Berwora Waters marina seen from up high

Hoping to capture another purple sunrise I got up at 5am and hit the water by 6am. The great thing about this time of the day is that there is no-one there to see you fall out of your kayak as you try to get in. No-one to see you embarrassingly dunk yourself in murky waters in the dark. Not that that would happen to me of course.

Paddling into the murky darkness of pre-dawn Berowra Waters

Unfortunately the cloud cover was too solid for a burning sunrise, and I had to make to with amusing myself in other ways. Like taking photos INSIDE my kayak.

Inside a Boréal Nanook - clown's legs!

I did get to put in a fair bit of distance however and broke up the paddle at the halfway mark with a stop on a low-tide beach to relax, heed the call of nature and just to simply cast loving gazes over my Boréal Nanook kayak.

Fat Paddler's Boréal Nanook - Inuit for Polar Bear

Did I mention I love my Boréal Nanook?

All up a lovely relaxing 14.5km through the meandering Berowra Waters. Bewdy!

Sunrise Berowra Waters

Paddling Berowra Waters

Paddling Berowra Waters

Berowra Waters Inn, accessible only by boat or seaplane

Fat Paddler off home after the paddle

Tags: Berowra Waters, Boreal Nanook

Fat Paddler medium sticker, cockpit of Boréal Nanook

Upon receipt of my new kayak (actually a second hand ex-rental from Sydney Harbour Kayaks), one thing became clear. I needed to clean it up and make it NOT look like a rental yak!

Flashback - the Nanook when still a rental. Note front sticker...

So armed with a bottle of white spirit, a blunt paint scraper, some cut-polish, a pile of rags, my ipod plugged into speakers and a six pack of Bundaberg Dark & Stormies (rum & ginger beer) I set out to clean up the kayak. This mainly involved removing old SHK stickers which had been placed liberally on each side of the kayak, front and back. Once removed, a little white spirit to clean excess gum off the boat, and then a little cut polish to clean up the decal areas.

Fat Paddler medium sticker on front hatch, Boréal Nanook

Once clean, I went to work placing the new Fat Paddler stickers. Firstly I discovered the big stickers I got were TOO big. This meant that for the side cockpit mounts, and the front hatch, I was going to have to use the medium stickers. Getting a clean placement of the vinyl stickers on the boat proved very difficult, and a slow carfeul process, due to the curve of the kayak and the propensity of the stickers to form folding air channels.

Then came the biggie, the one spot on the kayak where the big sticker could find a home, on the stern of the boat. This one went without a hitch, and the re-brand was complete. Now I just need a name for the boat.. and I’m swing towards “Pudding”. Later!

Large Fat Paddler sticker, kayak stern, Boréal Nanook

Large Fat Paddler sticker, kayak stern, Boréal Nanook

Tags: Boreal Nanook

Fat Paddler's new kayak - Boréal Nanook

The day finally arrived for me to pick-up my new kayak. It also came with pouring rain and horrendous winds chopping Sydney’s waters to bits. Still, that made having a coffee with the crew from Sydney Harbour Kayaks more inviting!

Sydney Harbour Kayaks - The Spit, Mosman

Of course the Fat Paddler is never one to let bad weather stop a paddle, so into the new boat and out into the wind for what turned into one of my hardest paddles yet. 5km felt like 50km, with 3 foot chop smashing the kayak and 30 knot winds playing havoc with every aspect of my paddle technique. Needless to say not too many pics today (and all wind-swept!). Probably would have been better to stay indoors!

Heading into Middle Harbour with the wind behind me

A wind-swept Fat Paddler trying hide the fact he's soiling himself with fear

Best place for the kayak today - strapped to the car

Tags: Boreal Nanook

Sea Kayak - Boréal Nanook

So the time has come to get a bit more serious, sell off the plastic kayak and invest in the paddling craft that will carry the Fat Paddler through the Hawkesbury Classic and onwards. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the Cobra Expedition, but I’m going to require the knowledge that I’m not filling with water (and sinking!) in the dark, and a level of warmth to get through the Hawkesbury Classic night paddle is crucial.

So with a mind to invest in something serious, I come to a certain paddling cross-roads. To the left, surf & ocean skis. Sleek, long, tippy sit-on-top racing craft designed to handle surf and ocean swell, and to generally go bloody fast. To the right, sea kayaks.  Designed to handle long trips, ocean swell and touring both at sea and on inland waters, these craft are generally more stable, enclosed, drier and offer a good platform for cruising.  Both types of craft can come in super-fast versions…. although generally the skis are always going to be a little quicker.

Stability is probably the first consideration. Ski’s are designed to go fast and non-stop. You don’t stop during a time trial and take a few happy snaps, mainly because once the ski stops moving forward its paddler will probably topple over sideways. That’s why when you see ski’s flying past on the water their paddler equipment is minimal (including clothing!).  Shorts, perhaps a camel pack for fluid, and thats it. Now, it would be safe to say that the Fat Paddler is probably not yet buff enough to sit topless on a ski in full view of the crowds lining Sydney Harbour.  Probably not even in the maximum clothing allowance for ocean ski paddlers, a skin tight rashie. This would simply be unacceptable.

An average ski paddler - NOT a Fat Paddler!

