no. 97 february - march 2002 the sea canoeist newsletter · the sea canoeist newsletter 1 ... no....

The Sea Canoeist Newsletter

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THE SEA CANOEISTNEWSLETTER

The Journal of the Kiwi Associationof Sea Kayakers (N.Z.) Inc. - KASK

No. 97 February - March 2002

Stewart Island Circumnavigation (Story p.18). Pics by Max Grant

Ian at Port Pegasus, with Bald Cone in the background.

Happy relieved faces at Oban, after completing the circumnavigation; from left, Ian, Dave, Max.


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KASKKASK, the Kiwi Association of SeaKayakers (N.Z.) Inc., a network ofNew Zealand sea kayakers, has theobjectives of:

1. promoting and encouraging the sport of sea kayaking2. promoting safety standards3. developing techniques & equipment4. dealing with issues of coastal access and protection5. organizing an annual sea kayak forum6. publishing a bimonthly newsletter.

The Sea Canoeist Newsletter is pub-lished bimonthly as the official news-letter of the Kiwi Association of SeaKayakers (N.Z.) Inc.

Articles, trips reports, book reviews,equipment reviews, new techniques,letter to the editor, and moments whenthe word 'Bugger!' was said singu-larly or often {referred to by some asincidents} are sought to enliven thepages of the newsletter.

Send in a plain brown envelope, or viacybermail to:Editor: P Caffyn,RD 1, Runanga.West Coast .N.Z.Ph/Fax: (03) 7311806E Mail address:[email protected]

KASK Subscriptions are:$20.00 per annum & chequesshould be made out to:K.A.S.K. (NZ) Inc. & sent to theKASK Treasurer:Max Grant,71 Salisbury St.Ashhurst, 5451Ph: (06) 326 8527 homeFax: (06) 326 8472email: [email protected]

Correspondence to the Secretary:Maurice KennedyPO Box 11461Manners St.,Wellington.e-mail: [email protected]

KASK Website: www.kask.co.nz

KASK HANDBOOKFor a copy of this mother of all seakayaking handbooks, contact KASKTreasurer, Max Grant,71 Salisbury St.Ashhurst, 5451Ph: (06) 326 8527 homeFax: (06) 326 8472email: [email protected]:New members: gratisExisting members: $14 + $1 p&pNon-members: $18 + $1 p&pMake cheques out to KASK(NZ)IncTrade enquiries to Max Grant.

THE LRB2, or the Little Red Book2nd. Edition, is a mammoth compila-tion on all aspects of sea kayaking inNew Zealand, by many of the mostexperienced paddlers in the Universe.Following a brief introduction, thehandbook is divided into six sections:- Kayak, Paddle & Equipment-Techniques & Equipment- The Elements- Trips and Expeditions- Places to Go- Resources

Each section contains up to nine sepa-rate chapters. The Resources section,for example has chapters on:- guide to managing a sea kayak symposium- Paddling Literature- Author profiles- Guides and Rental Operators- Network Addresses- Sea Kayaks in NZ listing

SEA KAYAKINGNETWORKCONTACT

ADDRESSESCanterbury Sea Kayak NetworkAndy & Deirdre Sheppard53 Kent Lodge AveAvonhead, Christchurch. 8004Ph: (03) 342 7929email: [email protected] Kayak Operators Assoc. of NZBronwyn Duffy, Admin. Officerc/o PO Box 255, PictonPh: (03) 573 6505 Fax: (03) 573 8827Email: [email protected]

Bay of Plenty Sea Kayak NetworkDusty Waddell, Ph: (07) 572 4419Jean Kirkham, Ph: (07) 552 5982Wellington Sea Kayak NetworkChristine CoshanPO Box 5276, Wellingtonemail: [email protected] site: Http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/wellseakAuckland Canoe ClubRona Patterson, SecretaryPO Box 45020, Te Atatu PeninsulaWaitakere City.Newsletter Editor: Margaret ThwaitesPh: 09 2927 883Hauraki Kayak GroupPelham HousegoPO Box 46-146, Herne Bay, AucklandYakity Yak ClubNatasha Van [email protected] Box 100 493, NSMC,AucklandRuahine Whitewater Club71 Salisbury St., Ashhurst.Ph: 06 326 8667 Fax: 06 326 8472www.q-kayaks.co.nz/canoeclub.htmlNorthlandBrian LamertonTel (09) 437 2858Waikato ContactWaikato RegionPhil HandfordPhone 07 834 3395email [email protected] of PlentyRotorua/Taupo AreaEmma Haxtonemail: [email protected]: 07 357 4660New Plymouth ContactBob Talbot, 16 Jade PlaceBell Block New Plymouth 4601ph 06-7553380(H) or 025-457038email imageinfocas@clear net.nzMarlboroughHelen WoodwardTel (03) 578 [email protected] and Karen ClarkTel (03) 548 [email protected] Tipa(03) 478 [email protected] Mulvany*03 215 [email protected]


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INDEX

EDITORIAL

KASK 2002 FORUM,PORIRUA - REPORTSFrom Jane Wickham p.4From Evan & Linda Pugh p.4From Vincent Maire p.4

KASK 2002 AGM REPORTSSecretary, Maurice Kennedy p.5Treasurer, Max Grant p.6AGM Minutes, M. Kennedy p.8

TECHNICALPetzl Tikka lightweight headtorch

review: P. Caffyn p.10CRC 808, Silicone Spray

by Max Grant p.10For Fishing Folk

from Vincent Maire p.10Cunning Expedition Tips

by Kevin Melville p.11Boat Notices

MSA 14/02/02 p.23

OVERSEAS TRIP REPORTSPerth to Shark Bay, WA

by Tel Williams p.12Into the Forbidden Zone, Baffin Is.

by Kevin Killilea p.17

NZ TRIP REPORTSStewart Island Circumnavigation

by Ian Algie p.18

BOOK REVIEWS‘Sea Kayakers Guide to Upper N.I.’

Review: Kerry Howe p.20‘Voyage to Greenland’

Review: P. Caffyn p.20

THE ‘BUGGER!’ FILEPractising Wet-Exits

by Peter Oliver p.21Helicopters Over Cammeray

by Chris James p.22

HISTORYOskar Speck and His 7 Year PaddlingJourney, Germany to Australia

by Peter Osman p.22

EDITORIALKASK FORUMSNow with 500+ KASK members, Ihave included reports, minutes andfinancial statements from the Wel-lington KASK Forum to show howyour subscription $ are spent, and alsoto show the effort and work that goesin behind the scenes by committeemembers, and particularly in the lastyear, treasurer Max Grant and secre-tary Maurice Kennedy. The new com-mittee for 2002-3 had their first meet-ing at the conclusion of the forum, andcompiled a list of tasks to be achievedfor the year.

The school venue, on the edge ofPorirua Harbour, proved an ideal spotfor the Wellington Forum, with camp-ing in the school grounds and over theroad access to the harbour. Theweather was typical for Wellington,blowing its tits off from the north-west, between passing rain squalls,but flexibility with on the water ses-sions and good organization from themanagement team made the weekenda great success.

The Auckland Forum, held at Orewafrom 15 - 17 March, was also a greatsuccess with over 100 paddlers at-tending, and reports will be includedin n/l No. 98.

KASK HANDBOOK - LRB3I am aiming to finalize the third edi-tion of the Little Red Book by the endof May. If you have any suggestionsto improve, or add material, and pointout corrections, please get in touchwith the editor, soonest. Sections oncooking, and GPS are currently inpreparation.

ZUYTDORP CLIFFSAfter the tantalizing taste of highdrama at night along the inhospitableZuytdorp Cliffs of Western Australiain the last newsletter, Tel Williamshas a longer and more informativestory on their January 2002 trip fromPerth up the Western Australian coastto Shark Bay, which includes thepreparation and training.

It is staggering that after all the train-ing, one small factor of lack of sleepthe night before the cliffs, led to thebrink of disaster. With one paddlercapsizing after their three man kayakraft separated at first light, and hiskayak blown away, the rescue thatwas effected in breaking seas reflectsthe mettle of these blokes, and solid-ness of their rescue training.

‘SEA KAYAKER’The February 2002 ‘Sea Kayaker’ hasarticles on paddling in the TuamotuArchipelago of French Polynesia, andthe solo Atlantic kayak crossing byWelshman Peter Bray.

The April 2002 ‘Sea Kayaker’ hasboth magazine cover and 15 pagescovering the Antarctic Peninsula tripby Graham Charles, Mark Jones andMarcus Waters. Graham’s colour pho-tographs are superb. Try and get holdof a copy of this issue.

KIWIS IN CANADAJoyce Singleton sent me a first reportfrom Kiwi paddlers Garth and Kevin,who have set off from VancouverIsland for Alaska. The boys have awebsite for following their progress:http://www.cankiwiskayak.com/introduction.htm

HUMOURNo terrible jokes received for thisnewsletter. The following is from ‘ThePress:’PrompterA woman in Gloucestershire woke upin the night and saw burglars in herbarn. She rang the police, who saidthey were sorry but they hadn’t any-one available to attend. She rang off.A few minutes later, she rang again:“By the way, about those burglars,I’ve shot them.” Within three min-utes, there were police and police carsall around her barn. The burglars, stillburgling away, were apprehended andtaken off to the cells. A senior police-man said, “I thought you said you’dshot them.”The woman responded, “I thoughtyou said there was no one available!”


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From Jane WickhamA large group of KASK paddlers tookthis opportunity to renew friendshipsand meet new people with similarinterests. The location at Titahi BayIntermediate provided an excellentvenue with coastal paddling as well asinner harbour paddling options. Thiswas to prove valuable as the weatherreduced the choices for the paddlingexcursion. On Friday evening, theforum got underway. Inside, awayfrom the showery and blusteryweather, the school hall provided anopportunity for people to mingle overpizza and drinks prior to an excellentpresentation by Antarctic historian,Richard Reaney. Richard chronicledthe journey made by Ernest Shackletonfollowing the sinking of his ship, En-durance. Richard also showed us slidesof his own expeditions crossing themountains of South Georgia, whichgave us a better understanding of howhuge Shackleton’s and his compan-ions’ achievement was.

