An attentive class watches Helen demonstrate

I’ve done one lesson on rolling in my entire life. I’ve practiced a bit on my own of course, on no more than 8 occasions, and would say I hit about 1 in 3 attempts. I’d still be what you call a beginner. Therefore I was really excited about heading to the pool in Thunder Bay Canada for a rolling class with Helen Wilson, an expert in the Greenland rolling style and producer of the rolling DVD “Simplifying the Roll with Helen Wilson“.

Helen helping Joe O'Blenis with his balance brace

We had a class of 6 and two hours in the pool booked. The class started with a bit of a discussion on paddles, rolling concepts and positions before pairing off in the pool to practice the general body movements required for the rolling and bracing we were about to learn. Helen switched from person to person, checking each paddler’s movements and offering advice on how to improve, before finally climbing into her boat to demonstrate the basics of rolling, bracing and, well then some more difficult rolling!

For a beginner it is astounding to watch someone at that skill level. Helen could roll in ultra-slow motion so we call all see the exact body position and movements of the roll. Then she’d let go of the paddle and do the same rolls in slow motion with just her hands, demonstrating how the techniques are all about body position rather than about power and paddle placement.

Showing us how to get our body position right

The lay-back roll (a high-brace style) is the standard of the Greenland rolls and the one I am able to do (at least sometimes!). I still struggle with it a bit and after watching my technique and difficulties, Helen suggested that perhaps a low-brace forward finishing roll might suit my physique a little better. The roll she wanted to teach me was the Storm Roll, a roll that relies on explosive power as well a body position, so we went to work on learning how.

Helen helping me as I start to learn the Storm Roll

The way to learn this one is to do it by feel – basically she’d roll me upside down, then guide my hands into the right position on the paddle, and then guide the paddle as I’d lift the knee fast to complete the roll. It was a really odd feeling but after several guided-rolls I started to get the feel for what my hands were supposed to be doing, and I was able to practice it on my own (aided by a float bag on the paddle) as she moved onto the other paddlers.

Each individual had different skill levels and techniques and Helen easily switched between the beginners and more advanced rollers, helping the beginners learn to feel how the water works with them, before finessing the skills and techniques of the more advanced crew. She’d continue to cycle through the group, increasing the complexity with each pass and making sure the techniques were settling in properly.

FP slowly getting into this storm roll stuff. Loving it!

My own storm roll was coming along nicely, and as I got the hang of the action, Helen gradually deflated my paddle float until in the end I could practice without it. The roll is hard and I was definitely starting to struggle a bit, but at least I now knew the action. By my second lesson I was starting to hit them more regularly, and now had plenty of exercises to practice and specific areas to remind myself on.

To finish up Helen demonstrated a number of the more complex Greenland rolls for our enjoyment. It was a fantastic way to see first hand where the development of rolling can end up with enough practice and a good teacher. I can’t recommend an event like this enough – a brilliant way to really iron out those techniques and get you moving in the right direction. Cheers – FP

A big thanks to Helen Wilson for all her help - and for being patient with us slow learners!

You can find out more about Helen Wilson and her rolling DVD on her site GreenlandorBust.org.

Tags: greenland rolling, Helen Wilson, kayak rolling, rolling

Thunder Bay, Canada. A little colder than this Aussie is used to!

After my whirlwind tour of Toronto the next stop on my Canadian adventure was the northern Ontario town of Thunder Bay.  If I’d felt the cold in Toronto, I was really going to feel it here, with the pilot announcing “a bitterly cold -20C” on arrival.

When I touched down I was met by two paddling legends; Thunder Bay local Joe O’Blenis, who recently set another World Record for paddling quickly around Vancouver Island (his second!), and Helen Wilson, Greenland rolling expert, instructor and medalist from two Greenland National Kayaking Competitions. It was hard not to feel like a bit of a pretender amongst these two accomplished paddlers, but regardless they both greeted me warmly before proceeding to tell just how bad it was going to be when I stepped out into the cold.

