There's something awesome about rock gardens. But they can be painful too!

It started off well. Mike, Lt. Gelo and I met at Sydney Harbour Kayaks at the start of a magnificent Saturday morning. We kitted up in protective gear – wetsuits, booties, helmets etc – and set off for Grotto Point looking for some fun in either surf or rocks. The weather report for the morning looked great (seas a little under a metre and 13knts of wind) and we couldn’t wait to get amongst it.

Mike in his new helmet and wetsuit looked more like a Navy SEAL than a paddler!

But beware of enthusiasm! When we arrived at Grotto Point the seas were slight and the rocks looked inviting, and I zoomed ahead of the others and made straight for our usual starting rock garden, riding a small wave in before jamming the paddle into the drink to bring me sliding in behind a good sized rock. At this point I felt excited to be in the zone and looking forward to the fun about to commence. What I didn’t do however was look over my shoulder to see what might be behind me, because at that exact moment a big once-an-hour bommy sucked the water out from behind the rock, dropping me down a couple of feet right in its lee, before jacking up and crashing over the rock itself.

Of course I didn’t have time to take much of this in. All I knew was that I had suddenly dropped, and in that split second of realisation, spun my head around at the exact moment a wall of water crashed over the rock directly into my face.

The change in water height can be deceptive from outside the break zone

At the moment of impact I threw my weight and paddle into the wave, expecting it to carry me side-surfing into the rocks behind me. Instead I seemed to burst through the wave and was now leaning and bracing in exactly the wrong direction to stay upright, and rolling down the back of the wave toppled over and past the point of no return.

Everything slowed down as I teetered on the very edge for a split second, then as I started to roll my paddle hit rocks below me, and my first thought was to prop myself up with my paddle. However another wave sucked the water out from below and I toppled upside down and under the water, landing head first on the rocks below. As the next wave rolled over me, it picked me up (still upside down) for the briefest of moments, before slamming me back down onto the rocks.

Lt. Gelo could hardly hide his satisfaction that it wasn't him being smashed against rocks this time

Despite the pounding I was getting on the rocks whilst upside down and locked in my kayak, I was amazed at just how calm I was. I’ve never tried to roll in a combat situation before but, as I peered through the frothy green water around me, I figured that now might be a good time to start. I quickly setup for the roll but again I was smashed down and pinned against the rocks below me – I now couldn’t move my body at all, let alone my paddle.  Still, as my boat got picked up by the next wave I started to sweep out for the roll when my skirt and legs were ripped from the boat and I emerged at the surface, paddle in hand but out of the boat.

The water looks soft and frothy, but as I discovered, it hits the rock with force!

The first thing that hit me was the next wave, smashing me against my boat which was rapidly filling with water. I slipped my paddle under the bungees and dragged the boat around facing the oncoming waves. The big rock was still between me and the safety of deeper water, and I was keen to get the boat out of the way, so as the next wave poured over the rock I launched my boat nose first into the wave, over the rock and out towards Gelo and Mike.

Now I had the problem of getting past the rock myself so I could swim to safety. Sometimes I could stand on the rocks below, other times I couldn’t, so as the next wave came in I launched myself onto the back of the rock, scrabbling up to its top.  As I perched there I realised how vulnerable I was, as the next wave hit and swept me off it backwards (I’m sure I heard Lt. Gelo laughing at this point!).  I climbed it again on the next wave and then launched myself immediately off it, thankfully into a lull between waves where I was able to swim out to Mike and Gelo who were now holding my boat.

Mike watching the currents swirling around "the rock" that got FP earlier

When I got to the boat I took stock of the situation. I looked to see how far we were from the rocks, and helped by the outgoing tide, realised they were no longer a danger. Then I took stock of my own physical condition – the wetsuit was keeping me warm, but my right shoulder felt like it had been run over by a truck. I wondered if it might be dislocated but it seemed to have a full range of movement so I put that thought out of my head.