On Saturday morning, about eighthardy souls braved the elements foran early morning paddle at 6am. Therewas a Gale Warning in force so thelater planned trip to Mana Island wascanned in favour of an inner harbourpaddle. There were three workshopsto choose from – these were Naviga-tion, Weather and Tides and RiskManagement. I attended the RiskManagement workshop, which wasably led by Chris in Cathye Had-dock’s absence. It was most usefuland brought to light a number of dif-ferent situations that paddlers hadfound themselves in.

After an excellent briefing, groups ofseven paddlers met in their ‘pods’with an experienced leader. Lunchwas collected and boats taken over tothe harbour. An intrepid team of threewent out on the harbour to check theconditions around the point before thepods got on their way. It was decidedthat the wind was too strong at thattime, so Grant Rochfort stepped intothe breech with demonstrations of theT – Rescue (thanks Evan for volun-teering for a dunking). People

proceeded onto the water using theshelter of the harbour to practice thisskill. A little later, the wind appearedto have abated so pods were reassem-bled for a trip towards the entrance toPorirua Harbour. The wind was quitebrisk there so a ferry glide was re-quired to cross the harbour to thebridge into the Pauatahanui Arm.Since it was a full moon and we wereexperiencing spring tides, it seemedwise not to travel too far up this armand find the tide against wind on ourreturn. Our pod turned around just pastthe Mana shopping centre and had anexciting return with the wind on ourbacks – good chance for a little surfing.

With everyone back on dry land, therewas free time to buy from the exhibi-tors at the forum or take a walk tocheck out the surf at Titahi Bay. TheAGM started just after 5pm and con-cluded before dinner. A delicious buf-fet style meal was served and enter-tainment followed in the guise of adisreputable looking pirate with astuffed parrot down his shirt. Tug ofWars between the table groups werekeenly contested. Prizes were awardedto those who had put considerable im-agination into their outfits. Congratula-tions to Jennifer, who took out the topprize dressed as the Lynx fast ferry.

Diane led a walk for the early birds onSunday morning. Later there wereopportunities to try various models ofkayaks (thanks to Quality Kayaksand Fergs Rock and Kayak). As well,Grant ran workshops on sweep strokesand railing – very good for the ab-dominal muscles. Workshops wereheld on the use of VHF radio, GPSand navigation. I attended the GPSworkshop and it covered everythingthat you would need to know to use aGPS – keeping up with the technol-ogy takes some doing. I was the onlyfemale in this group and I realised thatthis was because there was an overlapwith the workshop for women. I un-derstand from those who attended thisthat it was most useful - and a fewbrave men even came to learn someuseful stuff to pass on to their femalepaddling companions.

The forum ended with a debrief andthe final choice of venue for next year.Marlborough Sounds was the popularchoice – thanks to Helen Woodward,Past President, for offering to rally ateam to organise this. Anyone in thearea with some help to offer will bevery well received.Jane Wickham

From Evan & Linda PughThree of us from the Waikato drovedown to Wellington for the Forum,looking forward to meeting otherKayakers and getting involved in thedifferent events that were organised.The weather was what everyone thinksWellington has all of the time (windyas), this disrupted the paddling a bitbut the three of us still did the earlymorning paddle and as many otherthings as possible and thoroughlyenjoyed ourselves. I would like tothank all that were involved in settingup and organising the event, the loca-tion was good the food was great, wemet a group of really great people(kayakers) and Saturday night waswell done too.many thanksEvan Pugh, alias (King Neptune)

From Vincent MaireOver the weekend of 1 - 3 March theannual KASK Forum was held at Ti-tahi Bay in Wellington, with paddlersattending from the windy capital,lower North Island, upper South Is-land, the West Coast, Te Awamutu,Taranaki, Christchurch, North Otago,Auckland and even a couple fromIreland who maintain membership ofKASK.

The event started on Friday eveningwith a very good presentation fromAntarctic adventurer Richard Reaneyon Shackleton. Richard has made anumber of trips to South Georgia andshowed slides of this wild and fasci-nating place.

Next morning an intrepid bunch tookto the water for a dawn paddle on awindswept Porirua Harbour. The planto paddle up the harbour to a wetlandwas aborted due to the high winds.

2002 KASK FORUM - PORIRUA - REPORTS


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The morning got underway with threeworkshops and following this all del-egates took to the water. It was dark,windy and wet. The thirty-knot windsprecluded a trip to nearby Mana Is-land so we gathered in our pods topractice self and buddy rescue tech-niques. Before long the sun came outand the wind dropped enough for us topaddle up the western side of theharbour to where it enters the sea atPlimmerton. All groups managed toferry guide to the other side of theharbour and back again. It was a tiredbut happy bunch of paddlers that re-turned for afternoon tea and a shower.

The evening started with the KASKannual general meeting then a slap-updinner was consumed with great gusto.Some of the delegates had taken thetrouble to come in fancy dress andprizes were given for the best cos-tumes. As the lips were being smackedand belches suppressed, a strange pi-ratical man appeared. He was the eve-nings’ entertainment. Before long hehad us breaking into teams and takingpart in a tug-of-war. Water pistolswere made use of and among theshouting, screaming and hurtling bod-ies, a feeling of absolutely positivelymadness took hold. The evening wasconsummated with the mad piratebeing dunked into a wheely-bin ofwater. There was water everywhereand if the headmaster had been at theschool, we would all have been put ondetention.

Sunday started with an hour walkaround Whitireia Park. This was fol-lowed by some workshops and timeon the water practising sweep strokesor trying out boats courtesy of anumber of trade people who were inattendance. The trade was a real at-traction and was well patronised.

By noon the non-locals were gettingboats on to roof racks and headingaway. There were 70 delegates at theevent and it was great to talk with seakayakers from other parts of the coun-try.

2002 KASK FORUM - PORIRUA - REPORTS

KASK AGM - Secretary’sReport for 2002

IntroductionThe national committee conducted itsbusiness by telephone conference callsat six weekly intervals. During theyear we had seven meetings in thisway and covered a range of issues.Key matters from the secretary’s per-spective have been:

1. MembershipThe last year has seen a large increasein KASK membership. At the time ofthe Nelson forum last March KASKhad 186 members. As of today themembership stand at 491 includingtwo life members.

The increase reflects the increasinginterest in sea-kayaking and is a resultof consistent effort by Max Grant toadvertise and promote KASK mem-bership in the outdoor magazines.

2. Membership DatabaseDuring the year the membershiprecord was transferred to an accessdatabase programme and developedto provide increased functionality andreporting options.

The membership has been dividedinto 15 regions based on regional coun-cil boundaries. Reports on the mem-bership can be done for any particularregion or for the country. This is a

useful service for network and clubliaison people to confirm the KASKmembers in their area.

It is also possible for a range of reportson membership to be sent on requestby email attachment. It is a servicethat can put paddlers who are KASKmembers in touch with each otheranywhere in NZ.

3. KASK BrochureThe KASK brochure has been up-dated and rewritten. The revised ver-sion expands on membership serv-ices. The intent is to edit it for thechanges that will come out of theAGM and to publish it as a full colourglossy brochure. Funding is beingsought from WSNZ to fund the pub-lishing costs.

4. Network & Club Liaison PeopleA start has been made to get liaisoncontact people in each of the 15 re-gions. This is a very important step asit will give KASK the ability to com-municate effectively with its mem-bership and in particular to keep intouch with the grass roots.

The constitution was amended forclubs and networks to be KASK mem-bers in their own right. This andgetting a national coverage of localcontact/liaison people will be priori-ties for 2002.Maurice KennedySecretary

Shelley, Beverley and Jennifer, in nautical theme dress for the KASK dinner.


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KIWI ASSOCIATION of SEA KAYAKERS (NZ) INCORPORATED

12 Month Review of Income &Expenditurefor year ended 28 February 2002

INCOME 2002 2001 2000Subscriptions 9,917.80 6501.33 6,423.25KASK handbook sales 1,848.95 3363.50 2,274.00KASK badge sales 122.00 92.00 118.43KASK hat sales 40.00 60.00 -Donation received - - 30.50Interest 277.03 319.95 230.89Annual KASK forum 186.87 1694.41 6,720.00Water Safety Council Grant - 2080.00 -TOTAL INCOME 12,392.65 14,111.19 15,797.07

EXPENDITUREADMINISTRATIONCheque duty / bank fee 8.00 36.44 7.50Stationary 627.22 294.08 78.80Postage 2020.50 1,329.73 1,445.45Phone 296.90 282.21 26.39Sundry 43.00 40.00 50.00AGM Expenses 355.84 936.00 -Accountant fee 50.00 - -Handbook 3,748.50 4,721.63 2,811.38Annual KASK Forum 130.00 905.00 4,831.96Regional courses 2,216.55 686.00 200.00Web Site 646.80 - -Advertising 540.00 - -

NEWSLETTERS (5)Printing 3,205.37 2,776.64 2278.87Editors fee 1,350.00 1,350.00 225.00Software - - 1146.28TOTAL EXPENDITURE 15,238.68 13,357.73 13,101.63

EXCESS INCOME/EXPENDITURE -2,846.03 753.46 2,695.44FUNDSWestpac Trust Cheque Account 695.63 1,769.76 923.35Westpac Trust Savings Account 10,301.77 12,086.80 11,681.36Forum Account - 740.33 1,238.72Total Funds 10,997.40 14,596.89 13,843.43Decrease in total funds - 3,599.49

Assets as at 28th February 2002:0 Handbooks 010 Pins 120 4 Hats 32Total Assets: 152

Review only, prepared by Max Grant – March 2002


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Treasurer’s Report -02/2002

My report this year is only a review asour financial year now ends at the endof June.

