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FUN in 3 stages

The river had risen after yesterday’s constant rain in the higher areas. The water was a deep green and swirling around fallen trees and steep banks. The colour of the water blended with the towering gums that lined the river, contrasting with the golden dry grasses.

I was back on a river and racing again, probably some 40 years since my last efforts of any distance on a river.

Berny (yellow kayak) and me “off into the unknown”

Swirling along, concentrating on my technique, my watch buzzed madly telling me my heart rate had been in zone 5 for too long. Damn, those Spring training sessions I missed, claiming it was too wet or windy, were coming back to haunt me and this was only half way through stage 1 of the 3 stage race. A 10km stage, then 17km and finishing with a 6km sprint, all on a swirling river lined with willow trees, their fingers touching the water ready to grab any paddler that came within reach.

Craft of various types entered

My training partner, Berny L , who was more diligent with his training regime, was slowly pulling away from me and there was nothing I could do about it. He was having his own fun trying to overtake one of the young paddlers in a Wild Water kayak. Every time he came close she sped up.

Berny still hanging on

So, my idea of entering a club race with the Bendigo Canoe Club seemed a good idea at the time but I was starting to see the folly of paddling a low volume Greenland style kayak on a fast flowing river. No rudder control meant it was lean steering into hundreds of twisting river bends, at the same time avoiding the swirling eddies.

There were a variety of craft entered. Doubles, singles, skis, wild water racers and of course a couple of sea kayaks.

Even the calmer sections were full of swirling currents

Trawool Bridge arrived marking the end of stage 1 and the beginning of stage 2. Berny stood at the finish line very happy with himself after a great effort in his first stage race, and helped me climb out for a quick rest before the starter called us for stage 2.

Stage  2 was more of the same river conditions, with the occasional rock bar to avoid, and Berny slowly pulling away from me. Again, he was trying to keep that same paddler in sight. I was just happy to keep my pace steady and my heart rate under control, whilst promising that I would do every training session before my next race attempt.

Eventually the river widened and I saw the finish line, telling myself that last place was still an achievement  in this kayak and with limited training.

Luckily there was a reasonable lunch break before the last 6km sprint stage; just long enough to convince myself to get back in the kayak and finish it off.

Getting ready for the last stage

I was quickly dropped after the mass start and was happy to keep my own maximum pace, counting off the kilometres on my watch.

The leaders sprinted away

 I cemented my last place again but was happy to have finished with little training and the wrong kayak. Oh, did I also mention my age, that’s a handicap I can’t seem to do anything about.

Thanks to all the organisers, volunteers and paddlers from Bendigo Canoe Club who made this FUN event happen.

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The Final Fling

No, not my Final Fling; well hopefully not anyway. It’s a kayak race on the Mitchell River in Victoria , Australia. “King of the Fling Extreme Kayak Race.”

Saturday I joined a group of club paddlers, organised by Dita Pahl of Canoes Plus Racing Team, (yes I’m a rather slow member) for a 9km paddle down the Mitchell River, from the Den of Nargun rapid to the Final Fling rapid. The first task is carrying your kayak down the 700 metre path into the gorge then across the Iguana creek. I admit dragging my kayak the last bit of the descent.

Dita and the crew . Photo Facebook CPRT

The landscape is stunning as are the many grade 2 and 3 rapids. I apologise for the lack of photos of the rapids, however, I was otherwise occupied at those moments.

The Gorge

We had time to play on some of the smaller waves

Having a little fun on the way down

Arriving at the Final Fling rapid it was time to work out my line and have a practice run for tomorrows race.

View of the top section

I lined up the left side drop and tried to get over to the centre. Not far enough to the centre obviously as I ended up running the large hole towards the bottom of the 200 metre rapid. Still I was pretty happy with just getting down in one piece.

That’s me. Past the hardest section but heading for another big hit

Then it was a 200 metre carry back up the rapid to the carpark. No path, just a drag across the rocks and undergrowth.

Back at Echo Bend campsite it was a BBQ and meetup for the group. A great night of fun and games.

Race Day dawned to sunshine and a balmy 4 degrees C in the carpark.

The format was 4 or 5 paddlers starting together up stream of the main rapid, finding their way down the course to touch a banner attached to a rock at the bottom. Sounds easy enough, except the bit about getting down the rather pushy Grade 3 rapid in one piece.

Here’s a few photos to give you an idea of the course.

I was in the Masters category, and certainly the oldest by a long shot. We formed up in the starting position and then off on starters orders.

That’s me number 20 Photo Facebook CPRT

The top section is moving water with a few rocks and I managed that fairly well. Next came the drop into the main rapid. I was planning to keep left then head to the centre, avoiding some of the larger sections.

That was the cunning plan anyway. I hit the first drop a little bit off course, but thought I could recover. Into the next wave I got even more off line and sideways. I thought, “this is serious” just as the next wave smashed me over.

Not what I had planned

I tucked into my roll position, and swept the paddle into position just as my body smacked a rock and the paddle impacted another rock and I lost my grip. Upside down,  no paddle, my race was over, except for a rough swim into the hands of the rescue crew. Thanks guys, I appreciated your help.

