The accident that wasn't

We were ten with Rob as the leader. The wind was ESE 10kn with gusts of 15kn. The swell was 2-3m with peaks of 4m. The period of the swell was 13 seconds. As we travelled south along the cliffs the rebound was keeping the water interesting. There were waves intersecting each other, waves nullifying each other and waves adding their heights onto each other. Even though we travelled mainly against the swell there were rebounds a couple of hundred meters off the cliffs that gave you a little ride.

After approximately 1 hour going south and with daylight almost gone we turned and started the way back with the following seas. Probably half way back, while I was paddling on the sea side of the group riding a nice wave, about 15 meters from me I saw a kayak capsize by the coast and the paddler wet exit. I started a wide turn to approach Neil and help him into his kayak from the coast side, as to have the wind in front of me. When I had almost completed the turn my boat was impacted by another kayak that went a ¼ of his boat over my back deck. While trying to free Bob’s boat from the top of mine he also went down and did a wet exit.

Suddenly with the dark looming, some 200 meters from the cliffs with swell and wind pushing us toward the coast, we had 2 swimmers and their boats very close to each other, no more than 1 meter apart, going up and down as the waves passed. My first thought when I saw both of them so close was to try and separate them to prevent injuries in the moving water. I called Neil to grab my bow but he was not answering. I called a few times and was starting to think he was somehow impaired when he grabbed my bow’s toggle. Later I discovered that because of the noise, the cold water and probably my accent he didn’t understand what I was telling him. Anyway, once he grabbed my bow I told him to grab his kayak with his other hand and I towed him away from Bob and his kayak. The problem now was that we were 25 meters closer to the cliffs, 10 meters from the tow and another 15 from drifting and the cliff wall looked dark and high. I was going to empty the water from his kayak but seeing that his electric pump was already doing its job I concentrated in helping him into the boat. Once he got inside I pulled from his paddle leash to reach his paddle and the leash broke and the paddle drifted away.

In the meantime Rob had instructed those in the  group that were not directly engaged in the rescues to paddle further offshore. The idea was to provide more margin for drift and minimize the effects of the rebound on them. While Bob was helped by Megan, somehow they were drifting faster than we were, as we were in the inside they collided against us but with no consequence other than pushing us closer to the rocky coast.

I called for someone to get the paddle that was drifting away from us when I realized that Mark had attached his tow line to Neil’s kayak and was holding our position with respect to the cliffs. As Neil’s paddle was far from us now, David rafted up (“docking” side by side) with us and gave Neil his spare paddle, but the angle of this paddle was very different to Neil’s usual paddle. Once Neil had his skirt in place and the spare paddle in his hands we separated.

After Rob had ensured that Mark had safely hooked up the tow on Neil's boat, he paddled over to help Megan move Bob out to sea using a contact tow (a quick short distance towing technique). He tried to reach Bob’s kayak for that but a wave separated the kayaks away and when Rob extended his hand the other kayak wasn’t there anymore. He capsized. He tried to roll up but his shoulder got stuck under Bob’s boat. Somehow he managed to complete the roll. It was good it wasn’t his head that bumped against the other kayak hull!

During the rescue my paddle’s blades had twisted so I stayed behind to set it correctly and at this moment Neil fell in again. This time however he managed to roll up but now he was cold, worn out and demoralized by the last capsize so Rae and Shaan rafted up with him to set a long distance tow. Shaan had recovered Neil’s paddle before and while she was in the raft preparing the tow with this extra paddle in her posession, her own paddle was taken  adrift by the water. Rob was a few boats lenght behind the raft. He had just recoverd from the roll when he saw a fluorescent thing floating by his side. That fluorescent thing was a mark on Shaan's paddle and he managed to fish it out while still involved with Megan on Bob's rescue.

After that it was an uneventful return with a tow.

As Rob said in the wrap up after we all landed and changed it was good that in the group we had the skills that we regularly practice to cope with the situation. Another point was how quickly the leeway between us and the cliffs evaporated with the swell and wind pushing us in that direction and how quickly the resources of the group can be tied up. The GPS showed that we dirfted 60 meters in 5 minutes that lasted the whole episode.

Personally, I should have been more attentive to kayaks coming from behind when I turned but the truth is that eventhough I knew they were bahind me, I saw Bob no more than a second before he seal landed on my boat. I also should have double checked that Neil was ok to paddle by himself before letting him go, but again, my mind was more worried about the closing distance to the cliffs than the fact that he was in a kayak stilll pumping out water, a sea condition that had knocked him over once and now with a paddle that was strange to him. Another point is that I was not carrying my tow line nor a spare paddle as I had taken them off last time I used the kayak in a surf session, but I should have. I was trusting the group when I should have been prepared regardless.