Briefly summarizing my review:Membership:Membership is at an all time high at500+. Approximately half of ourpresent membership are new mem-bers, which has meant we have had togive out over 250 copies of our hand-book, which has lead to a financialdrain on our funds. It is important forKASK have these new members re-new their subscription for the nextfinancial year.

Handbook sales:Handbook sales to shops and hireoperators are down on previous years.I am not sure how to improve our salesin this area, as it is always a struggle toencourage shops to stock our hand-book. Sales to Polytechnics aroundNew Zealand are increasing.

Water Safety Council Grant:This Grant was given to be used toassist training courses throughout NewZealand.We did not apply for a grant this yearas the Grant of $2080 we received atthe end of the previous year had notbeen used. We used all of this Grantduring the last twelve months, plussome of our own funds. Funding toassist courses was sent to; Wellington- $480, Auckland & Tauranga - $800,Christchurch – $800 plus $136.55 ofKASK funds.

Administration:General administration is up a littlebecause of the larger membership.The cost of the small KASK pam-phlet, which we distribute free toshops, hire operators, etc., is includedin stationary. We will be applying tothe Water Safety Council for fundingof an up-graded pamphlet in the fu-ture.

Annual Forum:The forum held at Nelson last yearmade a profit of $135.87.

The Wellington Forum funds do notappear on this statement as the fi-nances are being done through theWellington Network’ account.

Funds:Funds are down $3599.49 from theprevious year. This is mainly due to:$2080 W.S.C. Grant appearing in theprevious years accounts, and beingused this year.This year’s forum money does notappear on this statement. (I don’t feelit should)

Extra costs we now incur are:For the web-site (22.50 per month)and Wilderness Ad. ($90 per month)

I have included a forecast budget forthe next 12 months, and would askmembers to consider increasing ourannual subscription to $25 in GeneralBusiness.

I would also like to thank all thosepeople who include a small note withtheir subs. It is great to hear whatyou’ve been up to, especially whenI’m busy writing up receipts, etc.

Budget Forecast for nextFinancial Year (2002/2003)Working from previous years ex-penses, I estimate that expenses forthe next 12 months for a membershipof 500 members will be:

Expenses:Newsletter: $925 per issue 5,550(including postage)Handbook @ 9.37 each: 3,700

Stationary: 350Postage: 600Phone: 200Web-site 22.50 per month: 270Wilderness advert. 90 per month:

1,080Course subsides: 200 per course

400KASK pamphlet: 600Travel: 500Total Expenditure: 13,250

Income:Subscription (500 members):

10,000Hand book: 1,750Badges/hats: 100Interest: 250Forum: 1,000Total Income: 13,100

There are three factors to considerduring the next 12 months:1. The revised handbook LRB3 willcost us more - approximately $12 acopy. The handbook price can be ad-justed at a committee meeting, but alot of copies go out free to new mem-bers, so subscription fees should beaddressed now.2. This financial year is 17 months,which means we have to continue anextra 5 months to operate with verylittle extra income.3. Extra costs of advertising and theweb-site need to be budgeted for.

Based on the above forecast, I wouldlike to move at the AGM that theannual subscription be increased from$20 per person to $25 per person.Max Grant

Secretary Maurice Kennedy, with Saucy Sue, at the KASK dinner


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KASK (NZ) Inc.Minutes 10th AGM

Porirua, 3 March 2002(some sections abbreviated)

Minutes of the 2001 AGM:The Minutes of the 2001 AGM held atCable Bay, Nelson on 11 March 2001were read. It was agreed that theMinutes of the previous AGM be ac-cepted. Moved Maurice Kennedy,seconded Beverley Burnett.

President’s Report:The President covered changes to themembership data base, the need forregional liaison and contact people tolink KASK with the networks andclubs, and emphasised the role of thenewsletter providing an importantcommunication link with members.It was agreed that the President’s Re-port be accepted. Moved Helen Wood-ward, seconded Max Grant.

Presentation:At this point in the meeting Max Grantpresented Helen Woodward with theGraeme Egarr Trophy and commentedthat Helen was the first female Presi-dent and first female trophy winner.He commented that Helen had beeninvolved with KASK since 1989 andhad contributed to most of the officeholder positions of KASK, from Sec-retary, Treasurer, Safety and for thelast two years as President.

Conservation:Rob Tipa’s Conservation Report wasread by Helen, in his absence. TheReport covered the activities of KASKin making submissions to the Canter-bury Regional Council’s AkaroraMussel Farm licence hearing, and onsubmissions made to the Marlbor-ough District Council on Ferry speeds.There was some further discussionarising out of the Report on the issueof marine farms and a comment wasmade from the floor on the pollutionthat the marine farms cause. It wasagreed that the Conservation Reportbe accepted. Moved Helen Wood-ward, seconded Maurice Kennedy.

Instruction:John Kirk-Anderson gave a summaryof the courses that had been run underKASK’s aegis over the last 12 months

and briefly described how they wereorganised and went over the debrief-ing from the last course which wasrun in Canterbury towards the end of2001. It was agreed that the Instruc-tion Report be accepted. Moved JohnKirk- Anderson, seconded ShelleyDaigle.

Safety:Helen Woodward indicated that inCathye’s absence the Safety Reportwould be printed in the newsletter. Itwas agreed that a vote of thanks berecorded for the work that CathyeHaddock had done for KASK in look-ing after the safety portfolio. MovedHelen Woodward, seconded MaxGrant.

Website:Vincent Maire gave a brief overviewof the website. He reported that thesite had over 600 hits in January andthat it would need more ongoing de-velopment during the current year andquoted that the Yakity Yak Club inAuckland gets 1000 hits a month fortheir website. It was agreed that theReport be accepted. Moved VincentMaire, seconded John Kirk-Anderson.

Newsletter:A vote of thanks was moved to PaulCaffyn for his efforts on the newsletter.

Remits:1. It was agreed that the KASK Con-stitution be amended under Rule 11,‘Rules of General Meetings’ SectionB to take out the 20% of the totalcurrent financial membership and re-place with the amended rule to read“At all general meetings 50 currentfinancial members shall constitute aforum.” Moved Helen Woodward,seconded Maurice Kennedy.

2. It was agreed that the ConstitutionClause 3 on membership be amendedto include dual/family members cat-egory. Any two or more people whoreside at the same address and whohave applied for membership and havebeen duly voted members. MovedMax Grant, seconded MauriceKennedy.

3. It was agreed that a closer workingrelationship be developed between

KASK and SKOANZ on the sharingof information safety skills trainingand joint funding applications. MovedMaurice Kennedy, seconded HelenWoodward. Comment from the floorwas that the move had definite gen-eral support of all membership.

General Business:1. Subs for the 2002/2003 financialyear were set at $25.00 for singlemembership and $35.00 for dual/fam-ily membership.

2. After some discussion it was agreedthat KASK’s Constitution be reviewedduring 2002 and that a report on thisbe presented to the 2003 AGM.

3. Agreed that feedback be soughtfrom members on the KASK profi-ciency and leadership skills coursecontent.

Before the meeting closed the meet-ing invited Dave Watson President ofthe Sea Kayaking Operators Associa-tion of New Zealand to address themeeting, re the proposed closer op-eration.

Dave Watson said the SKOANZ weremoving too quickly to put into place atraining system and it would be basedon a Unit Standard based trainingpathway for sea kayaking guides.They have had for some years a level1 guide standard operating for someyears which has worked very well butthey were very short of qualifiedguides. He felt that sea kayaking willgo the same way as rafting where onemust have a qualification to become arafting guide. Because there was nointroductory qualification to get theirguides started they have introduced aproficiency lower level proficiencycourse. He felt that this course wouldbe very useful for KASK membersand recreational sea kayakers.

In his concluding remarks VincentMaire briefed the meeting on theAuckland Coast Busters coming un-der the umbrella of KASK and hisvision that there will be a forum in theBay of Plenty/Waikato area in 2003.

Compiled: Maurice Kennedy


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The KASKCommittee

Columnby President, Vincent Maire

The KASK AGM was held in Wel-lington on 2 March over the weekendof the annual KASK Forum. The eventprovided an opportunity for the com-mittee to meet face-to-face. Normallycommittee business is conducted byconference call every six weeks so theAGM enabled both members and thecommittee to discuss issues of impor-tance. For the year ahead your com-mittee will focus its efforts on thefollowing key areas:

1. Investigate opportunities to intro-duce a national sea kayaking profi-ciency test.Dave Watson of SKOANZ attendedthe AGM and informed us of theprogress his organisation has madewith its own qualification. Your com-mittee will look at the SKOANZ model

and use this as a starting point forfurther investigation.2. Undertake a membership survey.This survey will likely cover a rangeof topics including The Sea Canoeistnewsletter, training, membership serv-ices, the KASK Handbook, forums,etc. We ask that you complete andreturn the survey.

3. Plan for a KASK forum to be heldin the BoP / Waikato area in 2003.Contact has been made with someRotorua based paddlers and we hopeto make an announcement on thisdevelopment in the near future.

4. Protect sea kayak areas from en-croaching aquaculture farms.This is an ongoing battle that has beenably led by Rob Tipa.

5. Build awareness and membershipof the organisation.Outgoing president Helen Woodwardreported that the organisation had hada very good year in 2001/2 with mem-bership increasing from 183 to 510over the period. We will maintain the

momentum.

The 2002 - 2003 KASKCommittee comprises:Vincent Maire, Auckland(president & publicity officer),Maurice Kennedy, Wellington(secretary),Max Grant, Ashhurst (treasurer),Bob Talbot, New Plymouth(North Island conservation),Rob Tipa, Dunedin (South Islandconservation),Rob Gardner, Waiouru(safety officer),John Kirk-Anderson, Christchurch(instruction officer)Paul Caffyn, 12 Mile (newslettereditor).

