Now this is relaxing. A deserted beach, a kayak and hours to waste. Bliss!

Due to speaking and press commitments, I took a week or so off work to launch my book, The Fat Paddler. Fortunately most days had a window of opportunity for some fun, and I chose to use that daily time to get out on the water. For the first few days I took my new whitewater boat, the Liquidlogic Remix XP10, out onto the Harbour to test her in ferry wake. After being amazed at how much fun the little boat could be in bumps, I decided to start pushing her out into rock gardens.

Fellow TFP member Lt Nat also found himself with a bit of spare time on his hands this week and joined me for a paddle along Gelo Cliffs. He got a good laugh as I bounced my boat across rocks and into the cliffs, but I could also see a little longing in his eyes, and soon he was edging his ski closer and closer into the lumpy stuff.

Nat gets his ski up close and dirty to Gelo Cliffs. Risky, but lots of fun!

Sydney had recently copped a few weeks of monstrous swell and we discovered that the beach to the north of Grotto Point had been completely removed, replaced by a brand new rock garden and set of cliffs. I explored this area and found an awesome L-shaped rock chamber with a couple of entry/exit points in the rock, which bubbled and frothed as the surge moved backwards and forwards through it. I waited for the right timing and then rode a surge in through a narrow opening and into the chamber itself. Nat had continued paddling and lost sight of me, just as I discovered I couldn’t quite get back out of the chamber because the enclosed space was amplifying the surge and waves into a maelstrom of rebound, white water and even a crazy whirlpool in an eddy behind one of the bigger rocks. Like a table tennis ball, I got bounced around inside the rocks for what seemed an eternity until finally I broke free of the whirlpool on an outwards surge and paddled my way back out to open water. The craziness of it all had me absolutely exhilarated and when I finally caught up with Nat I had a smile from ear to ear that couldn’t be removed!

One of the ways into the chamber, which curled around to the right and back along the cliff behind the rocks

Even Nat wanted to try out the Remix, and conceded post-paddle that even he may find himself wanting one

Later in the week I made a snap decision to take my family on a little surprise trip out of Sydney. I hired a small cabin on the beach at Umina just to the north of Sydney, packed my wife and girls into the car and we took off for a few relaxing days together. Once there, my kids embraced the beach and had a ball playing in the sand, whilst my wife slowly unwound and relished doing as little as possible. Of course, I had also brought a boat with me, just in case I found the time for a spot of paddling (naturally!).

My daughters all set for some beach time. Oh look, a kayak is there too. How convenient!

The conditions there were almost dead calm, but the beach had a lovely clean little 1 foot break with perfect shapes for surfing. I took the Remix out into the “break” and there proceeded to catch dozens and dozens of waves with her. Considering how small the surf was, I was astounded at how well the little whitewater boat could surf. A ridiculous amount of fun!!

Some crazy dude with a whitewater boat, a surf helmet and a Greenland paddle

Over three days I must have caught well over 100 little waves. A fun way to learn about the boat.

Of course nothing with me is ever perfect. On the last day I caught a rare good sized wave (maybe 3-4 foot max) that I surfed beautifully but was caught out when we hit another sand bank and the wave suddenly picked me up and dumped me head first. In the impact I re-opened an old injury when I tore my tricep a touch, creating a fair bit of pain but not enough to make me go in. I also had a passing member of the sea kayak brigade  make some sort of snide remark about my kayak along the lines of “nice toy”. Clearly they thought they were paddling an ambulance or a commercial vehicle or something if they felt their sea kayak wasn’t a toy itself, but what can I say – you can’t please everyone.

Paddling right up until sunset. Then sundowner time.

Needless to say I paddled almost everyday and after an incredibly stressful year of work and book preparation, it was exactly what the doctor ordered. Now I’m recharged and ready to fire up for the rest of the year. Yeeehaw! Cheers – FP

Tags: Liquidlogic, Liquidlogic Remix XP10, Remix XP10, rock gardening

Confessions Of A Wave Warrior - Eric Soares

Recently I was lucky enough to catch up with Jim Kakuk, co-founder of the Tsunami Rangers, over lunch here in Sydney. His parting gift to me was a copy of “Confessions of a Wave Warrior” by Jim’s good mate Eric Soares.

