"You'll be fine." Rock gardening with composite boats.

I have made this short, action packed video from the day with material from Dragomir, Josh and my camera. Thank you Josh and Dragomir for letting me use your footage.

We met early in the morning at the river mouth. The location remains confidential not to scare new 'victims' of this club paddle.
We were six, with 2 experienced in rock gardens and surf and 4 skilled paddlers eager to get more of this kind of fun. 3 plastic boats and 3 composite ones.
The day started with rolls from everyone in the flat water. The idea was to know where each one was with this skill in case it was needed in a rock garden. We then paddled out into a very calm sea and turned the corner to find some amazing rock towers coming out of the water with enough depth among them as to be able to paddle comfortable. The perfect environment to get used to being close to rocks in moving water.

Perfect: some moving water, towers of rock and enough depth.

A brief intro, a couple of runs following the 'local' and some 'free' time to explore and get a taste of what was to come.

- "Guys, lets move on so we have time before the southerly,  forecasted for later today, hit us".

So we moved on to another feature, then to another and yet another one. Each a bit more challenging than the previous one. A long narrow bay with some rocks at the end. Some paddling really close to the low cliffs where you see how you go up and down beside the rocky wall. Another narrower 'bay' with more rebound...

Dragomir in one of the narrow 'bays'.

At some point we got to this crevice with just enough water to go through in a lull period. It would be sitting on the rocks if you time the trough of the wave or a wild ride if you timed the peak. The advise given was "All you need to do is to inch your nose into the crevice here, wait for the swell to be right and go with it. You'll be fine."
I landed behind the crevice to keep an eye and to be able to throw a rope from terra firma if needed, but also to have some practise on something I don't do that often: seal landing on rocks with moving water.

The crevice on the right and beautiful passages all around.

Everyone went fine, some went through more times than they should have... Of course, when you get many tickets the chances of getting the winner increase and we got some minor mishaps.

And the winner is....

We then moved on to a beach nearby where we hoped to find some surf. Not much on this day but we had some fun with what we were given.

Some rolling practise doesn't hurt

We landed, had something to eat and drink and were quickly back in the boats to paddle back without stopping for any rocks or surf. We started to feel the wind picking up on our backs. By the time we got back to the river white cups could be seen everywhere and some menacing clouds had started to arrive. It was a perfect timing to finish the day and we were all fine... Well a couple of the composite kayaks were lighter when it was time to lift them onto the roof racks.

Nothing serious that some gel coat can't fix.

Sea kayaking into the 'BIG CAVE'

Last summer was dotted with low pressure systems close-by keeping storms, strong winds and heavy seas in the area where I usually paddle. This autumn was quite the opposite with many high pressure systems and very flat seas.

Looking out from one of the big caves

With seas below 1 meter and virtually no wind in the forecast, Josh and I planned to visit “the big cave in Central Coast”. We knew there may be smaller caves in the area as well but I had not imagined what we were going to find.

Magnificent mazes trapped between rock and water

The plan for the weekend was simple: let’s get into every cave, gauntlet and crevice we see while paddling. Once we had the program we put the call out within the club and we were joined by Roger the whole weekend and Marty and Shawn on Sunday.

Shawn 'looking like a saint in one of the narrow passages.

Some of the caves were dark and we needed torches to look inside.

We started with loaded kayaks and soon I was reminded of how much my kayak changes its behaviour when it carries a few kilograms of water, food and shelter in its once dry hatches. Anyway, I am sure that by the end of the weekend it was lighter, not only from the supplies consumed but from the strips of plastic left on the different rock surfaces of the area until I got used to the longer time it took me to turn and stop in small spaces.

We landed in this small beach flanked by walls of rock for the fun of it, and it was fun! Look at the video below



Is he talking to someone from heaven? I felt in heaven this day.

With the water so calm we got into a lot of cave systems that were almost like a maze. I tried my luck and skills going through really narrow and difficult places. I pushed it so much that I got to see some rocks underwater really close.

Yep, the water was shallow here.