Your committee is keen to receivefeedback from members and as Presi-dent I will be contributing a regularcolumn to The Sea Canoeist newslet-ter to keep everyone informed on whatprogress is being made on these andother issues.Vincent MairePresident

Would you trust either of this disreputable pirates with your parrot? Captain Hook has a KFC box on his left shoulder!


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TECHNICALPRODUCT REVIEW

Petzl ‘Tikka’ UltraLightweight Headlamp.

Following six weeks of intensive usewhile kayaking along the coast ofMalaya and Thailand, ConradEdwards and I reckon this lightweightheadtorch was the ‘best find of newkit’ in 2001.

Petzl have used the LED (light emit-ting diode) bulb technology for thisheadtorch. Three tiny bulbs give aneven white light. They are strong,with a lifetime of several year’s con-tinuous use, according to the productleaflet) and consume less energy thantraditional bulbs.

But what sold me on this light was theweight - 70gms including the threeAAA batteries. My older heavyheadtorch uses three AA batteries in abattery back on the back of the head-band. The Tikka has the three AAAbatteries mounted behind the com-pact bulb unit.

The functioning test notes a 10 hourbattery life of 12 hours, for lightingout to 10m, with a steady decreasethen of the light brightness out to 150hours. For the Malaya/Thailand trip,we both used the Tikka lamps on adaily basis, bearing in mind there isnot really a dawn or dusk close to theequator. Once the sun sets, full dark-ness follows within 30 minutes. Be-cause of a combination of workingfavourable tidal streams, avoidinglanding on the long stretches ofmudflats, and avoiding the strong day-time offshore winds, we were com-monly up at 2am, and paddling before3am, thus spending up to four hourspaddling in the dark. For breakfastingand a brew, then packing the boats,the lights were ideal. Then on thewater, I used my light for compassnavigation, while Conrad used his towarn any approaching longtails (fish-ing boats) of our presence. To keepmy night vision when using the light,I simply closed one eye before switch-ing on the light, sorted out the heading

with the other eye, then after switch-ing off the light, opened the closedeye which had retained full night vi-sion.

The stretchy 25mm wide headbandwas comfy to wear, and has a easilyadjustable tensioning buckle at theback of the head.

For overnight (stealth) paddling withthe need to maintain full night visionwith both eyes, the product leafletnotes red and green lenses or filtersare available.

The on-off switch on top of the light isribbed, with a 2mm sideways motion,and was easy to find and use in thedark. My only quibble with the light isthe push in button to access the bat-tery compartment. I needed to use afingernail to prise off the battery com-partment lid, while pushing in thebutton.

The headlamp is not rated as water-proof, but despite spray from break-ing waves and intensive daily use, mylamp and the battery compartmentremained dry. Conrad found sea wa-ter in his battery compartment after asustained early morning surfing ses-sion, but after washing and drying, thelamp worked fine. The leaflet notes, ifsea water reaches the interior of thelamp, remove the batteries, rinse abun-dantly in fresh water and dry.

The light performed most satisfacto-rily in the limestones caves of Thai-land I was fortunate to be shownthrough. I first heard about this LEDlight from local West Coast caversafter a cave rescue practice in thesmoke filled tunnels of the DunollieMines Rescue station. The LED lightswere far more efficient in the smokyfilled tunnels than a conventional min-er’s lamp.

From memory, retail price was about$80. For a lightweight, compact, head-lamp for kayaking and camping, Ireckon this is a great piece of kit.

Paul Caffyn.

HOT TIP - ‘CRC 808Silicone Spray’

from Max GrantFor some time now I have been usingsilicone spray on my hatches. By ap-plying a small amount around theinside of the lid of each hatch, thesilicone not only makes it easier toremove and refit the hatch lids, it alsoseals them thoroughly as it naturallyrepels any water.

I also find that by occasionally spray-ing the silicone on all rudder parts,wires, cords and footrest fittings, allparts keep working smoothly and donot wear as fast as they normallywould. The test? Seven days aroundStewart Island and no water in myfront and centre compartments. Abouttwo tea spoons came into my rearcompartment during the whole trip.

FOR FISHING FOLKfrom Vincent Maire

While perusing a glossy magazine outof Massey University, I came acrossan article about the ‘Brooke Anglers’Cooker. It is the invention of studentBlythe Rees-Jones and has got to be ofgreat interest to the many sea kayak-ers who enjoy fishing.

The cooker is made of die-cast alu-minium, runs off a portable butanegas canister and has an interchange-able cooking surface. One side is forgrilling and the other for frying. Whatis more, by sprinkling sawdust andwater between the fins of the grillingsurface, the cooker can be transformedinto a smoker. From the photographin the magazine, the cooker is about300mm long and maybe 120mm wide.This means it can easily be stowedinto the hatch of a sea kayak.

The 21-year-old inventor is/was a stu-dent at Massey’s Wellington campus.I have sent an email to the IndustrialDesign people at the university seek-ing more information (where can I getone?) but did not receive a reply. Isthere anyone out there in sea kayakland who has information on theBrooke Anglers’ Cooker? If you doknow something about this marvel-lous product, please direct your replyto the editor who can publish the re-sponse to the benefit of all readers.


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CUNNINGEXPEDITION

TIPSKevin (Kevlar) Melville’s ‘Top 10Tips’ to get you on your way . A fewsneaky ones, learned on the hard yardsof experience!

So, Wayne has approached you andsaid “Well, Young Lad, I’m going tokayak around the world. Want tocome?” Before you know it, your lipssaid, “Sir! Yes please Sir!” then yourmind said, “Bloody ‘ell. I’ve nevereven been on an overnight trip. Whatdo I do now?”

Well, here are ten tips that I jotteddown after my first (two week)expedition. Some are fairly obviousbut I’ve included them because theycan make such a difference to yourtrip.

1. Aching muscles are no fun - SoStart Training NowThis really is obvious. Nevertheless,here it is. Set yourself a trainingschedule but don’t make it unrealistic.If you have the time for only 15kilometres each Saturday, thenschedule that and no more. If you canfit in some coaching to improve yourpaddle stroke, that’s a bonus.

2. ‘I don’t know what I need to know’- So Buy A Reference BookBooks such as Derek Hutchinson’s‘Expedition Kayaking,’ (from OceanPlanet of course) will give you anoverall view of expedition kayaking.A low-cost alternative is to read it inthe Ocean Planet shop wheneverLinda’s back is turned.

3. Having no tent poles for two weeksis rather inconvenient- So Prepare AnEquipment ListClever lads and lasses have lists oftheir kayaking gear on computer.Whenever they go kayaking, they printout the list, highlight the items thatwill be needed on that particular tripthen tick off each item as it goes intothe pile of gear to be taken on the trip.

4. Being cold and wet for two weeksis no fun - So Buy A Quality Cag

Cag, by the way is, short for the Frenchword Cagoule - meaning shell. So aCag is a good waterproof paddlingjacket or shell. Check out all yourmajor equipment - Cag, PFD, sprayskirt, tent and hit the credit card wherenecessary. Good equipment will makeall the difference. Good quality polarfleece that will dry while it is on youis great and keep in mind cotton isuseless-two weeks later your cottonshorts will still be very wet and verysmelly.

5. The wafting smell of other paddlers’herbs, spices and onions while yourplain pasta is cooking is tormenting -So Take Some YourselfUsually in your kayak you have room,so it is nice to include a few fresh fruitand veggies as well. The range ofspices that you take will liven up themost boring meal-and on long tripswhere you are really tired or wet at theend of the day-the taste of fine food islovely.

6. Packing your kayak for the firsttime ever at 4 am in the dark with thetemperature below zero is no fun at all- So Have A Practice PackA week before the expedition, take anovernight kayak trip. You could dothis from the Patonga Caravan Park.Once there, pack your kayak(including water and dummy food),paddle around Lion Island and returnto Patonga to camp for the night. Packup again in the morning and repeat theLion Island paddle. Make a note ofwhere you have stored each item inyour kayak.

7. Some Tricky bits of gear that workwellIt’s amazing how a few clever bits ofgear can make life so much easier.Take snow pegs for your tent - youwill be camping in sand and snowpegs work so much better than smallpegs. Also, a good quality paintbrushis great for brushing sand from yourtent and for brushing sand away fromthe hatches before the hatch covers goon-the brush can be used for epoxyrepairs if necessary. A conical dry-bag stuffed into the bow of your kayak(and left there) can be used to storeyour emergency set of warm clothes.Finally, a durable & light ground sheet/

tarp from any disposal shop has a1,000 campsite uses in an environmentof sand and sun. Great for rain coverfor the tent and camp area; keepingsand out of the tent; a ground sheet toprotect the floor of your tent; as awind & sun shade and for gatheringwater in a pinch.

VITAL EXPEDITION STRATEGIES8. A good tent site gives a good sleep- So Watch Your ‘Mates’ Don’t SprintTo The Beach To Get The BestWatch out for the ‘Don’t worry abouthelping the others to land syndrome,’where the important thing is to claimthe best tent site by tossing your PFDonto it before the others can. You canregain any lost esteem by pretendingto help the others locate the not-so-good tent sites that you rejected earlier.(If you’ve been a bit slow, asurreptitious kick can move somebodyelse’s PFD a vital metre or two.)

9. Its very stressful to be the last to getin your kayak each morning- So Develop Smart Camping TricksThis is especially important if theexpedition leader is a bit fierce. Trickssuch as preparing your breakfast theprevious night and rolling up yoursleeping bag as soon as you get out ofit will have you ready before the others.You will receive considerablesatisfaction from being first on thewater each morning and watching therest scurry around trying not to be last.Don’t forget to do your morningablutions early as there is little morehumiliating than being first, and thenbeing last because you had to get backout of your kayak to have a nervouspoo before entering that surf zone!

