Racing....

Taking the bait from fellow ski novice Stacka, I lined up on Sunday morning for the inaugural Rose Bay Challenge, primarily a ski race around a 15km course on Sydney Harbour. Apart for the Hawkesbury Classic, I've never been in any form of race so it was a new experience for me, and the organisers had drawn some of the big guns of the ocean racing series to take part. Checking the forecast beforehand, I thought I'd give my Rapier a blast instead of the ski, due to the very light conditions, & the fact that the Rapier is a faster boat on flatter water.

Stacka - 'Come on Sundo I dare ya...'

So after some tips & advice from Max Walker before the gun - get onto someone's wash & stay there - I lined up with about 130 other paddlers for the start. Lesson 1, this is not a Wednesday morning paddle where you have the luxury of pacing yourself from the beginning and easing into a rhythm. The start was huge fun, wash everywhere, paddlers jockeying for a spot, zig-zagging across in front of me, heaps of stuff to concentrate on, foot down & go as fast as you can! Lesson 2, if you tear out of the blocks like all the supermen in the field, because you're just having such a great time in the excitement of it all you'll very quickly hit a big wall... 
Apart from the fact that I was knackered after 10 minutes, I was regretting my decision to take the Rapier - the over the back rudder was nowhere near as efficient at grabbing the little wash rides as the super-responsive rudders on the skis. I was going fast when I got into a rhythm, but it was much harder to get into a rhythm in the mess in a boat designed to cruise very quickly, rather than get down & dirty in the mayhem of a ski race.

Anyway, I slugged it out for just under 90 minutes to finish the 15km course averaging just on 10kmh, a bit slower than I've been managing over 12.5km on Wednesday mornings. Lacking the 'ringcraft' and rudder system to properly wash ride made a huge difference to my time. Clearly there is more to this racing caper than having a good forward stroke & fitness, but by hell they help! 

Trying to cut it with the ski's....Image Ian Fevre

I'd say I finished in the bottom 30% of the field which is about where I expected to be first up. I'm not sure I'm, sold on the idea of this sort of flat water racing, if you could call the wash chop at the start flat water. The ocean series starting in September, where the aim is to ride down wind on the sea most of the time, looks like a lot more fun. If I'm not getting any assistance from wind & waves my dodgy conditioning is shown up very badly! My ancestors didn't paddle single boats on flat water, they rode great canoes on the wild ocean, and they had about 40 cousins to help them out...

It was great to experience a different paddle culture, one where fitness, technique & competitiveness (even if it is against yourself) rule. Watching the eventual winner Tim Jacobs cruise past me at about 15kmh was worth the entry fee alone. Man that guy can go - picture perfect forward stroke at a cadence which would generate enough energy to power a small city.  

Tim Jacobs

There is one more race left in the series at Pittwater on May 8. You can get to the race info page through www.epickayaks.net.au.

Canberra Demo Day, Sunday May 2

We're bringing a good selection of our range of kayaks down to Canberra on Sunday May 2, for one of our famous instruction-laced demo paddling days. The arrival of the Tahe Marine & Zegul boats has created a lot of interest & this will be the first opportunity for anyone in the country to try them all out in the one place.
If you're interested in coming along let us know, likewise if there's a particular boat you'd like to paddle drop us a line so we're sure to put it on the trailer. Unlike past years we have a large selection of excellent high terminal hull speed, 'Lake BG' boats in the range, including the Zeguls, Wind 585 & Rapier 20 as well as our beautiful & engaging British boats.
Our scouts in Canberra have recommended Yarralumla Bay next to the designated swimming zone, map below. 

We'll be there from 10am - 3pm but please let us know if you plan on coming down, as we'd like an idea of numbers for safety etc.

Beau Miles - Africa by Kayak

We had the pleasure of seeing Beau Miles present his amazing film, Africa by Kayak, at this year's Rock & Roll weekend. 

Beau is one of those 'make it happen' adventurers who manage to turn a dream into an expedition, a bit of a character with a very honest approach to his exploits.

In 2007, Australian Beau attempted to paddle a sea kayak from one side of Africa to the other. Hand in hand as filmmaking and expedition project, a state-of-the-art, HD camera was mounted to the bow of his 15 foot kayak. The journey would follow the coastline for over 4000 kilometers, through 3 diverse, often volatile countries. Mostly solo and unsupported, Beau had allowed five months. That was the plan.

Malaria, cyclonic weather, massive swell, freak waves, enigmatic locals and constant corruption, is back dropped with typical adventure, hardship and reward. All on film, it returns to the basics of expedition travel and shows that true, modern day adventures are still out there.  

As a paddler, the idea of 30 days paddling a remote coastline with vertebrae crushing surf, a big landing & launch at every sunset & sunrise is about the most committing thing I can imagine. I remarked to Beau after the film that it was the sort of trip you'd only do in your 20's! Add to that the logistical nightmare of negotiating his Australis Kayak through corrupt customs, visas which expired before countries coastlines were finished, and the terrible impact the disappearance of Andrew McAuley had on Beau, happening as it did during a tough period of his own trip, and you have a combination of big water surf survival & raw emotions.