All in all an interesting night of mishaps that thankfully didn’t evolve into accidents.

A surf session from the other side

Saturday started very cold for our latitudes, while driving to the meeting point the thermometer in the car read 7 degrees and the sun was already shining! Worst was that the day was going to be spent in the water, 'at least the water is still not as cold as it will be in another month' I thought.

After the surf session with Adrian and Ken during the 'grade 3' weekend I saw in the calendar that Adrian was going to run a "gentle introduction to surfing in kayaks" and I asked him if I could help with something.

The class' aim would be to make the paddlers feel a bit more at ease in the surf zone by teaching them what to expect and how to react when the kayak has to launch from or land on a beach with waves breaking on it. So on Saturday morning we had 6 eager paddlers ready to get wet under the guide of Adrian as instructor and Mark and me helping him.
After introducing to each other and Adrian described what we were going to cover during the day I launched my kayak in the small surf we had in the protected corner of the beach. Then I came back showing how the kayak was broached (put on the side by the wave) and how to perform a low brace. All that while Adrian explained to the group what I was doing.

Getting ready. The waves were perfect to learn.

After that we split the group in 3 with Adrian taking the only double in the group and Mark and me 2 paddlers in single each. We did some exercises to avoid the waves like timing the exit and reverse paddle when the wave is catching up on the coming in. Later we did some low brace practice in the soup zone (the area where the waves are already broken).

Brian helps Wendy to get ready while I tell her... something I don't remember :-)

Kerry and Ian practice in their double under the directions from Adrian

Wendy comes in front of the wave.

We made a break to eat and started the afternoon with a 'train', one after the other, parallel to the beach to practice the low brace in the soup. The problem was that we came out of the protection of the corner and the waves were not so small anymore. Pretty soon we lost a few in the group with capsizes and wet exits. We moved back to the protected corner and we practiced high braces but paying special attention to technique as to prevent injuries to the shoulders.

Lisa practicing a high brace.

To finish the day only those who wanted did another 'train' venturing further out of the protection until a big spilling wave took half of the group to the beach, some in the kayak others swimming and me doing a 'submarine'. To make a 'submarine' you need to survive the wave without capsizing but you need to make it break on your skirt so the skirt collapses and the whole wave finds its way into the kayak. After a couple of seconds the boat will stop being thrown up and down by the white water and your boat will be floating just below the surface. Relax and enjoy a very stable and slow kayak where the waves just roll over its deck.

It was a good day where I hope I helped others to find the surf zone is a fun place to paddle.
Hopefully I can help in this kind of events more often. Thanks Adrian for the opportunity and the confidence in me.

The photos were taken with Adrian's camera but almost everyone had a shot with it so I don't know who took what picture.

Surf, rebounds and rolling

Two nice extracts from a video taken with a borrowed camera while paddling out from Cronulla Beach on an almost flat sea.
They were with a borrowed camera because I have lost mine. It was not in the water but in a trek with family and friends. It fell, I saw it on the floor, I thought of picking it up, something distracted me and the next day when I wanted to download the photos I couldn't find it. It was the present from my wife for my birthday and it didn't last long, however the bug for taking videos and photos from the kayak was implanted during that short period, so I am in the lookout for the next camera.

Dragomir lent me his GoPro Hero 2 to see if this is going to be my next camera. He put a special lens in it so the camera doesn't get fog and the photos are not so distorted as a result of the wide angle. I have to say that the special lens helped with the fog but not with the distortion

I have checked it, my paddle is still straight!!!

A feature I liked is to be able to take photos every n seconds. In that mode and mounted on the helmet I got this one

Surfing in or more accurate 'broaching' in

However I was told the strong point of this camera is to take videos but the setting must have been wrong because they were not better than with my lost Nikon AW100.
Below is the compiled version. We had a mild doses of everything: surfing in and out and for fun, a bit of rock gardening and some rolling.

Great weekend

It was a first for the NSW Sea Kayak Club who organised a two day gathering of the NSW paddlers this past weekend . This gathering was reserved for those that have passed the sea skills assessment and the focus was more on skills than on paddling from A to B, although there were also trips available.

The options for Saturday were rescues, surfing, greenland rolling or a small trip around a nearby island. I opted to do rescues in the morning and surfing in the afternoon.

