Sydney Ports Security..... shhh, nothing to see here.....

An issue I care strongly about is that of garbage in the oceans, and plastic in particular. You only need to read up on the 5 Gyres to see what I’m talking about – mountains of finely broken down plastic floating in our oceans and making its way into the food chain. So I was excited to hear that the Plastiki, a catamaran made of over 12,500 plastic bottles, had sailed across the Pacific to Sydney to raise awareness of the issue.

Hugging the shoreline on the way in....

Since Plastiki is only in town for a little while, I figured I’d paddle in for a good water-borne view. However, it’s current mooring is not exactly open to fans in boats, so I planned an early morning mission to get in for a decent look before there were too many people around. Hugging the shoreline, I quietly paddled until I was within 50 metres, and then ducked in under the boardwalk so as to not gather any attention. Slowly and quietly I manouvered between the pylons until I was just metres away from my target.

Shhhh........ ooh, there she is!

Once there, I slowly eased up to the Plastiki for a close look at this remarkable boat. My first thought was about how small it is – it just doesn’t look like it would handle big ocean storms. But it made the trip acros the Pacific in one  piece, so obviously it is deceptively strong.

Wow.. she's beautiful. The Plastiki up close.

Up close you can see how the plastic bottles are woven in with recycled PET plastic. It is an incredible look, this sleek sporty looking catamaran with two decent hulls made up of empty bottles and a cabin that looks like an elongated geodesic dome.

Plastiki from the side - note bottles in the hull and the geodesic cabin

Bottles.... over 12,500 of them!

As I was studying the boat, my thoughts were interrupted by a very irate security guard who had finally seen me in the water and had unleashed a tirade that whilst hard to hear, contained the phrases “Get out of here ya mongrel…. Federal Area….. go on, keep going….. “. With that clear confirmation that my stay was no longer welcome, I put some heavy strokes into the paddle and zoomed off into the Harbour as the security guard followed down the wharf yelling abuse.

Early morning view of the city as I head off away from the Plastiki's mooring.

In all seriousness though, the issue of marine pollution is a very serious one. The amount of plastic bags and plastic bottles that make their way into our oceans everyday is staggering. It’s no longer possible to consider cleaning the oceans, we all have to pull back on our own levels of consumption of throw-away plastic products. There’s lots of information online on alternatives to our everyday use of these products, I urge you to do your own bit to be a part of the solution. Cheers – FP

FP leading the crew away from The Spit at the start of the social paddle

Having done a fair bit of solo paddling over the past few weeks, I thought it might be time to organise an open social paddle. I put the word out looking for first-timers or friends, with a plan to meet at The Spit before a leisurely paddle up Middle Harbour.

The social set making their way under The Spit Bridge

Grumm turned up with Gavin, a mate of his from the old country.  A colleague from my work, Gelo, turned up. A reader of the site who I hadn’t met before (Mark) arrived on his Vespa. And Blast Paddlers personality Dez Blanchfield turned up with his carbon fibre racing ski. Finally, a bloke we met on the beach, Ian (who had hired an OZFlyte ski for a test paddle), took up an impromptu invite  to join us as well. The seven of us then lined up our respective kayaks and skis on the beach, and paddled north into Middle Harbour.

The FP Paddle Gang... that's how we roll, baby!

Watching Dezzy cruising on his 6.5 metre Think Uno racing ski, I thought about how he might go with a Greenland paddle.  So I convinced him to swap paddles for a bit, me fumbling with his carbon wing paddle, and him trying to get a handle on my traditional hand-carved wooden Adanac Paddle. It was an incredible sight, the mix of cutting edge carbon ski with a traditional Inuit paddle!

Carbon fibre and Timber - New School and Old!!

We eventually returned each others paddles and continued with the group up to Sugar Loaf Bay, where we anticipated meeting Garry in his coffee boat. Unfortunately he didn’t turn up, so after waiting a little while we made the decision to head into Scotts Creek and try to find Garry later.

Mark traded in his usual Sit On Top for a sea kayak. Not sure about the lime visor though??

For those of us in kayaks, the narrow confines of Scotts Creek are usually pretty easy to negotiate. You’d expect the boys in long skis to have problems, but not the kayakers. Except for Gelo of course, who someone managed to wedge his boat into a tree.

Gelo, smiling to hide the fact he's firmly wedged in place!

As the creek narrowed at the half way mark, Dez decided he couldn’t really take his ski much further and chose to turn around. Watching a 6.5m ski trying to turn in a creek about 6.3m wide is pretty damn funny, and for a few moments it looked like Dez was going to wobble enough to end up swimming. But after a perfectly executed 120-point turn, he eventually got his ski around and waving goodbye, head off back to the The Spit.

Seeya Dez, get that bloody huge ski out of this creek!

The rest of us continued up the creek until it bottomed out, so we each turned our kayaks around to head back out. Except Gelo of course, who again managed to get wedged sideways across the creek! Grumm and I had to use both our kayaks to push and pull him around until eventually he was facing the right way.

Oh Gelo.... did you get stuck AGAIN??

The paddle back out was uneventful and as we returned to Sugar Loaf Bay we caught up with Garry for the long-awaited coffees. Rafting up, we all had a chat and enjoyed the beautiful Sydney morning as we sipped our coffee, before splitting up again for the final paddle back to The Spit.