The book chronicles Eric’s growing love affair with water from the moment his father taught him to swim to the glory years surfing through Californian rock gardens with the rest of the Tsunami paddle tribe. But this isn’t just a book about one man, but rather about a paddle culture that evolved and thrived amongst wild coastline, surf and rocks. A culture of thrills, skills and spills. A culture embodied completely by the rock gardening buccaneers known as the Tsunami Rangers.

Eric Breaks the Wave Barrier in a Tsunami X-1 Rocket (photo by Jim Kakuk)

As the title suggests, this is a book of confessions. Of mistakes made, lessons learnt, and disasters averted. It is a collection of short stories about this famous group, each told with both humour and reverence for the ocean. The stories chronicle the history of the Tsunami Rangers, the development of their unique open-decked surf boats, the quirks of its individual members, and of the pirate-like ethos that lead to the famous “unofficial races” which the Rangers ran for a number of years on the West coast.

Captain Kuk embarks on another mission (photo by Eric Soares)

This is not a book about recklessness however. The skills development requried to reach the official ranks of the Rangers took many years to attain. High standards of personal fitness, swimming strength and ability to read ocean and sea states were required on top of the extraordinary paddle skills needed to survive riding waves into sea caves and amongst rock formations. The book gives insights into how these skills were crucial and expected from all potential rangers, but also how even having these skills might not be enough to handle all conditions.

A Tsunami Ranger secret camp at Trilogy Cove (photo by Jim Kakuk)

In the end, this is a book about living. From Eric’s early childhood memories rafting down swollen rivers with friends, to the heady days racing with his bretheren amongst reef and rock, and including his health scares in more recent years, this is a chronicle of living life to the full. It is a book about deep friendships, shared experiences, and above all about Man’s place in the water and the world.

Tsunami Rangers on the Sonoma Coast in 2007 (photo by Bob Stender)

If you’re lucky enough to meet Jim “Captain Kuk” Kakuk on his travels here in Australia over the next few months, he has copies of Eric’s book for sale. If you can’t wait for that, Lawrence from Nadgee Kayaks Australia has copies for sale and can post to anywhere in Australia. For the rest of the world, books can be bought online directly from the Tsunami Rangers website. Cheers – FP

All images copyright of Tsunami Rangers and are used with permission from the author.

Tags: book review, Captain Kuk, Confessions of a Wave Warrior, Eric Soares, Jim Kakuk, Tsunami Rangers

Reflections of the Sydney Skyline

As paddlers we spend a great deal of time exploring the outdoors but often concentrate on the natural world – waves, cliffs, beaches and wildlife. Often we forget that the urban world we live in can have a fascinating side viewable only from the water, so for this paddle I decided to get back into the city and show people the great city of Sydney from a kayaks point of view.

Breaking dawn over Sydney - golden skies and glassy waters

Starting early, I dropped the boat in at Blues Point in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and took advantage of the calm glassy waters undisturbed yet by Sydney’s ferries. Paddling over towards Darling Harbour I skirted some of the sights before heading over to the ANZAC Bridge and then back across the main channel amongst some of the islands and headlands on the Harbour. With the early start, I was done by 9am and on my way home, having experienced a truly beautiful side of this antipodean captial from the cockpit of my sea kayak. Hope you enjoy some of the sights too, and if you haven’t experienced it yourself, get out on the water and enjoy! Cheers – FP

Ocean liner "Pacific Dawn" pulled in and docked whilst I was watching.

ANZAC Bridge - named in honour of the soldiers of Australia and New Zealand

HMAS Adelaide - stripped down and ready to be turned into an artificial reef

Poles! An interesting route by Goat Island, in the guts of the Harbour

Pelican out for an early morning paddle too (just by Balls Head Reserve)

Blues Point - not a bad spot to start and end a paddle!