10. The days begin to blur after awhile- So Keep A LogJot down just a few notes each night.Take photos as well - one of eachcampsite and one or two shots eachday that identify the day’s travel. Adisposable camera is more thansufficient. So that’s it from me - tenimportant tips to help you on yourway. Have fun and happy expeditions.(Reprinted from ‘Wet World)


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OVERSEAS TRIPREPORTS

Perth to Shark Bay -January 2002

by Tel Williams

As a West Australian sea kayaker theenormous achievement of Paul Caffynin 1982 of paddling around Australiarepresented the pinnacle of kayaking.To myself the summit of that achieve-ment was the conquering of the 200kmZuytdorp Cliff section on the WestAustralian coast. That was my Everest.

Being one of those people who al-ways have to see around the next bendand explore the next area, it began tobecome an obsession to paddle theZuytdorp, particularly as we paddledmore and more parts of the WesternAustralian coast and undertook longerand more difficult expeditions. In ear-lier trip reports I often referred to itand worked through the logistics incountless ways over the years. Soon,for John and I, it became the glaringlyobvious area of the Western Coast notpaddled. Les too began to seriouslyconsider undertaking the challengeafter the Esperance to Perth trip (See‘Sea Kayaker’ December 2000,‘Swearing at the Wind’ by Les Allen).As with most of our trips the decisionwas made in my kitchen over a cup ofcoffee and so began the process ofplanning and training. This process interms of our group dynamics is awhole story in itself.

Anyway, I finally felt ready after 138hours of strenuous training paddles,night paddles and other training whilecontinually preparing mentally for thecliffs. Les phoned about three weeksbefore D-Day to ask if I minded ifTerry Bolland could join the trip.Given his track record and my com-pliant nature I agreed. This changedthe group dynamics considerably,which in retrospect had both positiveand negative outcomes for the expe-dition.

John picked me up and true to mygood friends form was soon drivingback to his house for flares he had left.

I have got so used to it I do not evenvaguely get concerned about it anymore. John Di Nucci, Les Allen, TerryBolland and myself set off from thePerth foreshore on a cold, wet andwindy morning on 10 January. Chan-nel 7, family and friends made theoccasion seem far more auspiciousthan any previous departures. Johnnearly covered himself in glory whenhe nearly missed his farewell Eskimoroll. A long, four hour paddle into aheadwind to reach the ocean soondispelled any ideas of grandeur. Ahighlight of culture was John jumpingfrom his kayak to kiss Barbara atPoint Walter and then promptly pro-ceeding to piddle.

We very soon discovered a differencein our paddling speeds, which was alittle disconcerting. Les being a verypowerful paddler was a little frus-trated at the much slower pace ofTerry. This was to be the case for thenext 10 days northward. I felt a littleawkward as having trained so muchand being Les’ friend and main pad-dling partner I felt inclined to speedup to support him. John having trainedeven more than me could also easilyhave increased the speed. However,we all adhere to the principal of pad-dling at the speed of the slowest pad-dler and so despite Terry saying it wasour trip and he would do whatever wedecided he essentially dictated thepace. In retrospect this was a blessingfor myself as I learned to slow mypaddling speed and pace myself bet-ter which may have saved me fromphysical breakdown on the 600kmpaddle to Kalbarri.

A fairly big swell was running all dayand with a 20kt S/W onshore wind itbegan to look as if it would be difficultto find a campsite. Unfortunately wewere still inside the metro area andmuch of the coastline was fairly rocky.I volunteered to paddle in to check outa prospective site and had an interest-ing surf in over some rocks, whichhad not been visible from seaward.When I wanted to launch I foundmyself in a bit of a predicament. Ineeded a bigger set of waves so Icould have enough water to launchmy loaded kayak over the rocks butthis meant that the wash created a

larger wave at the end of the rockshelf. I launched, got over the rocksand was absolutely pulverized by thenext wave. I honestly thought I haddamaged my spine with the force ofthe wave into my chest. My paddlewas wrenched from my hands, myhead touched the rocks as I washedbackwards, upside down. I scrambledfrom the cockpit, struggled to get theswamped kayak up the steep beachand retrieve my paddle, which waswashing out to sea. It was a disaster. Ithought I was seriously injured, I couldnot communicate with the others, andI could not risk another launch.

I did try again without success butfortunately without a repeat perform-ance. Les fortunately had managed toland about 500m further on, walked tome and helped me launch. I was ex-tremely grateful, swallowed a coupleof anti-inflammatory tablets and thank-fully did not suffer beyond a bruisedand slightly tender back for a few days.

The next day is always the worst forme on a trip mentally. I missed myfamily, found myself questioning mysanity and somehow was unable tonot dwell on the possible difficultiesthat faced us. This is so contrary to mynature and fortunately only lasted afew hours. We paddled about 60kmbefore setting up a great camp in thedunes. We had the traditional wine onthe ‘porch’ and it was hard to comparemy buoyant mood with that of themornings.

Continuing ever northward the nextday I was delighted to meet a col-league in the shallows at Lancelin. Itwas great listening to Terry’s storiesof his Kimberley paddling trips. Wehad some excitement threading reefsand saw one 2m shark just to help usremember that we were not alone inthe ocean. We camped north of WedgeIsland. Again we met some people weknew. I felt a lot more into trip modeand except for some sore blisters onmy hands, felt in pretty good shape.

The next day we had one of those dayskayakers dream about. A 30kt south-erly wind directly behind us on ashallow sea. It was exhilarating catch-ing wave after wave and we were able


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to paddle at 9km /hour without anyeffort at all. We met Marion Mayes,our support in Jurien. The next daywas the day for seeing sharks, dol-phins, turtles and stingrays. Other-wise it was a long and fairly boringday on a flat sea with a very mundanelandscape. That night we camped onan exposed beach about 4km north ofCoolimba. Fortunately there was onlya very light wind and we had a greatevening no further than a few metersfrom the sea. The coast in this area isprotected by reef and this lures oneinto a false sense of security. Thenoise of the swells breaking on Bea-gle Reef 10kms offshore was evi-dence of the true nature of the oceanwe would face shortly.

We had another long slow day thenext day. Paddling for 11 hrs into alight headwind to reach Port Denisonwhere we again made contact withMarion. I was concerned about thefact that I could feel some soreness inmy right shoulder, which was an in-jury I had developed on the Montebelloexpedition in April. Added to this wassome tendon soreness in my rightwrist. I was keen to have a rest day inPort Denison although the campsitewe were in was not very pleasant andthe weather was overcast and miser-able. The forecast was for favourablewinds and Les was keen to push on toGeraldton 65 kms on.

We set off into a 10 to 12 kt N/Wheadwind. After an hour I expressedmy view that it would be wise toreturn to Port Denison as I thoughtthat with the increasing headwind wewere looking at another 11 hour orlonger paddle. Added to this was thefact that we had for the first time leftcamping gear with Marion, were notself supporting and had no choice butto make Greenough. As we had pur-posely built in rest days I really couldnot see the point of slogging into thewind all day. Les reacted angrily rais-ing his voice and laying down ultima-tums, which I found rather surprising.I didn’t react although I nearly askedhim not to get excited and that therewas no need to raise his voice. Terrywas for pushing on. I found myselfquestioning their motives and con-cluded that they hadn’t liked the camp-

site at Port Denison and Les wanted tokeep his appointment with people inGeraldton. I was not too fussed by thedecision to go, was happy to supportthe group and I was paddling wellwithin myself and found my niggleswere not deteriorating in any way.

I did feel vindicated a little when thewind did pick up and we took 11hrs ofconstant paddling to reach Greenough,still 13 kms short of Geraldton. Whichwould have taken three hours or moreat the pace we were paddling. Les didlater talk to me and conceded that weshould have turned back. As I saidbefore I was not too fussed. All in allit was not a very pleasant day andprobably added to the damage Les didto his wrist ligaments that ultimatelysidelined him. It was a great learningexperience for me in learning to pad-dle slowly, not put any pressure onmuscles or ligaments and reinforcethe mental adjustment I was makingto paddle at Terry’s pace. This wasnot as easy as it sounds as we hadalways as a group paddled much faster.Of note was my little swim in theshallows as I tried a fancy surfingmanoeuvre, ran out of water and hadan undignified exit in the weed inabout 1 foot of water.

The next day we had to interrupt ourrest day by paddling the 13km toGeraldton. It turned into a bit of a sagabecause we got the vehicle boggedand had to carry the kayaks furtherthan expected to launch. Les also sur-prised us by declaring he was notgoing to paddle the section saying thathe only saw the trip up, as training forthe cliffs.

We spent a day and a half in Geraldton,making minor adjustments to our kay-aks and equipment and buying sup-plies. We stayed with Gary andCarolyn Nixon who were wonderfulhosts. Gary and Dennis another pad-dler from Geraldton joined us on thepaddle to Horrocks where we had agreat BBQ. I had an interesting chat toTerry about the trip so far and wespoke about undertaking a trip to theKimberley’s.

The paddle on to Port Gregory withfavourable winds was great except for

some rough bumpy water off the reefand a couple of close shaves with theodd bombie. We landed for lunch andwatched a fisherman land a 3.5 metertiger shark a few meters from ourkayaks. I felt sorry for the poor animalwatching the way the population con-gregated around it, prodding, kickingand the rest. It was here that Lesmentioned to me that his wrist wasvery sore and he took some anti-in-flammatory tablets. The wind pickedup to 25 plus kts and we literally flewthe next 14km to Sandalwood Bay.We had great ‘porch’ drinks and dis-cussions about the trip and paddlingin general. The condition of Les’swrist was of real concern and I felt badthat he would have to abandon thecliff paddle.