Helen Wilson, FP and Joe O'Blenis. Guess which one can't roll properly??

They weren’t lying. The air was so cold it felt like I was having an asthma attack, with my lungs coughing and spluttering at the incredibly cold air. Thankfully we were all whisked away in a car with Joe’s mate Chris before heading out for a quick tour of Thunder Bay and the shores of the World’s biggest lake, Lake Superior.

Hey look, it's Bambi!! Hello sweety!

Helen does a head-stand on the frozen surface of Lake Superior

Then it was back to Joe’s house to catch up with local paddlers and for a Canadian feed of Pierogi, deer and Persians. The food was rich and tasty but clearly Canada had thumbed its nose at the humble vegetable. I quickly filled up on the local delights before preparing for the nights activity – Snow Shoeing with the Superior Kayak and Canoe Club.

Pierogi - like re-fried cheesy ravioli. Surprisingly delicious!

Seth eating a Persian deer burger. One of the grossest things I've ever seen!

Clearly I’m an Aussie and not exactly experienced in such things. I wasn’t even quite sure what the POINT was, since it made much more sense to stay in the nice warm house than to trek through the snow at night in sub-freezing temperatures. But after putting on almost every piece of clothing I had, boardies included, I grabbed a final beer and head out the door into the cold.

I think I might JUST have enough clothes on.....

The location for our night cross country session was a small creek not far from Joe’s house. It was frozen over (mostly), covered with a decent layer of snow, and would take us a few miles along its path. Of course I had to get into it first, after putting on what to me looked like two short water-skis, climbing the snowy embankment, and making my way gingerly down the creek proper. My graceful moves instead were to trip over the embankment, collapse on my arse into the snow with a tangle of snow-shoes and then moan at the fact several handfuls of snow had made their way down my bum cleavage and into my pants.  Somehow I managed to get up after a brief ten minutes or so, gingerly slid down the embankment on my butt before landing with a PLONK into the creek below.

A Fat Aussie Tourist, a Smurf Commando, and Steve the local.

Once there it was fun… in a freezing cold kind of way.  Helen, dressed in a blue full face-balaclava looked like a cross between a smurf and a commando. My array of clothes made me look like a mis-dressed fat Aussie tourist (hmm, exactly what I was!). The Canadians all got by in shorts in tshirts…. well, ok, maybe not, but they all seemed pretty much at home in the icy conditions.

I learned a lot on that snow-shoe session. Like how to get a beer can stuck to your tongue. Or how not to stick a pole into your snow-shoe whilst walking. Or how it feels to freeze to death on a mountainside. In fact by the time we turned around to head back I had truly learned just how harsh the cold can be, as my eye-lashes grew icicles and then promptly froze together.

My face! I can't feel my face!! Arrrrrgh!

The next morning I got to experience Thunder Bay food icon The Hoito and a little bit of shopping before heading home for a little birthday dinner surprise for local Chris Johnston, one of the sweetest ladies you’d ever be lucky enough to meet.

Clockwise from FP - Diane, Chris, Steve, Joe and Helen. And of course, Darby the dog!

We all shared a little cake before heading off our own ways to prepare for the real reason I’d come up – Rolling classes in the pool with Helen Wilson, Joe and the Superior Kayak & Canoe gang! (coming soon). Cheers – FP

Coming Soon! Rolling classes with Helen Wilson....

Tags: Canada, Helen Wilson, Joe O'Blenis, Superior Kayak Canoe Club, Thunder Bay

Canadian paddlers - I suspect a fraction tougher than Aussie paddlers!

My alarm went at off 6am, rousing me from a brief but deep sleep. I was in a hotel room in Toronto Canada, it was around -10C outside and my head was foggy from a few too many rums with  Canadian paddling friends the night before. Not far away was paddle-mate Alan Drummond, on route to pick me up for an early morning paddle on Lake Ontario.