With Adrian the instructor and another 7 paddlers, we practised some rescue scenarios with a scoop rescue being a brand new experience for me. The scenario is a paddler with a dislocated shoulder in the water and what to do to get him back in his kayak. Not an easy task as you must try not to touch the injured shoulder.
We then did some pool noodle fighting, where the paddler’s fighters sit on the back deck and try to make the opponent fall with blows of the noodle. Some fighters were swimming before receiving the first blow and the final was decided with a hand to hand fight to make the opponent fall since neither of the two was falling off.
Another contest was speed race for a re-entry and roll. Capsize, do a wet exit (don't jump off the kayak because you’ll avoid getting the water in it), set ready at the side of your boat and GO!!! The winner took 4.5 seconds to be sitting in the kayak pumping water out. An astounding record!!!

The afternoon was spent with Adrian and Ken leading 6 avid (or should I say crazy) surfers. We warmed up paddling parallel to the beach with breaking waves washing over, before and on top of us. At one point I was first in line and I saw a big mama wave coming for us. I estimated it would break on top of me so I turned to face it and let it pass under my hull (yeah, I know, I cheated on that one). As soon as it had passed me I turned and looked behind me to see 4 kayaks  being taken up in the air (it looked like 2 meters high), then I could only see the white spray and when the wave was gone I saw 4 hulls. Not even one paddler stayed upright, three rolled back up and one had to swim to recover his kayak from the beach but he wasn't the only one swimming that afternoon.

On Saturday we had some good waves.

... and some smaller ones.

A nice tube that finished with a roll.

Ducking to receive the impact.

Lost paddler, swimming somewhere.

The above photos were taken by Ken on Saturday afternoon while we surfed he stayed with the water up to his neck taking photos. Thanks Ken!!

At night during dinner, we swapped tales of the day and I mentioned that even though I had to roll several times that day I hadn't had an involuntary wet exits for a few months. I shouldn't have said that, as on Sunday I had to eat my words...

On Sunday there were only surf or trips on offer, so I was again up for the surf. Apparently most had had their share the day before because it was only Adrian and Ken instructing me and Drago. The swell was bigger than on Saturday with a beautiful and dangerous dumping. We split in two groups and went almost straight for the surfing. The first wave I took rolled me over and I came up to keep fighting, the second one I tamed and surfed all the way in, but the third... Well, according to Ken it was the biggest wave of the day and it felt like that to me. I set up for the surf but there was no time, it just broke with me on top of it and before I realised I was under water with the paddle being taken from my hands. I just managed to keep it in my left but then I was being suctioned out of the kayak and even though I tried to hold myself with my knees I ended up swimming. When I could finally take my head out of the water my kayak was at least 10 meters away and another wave was pushing me down. Apparently I had the first of the big set because another 2 or three big breakers washed over before I could start swimming.

Anyway when I got to the beach Ken had surfed in and collected my kayak and soon the other two were also landing to regroup. Adrian decided that the swell was too 'swollen' and we moved to the spit with some stops at a small rock garden.

In the rock garden. Thanks Adrian for the picture!

The spit is a sand bank joining the mainland with an island. It’s fun when the water is above the sand and you get a clapoits of waves breaking from both sides of the sand bank, meeting in the middle creating a sort of zipper. Very fun place to play around but need to be careful because as it is not very deep. The final score was two swimmers and a broken paddle!

PS, thanks Steph to correct some spelling and grammar.

Roughest...so far The video

Finally I finished editing. It is not as good as I wanted it but if i keep editing I will never show it

Roughest...so far

I had been monitoring the weather and the forecast was of strong winds. In the past we had windy evenings but too many paddlers so going out was too dangerous with such large groups and we stayed in the protection of the harbour.
The call for this Tuesday was made on the same day and with the mention of strong winds warning from BOM. The road to the meeting point took me over the cliffs and the sea looked rough. I was hoping we would not be too many so we could go out to battle the elements.
I was relieved when I saw only 4 kayaks and even more when the other kayaks belonged to strong paddlers. However my good feeling only lasted until Matt turned the VHF on and we all heard the story unfolding of a Yatch with problems to come back. Apparently its engine was not working and the skipper was not confident to sail into the harbour with the strong wind present at the time.
Rob said that with the emergency services were being stretched thin (there was another boat with problems) if we were in trouble would be by our own. In the end the call was to paddle out and try a few manoeuvres before leaving the security of the heads. We started going against the wind, turning and going out.
Within the harbour the wind blew hard and many wind waves, up to 50 cm, were being blown with white cups. Arriving to south head we had the respite offered by the high cliff but we pushed on and out we went against the howling wind. Some small, some not so small and some very big waves were coming against us, sometimes spilling over our bows and reaching our skirts.