Our introduction to the cliffs the nextday south of Kalbarri was magnifi-cent. The weather was perfect and wewere able to paddle to within metresof the cliffs, take great photographsand appreciate the caves and spec-tacular formations. John and I hadpaddled the section last year and couldhardly believe our luck at the favour-able conditions. Of note was Terrygetting caught unintentionally in awave off Eagle Bay and having toexecute some fine paddling skills tomake an unscheduled landing. Whatmade it even more hilarious is that heis always so cautious and organisedand would be the last person one wouldexpect to get caught. Added to this wewere able to rib him about the fact thatan hour later and for only the secondtime on the whole trip he was in frontwhen he led John and I into the killzone off Oyster Reef at the entrance toKalbarri. He again skilfully managedto remain upright while John and Imade a glorious entrance into Ka-lbarri in the upside down position.John managed the roll while I had yetanother swim. For a kayaker takingon ‘Everest’ I was not doing too wellin the skills department!

We met Ken Wilson {of hosting andbagpipe fame on Paul Caffyn’s expe-dition} and set up camp in the besthouse in Kalbarri. The next two dayswere spent sorting out gear for theassault on the cliffs. Checking weatherand coastal details from local fisher-


14

men and preparing the ground crew. Iwas very disappointed for Les but wasvery relieved about the fact that hewould join Marion in support. His4WD skills, survival skills, handlingof crises and general physical strengthwould rank him as the top of the popsin any support team anywhere. I feltexcited about the paddle. All the train-ing and hours of mentally attuningmyself to this one event had finallycome to a head. I was more nervousabout a TV interview than the pros-pect of 30 hours at sea. Some localfisherman told us that given the per-fect conditions of the past three daysit would be perhaps possible to landnear the Zuytdorp wreck. This alteredour whole way of thinking and resultedin us carrying a lot more gear thanintended, i.e.., 18 litres of extra water,tent, clothing, food, camping and repairgear, which in effect resulted in usundertaking the challenge with loadedkayaks. We would depart Kalbarri at5.30 am on 25 January.

At 9.30pm we went to bed. John stillseemed to have a heap of gear all overthe place but I was confident that witha 4.00am rise we would be able tomake the 5.30am target. Horror ofhorrors I didn’t sleep! Having slept sowell the whole trip, not feeling at allnervous, looking forward to the ad-venture and having woken at 4.00 themorning before, I was sure I would betired enough to fall asleep instantly.Well 9.30pm turned to 10.30 and whenI thought of taking a sleeping pill at11.30 I remembered that my first aidkit was in the packed kayak. Not want-ing to wake the others and sure Iwould fall asleep I didn’t go and getthem. By 12.30 I concluded that it wastoo late to take any as everyone wasrelying on me to wake them. So I didNOT SLEEP AT ALL, which was atotal disaster. I did think of saying wewould have to delay the trip but giventhe ideal weather forecast and the factthat I had previously managed 30-hour stints without sleep I thought Iwould be fine. Also I didn’t want to letthe others down. It did mean howeverthat when we departed I had alreadybeen awake for 26 hours.

John managed to delay our departureby running back to find his camera he

thought he had left at the house. It wasexciting departing Kalbarri headingtowards the gradually lightening cliffsthat had been so much a part of ourpsyche for so long. We had a lightfollowing wind, the sea was calm andwe made good time all day. We tookphotographs, saw dolphins, sharks,turtles and numerous fish. All day thewind gradually strengthened and theseas continued to lift. By 3pm we putcags on as we were constantly wetfrom white caps and felt cold. By 6pmand our first radio schedule, the seawas rough enough to require us to raftup to use the radio, and it was difficultto open hatches to access food andequipment.

By nightfall the sea had reached sucha state that setting up night-lights andgear was fairly difficult. By this stageI was wearing thermals, polartec top,cag, balaclava and PFD and still felt alittle cold. Unfortunately I was feel-ing very sleepy already and was strug-gling to stay awake. Little did I knowwhat was to come! Within two hoursI was in a state of mental agony andfrustration forcing myself to stayawake. It reached a stage when I wasfalling asleep even after descending awave and having a deluge of waterover my head with whitecaps. Timeand again I would wake with adrenalinshock as I felt the kayak going over. Iwas paddling most of the time withmy eyes shut and given the conditionsit is a miracle that I did not capsize.Eventually I called John over andholding onto his kayak was able toshut my eyes and not concentrate fora few minutes. When I had recovereda bit, held his kayak while he emptiedwater I would then paddle on for a fewminutes until I had to repeat the proc-ess. To describe the agony of whatthis entailed is impossible except tosay it was the most intense pain I haveever had to endure. At the time Ivowed I would gladly swap for toothand ear ache simultaneously.

After a couple of hours of this stopstart paddling I felt myself going intooverdrive. Suddenly I could see againand my mind was responding nor-mally. I was ecstatic! Joyfully I an-nounced to the others that I had comethrough it and would be OK. The

relief I felt is beyond description andI am certain no drug on earth couldproduce the same elation. I even madea point of enjoying the occasion ofwhere we were. To be out on such arough night on the wind swept oceanoff the imposing silhouette of theZuytdorp in the moonlight, 100kmsfrom anywhere was a pretty uniqueplace to be! The horror I felt when Ifelt the fatigue overcoming me againis beyond description. This time itwas far worse if that is possible and Icould not stay awake for more than afew agonising seconds at a time. I hadobviously used up my final reservesand I had the first thoughts of catastro-phe. The hazardous nature of our po-sition in such rough conditions at nightand my inability to function was hor-rifying. I felt lousy for the predica-ment it had put the others in and thedegree of frustration I felt was beyondcalculation.

John was absolutely fantastic. At notime did he panic and the courage andpatience with which he dealt with thesituation is remarkable. I wish I couldrecall all the words of encourage-ment, advice and clear decisions hemade throughout the night and recordthem in the annals of survival stories.As I write this I recall snippets of ourconversations and believe it or not, attimes we actually laughed. He pointedout to me at one time that there wasphosphorescence in the water know-ing how excited I have been on othertrips when we have discovered it.Firstly I said I couldn’t care less butlater remarked that I had been seeinglights before my eyes the whole nightand for some reason we thought thatwas hang of a funny. I also remarkedthat I thought the reason I was sodebilitated was from having to sup-port his kayak while he piddled into abottle. The skill with which he tailedme in the very rough conditions and inthe dark is exceptional, and on the 20times or more times he manoeuvredhis kayak into position next to mewithout smashing our kayaks is a featof incredible skill. Terry as well dis-played exceptional skill in tailing meon the other side and somehow man-aging to remain in contact with uswithout colliding with us. At times wewould be swamped in a deluge of


15

white water and the kayaks hurleddown 3 to 5 meter swells in the dark-ness. Added to this Terry was suffer-ing from sea sickness.

At some time after midnight sleepdeprivation finally won and I couldnot paddle a stroke. Smashing mypaddle into my face, screaming, cry-ing or whatever I tried to do to forcemy mind to operate failed to make anydifference. I knew it was simply amatter of time before I capsized and inmy present state I doubted my abilityto roll. John and I rafted up and basi-cally decided that all we could do washang grimly on to each others kayaks,attempt to remain upright and off thecliffs and drift at the mercy of thewind and waves until daylight. It wasimpossible to actually sleep having tohold onto the deck lines. Hands andfingers were severely mauled and onnumerous occasions waves almosttoppled both of us. We were con-stantly wet and cold and our backswere rubbed raw against the cockpitsides. Every so often John would or-der me to paddle on my side or push aparticular rudder so we could workout to sea away from the cliffs.

The wind continued to strengthen allnight and the seas to lift. The moondisappeared behind some clouds andat about 1.45am, it set leaving us on aninky black ocean. The next five hoursor so seemed like days and for the restof my life the images in my semi-conscious mind of that time will beintensely imprinted on my memory.At one time I asked John the time andwas determined to last an hour beforeasking again. When I was sure at leastan hour had passed I asked again. Itwas torture to be told that only 15minutes had passed. The pain I feltwas physical despite knowing it wasas a result of mental tiredness. It feltmuch like the time I was in hospitalwith a broken neck waiting for mymorphine shot, except this time therewas no relief in sight. Terry rafted upwith us for the last few hours and theimage of us drifting on the black an-gry ocean like so much driftwoodmust have been an interesting sight.Somehow we managed to keep to-gether although at times the kayakswere nearly wrenched from our grasp.

Somehow I kept the presence of mindto ensure that paddles were not dam-aged between the kayaks and to re-main aware of our proximity to thecliffs. Although at times I was totallydisorientated and had to consult thedeck compass and take some time toget my bearings.

Knowing that we were still 6 to 8hours paddling away from False En-trance I was determined to make theeffort to paddle as soon as we couldsee a little better. I was not lookingforward to it and knew it was going tobe the most agonising experience ofmy life. If at dawn we discovered wewere more than 60 kms from safety Iwould have been devastated. Despitethe whole night been close to theedge, I never seriously considered try-ing to fire my EPIRB and abandoningthe paddle. Probably because I knewthe authorities would not have beenable to affect a rescue before dawnanyway and because I knew we hadthe whole next day to make it. At onetime we passed within a kilometre ofa fishing boat and I would have lovedto have paddled up to him to ask someinnocuous question like, "what wasthe cricket score.” To have witnessedthe absolute disbelief on his face atseeing a ‘kayak’ out there on such anight would have been worth anotherhour of agony. {perhaps not worththat much but it certainly would havebeen great!}

The paddle ahead seemed impossibleand the others were surprised when Isaid, "Let’s try paddle." We pushedTerry off first and then I cleared ourraft. John from having been in acramped position all night, missed apaddle stroke and went over. Hemissed his roll but fortunately wasable to shout out as he went under andcapsized. Terry heard him and imme-diately started back paddling towardshim. John is not a strong swimmer andsomehow lost hold of his kayak, whichquickly blew out of reach. Terryreached John quickly and executed amagnificent rescue under the condi-tions. Once I saw Terry had thingsunder control and he said he didn’twant a third boat in, I paddled back topick up some of John’s gear. John forthe next hour or so suffered a loss of

confidence, which made the rough con-ditions even more difficult to handle.

