Little moments of magic in the middle of the city

One of the best things about paddling is that there’s so many different ways to do it. You can head out into the surf, bump and grind through rock gardens, ride a canoe down a river, play out in the ocean swell or go for a lake cruise with friends. You don’t need to stereotype yourself as any particular type of paddler – you’re totally free to enjoy the water any way you like.

Bunyip Cave, somewhere near East Killara

On a grey rainy summer’s day recently I caught up with an old friend, a paddler who spends most of his time out at sea. I hadn’t seen him for a while and was open to whatever paddle he was up for. The tide that morning was particularly high and to my surprise he suggested a cruise up Middle Harbour to intercept the coffee boat.

Such serenity hidden away from the heavier boat traffic of the Harbour

We didn’t find it until we reached the Roseville Bridge, and after a relaxing coffee floating on the calm waters by the Roseville marina, we decided to head further up into Middle Harbour Creek. So far up in fact we passed the rocks of upper East Killara and only got stopped by the weir near St Ives!

Paddling amongst the mangroves at high tide

Both he and I can usually be found looking for more exciting water, but on this day we just felt like a  different type of paddle.  This beautiful and peaceful part of the world gave two old mates a chance to catch up and chat whilst having a relaxing cruise. We ended up kayaking a touch over 25 kms over a very leisurely 6 hours – slow, relaxed, and a heap of fun.  And that’s just fine, because as a paddler you can paddle any way you want to. Cheers – FP

What can I say. Paddling is simply awesome.

Tags: Middle Harbour

Little early morning breakers at Middle Head

It was one of those days where the weather reports totally confused me as to the likely conditions.  As I monitored the various forecast websites, I received a mix of reports ranging from “Seas under 1 metre, wind 15-20 knts” to “Seas up to 3 metres, winds 25-30knts, gusts 40% higher”. At one end of the spectrum, a pretty flat calm day. At the other, a nasty messy windy storm front.

So I took off to The Spit and decided I’d make a decision once there – if calm, I’d head out towards Sydney’s Heads. If not, I’d take the scenic route up Middle Harbour. When I arrived, the water was like glass and the wind barely noticeable, so I took off in the direction of Middle Head to have a better look.

Froth and bubbles along the Middle Head cliffs

When I arrived at Middle Head the sight was beautiful. The cliffs were awash with early morning amber light, with calm seas but a nice little 1.5 metre swell rolling in forming little sucky breakers on the rocks. The conditions were magnificent, so I paddled up to within about 5 metres of the cliff and sat in the break zone, enjoying the start to the day.

Then I took off, hugging the shoreline back into Sydney Harbour and round to Bradleys Head, enjoying the magnificent coast of Sydney Harbour. But as I continued, the sky started to cloud over, and a decidedly strong wind started to pick up behind me, so I decided to turn back into it and start the return journey.

Uh-oh, storm front moving in....

The dark grey moving clouds over North Head told of the incoming front, as if the rapidly rising headwinds weren’t giving it away. I like paddling into the wind though, and managed to match it with some ski paddlers briefly as I powered through the building chop and into the spray. When I finally returned to Middle Head, the conditions had dramatically changed from the calm conditions a few hours earlier.  Now 2-2.5 metre swell was rolling in through the heads and pounding the cliff-face, erupting in huge plumes of spray before rebounding back out. The rebound and incoming swell mixed together made for some sensational  lumps, and the churned up waters looked a brilliant aquamarine blue.

Wanting to record the crazy waters, I pulled out the camera and recorded a good minute of the action before paddling off to calmer waters. Then as I moved further along the head, I pulled the camera back out for another shot and realised the video was actually running. Turns out I’d not recorded any of the cliff action, but had instead recorded a couple of minutes of the darkness inside my PFD pocket!

The waters getting choppier along Middle Head

With the wind still building, I decided against going back to re-record the footage, so instead rode the swell into Middle Harbour and most of the way back to The Spit where I indulged in a hot coffee from SHK. Another lovely paddle under the belt! Cheers – FP

Lumpy good times on Sydney Harbour

Tags: Middle Harbour

J-Dogg cruising past the marina at The Spit

A good mate of mine who has been living in the Middle East recently returned to Sydney for a few weeks and we organised to head out for a paddle on Middle Harbour.  We both rented matching BD Epsilons (a P300 for me, a P200 for him) from Sydney Harbour Kayaks and since the tide was in I thought I’d take him for a burn up to Scotts Creek, Bantry Bay and back to The Spit.

At the start of the paddle my mate Jeremy (or J-Dogg as I like to call him) took off at a fairly cracking pace, pushing his slightly smaller kayak with his euro blade pretty quickly through the water. As a bigger lazy guy, I need a good 3-4km to warm up so I was struggling a little to keep up with my greenland paddle and bigger boat. Of course, by the time we’d paddled about 2km he was starting to slow down and I was starting to speed up, so our pace levelled out to an uneasy equal!