Dates are below, and the show features not just an awesome adventure film, but live music as the soundtrack from the Animators. Get along if you can, it's one hell of a story.

Melbourne: Saturday May 15 

7pm at The Thornbury Theatre

Sydney: Friday May 21 

7pm at The Australian National Maritime Museum

Brisbane: Wednesday May 26^th 

7pm at The Powerhouse Theatre

Tahe Wind 585 - Blowing in a change....

OK, so where do I start on this one without it sounding biased....?
From the outset, we chose the Wind 585 in the Tahe range because it had all the hallmarks of a top notch, high speed fitness tourer. The waterline length is something that regular paddlers on Sydney Harbour, Moreton Bay, Port Phillip & other waterways where there are distances to be covered efficiently can instantly relate to. The boat has pedigree having won the last four annual races across the 85km Helsinki Straits, and we have seen the rise & rise of designs like the Rapier 20, Epic 18 & other so called 'fitness' boats. From the outset I was expecting this 585 to be a fast sea kayak, with moderate initial stability as you would expect from a boat of this modest beam, and also something capable of holding a load for experienced paddlers looking to tour offshore. I certainly wasn't expecting any of the responsive 'British' handling that I've come to love in the Valley & Rockpool designs.
So, with an ideal bunny to measure myself against in super fit adventure racer Sharn, who was testing the Epic V10 Sport, I put the 585 on the roof for it's maiden paddle yesterday. I plonked it in the water at Clontarf, hopped in, sealed up the spray deck & then instinctively dropped an edge to turn. I was expecting a twitchy secondary stability, but got a great surprise when the edge bounced back at me, not unlike the way the secondary stability of the NDK Explorer performs given the same degree of heel. I was even more surprised when it spun 90 degrees in the water on my stationary edge turn. Clearly this was a boat with a little more to offer than straight line speed.
OK, so a nice surprise, not the non-existent secondary stability of most boats of this length & beam, but surely that would mean a lower terminal hull speed? Shard & I set off on the calm water of middle harbour for Grotto Point, and I made sure I cranked the boat up to a good clip to see where exactly I would feel the 'wall' of terminal hull speed. I gradually started to blow out a few big ones as my cadence rose & rose, it became apparent from the lack of hull resistance that this boat is damn fast. A glance behind at Sharn in the 6m surf ski showed that he was pushing pretty hard to keep up with me, and although the V10 Sport isn't an out & out greyhound on flat water like the Rapier or V12, it can still move along faster than any production sea kayak. Speed credentials confirmed.
We got past Grotto Point where there was a solid 1.5-2m swell running, & I suggested we paddle across to North Head so Sharn could get a feel for the ski in what were very real downwind conditions on the return leg. Into the head sea the 585 showed no signs of stalling or slamming over the steep waves, and maintained a hot cruising speed. The initial stability of the boat is embarrassingly solid. While Sharn had a couple of short unplanned swims on the ski, I purred through the confused water in absolute comfort. With all the ski paddling I've been doing lately, it was almost too easy to ride through the swell in the 585 without a brace or wobble. Perhaps I have become a poor judge of a boats' stability, but to me this seemed Rockpool GT-like in it's rock solid feel on the water.

Last but not least I had to see how the boat performed in following conditions. We turned just short of North Head & ran back to Grotto Point with steepening seas behind us. I was again expecting some sea kayak-endemic terminal broaching as the steeper ones picked me up & surfed me along, but the boat tracked straight & true. Sharn on the ski was picking up long runs in the near perfect conditions, and I had to work a bit harder to get the boat to stay with the ride, but clearly 5.85m combined with a narrow beam is enough to give you a superb hydrodynamic run on following waves. We crossed the 3km back to Grotto Point in 13 minutes; an absolute blast, and the most fun I've had at high speed in a sea kayak by miles. Best of all, the 585 gives you feedback in these sorts of conditions. I've heard it described brilliantly as a 'tap on the shoulder', that split second before it's time to accelerate onto a wave where the boat just gives you a hint of when to put on the power. It's a hard thing to put in words but I'm sure everyone who's experienced it, and is reading this, will know what I mean.
In conclusion, while I'm loathe to jump to any huge conclusions about any boat after just one 2 hour paddle, there were enough signs in what were excellent, at times reasonably technical water, to suggest that the Wind 585 may be about to re-define what we should expect from a long waterline sea kayak. A combination of really impressive upper end speed, rough water handling, down sea stability & tracking & terrific bouncy and highly defined secondary stability, which of course allow to really drop your edges & turn sharp if you need to, make it something completely unexpected. The build quality is superb, with a seam inside & out all the way to ends, a skeg and a SmartTrack rudder, a glovebox forward hatch & day hatch, all-rubber KayakSport hatches, and integrated ergonomic thigh braces which give you awesome boat fit. 
At just $2990, those 80kg+ paddlers lusting after a sub 11hr Hawkesbury Classic, or the big load-hauling Bass Strait aspirants now have a real contender to consider.