FP and Nat (Publicity shot courtesy of the Hornsby Advocate newspaper)

It’s hard to believe that in a few weeks I’ll once again be taking on the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic (111km kayak ultra-marathon held overnight to raise money for charity). Fortunately I won’t be alone, with Team Fat Paddler taking to the water with 20 paddlers and over 25 land crew, our biggest team yet for any event.

A few new faces, a few old faces. Team Fat Paddler members out on a training paddle.

I’ve decided to do the event solo on my Stellar SR surfski (in previous years I’ve done it in a sea kayak solo and in open canoes with a partner). This year the team has close to 12 surfskis taking part, so clearly there’s been a surge of interest from the team in this more difficult, but ultimately more enjoyable, form of paddling (said strictly from someone who just loves to surf). We still have a few kayaks of course, and the Wenonah canoe I used last year will be back on the water as well as a paddler on an OC1. It’ll also be the first year we’ve had some ladies paddling down the Hawkesbury as part of Team Fat Paddler, a great addition to what has historically been a pretty blokey team!

New to Team Fat Paddler – Andrew and his OC1, and Darren and his surfski. Yeew!

Few of us will be looking for competitive results (apart from Nat of sydneysurfski.com fame who MUST finish to avoid unbearable shame!), but as always we will be looking to raise as much money as we can for the charities supported by the Classic. Last year as a team we raised over $15,000 – our target this year is $20,000 to go towards finding a cure to Leukaemia. DONATE NOW!

Team Fat Paddler collectors items… 2012 Official TFP HCC Gear!

As usual we’ve come up with a ‘team theme”, this year based on the fitting Beastie Boys anthem, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”. If you don’t know it, you probably won’t like it, but the name of the song was too good to pass over for an all-night event that ends in Brooklyn, NSW! Here’s a little promo video showing my “training” (or lack of it!) with the theme song backing it.

Our twenty paddlers and the rest of the Team Fat Paddler crew are busy getting the logistics ready for the big race. We’re all fundraising hard and this week I managed to secure a little PR as well with an upcoming story in the Hornsby Advocate (our local paper). We had fun during the photo shoot and they graciously allowed me the use of some of the photos. [UPDATE: Since this post was first published the story went national across the News Ltd network of newspapers, such us the Daily Telegraph in Sydney).

FP with his Stellar SR (picture courtesy of the Hornsby Advocate)

All that’s left to do now is train a little bit more, fundraise harder and wait for the race to come around. Not long now! Cheers, FP