Alan, Toronto Team Fat Paddler rep, with a 1953 cedar canvas Chestnut c/o CompletePaddler.ca

When Alan arrived we took off for a quick breakfast of sausages and eggs with paddler Mike Ramsey of Badger Paddles,  who also had with him a  couple of custom canoe paddles I’d ordered a few months earlier.  He was going to come with me on our little canoe trip so I could properly christen my new babies in the icy waters of Canada before taking them home. And like me, he too was shaking off the effects of a few quiet rums from the previous night.

Juxtaposition, or denial? Either way, it helped me to feel a little warmer. Only a little!

After a typical healthy Canadian breakfast (meat and potatoes baby!) we set off for the Complete Paddler to get changed into drysuits (thanks Costain!).  Then the three of us took off convoy style for downtown Toronto, passing through the city as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. We pulled up to the snow-covered Cherry Beach, a supposedly “protected” area to access the choppy waters of Lake Ontario, where the water’s edge was iced up and the 1 foot breaking waves rolled in from the windy lake. The official temperature was -7C, but with a strong wind rushing in off the late, it seemed 20 degrees colder. Shivering and cold, I helped Alan unpack the boats ready for a paddle.

Badger Paddles! Thanks Mike and Fiona, they're beautiful!

Looking out over the lake, I was starting to feel nervous. The water was icy, waves were breaking, and we had a pretty small and old canoe. With Mike and I both in it we’d be weighing it down with a good 550 lbs or more, considerably more weight that the little canoe was designed for. Plus the edge of the lake had formed ice sheets which we would have to carefully climb over just to get the canoe to the water.

But I hadn’t come all this way for nothing, so we slowly edged the boat across the ice sheets and finally plonked the beautiful old boat down into the icy slush of the lake. Waves were still breaking against the boat and as it bobbed up and down, Mike and I both climbed in.

The result was immediate. Our combined weight dropped the canoe low into the water, and as a wave broke against the boat, we buried a gunwale into the slush and icy water poured into the boat.  As the next wave hit, yet more water poured into the boat. Within seconds, both Mike and I realised that we simply weren’t going to get the old canoe out through the waves without sinking her.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Ice, water, and two fat paddlers in a little boat!

Ahh, Mike? I do believe we're SINKING!!!!

And with that, I jumped over the side, dragged the boat back to the ice sheet and helped Mike get back on dryer land. Then, safe in my drysuit, walked back out into the ice for a quick photo with Alan.

Well, you cant say we didn't try. At least I got the paddles wet!

With that done, all that was left to do was to pack up, head back to the Complete Paddler to get changed, and continue onto the airport for a flight further north to Thunder Bay (coming soon).

All in all I’d spent about 16 hours in Toronto; been out to dinner, been to a paddle store, met some great people and attempted to paddle a traditional canoe on the ice of Lake Ontario in winter. I’d had a great time thanks to the special folks there, including: Alan, Dympna & James (learntokayak.ca), Kelly (The Complete Paddler), Jim & Sam (H2O Paddles), Mike & Fiona (Badger Paddles), David (PaddlingInstructor.com) and anyone else I may have forgotten! Cheers – FP

My new Badger Paddlers, tempered in the ice of Lake Ontario.

Tags: Alan Drummond, Badger Paddles, CompletePaddler.ca, H2O Paddles, LearnToKayak.ca

Aussie beach-lovers on a hot summers afternoon

I usually paddle at the crack of dawn, but this weekend was a little different since my wife had spent the weekend in the flood zones of Brisbane helping family friends clean up, whilst I stayed in Sydney with the kids. When she did finally arrive home, she gave me the all-clear to head off for a late afternoon paddle on a scorching hot mid-summers day.

With temperatures over 30C and a hot burning sun to content with, I made sure I was well covered up with a rashie and a hat. Then I set off from the The Spit passing Clontarf Beach heading towards Manly and the cliffs of Grotto Point Reserve.

