Helen Wilson - can actually fit in a Tahe Greenland (unlike FP!)

In the sleepy liberal town of Arcata in northern California can be found world-renown Greenland roller Helen Wilson. A multiple medal winner at the Greenland National Kayaking Championships (2008, 2010), her qualifications as an expert in the art of Greenland-style kayaking are beyond question. Dressed all in black and nestled inside her sleek Tahe Greenland kayak, she is like a paddling martial artist, flawlessly running through her kata of 35 different rolling techniques developed by the Inuit seal hunters of old.

G-styles... more time in the water than out of it

The style is not without controversy however. Many contemporary sea kayakers mock the Greenland sport as nothing more than a nostalgic art using ancient equipment. The Greenland paddle favoured in the style also has its share of detractors, with some claiming them unable to be used for the rigours of the modern paddler at sea, and at best only useful as an easy to stow spare.

Helen in the froth... maybe you CAN use a Greenland paddle in moving water?

When asked about this Helen just smiles and nods. She’s heard all the put-downs from the detractors and is well aware of the views that Greenlanders can’t surf, roll their boats safely in dangerous conditions or mix it in heavy sea states with their contemporaries. Her response is not one of words, but of action. “Whatever”, she smiles mischieviously “and excuse me, I’m about to take my Skin On Frame kayak out to the cliffs off Trinidad”.

Helen heads out to the rock gardens of her northern Californian backyard

A quick look at photos and videos of her paddling exploits drives home the point. She relishes the rough coastal conditions along the northern Californian coast, smiling broadly as she surfs and combat rolls her various boats amongst the area’s many rock gardens.  She has paddled with members of famed extreme kayakers the Tsunami Rangers, even instructing them in the art of rolling with Greenland paddles.  Her entire attitude is one on nonchalance – say whatever you want, she’s going to just go on enjoying her sport and using her skills to go places others fear to go.

The cliffs of Trinidad, including the famed "Smack Wall", make a fun playground for paddlers

Complementing her extraordinary paddling and rolling abilities, Helen’s one true passion is passing on her skills to others. She has been able to break the core components of the art into a couple of simple, easy to learn steps that she passes onto the paddlers lucky enough to attend one of her sessions.

Helen instructing students on rolling technique

In 2010 she took her teaching further by releasing an instructional DVD titled “Simplifying the Roll with Helen Wilson“, which is fast becoming the “must have” resource for both new and veteran rollers. That same year she came up with the Transitional Stick, a teaching aid aimed at progressing paddlers from their full-length paddles down to the shorter norsaq and eventually to hand rolls. Canadian paddle maker, Joe O’Blenis, worked with her on the design to make the T-Stick a reality.

News of her skill as both a paddler and instructor has spread quickly off the back of her DVD sales and she now travels the world teaching Greenland rolling skills at kayak symposiums, club days and private lessons, her schedule almost full from the extraordinary demand for her services. Between teaching commitments she writes articles for quality publications such as Sea Kayaker and Ocean Paddler magazines as well as contributing where she can to Qajaq USA, the American body dedicated to teaching the ancient traditions of the Inuit hunters of yesterday.

The northern Californian coastline - could this be paradise for paddlers?

As her global image continues to grow, even her detractors are having to begrudgingly grant her respect. Perhaps she is finally proving to the world that the Inuit people, with thousands of years of development amongst the icy waters of the arctic, might just have developed some useful skills after all. Not that she really cares mind you, she’s probably just out surfing somewhere.

Bouncing around in waves is fun!

“Simplifying the Roll with Helen Wilson” DVDs can be purchased directly from this website for Australian and New Zealand customers, or  from Helen’s own website GreenlandorBust.org. The Transitional Stick is available online from JoeOPaddles and will also be available in Australia shortly from Greenland Downunder. Cheers – FP

Team Fat Paddler ring-in for the next Greenland National Kayaking Championships

*Images used with permission thanks to Helen Wilson and Jim Kakuk

Tags: Greenland Downunder, Greenland or Bust, Helen Wilson, Helen Wilson DVD, JoeO Paddles, Simplifying the roll with Helen Wilson

A Sydney Harbour sunset.... what an awesome city I live in!

I’m usually an early morning paddler so I don’t see many sunsets from the water, but I received an invite for an evening paddle from my close mate Nat (a recent convert to the Church of the Double-Bladed Paddle). Pushing off into Lavender Bay, Nat immediately fell in and needed to self rescue, but with that out of the way we paddled out to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to have a look at the city.

Nat starting to dry off after his swim. Not a bad view from here!