I managed to do a lot of things during the weekend but specially something I had been wanting to do for a while: jump off the kayak, climb up a couple of meters the steep rock and jump back in.

Thanks to Shawn for sharing the pictures and to Roger for the videos he recorded with my camera.

You can see some more of the amazing places in the first video below

Or more action like my capsize or Josh almost being dragged by a wave in the second one. 

Caves, blow hole and rocks while sea kayaking

A few weeks ago, with a very calm forecast, we went visiting some caves, the famous blow hole at Kiama and why not, play around rocks.
Here is my edited video of that day from Josh's helmet cam.

20 seconds

There was a time when I used to swim a 'lot'. At the end, before stretching, I tried to do a few laps underwater. My maximum was a bit over 50 meters. Starting on the shallow end, swim with my belly against the bottom of the pool the 25 meters to the deep end, turn there, coming back to the shallow and turn with the last bit of air. I have no idea how long it used to take me but the sensation at the end was like a vacuum inside my belly. Last weekend I got that sensation again, only this time was while kayaking.
It has been a long time since my last paddle in rapids, 17 years or so, but that stretch stopped last Saturday when I joined 3 other sea kayak paddlers on a visit to the Olympic white water stadium in Penrith.
Mark lent me his white water kayak and I met my fellow paddlers on Saturday morning. I was very confident, although it was my first time in the kayak and it was not 100% adjusted for me (I still need to add some extra foam at the footrests), however I was totally fired up to be there. We did some practise at the bottom pool of the circuit, jumping to the current and coming back into the eddies (the parts where there is no current or it runs upstream). We did some rolls in the current and we jumped onto the conveyor that took us to the beginning of the circuit.

At the top. Beginning of the circuit

I went through the first rapid and the second, stopping after each to play the waves behind the rapid. On the third one I didn't go through and I got trapped in the 'hole' created behind the fall of water. I tried and rolled a few times but got thrown under water again before I could take any air. I waited as long as I could to be released but I could not hold any longer and I pulled the loop of my skirt and swam. Not a good start of the day...

Another one. Josh and David waiting on the eddy and Wade just finished this one.

I caught up with my flooded kayak at the bottom pool and went again for the next run. I was still feeling bold and confident. This second run was not good either. I got stuck in the first rapid and capsized, when I got up I was surfing the wave. I started to enjoy the surf when I found my self again under water. I tried but could not roll up. I was again trapped in a hole. This time, while still under water, I was released from the trap and when I tried again to roll again I succeeded. However I was totally exhausted and out of air, feeling that vacuum in my stomach. Take a look at the video at the bottom, it was only 20 seconds!!! Believe me, it felt a LOT LONGER than 20 seconds!!!

Looking up before the big apnea.

After that my boldness and confidence were gone and I started to paddle the circuit in a more humbled way. There were still lots of capsizes and rolls but none was long nor were more swims.

Short and long kayaks surf session

Here is the video related to last post:

Thanks Mark for letting me use the footage.

First try

During the weekend I had my first opportunity to surf a short boat. Not a great day for surfing as the waves were short and dumped quickly after forming but I had fun.

Punching out through the dumping waves.

It was during a weekend aimed at developing the skills of the trip leaders within the club. There was going to be a session of surfing and one of the instructors suggested to bring short boats for the occasion.

The mob gathers out of the break zone

I have no short boat but some of the guys who brought one didn't want to use it and I jumped at the opportunity to borrow the one that Dave brought. Most of the other leaders in the water were with their sea kayaks doing exercises on landing and traversing the soup.

 

Punching the waves.

Playing the soup.

If you put a brave face the waves are nicer.

However being in the short boat I just wanted to ride the waves. It was not a proper surf boat, more like a white water kayak. However at a bit short of 3 meters long it is a lot more manoeuvrable than my 5.3 sea kayak. It also has a flatter hull that makes it easier to carve on the face of the waves.

 

I was in the water taking the waves for around 1 hour and at the end of that I was starting to get the feeling for this type of kayak. Definitely I need to do this again.