At the risk of repetition I can onlydescribe the next six hours as the mostagonising time imaginable. The frus-tration and mental anguish that goeswith 50 hours plus of sleep depriva-tion has to be experienced to be be-lieved. I would have to hit, splash orbite myself, cry, scream, eat, or drinkconstantly simply to maintain con-centration for a few seconds. A fewtimes my mind would shut down nomatter what I did and fortunately Johnwas there to catch me as I started tofall over. Even the sudden starts as Iwoke failed to revive me for morethan a few seconds and so the agonyof forcing myself to stay awake con-tinued. At least with daylight I couldjudge waves and swells and was ableto brace at appropriate times. Afteranother few hours I began to feeldrugged and could feel my reactionsseconds late. At times I felt I wasdrifting all over the ocean and couldnot keep a straight line.

I found talking helped me stay awakebut it was too difficult to keep stationwith the others. Finally after 30 hoursat sea and 56 hours since I had slept,we landed at Dulverton Bay. We metour welcoming support crew and stag-gered up the beach. I was too tired tofeel any real sense of achievement.All I wanted to do was sleep. Instincttook over and we carried the kayaksup the beach and sorted out some ofthe gear. Somehow I survived anotherhalf an hour before going to sleep inLes’s tent. I woke two hours latercompletely dehydrated and still feel-ing like I was drunk. We took a walkto the top of the cliffs. The wind wasstill howling and the sea was veryrough. We took some photographs. Ifelt very tired again, so had somethingto eat and passed out in the tent. I sleptlike the dead for 11 hours and did notwake despite the tent virtually wrap-ping itself around my head as guyropes and pegs broke in the wind.

The training and conditioning obvi-ously worked because the next day Ifelt fine except for bruised hands fromthe rafting up. We debated at somelength the possibility of completing


16

the 32km stage to Shark Bay that day.However the wind howled unabatedand we would really look stupid if wehad some drama on the last stage afterthe saga of the cliffs and with a strongwind warning in effect. So we had agreat relaxing day in Dulverton.Played beach golf, fished and againwalked the cliffs. Watching the seasat dusk from the cliff tops and imagin-ing my small fibreglass craft on therelentless turbulent swells gave methe first inkling of a sense of achieve-ment in what we had just achieved. Iwas again humbled by the achieve-ment of Paul Caffyn in tackling thecliffs alone in the other direction.

The next day we awoke to an easingwind and so prepared for the last stage.John went in search for that usual lastpiece of equipment before welaunched over the rock shelf andthrough a small wave that was break-ing at the shelf edge. We paddled on alumpy sea caused by the reboundwaves off the cliffs. In many ways thesection of cliffs to Steep Point werethe most spectacular. With huge un-dercut caves, massive columns ofspray as waves smashed into the cliffsand spectacular rock formations. Itwas great paddling into Shark Bayand we took a number of photographs.We had finally achieved the goal wehad set and had conquered those cliffs.It is hard to describe all the emotionsand feelings and adequately describethe experience in its entirety. Mythoughts turned to my wife and sonsand I was suddenly looking very muchforward to going home.

The paddle in the clear aquamarinewaters of Shark Bay was fantastic.We paddled for about 6km into thebay and were relieved to see Les andMarion driving towards us. John andI were preparing for our traditionalEskimo roll when Les got out of thecar and swore and blasted me in nouncertain terms for being a moron.This tended to detract from the mo-ment somewhat and the traditionended there and then. He and Marionhad had a shocking morning reachingShark Bay due to a flat battery. I wasblamed for having left the radio onwhich later turned out not to be thecase. However, they had to rip out

immobilisers, hot wire the car andstruggle to reach us on shocking roads.I sympathised with them and did notfeel too affronted. We packed the ve-hicle in virtual silence, which wasunlike our usual excited manner at theend of a trip. Especially this trip!Fortunately the sombre mood did notlast and we soon were able to accept itas part of the nature of such trips.

We reached home at 3am in the morn-ing feeling a little tired. There wassome analysis of the trip on the wayhome but I guess we all had our ownthoughts on the trip and hopefully thisreport is not too different to the recol-lections of the others. These thoughtsare essentially a compilation of thenotes in my diary. I have not had timeto edit much and have written this asthoughts came to mind.

What next? Is always the question butsomehow this time I have avoidedpost expedition depression and havegladly adjusted to ‘civilisation’.

As a final note I would like to saythanks: To John for ALL the expedi-tions, friendship, support, trainingtrips, discussions, kayak repairs, pad-dle trials, coffees on the beach, allow-ing me to cramp your tent and forbeing the paddling partner supreme. Iapologise for ALL the scrapes I haveled you into. John is the most humbleperson I know and yet in many wayshas the most to be proud about par-ticularly in paddling achievements.His willingness to help, share and bepart of so many hair-brained ideasmakes him unique.

To Les for all the hundreds of hours ofplanning and organisation. For keep-ing me in check with some of mymore hair brained schemes. For thefriendship, support, paddling trips,equipment and press coverage overthe years. For undertaking to organisethe support logistics for this trip andthen joining the support when his wristwas injured.

To Terry for teaching me the art ofpacing myself. For all the interestingstories. Sing alongs at sea and supporton the cliff section. It was great know-ing a person of his great skill was inclose attendance.

To Marion for the tremendous com-mitment she undertook to support thetrip. It was invaluable having her insupport and we can never really ap-preciate all it entailed. To Gary andCarolyn Nixon for their hospitality inGeraldton and for making the com-mitment to meet us at False Entrance.Gary loses some credibility howeverfor scoring three holes in one andbeating me at beach golf.

To Ken Wilson for his wonderful hos-pitality. Taking in a group of stran-gers into his home and making us feelso welcome is truly a remarkable tes-tament to a great person.

Finally to my family who have had toput up with ‘the obsession’ and all thatit entailed to make it happen.THANKS - Tel Williams

Below: from left, Les, Terry,John, and Tel (waving)


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OVERSEAS TRIPREPORT

INTO THEFORBIDDEN ZONE

(Baffin Island)by Kevin Killilea

From late July to late August, NancyPfeiffer and I spent a month paddlingthe north side of Frobisher Bay (BaffinIsland), along the south shore of HallPeninsula, starting in Iqualuit, the capi-tal of Nunavut. We had done a bit ofresearch, and knew we’d likely en-counter polar bears (ursus maritimus).So we brought along a marine shot-gun and various bear deterrents.

One morning, as we entered Countessof Warwich Sound, we decided tohave a wee spell on the first island aswe entered the sound. It seemedSumner Island was a good spot to getout, stretch and scout the route to thesouth from an easily accessed, promi-nent ridge. As we approached thebeach, Nancy was about 100m aheadof me, and 200m from shore. Shementioned that she saw a bear half-way down a 500m high hill, descend-ing rapidly toward our beach. Nancythen turned left, parallel to the beachand increased her paddling rate. Casu-ally, I inquired about where she wasgoing. She replied that her intentionswere to go where I was going. We sawa hut about 2km up the sound, to theleft, back on the mainland. Thus, wedecided to head for it. In the meantimethe bear had rapidly descended to thebeach, and hopped in the water, about500m behind us.

At this point, Nancy withdrew ourshotgun from the dry bag on her fore-deck and inquired if I would mindrafting up with her, in the eventualityit was necessary to fire the shotgun.The bear seemed to be swimmingabout one half times the speed wewere paddling. We carried on downthe sound, passing a rocky islet on ourright, about halfway to the hut. Thebear went ashore at the islet, while welanded at the hut. The hut was aban-doned, though fairly solid. Wewatched the bear for a bit, while hav-

ing morning smoko. He seemed to becontent to stay there, and after a quar-ter hour, we carried on.

Our route now turned south, betweena series of small islands, separated bya 1km wide channel. While travellingdown that channel we saw three morebears that day, usually one per island.

Several days later, while stopped atthe mouth of Victoria Bay, awaiting afavourable tide, we saw a sow and twocubs grazing high on a ridge above us.They took no notice of us and wedeparted after observing them for thebetter part of a day. Our objective wasthe head of the bay, where we plannedto camp, then walk to the pass aboveto suss out the ice situation at themouth of Cumberland Sound. It hadbeen a drizzly day, and as eveningapproached, the fog descended. Turn-ing into Victoria Bay at 18:00 hours,we caught the flood tide. It was per-fectly calm, in what had become in-creasing alpine country, after the roll-ing hills of upper Frobisher Bay.

We paddled up the centre of VictoriaBay, taking advantage of the push. Aswe neared the head of the bay, we sawyet another nanoq, as the Inuit refer tothe white bears, on our proposed beach.While coming up the bay, we hadnoticed a small peninsula on the northside that had a campable beach. So weturned about and headed for the pe-ninsula. As we approached the beach,a good look around failed to revealany potential rivals. Being mid-Au-gust, now at 63˚ north latitude, themidnight sun was gone and there wereseveral hours of darkness, accentu-ated by the drizzle and fog. We landedand assessed the beach. Surprisingly,we found the coal dump MartinFrobisher had deposited there in the1580’s.

There was an adequate patch of realestate for the tents to be put up withinthe bear fence. One knows that mostrural Kiwis are fair, fencing artisans,but the finer points of real rural lifehas not been experienced, until travel-ling in ursus maritimus country, thus,experiencing the joy of erecting anddisassembling the ‘wire’ at each camp.