Turning into Sugar Loaf Bay I guided J-Dogg into Scotts Creek, my anticipated highlight for the morning. Unfortunately an overnight deluge had carried all sorts of rubbish amongst the storm water into the creek, so my once pristine secret was looking pretty dirty. Still, it is a magical place and as we slowly cruised amongst the mangroves and palms, it was hard not to appreciate this little secret spot. A kangaroo breaking cover and hopping alongside us through the scrub just added to the charm.

The J-Dogg on Scotts Creek

Once we left Scotts Creek it was only a few minutes before I spotted the Coffee Boat chugging past in the distance, and not wanting to be deprived of my morning paddle-coffee, I left the J-Dogg behind and put in the big strokes to race after my water-borne caffeine dealer. Fortunately I was able to catch him, so we got to relax on Sugar Loaf Bay sipping skim lattés on the water.

After the coffee I was fired up for a decent paddle, so I led J-Dogg north into Bantry Bay (against a northerly wind). At this stage I started to notice my matey drifting behind me, and was having to slow down every few minutes so he could catch up.  Could it be that J-Dogg had broken the gate a bit hard earlier in the morning *grin*?

J-Dogg "powering" along the shore of Middle harbour. Until he grounded himself on rocks - haha!

After a quick stop in Bantry Bay we realised we needed to get the boats back within 30 minutes so set off for a fast paddle back to The Spit. We set off at a firm pace and cruised back along the Seaforth shoreline, discussing the various merits of house design along this expensive strip, before I took off to sprint the final km or so to the beach in front of Sydney Harbour Kayaks.  A few minutes behind the J-Dogg rolled up on the beach also, looking a little out of breath and somewhat flustered, but in general pretty happy with the experience. All up a nice little morning paddle, made even more fun by doing it with a friend. Cheers! – FP

Tags: Bantry Bay, Middle Harbour, Scotts Creek

Ella's Pink Lady at The Spit, Sydney Harbour

One of the reasons I love paddling Sydney Harbour so much is there is always something cool to see. On this particular paddle, it was the bright pink yacht “Ella’s Pink Lady“.

If you haven’t heard about this yacht, then let me fill you in. It’s skipper is about to attempt a world-record solo non-stop unassisted sailing journey around the world. And it will be a record because the skipper, Jessica Watson, will be at 16 years old the youngest person to have ever done it.

Barely seems any bigger than Fat Paddler's kayak!

This attempt is of course not without controversy. Seasoned sailors have claimed she has a 1 in 3 chance of losing the yacht in rough seas, and a further 1 in 3 chance of losing her life. Many have argued that it is irresponsible to let a 16 year old attempt something of such a risky nature. Furthermore the fact she recently crashed her yacht into the side of a tanker after falling asleep at the helm has fuelled the fire of detractors.

Regardless of the controversy, it was great to see her in her yacht on Middle Harbour and I most certainly wish her all the very best of luck on her adventure. Go get ‘em girl! 

Tags: Ella's Pink Lady, Jessica Watson, Middle Harbour, sailing

Drifting through mangroves, Scotts Creek, Sydney

The fantastic thing about paddling in Sydney is that there are so many secrets to be found.  On my usual paddling spot (Middle Harbour) there are all types of areas to be discovered, and one of these secrets is Scotts Creek.

At the end of Sugar Loaf Bay, about midway up Middle Harbour, is a set of mangroves that seem inpenetrable at low to middle tide.  I’d heard about this area from other paddlers but had never had the chance to explore it with the right tide. On this particular day, I’d managed to get there on a very high tide, paddling through the high winds and constant rain that have been buffeting Sydney for the past few weeks.

A meandering creek narrows and passes deep into the mangroves, an enchanting paddle through skeletal trees that seems a million miles from civilisation. Then the creek turns and passes under a huge rock overhang, which on this particular day was a thousand dripping channels caused by the rain.

Rock overhang seen through the mangroves

As you pass the rock the creek narrows further (at times to little more than a kayak width), with the folliage changes suddenly to sub-tropical bamboo and palms along the banks. This is an incredible change in flora as you move deeper and deeper into the creek system.

Scotts Creek - flora changing to sub-tropical

At this stage I was starting to scrape both my kayak and my paddles on the rocky bottom and had to turn and head back through the incredible serenity of this secret spot. With the gentle patter of rain falling through the silent ghostly mangrove trees I couldn’t help but feel enchanted by this incredible part of Sydney. Love this city!

Tags: kayak, mangroves, Middle Harbour, Scotts Creek, Sugar Loaf Bay, sydney harbour