Mark stayed on the beach and was filming and photographing the session. Thanks Mark for letting me use his fantastic images.

I was with a GoPro attached to my helmet but soon after it touched the water it fogged up and no good images came out of the memory card.

RIP my old friend the camera

Last entry didn't have images from that day. Apparently my head is stronger (with the helmet) and better sealed than my camera. A few weeks ago it died, my camera not my head nor the helmet, while being trashed against the sand and rocks in a surf session. One moment it was working and the next, after a couple of rolls where I ate some sand, it wasn't. Later I discovered water inside the lens and sand in the battery compartment. I sent it to Nikon and I was told a new one is being sent on the mail.
Here is what I could recover from that memory card.

What an afternoon

Yesterday I came back from paddling with a nice feeling. Not that feeling nice is uncommon after a paddle but yesterday was special for the low expectations I had at the beginning of it.

I had a good long paddle on Saturday and I only had a couple of hours to be in the water yesterday, so long was not in the plans. Being a holiday I knew the surfers would be all around the beaches so surfing my long boat was also out. The swell was between 1 and 2 meters and being alone didn't encourage to go among the rocks.

I put in and started to paddle out from the beach. The swell was not big nor powerful so I went to some rock formations to practice a bit of timing surfing over them. It was a good warm up but I wanted more!!!

I paddled around the small head to see how the rock garden on the other side was. It was out of the question. Big rollers were washing the rocks and the gaps were not visible :-(

I kept paddling along the long beach, trying to find a spot with few surfers. The holiday and the warm water lured them all out and everywhere with decent breaks was overcrowded. I kept going.

I spotted a solo SUP trying to surf around a sand bank. I joined him for a little while until we discovered the few and very spaced sets of bigger waves. Those waves dumped on the sand bar and the one I took dragged me broaching, after a couple of rolls, all the way in. At the end it threw me on the beach when the last bit of force dumped on dry sand. I launched again and kept going.

While paddling I saw two big fish, approx. 1 meter long it seemed to me, swimming past me. I had never seen before from my kayak so big fish swimming by.

After rounding another headland I was at the beginning of a 2 km long beach. I thought 'I must find some spot for me here'. It was also around 4.30pm and the surfers were starting to go away. Soon I found a deep sand bar way out of the beach. It was perfect. No surfers, some 50 meters wide with the bigger sets spilling in the centre and pockets moving to both sides. It was fantastic! As the swell rolled straight onto the sand bar, the waves stood to what I estimate 2 or 3 meters faces. I was riding them probably 1 meter ahead of the white and my bow was not hitting the bottom of the wave. They got very steep, and of course, the faces didn't last long and broke. However I had 2 means of escape: the one I used more often was paddling faster, some 45 degrees of the wave direction, in that way I went out of the sand bar just as water exploded. The other, plan B, was used when I didn't manage enough speed to escape to the side. It was to brace and let the white water carry me some 50 meters until it reformed in a deeper 'pool' of the sandy floor before continuing on to the beach.

While riding those waves I saw a big shade floating nearby. It didn't appear to be moving and I approached slowly with the hope it was a turtle. I didn't want to startle it. I took my time and when I finally got close enough to see clearly I discovered it was a huge plastic barrel. It had been drifting around long enough to have grown a little colony of barnacles. I tried to push it to the beach but got interrupted by a wave, when I rolled up my 'turtle' had 'swam away', I didn't see it again. At least in other areas I recovered 2 fishing buoys, 2 plastic bags, a piece of foam and many pieces of plastic wrappers.

Plan B, the unexpected brace and wait, was used twice only. The second time, when the soap released me I discovered my spare paddle bag, which is carried on my back deck, was loose from one end. I though it dangerous to keep surfing with that loose end. It could hit me in the back or I could lose the spare paddle completely if the other anchor point failed.

It was about 5.30 already, I had been surfing for 1 hour and the sun was setting down on the land. I started to cover the 4 km to my car. I was feeling good and did the distance in an almost sprint. Almost 30 minutes later, with tongue hanging out, I was in front of the rocks I had played at the start. With the tide a bit lower the gaps to go over were more exposed but I was in tune with the swell of the day already. That over the rocks followed by a ride of a wave to the beach was the perfect end for a fantastic afternoon.

