and the Gecko is a good match although it needs some seat adjustments. She is even doing some edging and carving some half meter waves.

On Sunday we returned without Dad but with our friend Greg. Greg played with kids for a while and then I forced him into the Eco for a fairly humiliating debut. Greg has no sea legs and his 6'5" frame makes him a bit top heavy so he spent a good deal of time in the drink. Several onlookers enjoyed the experience more than Greg.
Marks Point is a good family day out and a good training ground for beginner kayakers but I'm now looking for some more adventure and soon I'll be calling Wayne Langmaid at Rogue Planet for getting my sea skills certification.

Eco & Gecko

On Sunday I bought an Australis Gecko. I have been stalking this boat on ebay for ages because you just can't have one boat and have any cred in the kayaking world it appears. Actually, this isn't the real reason. My wife Sam is dead "keen" to paddle and I have friends who are really keen and don't have a boat. Despite the proximity of Lake Macquarie and the sea (both about 5 minutes away) and some of the best beaches in the world there seems to be bugger-all kayakers about. Well, at least they're never out when I'm paddling. The Gecko is the right size for Sam at about 4.5m. It also gets great reviews from some notable Oz kayakers. It's bloody uncomfortable to sit in, though, and we'll have to install some rubber padding for comfort. Otherwise, Sam fits nice in it.
I had resolved to buy one new because second kayaks hold their value making them only marginally cheaper than a new one. So I was doing a routine ebay browse for kayaks when I saw a freshly listed Gecko for $1000 "buy now" in Woolongong. I bought it immediately and drove to Woolongong to buy it. The Tyronsea paddle that came with it is rubbish but will do until Sam learns to paddle. Good job I say.

Sunglasses

I am blind in one eye and badly short sighted in the other. Glasses to me are like a vital organ you can replace each year. I also have a need for prescription sunglasses. For 10 years I used a fantastic pair of Bill Bass sunnies that were light, snug and damn sexy. Eventually, they became worn out so I bought a new pair of $500 Bill Bass with Nikorlite polarized polycarbonite lenses. These were so good I could see into the future. Unfortunately, the frames were rubbish and kept breaking. One day I was paddling and took a roll into the drink. Now these sunnies are at the bottom of the deep blue sea.

After my sad lamentations my boss (Shillard) recommended Wiley-X SG1's. Since I am a Stargate fan they were the perfect choice. So I ebayed myself a set and had an optometrist fit some great new scripts so that I could see so well I could read peoples innermost desires. Then off for a paddle armed with super tactical Stargate battle goggles...but then...

As soon as I got into a cadence and putting away some miles, the inside of my Wileys became all tropical complete with mist and rain. BOLLOCKS! I can't take a trick. I spent a lot of time trying to keep them clear but they insisted on maintaining a seperate climate. This brought my cadence to a halt and I was forced to paddle home trying to squint 20:20 vision. Reluctant though I was to modify $400 worth of eyewear, I drilled a series of vents through the frame and cut away some of the rubber seals. So far so good. The moral of this story is that I am not the only kayaker or sportsman who wears glasses so why don't manufacturers cater for this. It always costs me a packet because I buy good sunnies and have to replace expensive lenses with more expensive scripts. Typical.

4th March 2007

I took the kids for a swim to Marks Point today because it was hot and humid and they were driving us crazy. I went to Marks Point just inside the channel to Lake Macquarie. There is a great series of sand flats and clean shallow water that attracts swimmers and boaters of all sorts. I got the kids established then put the kayak in the water. Since they are excellent swimmers I could leave them unattended for short periods while I went for paddle. The tide can run pretty fast at times as this is the only exit for the Lake. The varying water depth also makes for interesting changes in surface conditions and the constant stream of power boats churns the water. This made for some interesting paddling as some of the tidal currents had waves up to 2 feet. The Google Earth pic attached is now out of date as the cove inlet nearest the airport has had breakwalls installed to narrow the gap. This deepens the entrance and produces a long sandy swimming beach inside the island and the mainland. The narrow entrance now runs very quickly and this is enormous fun on a kayak. By the end of the day I was carving up these currents and leaning into the waves much more confidently than before. I'm still not ready for the real beach but maybe soon.

I grew up in Marks Point and Belmont and my family connections to the place are deep. Its great to rediscover the place with my own kids and find a new playground. I'll be spending some time here and training Samantha when I get her a boat.