Stand Up Paddler - Image courtesy www.wozthatyou.com (c)

Doug, A mate of mine on the northern beaches of Sydney, gets up before sunrise each morning and lugs his impressive camera gear down to whatever beach is working best. Then he sets about taking pictures of everyday locals geting amongst it in the surf. And every now and then, he finds a paddler in the line-up, carving up the waves with the surfers.

In the pic above this brave SUP paddler has tucked into a sensational bombie. No idea if he made it out or not, but it sure looks like fun!

In the coming months Doug is going ro keep me informed of any other paddle-dogs he sees amongst the waves, and I’ll post some of Dougs photos here to keep you all inspired!

If you are into surfing as well as paddling, check out Doug’s website  www.wozthatyou.com for some sensational photos. And if you’re actually amongst them, tell Doug the Fat paddler sent you and I’m sure he’ll do a good price on some prints for you!

Tags: kayak, Stand Up Paddling, SUP, surf, surf photography

JF having fun in the Folbot amongst ship wrecks

I met Jonathan whilst out on a gentle paddle to Balmoral and we had since organised to catch up for a kayak on Middle Harbour.  Meeting at the very respectable time of 5.30am last Saturday morning, we assembled my Folbot Cooper for Jonathan and head out into 30 knot winds and yet another Sydney dust-storm.

Sunrise through the dust, Sydney Harbour

Besides the work we had to put in to push through the wind and the chop, the benefits of paddling with a writer became apparent quickly as our conversations meandered from American professional competitiveness, to Aussie political apathy, to the Racial Vilification Act, and at various points to the great writings of authors such as Hemmingway.

The dust finally cleared about 8.30am

Jonathan is a New Yorker who has relocated his family to Sydney, where he is continuing to write.  With two previously published novels “A Dog About Town” and “A Dog Among Diplomats“, and a third in the series “A Dog At Sea” due out at the end of the year, JF is well established as a career novelist. But JF is also a paddler who has, amongst other things, paddled around Manhattan, and as of last weekend, managed to successfully roll a Folbot Cooper!

Nicer than Manhattan, hey JF? The Spit, Mosman

I’m looking forward to more paddling with JF, if anything for the “snarky” commentary on what annoys him most about Aussies (sorry JF, I know I promised not to say that!).  And so I can continue to tell him about the terrible things that happened to me in New York.

An interesting interview with JF on Mysterious Musings.

JF’s official site: The Intelligent Dog’s Guide To A Troubled World

Tags: dust storms, JF Englert, kayak, paddling

Shannon paddles a Boréal Design Alvik - Chinamans Beach

It was a crazy day to head out kayaking – 35 knot winds, gale-force gusts and white-capped breakers on Middle Harbour. But tucked in behind the Spit Bridge is my usual launch site, Sydney Harbour Kayaks. Protected from the westerly gale-force winds, the waters between here and Chinamans Beach are almost glassy, even with this crazy weather. So with this in mind I dropped into Sydney Harbour Kayaks for a test paddle of one of their new line of boats (the Shrike B450 – more about that in another post to come) and was joined by Owner/Manager Shannon, taking advantage of the quiet day (not too many kayak rentals in gale-force conditions!).

Now Shannon is an outdoors man who has a real passion for snowboarding, but quite likes paddling as well, especially on a sunny work day! He has a fantastic attitude towards paddling, namely that it’s a sport/activity that should be available to everyone, regardless of their seriousness or skill level. His fleet of over a hundred hire kayaks reflects this – he has almost every paddle-craft available including serious composite sea-kayaks, plastic sea-kayaks & “Sit-On-Tops”, stand-up paddle surfboards and even a range of surf-skis.

Just some of the hire fleet at Sydney Harbour Kayaks

He is also responsible for putting a Greenland Paddle in my hand (he is the distributor for the CohoKayak wooden paddle range). He stocks this range for virtually no commercial gain, because (in his words) “I give them space because it’s an art form we should encourage. Not many true craftsmen are left these days and it would be a shame to have the few paddle-makers remaining give it up through lack of interest or distribution opportunities”. In this age of big business and commercial objectives, he makes a good point.

Sydney Harbour Kayaks - a terrible place to work...

Sydney Harbour Kayaks has one of the most beautiful launch points for paddlers on the Harbour, a point not lost on Shannon, and one of the reasons he recently bought the business after two years of managing the hire & sales store. He can’t help but smile when he says “Just look at where I come to work each day? Doesn’t get much better than this, hey?”. No Shannon, no it does not. Bastard *grin*.

Red Dust on Sydney Harbour (Flickr Image Credit: miro b)

Sydney-siders awoke this morning to what appeared to be Armageddon.  The skies at 5.30am were fire-red and thick with dust, the early stages of what has turned into a full-blown gale-force dust-storm. In what has been termed a “once in a lifetime event”, a storm has travelled across much of Australia, picking up topsoil from thousands of kilometres away, and carried it to my home state of New South Wales. Apparently, a good half of the state is covered!

Harbour visibility very low (Flickr Image Credit: traffman)

Now my first thoughts of course were how good the photos would be from a kayak on the water.  However 5 minutes outside quickly removed such thoughts as I was subjected to 80km/hr winds and choking dust. These weather conditions are quite literally hellish.

So no paddling today, will be locking myself indoors for as long as possible, watching the storm unfold.  And preparing for the inevitable clean-up that will come this weekend *sigh*.

Gale force winds - sand-blasting! (Flickr Image Credit: miro b)

Tags: red dust, Sydney, sydney dust storm

Racing the clock to beat the storm

Sydney in Spring can offer up beautiful sunny days, and horrendous tropical storms. And occassionally, both on the same day! On this particular day I’d spent hours drenched in glorious sunlight, enjoying the warmth of the Spring sun. Then the sky started to cloud over and turned a very ominous green. A quick stop into Sydney Harbour Kayaks for a weather check and my fears were confirmed: a storm warning had been issued, and they were clearing kayaks from the water.

Rising winds and ominous rumblings. Bloody hell...

The problem for me was that, unlike most weekends when I park at Sydney Harbour Kayaks for launch, on this day I’d parked another 6km away, by the Roseville Bridge. Which meant I had about an hour’s paddle to get back, hopefully before the full brunt of the storm hit.

This was a good test for the Greenland paddle – ie could it get me somewhere fast when I really needed it to. I asked it the question, and it responded a firm YES. I was able to power through the increasing wind, passing other paddlers with relative ease on my race to Roseville. And as luck would have it I managed to beat the storm, and the rain, hail and lightning that came with it.

Love a bit of excitement with my paddles.

The last glimpse of sunshine before ice fell from the skies.

Tags: greenland paddle, storms, Sydney