The most incredible aspect of the paddle was the fact the usually busy Harbour was deserted. Clearly Sunday nights aren’t that attractive to sailors or party boats, and we were able to scoot around at our leisure chasing ferries and playing in their wake. We paddled past Neutral Bay before turning into the heart of the harbour and up to Fort Denison, an old prison from Sydney’s early penal history that was now mainly used for corporate functions and parties.

Fort Denison, formerly Pinchgut Island (prison). Built to defend against Russian warships!

The sun was now almost down and around us the city was swept with burning red light. We cruised towards the Garden Island naval yards, watching bats taking off for the nights hunt and flying above our heads. The short film festival Tropfest played to outdoor audiences a stones throw from where we were on the water, oblivious to the paddlers sliding past in the dusk.

Nat looking beautiful bathed in pink light - haha!

We continued on into Woolloomooloo Wharf, paddling between the super-yachts moored to the expensive Finger Wharf where Russell Crow has an apartment. The lights of East Sydney’s skyline started to come on as the last few minutes of light slowly disappeared, leaving us to cruise the dark waters of the harbour using lit marker buoys for navigation.

Last light over the East Sydney skyline.

We slowly meandered over to the Sydney Opera House, watching carefully for boats or ferries knowing they probably couldn’t see us (I had the Kayalite blazing on the rear deck and Nat had lights on both the front and back of his PFD, but in a little boat you can never be too careful). This great Aussie landmark is next to Circular Quay, the central hub for Sydney’s ferries, and can be a treacherous body of water to navigate due to the heavy ferry traffic and ridiculously confused waters. We pulled up in front the Opera House’s sea wall so we could look out for exiting ferries, bobbing about in the dark in the messy waves, whilst gazing out at the city of lights of the Sydney skyline.

The lights of North Sydney reflected on the Harbour.

Then suddenly three big ferries pulled out of the quay, all heading east. As they passed us a few hundred metres away, the giant Manly Ferry (more like a fast frigate really!) came in from the east heading back into the quay. Between all four of the ferries, the churning wake-waves that they created started to combine, jacking up into huge walls of water hurriedly speeding towards us in the dark. As they hit, we rode nose first up and over the series of waves before hearing them boom as they hit the sea wall behind.

“GO!!” I yelled as we heard the waves hit. Nat in his fast ski took off like a bullet, with me following not far behind, before the first of the huge messy rebound waves caught up with us. I felt the stern of the kayak angle up skyward as suddenly my boat launched down the waves face, the nose carving out a bubbling bow wave as I sped along.  Nat’s ski fired like a rocket, and as I started to drop off the back of the wave, I lost him from sight as he zoomed out across the Harbour.

Behind me were a whole series of giant rebound waves, and I managed to catch each one for 10 or 15 seconds before falling off. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw another ferry passing in the distance ahead of me, and before I knew it I’d hit an incoming wave as I was flying down the face of the one behind me. And then I was airborne, yelling into the darkness as my boat flew through the air before plunging nose first into another wave, submarining the bow before we exploded back up out of the water. This was absolutely awesome!!!

Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Luna Park Ferry stop

I was getting close to the other side of the Harbour now, with Nat now a good 50 metres ahead. The water was confused from all the ferry action and I battled to keep from being washed into the Milsons Point sea wall, as we made our way back towards Lavender Bay. As we approached the lit-up Luna Park ferry stop however, we had our last ferry incident as an incoming ferry blasted its horn at us as we raced to pass the ferry stop before it came into to dock.  Ahead Nat got broadsided by the churning ferry wake and struggled to stay on board, whilst I shot up the breaking wake right behind the ferry as it passed, flying through the foam and bouncing around in the turbulance behind. And then suddenly the waters were quiet again, as both Nat and I gave a little sigh of relief.

We paddled the final stretch back to our launch point at Lavender Bay. When Nat was off his ski he admitted the whole thing had been amazing, but terrifying. His arms slowly began to unknot from the death grip on his paddle, whilst I just simply sat with a grin from ear to ear on the awesome final part of our Sunday session.  It’s moments like these when you you can do nothing but bask in the joy of it all, and I was in paddling nirvana. This was really living, and I couldn’t have been happier. Until next time, cheers! FP

Tags: night paddling, Night surfing, ocean ski, sydney harbour

Golden sunrise over glassy Pittwater

I recently heard from Scott Rawstorne from Global Paddler that he was passing through Sydney on his way to Tasmania and was keen for a paddle. Scott is the co-author of the paddle guide Paddling Around NSW and runs paddle tours both in Australia and soon abroad.