Like the stock market, some go up some go down

Rob between braking crests

... and ready for the next spill

Some wide valleys between high mountains, look at the water texture with the white here and there

 We stayed close together, working our way forward. At times the gusts were really strong and you had to paddle really low to prevent the paddle being blown away. At one point I was moving the camera and the wind cought my paddle blowing one side up and buring the other into the water, I almost went over... In other sections you felt the wind coming from the side and was hard work to keep the direction, often leaning heavily and paddling on one side only.
We then turned around and just as we were getting ready to go down wind a big one spilled over Chris, taking him forward some 10 meters, releasing him and taking Matt along

The surfing back was quick and very sweet with the sun going down over the cliffs.

 We paddled an average speed of 5km/h against the wind and 10km/h coming back. According to my GPS my kayak reached a max speed of 26.6km/h. Later I checked the observations and the wind had been blowing between 18 and 25 kn with gusts up to 32kn and the average wave was 4m with peaks of 7m according to Manly Hydraulics buoys.
Back in the relative protecction of South Head he practiced a bit of rolling

According to my wife I look like in the matix before waking up in this one

...and about to enter the stargate in this one

It was a very satisfying paddle and I was happy with my own performance while facing the roughest sea I have been in so far.

Towed away

Today I got to "my beach" and after visual assessment of the conditions I decided it was too windy (later, I've checked BOM observations and the wind was South between 18 and 27 kn  with gusts up to 32 kn). I was again by myself as nobody answered the call to paddle. Therefore I changed my plan and went to the bay, which was also very windy and with some small waves being blown forming some white cups but nothing compared to being alone in the open seas.

I started to paddle south and apparently I was doing no progress because a yatch got pity of me and threw me a rope to tow me up wind, youpi!!!! A fun ride!!!

Thank you Marama!!!!

Camera mount shot 1

I like to push my own boundaries, get a bit better, improve when I do something I enjoy.
My artistic genes were removed at birth or even before... so I have no big hopes in the photographic/video creation. My aim, apart from having memories recorded, is to show my family and friends, who mostly do not paddle, how it looks and how it feels being in the moving water (as much as is possible through images and without being a Fellini).
I got a water proof camera at the beginning of this year to try to achieve that. I have been taking photos and videos but I wanted a camera mount to be able to manage the kayak while filming (I have tried without a camera mount and the images were too shaky).
The models usually used have a suction cup at the base to keep the mount on the kayak. However my kayak is plastic and its surface is too ragged to hold the vacuum long, so soon after the suction cup is fitted it falls off.
I got a mount with a flat surface as a base and applied a hard core velcro to stick it to the kayak. I went to "my beach" and did a mild surf session to test it. I got some nice shots while surfing the kayak and while paddling. I even went through the braking wave... but not the camera mount, you can see its dead in the video.

I knew I would need to bolt it to the kayak but it was worth a shot before making holes in the kayak...

The next day I went to the same spot with family and friends and they "offered" to record from the beach:

Telstra and Rock&Roll

I arrived home back from Rock&Roll weekend and my Internet and phone was down until Friday. Apparently a Telstra employee unplugged my line when trying to connect a new one in the central... At least that is what they told me.
Anyway I have Internet now and although a week has passed and everyone in kayaking NSW wrote and talked about how beautiful the place is and how good an event the R&R is I will add my 2 cents on photos.
But what is the R&R event I hear a friend of mine ask. Well it is a 3 days event organised by NSW Sea Kayak club where all the sea kayakers of the area and further afield get together, drink a lot of beers and socialise... Ahh, right there is also the paddling during the days and a lot of interesting people giving talks about what they know best in the kayaking environment.
I haven't taken many photos during the socialising-talking time but I took some while paddling:
Apologies if I add too many photos, I will trty to post only the best ones but I think they will be too many anyway...
The coast is a long unbroken cliff line

With some beautiful formations

On Saturday I was in a group to work a bit on forward stroke technique

The master Mark

Master correcting a his Padawan (sorry I've just finished watching starwars clone wars)

what a coast!!

but the rock formations and the cost had a stronger appeal and soon the technique clinic degenerated into catching rebounds, 

playing among rocks

and exploring caves

Sunday was paddling around the peninsula with a big group

Getting ready at Honeymoon Bay

To start with the conditions were flat calm

then building up

 after the "corner" a bit more of swell kept thing "steep"

 and added the rebound agains the cliff

Exploring the caves is always an attraction

All smiles

The seals colony was a highlight for me

and some rolls showed me a different perspective

Some gauntlets

And heading back into the bay after the best 25 km I have paddled so far