Just for the record I don't think it's a good idea!

'Just for the record I don't think it's a good idea!' those were Matt's comments before I got more personal with the coast.

We spent 2 nights in an island. The second day we managed to do a circumnavigation of it. The coast is so rocky and full of features that I couldn't resist playing close range.

I think the video (and Matt's comments in it) says it all

Storm, foam and murky waters

Summer is over. It is not just the calendar showing the 3rd month of the year but the weather too. Specially during the last few week ends. Weekdays were mostly good and weekend were definitely not good. Lots of trips cancelled due to bad weather. I tried to go out anyway but some days it was a bit rough to venture out by myself but really good if I could gather 1 or 2 more to keep an eye on each other.

Last friday the buoy readings (a buoy that measures the swell some 10km from the coast of Sydney) at the time were of median swell of 4-5 meters and tops of above 10! The forecast for saturday was with strong winds and high swell. I sent the call out to see who wanted to go for paddle. However everyone had either the kids or the work or something else. I think they were just afraid of the big waves :-) Anyway, my wife was also afraid of the waves and asked me to stay home. Good excuse, right?

Sunday again a rough day but nothing could keep me inside. I went to Palm Beach thinking "if it is too rough I can launch from the bay side which is only 500 meters away and stay paddling in the protected waters." When I parked on the ocean side there were signs of 'beach closed' and not even the surfers were doing their stuff. Is that a bad sign?

I changed into the 'rubber' uniform and dragged the kayak to the shore. There I had the first surprise of the afternoon. The beach was mostly white. Covering a good portion of the sand was a thick layer of foam.

Evaluating the conditions

Of course beyond that was what looked as angry sea. I though maximum that can happen is coming back swimming, right? So in I went.
The first line of breakers were some distance away but the white water kept rolling with strength and when hit me the water bottle was taken from my deck. I usually put it inside to go through the breaking zone but I had forgotten. I quickly fished it out and opened a bit of spay skirt to throw it inside. That was the moment the next wave decided to launch its attack. It put my kayak on the side and pulled the spray deck out of the rim. The synchronized attack of the waves went on relentlessly and right after I realized my skirt had come completely off a bit bigger roll of white water engulfed me and filled the kayak with water and me with foam. I made a strategic retreat to regroup on the sand.

End of first round. I retreated with a kayak full of water and foam.

After removing the disguise of broken washing machine and empting the kayak I prepared to start my counter attack. The strategy: frontal charge, but without water bottle on deck.

The combat was ferocious with great display of strength and tenacity from both sides. I managed to advance a few meters to be dragged back a portion of that, another bit forward and another bit of forced retreat. A ball of foam was blown to my face, my enemy was playing tricky now. I managed to clean it with my hand just in time to see a breaky washing me completely and send me back again.
It took me while. In the end I made it out of the surf zone, although the waves kept breaking out there. My spray skirt had imploded and during the heat of the battle I had not realized. My kayak was half full of water. Luckily my electric pump was still working. After emptying the boat I paddled a few kilometers against the wind.
I didn't want to paddle too far from the coast but I couldn't stay too close. With so many storms lately, many sand banks had formed just out of the beach and suddenly big waves were breaking like surf where they shouldn't be. Also the water was not the normal grey color the ocean has when it is stormy. It was murky, brown like a river, even a few hundred meters away from the beach.

The waves were big, producing very large explosions of water

The forecast didn't mention anything about thunderstorms but after my experience last December I didn't want to take any chances and when I saw a few darker than the rest clouds I came back.

While approaching the landing I was thinking "I am going to be trashed, I just hope I don't get hurt." Well, I didn't get hurt and neither was trashed. I managed it pretty nicely coming in the lips of a wave and stopping before it broke. Then I got lucky and a lull allowed me to paddle all the way in until I landed.

An interesting afternoon with lots of foam and river color like water on the ocean.