The Global Paddler enjoying the early morning from my Folbot Cooper

We decided on Pittwater in Sydney’s north and Scott also requested I bring the Folbot Cooper I used in Alaska, since he was looking for a folder for an upcoming paddle tour of Europe. So in the pre-dawn darkness we met up at McCarrs Creek and pushed off heading into the still waters of Pittwater.

It's hard not to stop and stare - sunrise paints the water gold

The paddle was cruisy with Scott getting a feel for the boat. The sunrise was beautiful as usual and we chatted away casually about all things paddling. Eventually our conversations turned to book publishing, since Scott is already a successful self-published author and I have a book currently in production for release later in the year. We compared stories regarding the different processes we’d taken – Scott doing it all himself and the harsh lessons he learnt along the way, and me doing it through a publishing house with a mix of extra editorial support but the tension of creative directional difference.

As the cloud cover closed in, Scott demonstrated his instructor paddling skills

As so often happens whilst paddling, the stresses of the world slipped away as two strangers with a shared joy for the water enjoyed each others company for a few hours. We talked about travel, kayaking, canoeing, marketing, business, writing, touring and more as the kilometres slipped by in the early morning. Then once finished I demo’d dismantling the Folbot before taking us both to a local hang-out for coffee and egg & bacon rolls.

Hmm, what to do today?? The Global Mobile and the Fatmobile ready for action

I love the way paddling brings people together. I’ve met more interesting people over the last few years through paddling than I had in the many years prior.  It’s a great sport and a brilliant thing to be a part of – cheers, FP

Tags: Folbot, Folbot Cooper, Global Paddler, Pittwater

Team Fat Paddler - Alan, FP and Gelo. Scary!

Despite my clear preference for being water-bourne, this is not a story about paddling. Rather it is about getting outside and reminding yourself what it is like to truly challenge yourself and importantly, to LIVE. A crazy event from the USA called Warrior Dash branched out to stage its first international event here in Australia, on a plot of land a good hour’s drive north of the city. The event bills itself as “The craziest fricken’ day of your life”, and very much lived up to its claim. The event website describes it as follows:

Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell. This fierce running series is held on the most challenging and rugged terrain across the globe. Warriors conquer extreme obstacles, push their limits and celebrate with kick-ass music, beer and warrior helmets.

For someone like me with pretty substantial injuries, this was going to be extremely difficult, and I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d be able to complete it. Which is what made it all the more attractive… especially with the promise of beer and roast turkey legs at the end!

The start line for Warrior Dash. Noisy, fun, and puncutated with bursts of fire!

So Team Fat Paddler arrived. Alan (Kayak for Kids 2010), Gelo (Hawkesbury Classic 2010) and myself kitted up with custom tshirts and Mexican Wrestling Masks to give ourselves that warrior edge. Then packed in with hundreds of other warriors, we counted down to the start and with a gutteral warrior cheer, we were off, running off into the forest to take on the 5.3km of hell that awaited us.

Leonidas and his 300 Spartans charged into the hills....

...followed closely behind by the Power Rangers!

The first half of the race was literally a run up and down hills through the forest. For me, this was excrutiating agony, as I hadn’t been able to run since my last accident in 2005. I alternated between jogging and walking, with Gelo staying back with me to escort me throughout the race. Alan had taken off as is his style, looking to push himself hard in search of a decent race time, so we werent to see him again until later in the race.

Ahhhh... this CANNOT be a good thing!!

The first Danger sign signified a definite change in race dynamic. Our first obstacle was a series of 4 foot walls to climb over and two foot bars to climb under. We hammed this one up, launching over the walls and death-rolling under the bars, laughing our heads off as we did so. The next obstacle however was a whole lot worse. Before us stretched a never-ending pool of mud, with hundreds of warriors desperately wading through the waist-deep muck, or searching for lost shoes, or trying in vain to swim through it. Gelo and I plunged into the foul muck with a warrior shout, before promptly becoming stuck.

The start of the first mud-obstacle. It seemed to go for 100s of metres.

The mud was clearly designed with one goal in mind – eating shoes. All around us warriors were searching for shoes pulled off their feet by the squelchy mess. Within minutes one of my shoes was taken, with only a desperate search some two feet down managing to retrieve it. Gelo lost both shoes but managed to recover one.. the other lost forever. I in turn removed my second shoe, tied them together, and carried them around my neck as I continued barefoot, wading and wallowing in the mud hoping that it would soon end.