Grotto Reserve Cliffs - a fun playground for the intermediate paddler

The swell coming in off the Tasman was a very cruisey 1-1.5 metres and was causing me little bother as I paddled over to the cliff faces. Once there the rebound off the cliffs offered some easy but fun bubbly lumps to bob around in, throwing up spray and keeping me cool. I mucked around in it for a little while before paddling past the point towards Manly and back again.

On the way back I noticed a brown lump in the water bobbing around in the waves. On closer inspection it looked like a bloody big puffer fish, well inflated and bobbing around on the surface. I paddled up for a closer look, saw that it was still swimming, and then slowly went on my way leaving him to his little patch of water.

Hello Mr Puffy! Enjoying a swim under the hot sun too I see!

I paddled back into the cliff area amongst the sparkling water bouncing off the cliff ledges. With the sun reflecting off the wind chop and rebound the water looked absolutely mesmerising, and there wasn’t a single other paddler about. I dashed in and out of the cliffs, laughing at the fun of it all, and thankful that I’d got this stunning afternoon paddle spot all to myself.

Sunshine and rocky cliffs. Much fun!

Eventually I made my way back to Grotto Point and into Middle Harbour, where classic scenes of Australia were everywhere. Kids fishing from rocks, fat blokes drinking beer from cans playing classic catches in the water, beach cricket on almost every patch of sand, and of course the odd topless sunbather. There were also hundreds of boats at anchor and a multitude of parties going on – the whole harbour scene was like a huge summer festival.

FP under the hot sun. Note the hat and long sleeves for sun protection!

As I continued up Middle Harbour a few decent sized boats passed throwing up some rideable wakes. Eventually a good sized boat came up from behind and as it passed I cut across behind it to catch up with its wake for a surf.

Once I finished up riding wake, I meandered back into the beach at Sydney Harbour Kayaks. Since the beach was empty I decided to practice a bit of rolling. Fortunately no-one was there since I failed the rolls and ended up having a bit of swim instead. Then as I splashed about, my mate Dez from BLAST arrived  on a ski, having also been surfing boat wake up and down Middle Harbour! We relaxed in the shallows chatting like old friends until Dezzy’s wife called and requested his presence. With a mad cacophany of splashing wing paddle blades he was off, powering his boat towards Balmoral.

Fellow wake-surfer Dez on a long thin pencil pretending to be a boat

The SHK beach, as viewed from the water. Lovely!

And as the sun started to dip towards the horizon I took a brief few minutes to really enjoy its warmth. This would be the last time for a few weeks I’d get any heat at all…. more details of that in the coming week! Cheers – FP

Good morning Sydney! And welcome 2011.

For my first real paddle of 2011 I wanted to get back to the scene of the amazing NYE Fireworks, Sydney Harbour. Grumm and I made the early morning trek a little after 5am to get down for that magical time of the morning, sunrise. And what a morning it was, with glassy waters and incredible light as we paddled amongst the early morning ship traffic. I don’t think words can really do it justice though, so I’m going to let the photos tell the story!

The sun starting to rise in the distance, somewhere over Bondi Beach

Our first ship of the morning. Only a little bigger than Grumm, on the right

Grumm getting in the way of the camera (again). Stop ruining my shot!

Our second ship of the morning. And not a bad sunrise!

Fat Paddler's turn to get in the way of the camera. Such a media whore!

The poles of Goat Island, right in the middle of the Harbour

Finished back where we started. There are worse places to paddle!

Since we’d started so early, we also finished in time for breakfast, and had worked up quite an appetite splashing about the Harbour. So we made a quick stop to Wrapido, one of my favourite brekky spots, for some fresh coffee and a decent feed. Seriously, could we start the day (and the year) any better? Somehow, I don’t think so!  Cheers – FP

Grumm's brekky - The Egg and Bacon Sarny!

FP's brekky - TexMex Eggs with sausages on the side - yum!

Tags: Grumm, sunrise, sydney harbour