So “I Flung the Fling and then the Fling Flung me”

Fantastic river trip. Broken paddle. Bruised ego.

As luck would have it, I won a new Werner paddle in the competitors Prize Draw.

Was it worth the 2000km round trip ? Hell yeah !!!.

Thanks to everyone who helped organise the event, volunteered their time and a special thanks to Roy and Dita at Canoes Plus.

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After the Storm

It’s raining again this morning. Lovely, beautiful, thirst quenching rain on the land that has suffered 2 years of drought. It’s not enough to call it the “breaking of the drought” but it is certainly welcome. The only problem is that the storm that preceded the rain did a lot of damage to the foreshore and infrastructure. Beaches were scoured of sand, jetties were washed away and sea beds damaged.

But there is always a bright side. After the storm the wind would calm and the waves would be glassy. The swell had dropped but there was still some fun waves to be had.

The beach was deserted, except for a couple of dog walkers, and the sand had been scoured exposing lots of the under lying rock structure.

Three intrepid paddlers, wearing every bit of thermal clothing they owned, made their way down the cliff track and launched into a grey cloud covered ocean. There were nice sets of “overhead” height waves to be conquered.

Hopefully the rain will hold off
Seaweed Steve is the first out with Berny close behind
Seaweed Steve jumps on a small wave

Charles joins in with a nice wave choice.

Nice one Charles

Berny picks a nice one, getting in close to the breaking wave.

Then it was Charles’s turn to show his class act.

Nice boat lean Charles
OK, so that’s how it’s done
Berny having fun

After his sea bed inspection, Charles jumps on a clean wave.

Seaweed Steve is always happy when he’s on a wave.

Now you may ask how Seaweed Steve got his name. His helmet is always adorned with some sort of sea bed growth ! He’s a musician by trade, so we excuse him for all sorts of stuff.

Hope you have a great day, especially if you get on the water.

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Bruny Island Tasmania kayak trip

I was going through my photos and found these from a Tasmanian paddle with friends. I hope you like them. Quality is not great on some, but they were taken with a small “point and shoot” camera, either by me or Gavin.

Bruny Island Tasmania,  is a lovely paddling destination, although the weather can be fickle when your are this far south.

Robyn loops in the savage break

The shore break about to claim another victim

Adventure bay estuary

Calm landing

Entering the cave

Ian on the water soon after dawn

Craig enjoys the early morning views

Michael enjoys another easy landing

The walkers

Approaching storm clouds and rain

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Looking south

Rugged scenery looking towards mainland

Looking towards the mainland

The roar of the blowhole

Malcolm gets a little closer

Robyn paddling past rocky headland

Exploring rocky sea caves

Early morning start heading south from Adventure Bay

Crossing Adventure Bay

Craig investigates a narrow opening

Exploring large sea caves

Heading out into a gentle breeze

Ready to depart. The Neck Beach western side of Bruny Island

Look out from our campsite

Sailing back to camp on a light breeze

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Exploring the protected bays where the dense scrub comes down to the waterline

Rocks and driftwood

Rocky beaches

View from the cliffs

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Kayak Propagation

I was looking through a pile of old Canoe and Kayaking magazines and came across an article about Kayak Propagation, which I had never heard of before. The thought of producing my own kayak was certainly interesting and Spring was the right season to give it a try.

So with a few other vegetable plantings I tried the kayak propagation method in our backyard garden bed. Water was said to be super important to the kayak so I made sure I gave it a good daily immersion.

I added shade cloth over the whole bed as we moved into hot Australian summer, which made for a cool microclimate which was great for the vegetable as well as the kayak.

It was planned to be ready early in Autumn, but we left it to the 1st day of April to see the final result. It was exciting to see when we removed it from the garden bed and placed it in the sun where it was hoped it would ripen to a nice bright red/orange colour.

Although we had a few imperfection around the bow that needed attention, the result was very impressive. Why not give it a try yourself; it is a great home garden/kayaking project.

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Surf Kayak-maybe not today

We lounged around at the coffee shop, debating the correctness of the afternoon forecast. We had dodged any rain on our morning gravel ride along the Bass Coast of the Southern Ocean, however It was becoming overcast and somewhat sultry.

I checked the local surf break and was thinking of jumping in my Exo white water kayak to grab a few small waves, where I had seen the local surfers earlier.

There was a line of darker clouds on the horizon and the weather radar showed some rain expected later in the day. Anyway, I thought I might squeeze in a little fun before it arrived.

I decided to check out the beach launch area, with its rocky outcrops, which looked “interesting” and a couple of warning signs that gave me more of an idea

The wind was increasing and the dark cloud now seemed to be roaring towards us and I was a little unsure of the weather.

Robyn said I could paddle out on two conditions.

  1. She checked that my will was up to date.
  2. I signed over our investment portfolio into her name.

I took that as “decision made” and retreated to a comfortable ocean view and within 30 minutes I was watching a savage cold front hit.