Tags: ANZAC Bridge, HMAS Adelaide, sydney harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Skyline

Sydney Ports Security..... shhh, nothing to see here.....

An issue I care strongly about is that of garbage in the oceans, and plastic in particular. You only need to read up on the 5 Gyres to see what I’m talking about – mountains of finely broken down plastic floating in our oceans and making its way into the food chain. So I was excited to hear that the Plastiki, a catamaran made of over 12,500 plastic bottles, had sailed across the Pacific to Sydney to raise awareness of the issue.

Hugging the shoreline on the way in....

Since Plastiki is only in town for a little while, I figured I’d paddle in for a good water-borne view. However, it’s current mooring is not exactly open to fans in boats, so I planned an early morning mission to get in for a decent look before there were too many people around. Hugging the shoreline, I quietly paddled until I was within 50 metres, and then ducked in under the boardwalk so as to not gather any attention. Slowly and quietly I manouvered between the pylons until I was just metres away from my target.

Shhhh........ ooh, there she is!

Once there, I slowly eased up to the Plastiki for a close look at this remarkable boat. My first thought was about how small it is – it just doesn’t look like it would handle big ocean storms. But it made the trip acros the Pacific in one  piece, so obviously it is deceptively strong.

Wow.. she's beautiful. The Plastiki up close.

Up close you can see how the plastic bottles are woven in with recycled PET plastic. It is an incredible look, this sleek sporty looking catamaran with two decent hulls made up of empty bottles and a cabin that looks like an elongated geodesic dome.

Plastiki from the side - note bottles in the hull and the geodesic cabin

Bottles.... over 12,500 of them!

As I was studying the boat, my thoughts were interrupted by a very irate security guard who had finally seen me in the water and had unleashed a tirade that whilst hard to hear, contained the phrases “Get out of here ya mongrel…. Federal Area….. go on, keep going….. “. With that clear confirmation that my stay was no longer welcome, I put some heavy strokes into the paddle and zoomed off into the Harbour as the security guard followed down the wharf yelling abuse.

Early morning view of the city as I head off away from the Plastiki's mooring.

In all seriousness though, the issue of marine pollution is a very serious one. The amount of plastic bags and plastic bottles that make their way into our oceans everyday is staggering. It’s no longer possible to consider cleaning the oceans, we all have to pull back on our own levels of consumption of throw-away plastic products. There’s lots of information online on alternatives to our everyday use of these products, I urge you to do your own bit to be a part of the solution. Cheers – FP

Tags: 5Gyres, gyres, marine pollution, Plastiki

"The Coat Hanger".... aka the Sydney Harbour Bridge

I don’t often paddle in the heart of the city of Sydney because of excessive boat, ship and ferry traffic, but every now and then I do just to see our magnificent city from the Harbour. My completely biased view is that Sydney is the most beautiful city in the world, and exploring her waters is always a pleasure.

The Famous Tim Kennings and I met up at Blues Point and set off into the darkness at 6am, enjoying the view of the city lights reflecting off the water before sunrise lightened the sky. For the rest of the morning we explored her shores, stopped for coffee in Chowder Bay, surfed wind chop and ferry wake, paddled & surfed under the Luna Park boardwalk and generally had a blast as the wind and chop built up over the morning.

Needless to say I’ll let the photos tell the story. Cheers – FP

TFTK in the early morning amber light at sunrise, the Sydney Opera House in background.

Exploring the Harbour's northern shoreline

The world's most beautiful harbour.... well, I think so!

Even harbour's get swell and waves. Good fun to play in!

The iconic Sydney Opera House. As seen from the water!

Kirribilli House, the official Sydney residence of Australia's Prime Minister

Paddling under Luna Park. Timbo surfed through this lane!

Style. Poise. Grace. The Famous Tim Kennings in his North Shore Atlantic!

Tags: Kirribilli House, Sydney, sydney harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Tim Kennings