Blog Archives

A Return to the Surf… or Paddling to Feel Alive

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about paddling, and the parts I love, as well as the parts I don’t love so much. In particular, I’ve thought a lot about…

A Surfski Social Tour of Sydney’s Middle Harbour

Team Fat Paddler finds itself in that lovely part of the year between events, the time when there’s no real need to train for any particular event, just a period…

Video: Pushing the Limit with Neptune’s Rangers

Having spent the past year largely on my surfski, I’ve missed out on the rock gardening I did for much of the previous year. I love my ski and love…

2012 Green River Extreme Race White Water Carnage

Sitting here in Australia it’s easy to get carried away in our own coastal paddling exploits – surfski paddling, sea kayaking, SUP paddling, recreational paddling. But in the Northern hemisphere…

Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2012 – Team Fat Paddler

Another year, and another Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 111km night paddling ultra-marathon done. Only this year I wasn’t alone, with Team Fat Paddler swelling in size to 20 paddlers and 30…

Surfski assisted rescue on a capsized sea kayak

The idea was simple – with a 111km ultra-marathon paddle just a week away, a slow, easy tapering paddle session was in order. So Team Fat Paddler decided to the…

Paddlemag Edition 2 – Out Now, complete with Team Fat Paddler Mauritius Shamaal Goodness

Something really exciting has happened in the world of kayaking recently – the launch 4 months back here in Australia of the e-magazine Paddlemag. It covers stories across all paddling…

Remembering Bali Ten Years On

I found myself sitting at work, exactly ten years to the day since I was in Bali that fateful day, with my mind wandering to the bad times. I’ve never…

The Team Fat Paddler “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” 2012 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic Campaign

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…

Kayak Games for Groups – Murder Ball

I was recently tasked by the CEO of my workplace Dimmi to come up with a kayak-based activity for a National Conference we were holding in Manly. His instructions were…

Playing with boats on Fathers Day: Stellar SR surfski, Stellar S18S cross-over surfski, Slipstream X-cite spec ski

It’s Fathers Day here in Sydney, and a group of men have gathered at the crack of dawn on Australia’s famous Manly Beach. Laid out on the beach are a…

Enter Now – Hawkesbury Canoe Classic 2012

Here it comes again, that feeling of excitement as the full moon in October approaches, heralding the next Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. This spectacular event with 600+ paddlers cruising the 111km…

Technique Training with Pro Paddler Mat Gorzkiewicz

I’ve been paddling for a few years now and have gone through a few different iterations of paddle-craft and techniques; flat water kayaking, canoeing, rock gardening, white water, Greenland paddling…

Book & DVD Review: Extreme South & Crossing the Ice (James Castrission and Justin Jones)

I was captivated and inspired back in 2009 when I read the story of two Australian adventurers, known as Cas and Jonesy, who became the first (and only) people to…