The water cannon

Some time last year we visited the 'Dragon's Den'. I don't know if that is the real name but that was what we called it since. We didn't get to see the dragon but we heard it loud and clear. After that we never got to paddle to that point again, at least when I was present.
Last week that changed. With a relative benign sea state and a large group we managed to reach the point again. 'Would the dragon be inside?', 'What will be his mood today?' I was confident that with the NE swell the dragon would be happy and playfull.
Apparently the dragon is not such, it is a metamorphic entity that during this last visit mutated to the form of a water cannon. Still it was in a good mood and played with us a lot.

Rob bracing the rebound.

A few meters rised the courtain of water, who is behind?

Proud of Sydney, Mardi Gras city. Lots of rainbows that afternoon

Wade ready for the next rebound

Blown for 30 km

I was going to help Rae with a club paddle. The club has some regulations and you can't organise a trip if the wind forecasted is above a threshold. That limit made us suspend the club trip. However it didn't stop us from doing a good paddle out of the club organisation. We decided to do a car shuffle with a paddle down wind and down swell of 30km. We told Matt what we were going to do and he jumped on board.
Sydney is split in 2 parts, north and south by Sydney Harbour. Also to the south there is a first limit to the urban expansion at Botany Bay. That stretch from the Bay to the Harbour is what we paddled.
I used to paddle that area a lot until I moved to the very north of Sydney but I had never paddled the whole coast in one go. Both launching and landing points were in protected waters, however well before being in the ocean we started to feel the force of the swell and the white cups hitting from the side. A small thin shower was added to the mix producing a very annoying sensation when it hit the face being blown by the wind.

Someone told you can't see the wind, but I can in this image!

Later the rain stopped and some sun light was filtered through the clouds producing a nice effect on the confused surface.

Matt floating on the conditions.

After a little while we turned and we started "flying" to our destination. Big swells, smaller seas and the wind in the back helped us along.

Rae Rides

Watch out Matt!!

The week before we had a big storm in all the east coast of our big island Australia. It produced floods in the north over 1000 km from Sydney. It also created traffic problem in the city. Apart from making some big conditions on the sea it also produced some confusion with birds. We saw more than the usual number, including an Albatross who flew between Rae and me with its legs still in the water.

A lot of birds, more than usual

Rae and the big swell modelling for the camera

After a bit over 3 hours of being carried by wind and swell we got to the harbour. After entering it, what usually is calm and pretty protected, was not. The harbour was funnelling the little west in the wind and causing a lot of little wind waves. I could not let the chance pass and went playing close to shore for a bit.

Recipe: take a wave, compress it under the rocks and then let the pressure out.

Neil, Rae's partner, picked us up from the harbour and drove us and the three kayaks back to the starting point to pick our cars. Thank you Neil!!! Before starting we told him we would be back at 1 pm. This was the best estimate for an ETA I have seen. At 1 o'clock Rae was resting her bow on the sand of the landing beach.
A really nice paddle. Enjoy the video.

PS: Rob, you missed a good one!! :-)

The Red Submarine

Miserable weather today gray, cold (for a summer day) and raining. No paddling. Hopefully tomorrow.

With off water time, my kid playing with his friends and my wife preparing her friends baby shower I decided to compile another short video from last week. Sorry about the fogged images.

I went surfing with my kayak. Not excellent waves but it was fun anyway. I have been practising some pirouettes on my sea kayak and I managed to do an endo (put the kayak perpendicular to the water surface while on the face of the wave and complete the 180 by falling with he tail pointing to the beach).

About to plunge head first back into the water

Later a wave decided to take revenge and when it broke on top of my head my skirt imploded. When the white water receded I was paddling a red submarine.

Red submarine

Rock gardens and surf

 

I finally managed to get to paddle with the guys from the 'south'. Not that far south really but enough to have to plan it in advance to catch up for a paddle. They are the 'wild' guys, the only paddlers I know in person leaveing within reach that enjoy surfing the beach with the sea kayaks and like to get close to rocks.