Next was talking Mike through his first assisted rescue. He dutifully followed my instructions, emptying my boat of water and then steadying it for me to climb back aboard. I think he was amazed at how quick the rescue happened, and within a few minutes I was back in the boat sucking in some deep breaths to recover from the ordeal. I also realised at this point that I hadn’t turned the video camera on and had missed the entire episode (again!!).

If there’s anything I’ve learnt from my many ordeals it’s that sometimes you need to get straight back on the horse to ensure fear doesn’t keep you in its grip later on. I looked at the rock garden, and that big bloody rock in the middle, and knew I had to get back in there and beat it, so I pushed off from the boys and charged straight back in, this time keeping a closer eye on what the waves were doing around me.

Ok rock, you haven't beaten me yet. Bring it!

Dropping down into the suck zone behind the rock as the wave comes in

And then punching in through the wave and over the rock. Owned!

For the rest of the morning we played without incident. We bounced around in rock gardens, paddled the Grotto Reserve cliffs for a while, and sat off the Dobroyd bombora watching it’s awesome tubes in the southerly swell. Then we head back to the rock garden for a last play before starting the calmer trip home.

On the way back a couple more things happened. First we met Terry in his magnificent Skin On Frame kayak, complete with home-made Greenland paddles. We stopped for a lengthy chat on the boats he’d built and how they performed in various conditions before he set off again. Then as luck would have it Garry arrived in the coffee boat, allowing us to stop and drink fresh frothy coffees by the edge of the rock gardens we’d played in earlier – brilliant!

Terry and his SOT kayak and Greenland paddle. Beautiful!

Garry and his Coffee Boat. Equally beautiful!!

When we got back I had time to think about what had happened. How should I have reacted differently, what should I have done to keep myself in my boat, what did I do when I swum to safety that might have been done better. Instruction and reading is all important when developing skills and knowledge, but there’s a lot to be said for learning from experience. And importantly, it’s far better to have friends around to help you if you do run into trouble.

Mike later demonstrated his wet exit technique.

Until the next adventure – stay safe, but have fun! Cheers – FP

Tags: kayak rescue, rock gardening, rock gardens, rocks

Could there be anything more fun than bouncing around in froth and rocks??

Last weekend I hit the water with Sydney paddler Mike, a random fella I met via the FatPaddler.com Facebook page.  I didn’t know much about him other than he’d paddled flat water for a number of years, had only the weekend before paddled across the water between the Heads for his first taste of the lumpy stuff, and that he was planning on doing his first Hawkesbury Canoe Classic later in the year.

When he pulled up at Sydney Harbour Kayaks his choice of boat – a Tsunami 165 – had me instantly excited. It was plastic, it was short, and it had scratches! Here was a paddler with a boat made to get bashed up on rocks, so I made the snap decision to offer him my spare helmet.  Of course I nearly cracked up laughing when I saw the look of fear cross his face, but before he had a chance to say no I blurted out,

With that he mumbled a yes and I quickly strapped it to his deck before he changed his mind. Then we pushed off into the channel under a beautiful early morning sun.

It wasn’t long before Mike asked about my Greenland paddle. I suspected this might happen so I’d brought two spares with me, and he readily accepted one for a trial. At first he was pretty doubtful about it and as we made our way along the shoreline of Hunter’s Bay he asked me a thousand questions. After a kilometre or so he seemed to be getting the hang of it before his attention was drawn to a pair of Little Penguins from the nearby Manly colony fishing for breakfast. We watched them frolic before finally arriving at Grotto Point.

C'mon Mikey, it's easy! Look how much fun I'm having, come on in!

The weather was perfect for some basic rock gardening. With 2 foot swell the wave action was tiny, but an occasional 4 footer would roll in and break over the rocks and into my kayak. I played around for a few minutes before paddling back out to Mike. With a slightly nervous look, he reached for his helmet and I knew it was on!

With helmet in place, Mike was ready for his first taste of lumps and rock. Woohoo!

Mike eased his boat into the the little rock garden backwards and braced for the first few little waves. He quickly learnt how his boat rode over the swell, bracing and adjusting his position with the paddle. Then a few bigger waves came in and broke on us, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a slow grin start to spread across his face. Rather than being scared, he was loving the excitement of the whitewater, and I knew I had him convinced. For the next ten minutes we bounced around and had a good laugh at all the fun we were having.