A triumphant Mark at the end of the paddle. Still not sure about that visor!!

Gavin and Ian rolling in to The Spit

Ian... got to see a bit more of the Harbour than a just your average paddle!

With a few new friends made, we all grabbed a final coffee and enjoyed the sun and the beach out the front of Sydney Harbour Kayaks. All up a lovely little tour of Middle Harbour, and a few new lads with the paddling bug.  Cheers – FP

P.s. Thanks to Shannon from Sydney Harbour Kayaks for some of the photos!

Blast Paddlers supremo Dez Blanchfield on his carbon fibre Think Uno

During a recent group social paddle up Middle Harbour, we were joined by ocean paddling personality Dez Blanchfield from Blast Paddlers. He thankfully kept the brakes on long enough to stay with us, but was a little shocked when we lead him into the confines of Scotts Creek. There’s a few places a 6.5 metre ocean ski shouldn’t go – and this was one of them! Watching him turn around was hillarious – unfortunately I only managed to capture the last few seconds out of the full minute and a half of the attempt, but you get the picture! Moral of the story – if you want to explore confined waterways, stick to kayaks. Cheers – FP

Little early morning breakers at Middle Head

It was one of those days where the weather reports totally confused me as to the likely conditions.  As I monitored the various forecast websites, I received a mix of reports ranging from “Seas under 1 metre, wind 15-20 knts” to “Seas up to 3 metres, winds 25-30knts, gusts 40% higher”. At one end of the spectrum, a pretty flat calm day. At the other, a nasty messy windy storm front.

So I took off to The Spit and decided I’d make a decision once there – if calm, I’d head out towards Sydney’s Heads. If not, I’d take the scenic route up Middle Harbour. When I arrived, the water was like glass and the wind barely noticeable, so I took off in the direction of Middle Head to have a better look.

Froth and bubbles along the Middle Head cliffs

When I arrived at Middle Head the sight was beautiful. The cliffs were awash with early morning amber light, with calm seas but a nice little 1.5 metre swell rolling in forming little sucky breakers on the rocks. The conditions were magnificent, so I paddled up to within about 5 metres of the cliff and sat in the break zone, enjoying the start to the day.

Then I took off, hugging the shoreline back into Sydney Harbour and round to Bradleys Head, enjoying the magnificent coast of Sydney Harbour. But as I continued, the sky started to cloud over, and a decidedly strong wind started to pick up behind me, so I decided to turn back into it and start the return journey.

Uh-oh, storm front moving in....

The dark grey moving clouds over North Head told of the incoming front, as if the rapidly rising headwinds weren’t giving it away. I like paddling into the wind though, and managed to match it with some ski paddlers briefly as I powered through the building chop and into the spray. When I finally returned to Middle Head, the conditions had dramatically changed from the calm conditions a few hours earlier.  Now 2-2.5 metre swell was rolling in through the heads and pounding the cliff-face, erupting in huge plumes of spray before rebounding back out. The rebound and incoming swell mixed together made for some sensational  lumps, and the churned up waters looked a brilliant aquamarine blue.

Wanting to record the crazy waters, I pulled out the camera and recorded a good minute of the action before paddling off to calmer waters. Then as I moved further along the head, I pulled the camera back out for another shot and realised the video was actually running. Turns out I’d not recorded any of the cliff action, but had instead recorded a couple of minutes of the darkness inside my PFD pocket!

The waters getting choppier along Middle Head

With the wind still building, I decided against going back to re-record the footage, so instead rode the swell into Middle Harbour and most of the way back to The Spit where I indulged in a hot coffee from SHK. Another lovely paddle under the belt! Cheers – FP

Lumpy good times on Sydney Harbour

Joe O'Blenis - Canadian long haul paddler and Greenland paddle maker

Any time now, internet paddling mate Joe O’Blenis will be pushing off into Canadian waters to attempt the sea kayak speed record for paddling around Vancouver Island. Joe previously set a record of 23 days for the 750 mile circumnavigation back in 2007, but had his record broken by Brit ex-pat Sean Morley less than a year later, with a blistering 17 days. Now after a summer of training, Joe is about to try and crack the 17 day mark.

They must put paddling super-juice in the water up there!

I’ve heard from Joe today that pending wind and weather conditions, he should set off sometime tomorrow (if his “in transit” paddles arrive, that is!!). He’ll be doing it in a Nigel Dennis Greenlander kayak, using one of his own handcrafted Greenland paddles (something for the GP-doubters to consider!).

The route itself is considered one of the most scenic in the world, with its west coast boasting a maze of islands and tide races and its east coast exposed to surf and ocean swell off the North Pacific, all with a backdrop of Canadian wilderness and snow-capped mountains. Not that Joe will have to time to enjoy it, as he’ll need to get cracking early each day to have any hope of taking the record.

Joe playing in the Tahe, one of his many kayaks!

There’s plenty of people throwing their well wishes Joe’s way, and I look forward to speaking to him post race about the journey. But in the meantime, best of luck Joe, paddle hard and lets hope you get that record back!

If you are interested in following his progress, he’ll be paddling with a SPOT Messenger onboard. To watch his progress via Google Maps, just check back on THIS SPOT LINK.

Cheers! – FP