Some surf at the beach

Going through some passages

We met last weekend to play around. They were the locals and I the visitor. They showed me a beach to surf, some rock gardens, a couple of narrow passages, some cave/canyon formation, another beach to surf and back to the river entrance and the cars to exchange vids and photos from the memory cards. Thank Josh for the GoPro view, Joel for the stills and Wade for posing for the camera :-)

View from inside the cave

View from ouside the cave



View from the side of the cave

We started from Minamurra boat ramp. Although we didn't get even 5km away from the launching point we finished paddling a bit over 15km. Going out and back in a surf beach several times adds distance in the end. The highlight for me were the rock gardens. In my area we have lots of cliffs but all the rocks at the bottom are too close to the walls and directly exposed the ocean swell. The coast down there is more rugged. When the swell comes from one direction you can play around this corner, when it comes from the other side you can hide behind that bend. There were also many rocky formations with deep water and a few meteres from the walls behind. Ideal to play with. In one of those passages I thought I would get stuck on top of the rocks. However the kayak sliped down on the wet stones.

Almost stuck

Paddling out after slipping down from on top of the rock on the right

 A very nice play day that I look forward to repeat...

Sea kayak surfing and some nice looking extras

Back in December, before I went on holidays, I went paddle surfing with Mark an afternoon. Not even 40 km south from where we were trying to catch some waves, a group of paddling friends were struggling with winds of 25 knots and confused seas. In our location we had no wind, the waves were small and we were pressed to find a good spot to play with the them.
We settled on a sand bar near the beach were the waves had a bit of action. Half way through the play session I landed to take some shots of Mark surfing his kayak from the beach. During that brief period the best waves of the afternoon went by. At least I had landed near a group a young ladies enjoying the sun as they came to this world. I swear I landed there by chance!!! ;-)
Anyway, I managed to get the following video... NO!!! No naked bodies just us enjoying the surf.

Paddling in the storm

Christmas Eve... well the afternoon of that eve could have been my last... actually, any moment could be my last but that belongs to another topic and I better live it to philosophers. While paddling  trying to reach the shore, within the storm with gusts of over 30 knots, in my head resonated Stuart’s words “The weather will be your undoing.”, and it almost was... at least the wind was on my back and the joy of riding the steep and big wind waves helped me forget the other peril I was facing...

I was on holidays with family and friends in an area I didn’t know very well. The day before I had paddled against the strong wind for a couple of hours to be back where I started in a fourth of that time. It was an exhilarating ride back with the wind hitting my back and fresh wind waves taking me home, but it finished too soon!!! The forecast was similar the next day, Christmas Eve’s day, strong winds from the NE after midday and chances of thunder storms during the evening, although the last part didn’t stay in my head beause I was planning to be back well before evening.
I wanted to launch from the north of the bay and ride wind and waves all the way south. However to reach a point 10 km in straigth line over the bay you need to drive like 40 km on land. Instead, my wife would drop me as far north as she could without the extra detour, I would paddle against the ‘not so strong yet’ wind for 1 or 2 hours and come back. Around 3 hours in total. However, as is usually the case with me I didn't stick to the plan and improvised along the way. It is all about the journey and not the destination, right?

Around 11 AM I was paddling and probably 40 minutes into the paddle the wind started to pick up. After another hour of battling it I decided to land to eat something (point B) before starting to come back. I called my wife to let her know where I was and she told me that some of our friends were close from where I had landed (point C). I jumped into my kayak and paddled the distance against the wind to meet them... However when I got there the beach was deserted. After talking with them on the phone I discovered they were close to my previous landing point but in the opposite direction I had paddled to meet them!!! That was the first change of plans...

From the empty beach a very nice view

From where I was the coast would shelter me from the worst of the NE wind so I decided to change again my original plan explore the north of the bay instead of heading straight back to my landing point (point X). I knew it would add several km to my paddle but I really wanted to explore that area.

While passing by a rocky beach I spotted a big sign and l landed there (point D). The sign read “Beecroft weapons range open for public access”. The area belongs to the navy and they use it for military practice. Some areas are closed to the public with signs of live amunition. 