Haha, here come the waves. Let's ride!!

Next I took him around the corner to the nearby beach and then on to the cliffs of Grotto Point Reserve. By now he had the hang of the Greenland paddle and seemed to be really enjoying using it. We played about in the rocks and the gauntlet near Dobroyd Point before paddling around to the first little beach by Manly for a break and a swim.

A tough morning's paddle in paradise.

As I took a refreshing swim in the cold early morning waters, Mike mentioned he was going to do a rolling class the following week. He’d yet to even do a wet exit, let alone any of the skills usually needed to roll, so I offered to help him get the feeling of being underwater whilst still having someone to heave him back up. Clearly I’m no rolling expert or teacher and made that very clear to him, but if he wanted to feel what it was like to go under, I’d help.

He readily agreed and we soon tipped him upside down, before hauling him back up again, giggling. He was now pretty adamant about wanting to try rolling, so I handed him a Greenland paddle and said I’d tip him in before guiding him and the paddle through a layback roll. After putting him into a balance brace first to get the idea of body position, I took him through a couple of simulated rolls. He was keen to give it a go on his own, so I stood back and let him try. First roll he failed and fell back in, so I hauled his boat back up. Second try he again failed and rolled under before I rescued him again. We talked through a few technical details before his third attempt, and BINGO, he managed a full roll without any help at all. We both had a bit of a laugh and a yell at his success before he insisted on trying a few more on his own – where he quickly got to experience his first wet exit – haha!

That is the face of one very wet and happy paddler

We finally pushed back out and returned to the rock gardens, when Mike now followed me into somewhat more challenging rocks and gauntlets. Clearly he was loving it and couldn’t get the grin off his face. After a final play in the rock gardens at Grotto Point, we made our way back to The Spit for the obligatory egg & bacon roll, coffee and story-telling by the water!

The day was a fun one. For me, it was just awesome to get small enough conditions to allow a newbie to experience rocks first hand within the right levels of safety. To see a long-term flat water paddler relish waves and rocks and froth was brilliant, and even Mike himself conceded it would be hard to return to river paddling after such a day. His willingness to try new things impressed me a lot and I think he’s real candidate to join Team Fat Paddler as a regular member of the crew. We’ll have to see what else we can throw at him now to test him out – haha!

Lastly, I put together a little video showing what it takes for me to get to the Harbour, and then a few shots of Mike and I enjoying the water. The music is Aussie hip-hop and does have some course language in it – so turn it down if the kids are around. Enjoy! Cheers – FP

P.S. Mike wrote up his account of the day on his own blog – go and have a read, it’s pretty cool.

Tags: rock gardening, rolling

Looks glassy at The Spit, where it's protected from the wind. Not for long!

With helmets in hand Gelo and I converged on the lawn of Sydney Harbour Kayaks ready to seek out surf and some fun in the rocks. The weather told a pretty bad story though – small swell (1 metre), 30+ knot WSW winds, with gusts around 40 knots. The likelihood of surf existing in those conditions are practically nil, but ever optimistic, we set off for Grotto Point looking for fun.

Gelo, all set for some action. And hoping to shake off his hangover...

Leaving the calm waters of The Spit, we entered the blow zone, with a roaring wind whipping up the water and sending spray flying across the surface of the Harbour. As we approached Grotto Point we pulled our helmets on but clearly any surf that might have existed was being blown to pieces by the ridiculously strong winds howling around the headland. We meandered around the rocks, looking for something to play with, but the breaking water and wind was making the whole zone pretty ugly to be around.

In the hopes of seeking some shelter from the wind, we paddled off through the chop towards Middle Head. There were some belting waves rolling in but they were sucking up dry over rocks – not really an area we wanted to try our luck in. And furthermore, the wind was hammering us as the outgoing tide dragged us out into deeper waters and towards the Heads. If anything this was worse than Grotto Point, but not wanting to give up we turned around and started paddling for the cliffs of Grotto Point Reserve.