When we finally emerged from the pit we were exhausted. Fortunately the half way mark appeared and were able to down some water, wash some of the mud off and continue on our way. But shortly after we encountered a new mud and water pit, which required us to literally swim through it. Then a few hundred metres further we came to the double rope bridge across a small river… a task that proved extremely difficult as we shimmied our way across.

And so the tasks continued. More river crossings and climbs up steep banks. Climbing through spider-web like structures in the forest. Sliding across narrow balance beams and climbing up rope cargo nets. Climbing over car wrecks and running across tires. And somewhere along the line we were rejoined by Alan, who’d finished and then come back to finish again with the team.

Wet, muddied and tired... but full of warrior spirit!!

The best challenges were left for last. A couple of decent-sized flaming fire pits to jump over (I was genuinely worried about this one!), and then the final challenge – a 30 metre pit of mud and water with barbed wire strung a foot or so above the surface at regular intervals. With a *sploosh* we dived into the muck and swam our way to the finish line, avoided the wire and ending with a three-way yelling mosh session to celebrate our successful finish.

FP and Gelo.... exhausted, muddy, but finished. Yeeeeehaw!

Despite being utterly spent, we were all on a huge high having finished such a ridiculously fun event. In fact Gelo and Alan we so excited, they decided to jump in and do it again, this time at speed. As I head off to a local river to try to scrub some of the mud off, they head back to the starting line to go around a second time.

The unmasked FP and Gelo, with Warrior Dash finishers medals.

Of course, going a second time was inviting trouble. As I drank my beer and danced to rock music with my little girls (who had come to watch), Alan and Gelo struggled around a second time before disaster struck. Gelo, attempting an athletic slide across the finish line, went arse-up and fell on one arm, popping it out of his shoulder socket. Now in serious pain with his shoulder well dislocated, he had no choice but to get on the morphine and await the ambulance.

And with that the day was done – if you dont include waiting in hospital for Gelo’s discharge and the long drive home from Gosford to Sydney!! Needless to say that despite Gelo’s injury, and despite the agony I’d be in for the next few days, we all agreed it was one of craziest and most fun events we’d ever taken on. Can’t wait to do it all again next year! Cheers – FP

Tags: Team Fat Paddler, Warrior Dash, Warrior Dash 2011, Warrior Dash Australia, Warrior Dash Sydney

Kayalite pole-mounted deck light

As winter approaches and my early morning paddles grow darker, I thought it best to throw out my rusted old light rig and invest in some night-paddling kit that many of my paddler colleagues have been talking about of late. The gear in question is the Kayalu Kayalite, a pole-mounted lighting system which I’d heard many excellent reviews of.

High mount for maximum visibility when amongst the waves

Firstly, this is a serious light for serious conditions. The “Tektite Mark III” light is industrial grade and can be seen for over 3kms from its 45cm pole mount. The construction of the light is hardcore – sturdy, corrosion resistant, and just generally tough. It’s waterproof to a fairly staggering distance, at a depth you would hope your kayak never gets to! In all its a dependable piece of kit that is  designed to last. But there’s something else that makes this kit so popular – it secures to your kayak in a way that’s very different from other suction-type mounts on the market. In fact, there’s no suction used at all.

Kayalite deck mounting system - the tensioning cable system!

The light unit basically has a bungee cable running through its core that clips onto any secure mount on your boat.  Then you draw the bungee up through the stem, and using tension, secure it on the cleat attached to the mount. And that’s it! No need to drill holes in the boat, no need to worry about separate security ties, just clip it on, tighten, and you’re away.

Now for the real test - lets to go to sea!

To test the Kayalite, I decided to take it with me on a little mission out to sea to watch the sunrise, and as it happens, watch passing sharks. Without so much as testing it, I removed it from the packet, found somewhere to attach it, clicked it on and secured the bungee, and was done. I reckon it took me approx 45 seconds from start to finish, including thinking time. It was ridiculously easy to secure! Then we were away, paddling out through the night and out to sea in some fairly hefty waves. The Kayalite stayed perfectly secure despite a fair bit of rough treatment, and according to my paddle-mates could be seen incredibly well from anywhere. And that was it! Easy to use, functional, and a great safety item. I couldn’t be happier with it.

FP coasting along with Kayalite on rear deck!

It seems the reviews are right – this is a great light for paddlers – strong, effective, secure, and easy to use. Get one from your local stockist, or order one direct from the Kayalu website like I did! Cheers – FP

Tags: Kayalite, Kayalu, Kayalu Kayalite, Reviews