Nobody shooting

Besides the big sign was a smaller one of a fox eating a lamb. It is a warning that fox bait has been laid in the area to control fox population. The funny thing is that both fox and lamb were introduced by European settlers but one is considered plague and the other an asset :-)

Bon appetite

I went for a small walk inland and I felt transported. Bright green bushes, sun shining through tree leafs and a nice breeze to cool you down. I wanted to stay there for a while but if I did, it would be too late to explore the rest of the bay. I went back to my boat and kept going. I wanted to see Pt Perpendicular, the high cliffs in the peninsula, where I would be rock climbing a few days later.

Transported to paradise

I had been out for 4 hours already and the water I had didn't last me. I stopped at a camp site to beg for some water to drink (point E). Another idyllic place that called me to stay there contemplating the scenery...

Another bay inviting to stay

Same beach where I got water, taken a few days later while climbing and camping 

It took me a while to turn the corner and be able to see the light house on top of the cliffs. That extra time and distance was another mistake. In my head the corner was still well north from where I wanted to land and the paddle back would be with a strong tail wind. However when I checked the GPS to head back home I realised that my course back would put me in a direction receiving the already strong wind from the side. As I paddled and I got away from the coast the wind waves started to hit my boat as well, a few already breaking with white tops that went over the boat to find its way into my ears and mouth.

On the left the image in my head, on the right the reality...

The water being blown sideways, behind me some withe cups and Pt Perpendicular

Over my head it was still sunny but in the distance, over the place I needed to land it was raining. It didn’t worry me, the wind came from behind and the clouds were in front, the wind would blow the rain away, right? Wrong!!! The wind up there was coming from the opposite side and bringing the storm closer to the middle of the bay and to me. Soon I could also see the first lighting piercing the sky. I had paddled some 30 minutes with the wind on the side and when I saw the electrical discharge I wanted to be out of the water soon. At this point I had been out for some 5 hours and paddled 25km, a good part against the wind, and was starting to feel the effort. When you are tired you don’t think very well and my first thought was to get back to the coast I had just left. I turned the kayak around to face the wind and after 10 minutes I realised that all I had gained was probably 10 meters... I turned the kayak again and decided that it would be faster to reach the land I paddled with the wind. The distance was a bit longer but it would be a lot faster.

Paddling against this wind, a zero sum equation

That was a wild ride!!! The waves sometimes were over my head and I could feel the difference in the force of the wind hitting my back when I emerged from a trough to the crest. If I looked up I could see the black clouds above me with flashes of light. If I looked forward I could see the bolts of light hitting the ground. Instead I chose to look at the wave just in front of me to keep my timing with the rides and my mind away from the storm. It had started to rain on top of me too, with big fat raindrops that click-click on my helmet. I checked my GPS and it was another 7km until I could reach the safety of the beach. After 45 minutes with an average speed of 11 km/h (my normal paddling speed is 7/8km/h) and peaks of 20km/h I landed at a beach far from where I was supposed to be but glad to be safe back on land protected from the electric storm by the forest. I had to call my wife who came and 'rescued' me and soon was enjoying a nice shower.  A very nice paddle but I would leave Zeus toys out of the equation next time.

Black clouds above, lighting ahead and nice waves to surf

Two days later with a much more quiet forecast, this time I read carefully if there was going to be any chance of thunderstorms, I paddled straight to Pt Perpendicular and played around that marvellous rocky formations. The crossing alone was almost 10km each way so it made a total paddle of over 25km which didn’t really left much time to explore and play in the area, but that is good, it makes a good incentive to go back there.

Some caves in the marvelous rocky coast 

Some rock gardens with the light house on top of Pt Perpendicular

The light house from the kayaker side

As I mentioned before, I went rock climbing for a couple of days before coming back home. It was good but by no means as exciting and frightening as the crossing of the bay under a thunderstorm.

Framing the waves

Coming out

Coiling the rope with Bowen Is in the background

Focusing before the climb or saying farewell?