Then Gelo yelled out across the wind, “Dolphins!”. I turned, desperate to see these beautiful animals, something I’ve never actually seen whilst in a kayak. In the waves and wind all I could make out was some splashing that looked like waves breaking on reef – but the breaking water was in the middle of the deep channel of the sound, and I slowly realised it was a pod of around a dozen dolphins breaking the surface for air.

Breaking froth top centre. Dolphins, dead ahead!

Fumbling with the camera, I hit the video button and then watched as the pod belted along directly at as in full flight, launching themselves out of the water as they did so. We stared in awe as these beautiful marine animals, spread out across a front of about 15 metres, quickly closing at a pace that suggested they were going to collide with us at any second. But with about 15 metres to go they deviated slightly and passed me off to starboard, which is when I made the horror discovery that I hadn’t actually hit the video camera button at all!!!

Gelo whooped and hollered as I just stared after them stony-faced. I was ecstatic at having seen them, but completely gutted that I’d fumbled with the camera and couldn’t share what we’d seen. Fortunately, the backwards-facing GoPro captured them surfacing behind my kayak, so I could at least prove we’d really seen them!

For the next hour or two we paddled about looking for something to do, but no matter where we went, the wind was oppressive and only the stories of our amazing dolphin sighting kept us amused. We tried the Grotto cliffs, we pulled into the beach nearby looking for a wave, before finally striking out directly into the ridiculous wind for the ride home to hot coffee and an egg & bacon roll for breakfast!

Finally out of the wind for a breather!

As usual, Gelo could be found hanging out with a few birds

Ohh, and as for proof of the dolphins? You’ll just have to watch this short video of our paddle and see if you can find them in there. Cheers! – FP

Tags: dolphins, Gelo, wind

The Epic V8 (white) and the Think Fit (orange & white).

Welcome to the first guest review on FatPaddler.com! Team Fat Paddler Sub Lieutenant Nat Bradford is a recent convert to the ocean-ski genre and is enjoying immersing himself in the new world of paddling that is opening up for him.

[Author: Nat Bradford] Being very new to the whole surf ski caper, my introduction to the water on the Epic V8 has been a great experience. The boat is stable – really stable. My first test runs on various skis involved me under them more than on them, but with the Epic V8 I was able to get underway and stay upright without needing to resort to major pilates-style core strength and balancing exercises.

Two beautiful boats catering to new paddlers to the ocean ski genre

So after six months of trial and error, and a life changing lesson from Jim Walker (thanks again for making me paddle with you and the tinny attached to the front of the ski, Jimmy), I’ve now completed a few races and countless acts of lunacy with Capt FP and have become a very low skilled surf skier (see what happened prior to my lesson, below).

I’ve become very comfortable with my Epic V8, but the recent arrival of the stunning looking entry-level ski/kayak hybrid, the Think Fit, had me intrigued. On first impressions it looks as though someone had stuck the front of a Think Evo to the back of a sea kayak and just blended them together. That’s not to say it doesn’t look good, it’s just hard to get your head around. Further cross-dressing comes in the form of a raised seat within an enclosed cockpit, a-la sea kayak, but with ski-style rudder pedals. It also has the option for a kayak skirt, and a small day hatch behind the seat that could prove useful on long hauls.

Looks like a ski... errr, no it looks like a kayak. Hmm, no maybe a ski....

Without too much thought, I jumped in and set out from Sydney Harbour Kayaks on a quick shake down paddle. I’d initially left the pedal length too short, but wanted to see just how tippy the Fit felt in comparison to the Epic, and with my knees in my chest this wasn’t going to be a hard task. I was surprised by just how far you could tip without falling out, but suspect if this was the first boat I’d ever paddled, I may not share that sentiment. My other impression, possibly because of its roughly 2kg weight advantage over the V8, was that it was faster from a standing start to  top speed (at least the top speed I could manage). This was after adjusting the pedal length, which was a little trickier than expected due to the screw in mounts versus the quick release plugs on the V8. And one major plus on the side of the V8 – a ruler next to the pedal adjustment/heel mounts makes for matching both sides up just that little bit easier – the simplest ideas are often the best.

