Lawrence (top left) with a Nadgee Solo Kayak

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Lawrence, the owner-operator of Nadgee Kayaks, arguably Australia’s best locally-made sea kayaks. He’d driven up from his home near Bega on the south coast to deliver the first Nadgee Kayak to Sydney Harbour Kayaks, who are now distributing these awesome sea kayaks.

Lawrence is a fascinating guy. He’s a friendly unassuming fella who has paddled such amazing places as Antarctica and the Bass Straight. He uses solar power to run his kayak workshop. He built his own house. He also makes incredibly beautiful, and if the rumours are correct, superbly functional sea kayaks.

I got Lawrence to show me the Nadgee Solo he’d just delivered. His passion for the boat is infectious, and in his words, “I love sea kayaking, and wanted to build an awesome sea kayaker’s boat”. It only takes a quick glance at his customer list and you can see that some of the world’s best paddlers share the same view of his kayaks. Justine Curgeven, of This is the Sea fame, paddled a rudderless and skegless version of the Solo across Bass Straight (ie mainland Australia to Tasmania), a true testament to its paddling credentials.

Now I’ve yet to paddle it myself, so I can’t review it. I can tell you it looks damn sexy though, has incredible attention to detail, and that I will most definitely be reviewing it as soon as I can get some time in it!

For sales, a test paddle, or just more information on Nadgee kayaks , visit Sydney Harbour Kayaks.

Nadgee Kayaks - beautiful!

Tags: Nadgee Kayaks, sea kayaks

Team Fat Paddler Media Crew

I just did an interview on Twitter with @ireckon (who just happened to be in Team Fat Paddler) via Tweeterview where I shared my experience during the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. If you’re interested in seeing the transcript, it’s available here.

Tags: tweeterview

Directions from South Dakota to Sydney please!

Credit to Pat Wellner for bringing this to my attention! On a recent search for directions from his home in South Dakota USA to Sydney, an interesting instruction came up on Google Maps. For each major oceanic crossing, instead of saying “fly” or “sail” or “swim”, Google instructed Pat to kayak across the Pacific Ocean!

Gmaps - kayak across the Pacific Ocean thanks

Now the “data conspiracist” in me suggests that perhaps Google KNOWS that Pat is a kayaker, and is simply pandering to his ways. And obviously, when I try the link myself, Google knows I love to paddle also. But could it be that the crazy people at Google HQ are in fact kayak fans themselves? I’d like to think so.

Try it yourself: Google Maps directions – USA to SYDNEY

Tags: google maps, kayak ocean crossing, pacific crossing, pacific ocean

Boat 107 - seems so easy at this point!

As much as the HCC turned into a gruelling night of sleep deprivation and pain, for many it’s a paddling festival of colour and fun. My land crew (Team Fat Paddler) seemed to be having more fun than most of course, doing us all proud. Here are a few more pics of the colours of the Hawkesbury Classic.

Colourful paddlers! Ned and FP

Landcrewing is incredibly serious business...

It's all Go! Go! Go! when you're on landcrew duty!

Night colours!

Fat Paddler's own shade girl. Where are my skinned grapes?

You can even paddle in colour

Tags: Hawkesbury Canoe Classic

Final thoughts: "Clean sheets and soft pillows soon...."

When you kayak a long distance on your own, you inevitably have meandering thoughts about many things ranging from current muscular pain to family to why your bow wake is glowing like fluoro ribbons in the dark. On my recent paddle as the night grew late and I found myself paddling in the dark alone and in considerable pain, my thoughts grew crazier and a little scattery as the night progressed. Of course these were fed by some of the amazing things I saw during the night, such as the aforementioned luminescent algae creating glowing lines in my bow wake, or exploding in fluoro clouds as my paddle bit into the water. Or the sight of a paddler catching a ferry cable around the neck in the dark due to paddling too close to the shore. Or the vision of billions of stars stretched out like a milky ribbon across the sky in a display seldom seen in the light-sodden skies above Sydney.

The final light of Saturday - only 90kms to go! Bummer...

So what did I think about during the more painful hours of my paddle? I thought alot about my family: my wife Bec and my two daughters Grace and Ella. I thought about my last car accident, and the pain I went through learning to walk again with a shattered pelvis. I thought about sharks occassionally, and the unlikelihood of there being any this far up the river. I thought alot about my support crew, actually worried about them and their safety driving through the night (had I known how much fun they were having I may not have had these particular thoughts!).

Best chicken noodle soup I've EVER had! 83km to go...

I thought about my paddle mate Ned, who had pulled out at the 30km mark with a raging nauseating migraine, and hoped he was feeling better. I thought about cutting my pants off with scissors to try to alleviate some of the pressure sores that were developing (it wouldn’t have helped). I thought about my Greenland Paddle and how lucky I was to have a paddle that could do different strokes, resting muscle groups when they badly needed it. I thought my future kayak adventures, and what I should aim to do next.

A mixture of pain and relief at the end of the 111km

There were many dark thoughts too. I thought on a couple of occassions about pulling over to the side of the river and sleeping for the rest of the night until a rescue boat found me. I thought about simply pulling in at the next checkpoint and refusing to paddle anymore. I thought about taking all my remaining pain killers at once (I had taken a couple and had half a dozen left) to cut down on the pain. And on the odd occassion, I seriously thought about stopping and crying.

Finished - woohoo!

When I look back at the event now, I realise it is this level of hardship that really allows you to test your mental resolve. I honestly felt mentally weak on quite a few occassions out there in the dark, and yet somehow I managed to keep putting the paddle in the water enough to get me to the end (unlike many who pulled out). Whilst I’m in no real hurry to do something like this again any time soon, I can see why people become addicted to this type of pursuit. So if you are about to embark on a big and gruelling adventure, I’d like to send you my heartfelt wishes for your success.

Tags: endurance paddles, Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, kayaking, kayaks