Sea kayaks on the other hand are harder to get into (especially for, errr, more hefty paddlers). And I might add, near impossible to get back into when you fall out of them.  They are also heavier, wider, and not in the same speed class as their skinny ski friends. Hoswever, they do have a few other benefits. They are MUCH more stable. You can happily have a rest mid-paddle, whip out the camera and take a few happy snaps without fear of falling out. You can even remain stationary in sea swell and calmly enjoy a drink or a bite to eat. They are also drier, with far less water washing across (and into) the cockpit. You can use them almost anywhere – sea, rivers, harbours, lakes. You can load them up with camping gear and take off for a few days. You can even catch a few fish from them.

My problem is of course I want both. I love to paddle fast, and a ski would suit this perfectly. I also like to rest & take in the view, and a kayak is better for this. So what I need to do is find a Sea Kayak that is also built to go faster than most. Which brings me back again to the Boréal Nanook, the high quality Canadian-made composite sea kayak built for bigger paddlers.

Nanook - Inuit for Polar Bear!

This is a fine kayak. Built solidly using single sheets of fibreglass and vinyl-based resins, it is made to last. With a deeper profile and larger cockpit, it is good for the bigger paddler to get in & out of, particularly at sea. A good 5m+ length, high flotation and external rudder mean that even with a heavy paddler on board it will still track nicely and at a good speed. It is going to be very hard for the Fat Paddler to go past this kayak – watch this space to see which way I go!

Of course, I have forgotten to mention the humble short surf-ski, which should be at least considered in the equation if the below photo is anything to go by…. 

The short surf-ski has a certain appeal...

Tags: Boreal Nanook, ocean ski, sea kayak, surf ski

Boréal Design Nanook fibreglass kayak

After the difficulties faced using my current kayak with ocean swell conditions, with a need for a long-distance kayak for the Hawkesbury Classic in October, and after an insightful chat with the crew at Sydney Harbour Kayaks, I booked a paddle on one their fibreglass kayaks, a Boreal Nanook. Now the Nanook (apparently Inuit for “Polar Bear”, quite fitting considering my nickname!) is pitched in as a performance kayak for, err, large people. In fact their marketing spiel is quite polite on the matter:

The Nanook is designed for individuals weighing 90 kg (200 lb) or more. This kayak has a deeper profile, offering ample room for the legs, thighs and feet. For added comfort and freedom of movement, the cockpit and seat are larger than those of other composite models.

Perfect for the Fat Paddler! Now keep in mind this paddler has thus far only paddled sit-on-tops, so this was always going to be an experience. Without a doubt the Nanook feels more cramped around the thighs and feet than my Cobra Expedition, but then a sit-on-top has the benefit of complete leg freedom. After a minute in the Nanook however I’d forgotten to feel cramped and actually started to enjoy the enhanced control you get when wedged into a kayak properly!

A pre-storm rainbow over Sydney

One of the things I wanted to test of course was the stability.  And compared to my Cobra the Nanook was so stable I was frankly shocked. In comparison my Cobra is 1cm narrower across the beam and about 8cm longer, and frankly pretty tippy.  It has a very low profile, making it excellent in high winds, but also susceptible to water washing in over the sides when choppy or during largish swell. The Nanook on the other hand was dry, warm, and happy to bob around in the water without any concern about entering water.

Paddling into the upcoming storm on Sydney Harbour

But the only real way to test the Nanook was to head out into ocean swell to see if it was more stable than my Cobra had been the day before. To add to the test a nice big rain storm was blowing into Sydney and by the time I passed Balmoral and into the path of the swell coming off the Pacific Ocean, wind/rain/chop added to the equation.

Riding up over ocean swell towards the Heads & the Pacific Ocean

I have to say I was even more impressed with the Nanook’s stability. With the big swell and sideways chop the kayak simply bobbed about happily without any water washing into the kayak at all. This is one hell of a steady & stable kayak!

Then I had a slight mishap. A running repair done just prior to my test came loose, resulting in the left rudder cable coming loose. With onboard repairs looking impossible, I used the cable system to pull the rudder out of the water and back up onto the stern, and started paddling with the swell back into the harbour.

Now tracking on the Nanook is no-where near as clean and straight as the Cobra (which is shaped with an inbuilt skeg system). Without the rudder, it was virtually impossible to keep the boat in a straight line with swell running from behind, and I spent quite some time pinwheeling perpendicular to the oncoming waves as a result. However, once I got out of the swell and back onto flat water, the forward momentum was far easier to control with smart paddling and the kayak ran effortlessly up into Middle Harbour.

In general, I really love this boat. It is big enough to handle both my weight and long leg length. It is sleek enough to develop good running speed, particularly on flat water. It is stable enough to handle nasty swell and chop. And the quality of Boréal Design kayaks is really second to none.  Me likey likey! 

NOTE: Sydney Harbour Kayaks are the official distributors for Boréal Design kayaks in Australia and New Zealand. They are friendly and helpful and offer “paddle before you buy” sessions at the Spit for you to test their Boréal range of kayaks. It’s well worth it.

Despite wind & driving rain, a very happy reviewer!

Tags: Boréal Design, Boreal Nanook, Kayak Review, Nanook