A cockpit with moulded seat like a ski, a drain like a ski, and pedals.. like a ski!

But if I’ve learnt one thing from my short time in skis, the one who spends the most time on top of the ski is going to have the most fun. Through necessity, I’m now very proficient at self-rescue so when the inevitable spill happened, I backed myself to be back in the Think in no time. However, the design differences between the Epic and the Think become very apparent at this point, as I drifted into The Spit channel after attempting and failing to re-enter the Fit about half a dozen times – on the one hand I’m glad no one saw me flailing about, but on the other hand I’m not sure anyone was coming to help if I got really stuck. It seems to be a much less forgiving boat to get back into and I imagine this will deter newbies keen to learn the ropes. It’s not that the basic re-entry technique needs to change much, but the action of having to swing your legs into an enclosed foot well is a whole different skill that I’m sure our sea kayak friends know well, but one I’d guess most skiers just aren’t that used to.

Differences in cockpit design make recovery a different proposition for each boat

Back on dry land, I had a chat with SHK’s Candice who’s running paddle fitness training sessions with both the V8 and the Fit – she also thought the Fit was likely to be tippier for a beginner, but that its weight advantage might be better for lighter paddlers and women (ie not someone wearing a TFP t-shirt, for example). We both agreed it was hard to be too critical though given its potential speed benefits, and that neither of us had tested it in swell or surf (NB: this is me comparing notes with a world-class iron woman – which would be like me comparing my low-grade suburban rugby career with that of Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom).

There's no such thing as tippy boats, just tippy paddlers!

I’ll reserve my judgement on the Think Fit until the lads at Think can arrange an open ocean demo at some stage – it’ll be good to have the help around when I need to get back into it! There’s a lot to like – speed, lightness, good looks, but I think I’ve got that already… with my Epic V8, that is.

Two very nice beginner boats... now which one to choose??

Of course, if you’ve never been in a ski before and are keen to join the ever growing legion, give both boats a try – one thing is for certain: when you’re done, you’ll buy one of them!

Sub Lieutenant Nat Bradford - lover of beer, rugby and ski paddling

[FPs Note: A warm thanks to Nat for penning this opinion piece on these entrant boats for the growing sport of ocean skis. And I'd like to especially thank him for that entertaining impersonation of a submarine - haha!]

Tags: epic v8, Kayak Review, Nat Bradford, ocean ski, Think Fit

Lt. Gelo catches his first ever wave in a kayak. Nice!

Beautiful weather called for an early morning paddle, with Lt. Gelo and I both keen to get amongst the rocks. After a quick paddle from Sydney Harbour Kayaks to Grotto Point Reserve we discovered swell of between 1.5 and 2.5 metres hammering the cliff during a low tide.  We paused and scouted out the area, looking for possible areas to get into the cliff areas and importantly areas to get back out, but came to the conclusion that the conditions were simply too dangerous for a pair of rock-gardening beginners to handle. Instead we decided to head back to Grotto Point where the tail edge of the swell was creating a nice little left hander breaking across rocks.

Neither of us are skilled as kayak surfers, but we did have wetsuits and helmets on so we weren’t too concerned about the rocks. The best bet was to get amongst it and see how we handled it, which is exactly what we did. Over the following few hours we practiced paddling through the break and across the rocks, and then slowly worked our way up to catching waves back in across the rocky point. Here’s a little taste of the fun we had!

Of course surfing across and through rocks has its risks. I put several dozen new scars into the bottom of my kayak, and a few more dings in my paddle. I slashed my finger open on some barnacles during a failed attempt at a seal landing on some rocks (which was funny in itself!). Regardless, both Lt. Gelo and I felt it was possibly one of the most fun sessions we’d had with a paddle since we started. Sometimes you just have to give it a go and see what happens – maybe we’ll see you on the water! Cheers – FP.

Tags: kayak surfing, rock gardening, rock surfing