Our ‘paddock’ was enclosed by twospools of halibut fishing line (30kgtest). The square measured 10m oneach side. The two ‘wires’ were heldup by a guyed out ski pole in eachcorner, the ‘wires’ being 30cm and60cm above the ground. In oppositecorners, tied into the line were two120 decibel sounding personal alarms.The theory was, if some creaturebreached the perimeter, the alarmwould sound, waking us in time totake some corrective action. Usually,we selected a spot 50 to 100m outsidethe ‘wire,’ away from the tents, for thekitchen. Normally, we cooked belowthe high tide and stored the gear above.This evening we did as noted. Weheaded for bed in our respective tentsaround 22:00 hours.

At about 01:30 a low grumbling growlwas heard above the tents. I poppedout of my tent first, and in the light ofthe stronger head torch which I had,saw yet another sow and two cubs.Shouting next door to Nancy, she re-plied she’d heard them also, and wouldbe out soon with the shotgun. First,she fired a signal flare over their heads.This seemed to spook them. For goodmeasure, she followed it up with a‘screamer’ from the shotgun. Thebears departed, out of sight. We con-ferred, standing outdoors, inad-equately attired in the cold, near freez-ing rain. The consensus was to waituntil daybreak, pack camp, and de-part. It was agreed to stand watch withthe shotgun and head torch, spellingeach other on the hour. It was my lotto retire first, though I did not get backto sleep again for some unexplainedreason.

After my hour of respite was up, Iturned out and relieved Nancy. Sheducked into her tent and soon I couldhear her snoring softly. As she seemedto be resting comfortably, I stoodwatch until daybreak. At that time, Iroused her and we walked amongstthe rocks to find the remnants of ourkitchen, which the bears had sampled.We spied the bears sleeping quietly atthe inner end of the peninsula, severalhundred meters away. We policedour kitchen gear and returned to packcamp. The bears seemed to have heardus, and were getting up.


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While Nancy stood watch, I packed.All the myriad camp items take timeto pack, even without a fence to disas-semble tidily. The sow and cubs werecurious. Over the time it took me topack up, Nancy was engaged in adance with the sow. The sow wouldadvance a bit, Nancy would advance,then the sow would stop. The sowwould advance a bit more, and Nancywilled her to retreat. When the sow

would not, Nancy would fire ascreamer or popper at her, causing herto return back toward where she hadcome from.

This to and fro-ing went on over thetime it took me to pack up. It seemedevery quarter hour or so, Nancy wouldhave to fire again, as the sow hadcrossed what Nancy had determinedto be the ‘line in the sand’. Just as we

were about out of bear deterrent items,we chucked the last of our gear in ourkayaks, shoved off, and headed backtoward Iqualuit, out of the ‘ForbiddenZone.’

(Kevin Killilea leads a charmed sum-mer life, heading to Alaska, Green-land or Arctic Canada during oursouthern winter, then heads south fora working summer in the Antarctic.)

STEWART ISLANDCIRCUMNAVIGATION

February 2002by Ian Algie

Max Grant and Dave Herrington hadbeen planning a paddling trip to Stew-art Island for some time followingtheir successful Chatham Islands ven-ture, so a few months ago a plan washatched to paddle across FoveauxStrait then try for a circumnavigationof the Island.

I was very happy to be able to accom-pany these two very experienced SeaKayaking Gurus on what turned outto be a great trip. Being already downin Dunedin, helping my daughter getset up in a new flat, the two hourjourney to Bluff wasn’t a problem andI arrived there late in afternoon but theweather didn’t look good with a brisksouth-east wind whipping up white-caps in the harbour. My tent blewaway from me twice while I was try-ing to erect it in the campground.

Max and Dave arrived at 2am after analmost non-stop drive south off theferry. Max set up his tent, but Davecurled up under his groundsheet nextto the truck until daybreak where werose to a clear blue sky with a verygentle breeze from the north-east.

After organising to store our vehiclesand placing most of our heavier gearon the Foveaux Express Ferry wepacked up our kayaks and launchedover a rocky breakwater, with Maxbeing understandably concerned aboutscratching his brand new ‘Torres’

kayak. An outgoing tide was causinga bumpy patch at the Bluff Harbourentrance but otherwise conditionscouldn’t have been more perfect.

Ruapuke and Bird Islands were onour left and gave good indications ofour position as we paddled south. AnAlbatross wheeled across our bows,and Max assured me that was a goodomen.

After an enjoyable 5.5 hour trip weentered Half moon Bay, and landedon a sandy beach in front of the localOban pub. A few tourists checked usout as we made our way to Innes’sBackpackers where we shared thewarm welcome with others from allpoints of the globe. We were able toleave our excess gear at Innes’s, sonext morning we packed a week’splus provisions into our kayaks andset off again to attempt an anticlock-wise circumnavigation of Stewart Is-land. We were told by local radiooperators that the settled weather wasforecast to linger around for a fewmore days, when Dave contacted themto pass on our intentions.

First stop was at Port William, anidyllic spot with sparkling mica in thesand, where we lunched with a DoChut supervisor at a picnic table. We alltried to guess his nationality as he wasreading a book with unrecognisableprint. After a few wrong guesses, heinformed us he was an Israeli, and thebook was ‘Alice in Wonderland,’written in Hebrew.

We paddled on past bush coveredheadlands, marvelling at the crystal

clear water and plentiful bird life untilwe reached Smokey Bay on the north-ern-most coast. A small surf allowedan incident free landing, and we dis-covered a hunter’s bivvy close to theshore, where camp was set up for thenight. The hunters had left deer car-casses unburied, so a strong smellpervaded the site. Not to mentionsquadrons of hungry sandflies around,but luckily we discovered an insectrepellent coil, which kept them at bayin the hut.

After a few light showers of rain over-night we set off again with light north-erlies and a calm sea, making our waysouth now, with Codfish Island [animportant bird reserve] on our right.The paddle across Mason Bay was along one, but a friendly seal kept usentertained until we landed at thesouthern end of the bay, where wewalked inland to inspect the oldKilbride homestead. A settlement wasplanned here in the 1890’s but nevereventuated with the homestead beingthe only building left. The windblowntrees gave an indication of the SWwind strength that is common here.

Our maps showed water flowing be-tween Ernest Island and the mainlandbut we carried our kayaks over a 100msandbar that had formed. The launchfrom the south side of Ernest Islandwas our first encounter with big surfand we had a few anxious momentswhen we thought we’d lost Dave, buthe appeared unscathed and we carriedon south, but it was obvious a weatherchange was coming with the windpicking up from the south-west. Theplan was to push as far south as possi-

NEW ZEALAND TRIP REPORT


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ble and land at either Easy Harbour orFlour Cask Bay. The sea depth rightup to the sheer cliff faces of 60 to 80mwas causing the big swell from thesouth-west to rebound off and causemassive waves and the decision toturn back to Doughboy Bay was agood one.

The beach was sheltered with gentlesurf and we were able to find a goodcampsite. Aircraft are able to land onthe beach here to drop off and pick uphunters. Dave went for a bush walkand spotted a Kiwi, also we found outlater that a large pod of 300 whaleshad beached themselves there a fewyears previously.

The wind next morning was still blow-ing a good 35 knots from the south-west but with renewed vigour we de-cided to give the section betweenDoughboy Bay and Easy Harbouranother try. After paddling for threehours against the wind and massiveseas, we again retreated to DoughboyBay. We were all broached two orthree times in the wild waves as wesurfed back into the harbour. Max losthis bilge pump and myself a map inthe surf on a beach that we visited onour way back to the campsite.

By morning the wind had backed offto a more reasonable 15 knots and weset out again to try and conquer thissection for the third time, this timesuccessfully. After a well-earned stopfor snacks at Three Legged Woodhen,we paddled on past the granite domesof Gog & Magog, encountering amixed variety of sea conditions dur-ing the afternoon. Max remarked aswe made our way into Flour Cask Baythat the waves we encountered offSouth West Cape were the biggesthe’d encountered in his paddling ca-reer.

The one camping spot in the FlourKask Bay was occupied by some el-ephant seals. As I ventured ashore tocheck on suitable sites, I came acrossa huge seal in long grass, which lungedat me. Dave and Max laughed as Iquickly retreated back to the beachwith stained undies, and a startledlook on my face. We eventuallycamped in the middle of a thistle patch,

that the sea lions were understandablyavoiding, and had a quiet night savefor the occasional cough from thelocals.

Next morning we set off around SouthCape towards our next objectivePegasus Bay. The wind had turnedaround to the north- east, so after ahard slog all morning, we welcomedthe tranquillity of Pegasus Harbour.This place has quite a history as asettlement was developed here in thelate 1890’s and is the site of the firstship built in NZ. (# see editors’endnote). We inspected the remainsof an old wharf and refrigeration plantand were told later by the StewartIsland Radio people that they evenhad their own hydro power generator.

Camping sites were hard to find butwe eventually came across TwilightCove that afforded just enough roomin the bush to pitch our tents and withrain overnight, we packed up wet gearnext morning.

Picking up a favourable tidal flowafter leaving Pegasus Bay, we madeour way up the south-east coast pass-ing Owen Island and Lords River In-let, then around Shelter Point. By thistime the weather was deterioratingagain and we made for Port Adven-ture where we had a DoC hut to our-selves. Max soon had freshly caughtBlue Cod sizzling in a frying pan,after being deftly filleted by Dave.

After heavy rain overnight we set offon the homeward leg, reaching OceanBeach for lunch where a confusedwave pattern caused more than a fewproblems with landing and launchingagain. Wind from the north-west, pick-ing up to 25-30 knots, made the lastleg back to Oban quite a challenge,especially across Paterson Inlet wherewe were hit by squalls. Mid afternoonwe paddled back into Halfmoon Bayto end a seven day adventure that hadtested both our endurance and pad-dling skills.

Innes’s Backpackers was again wel-coming with hot showers and softbeds and we shouted ourselves a mealat the local pub. Dave orderedMuttonbird, which he was disap-

pointed with, as it was a trifle over-cooked.

Special thanks to Dave for the use ofhis Marine Radio, which kept us intouch with the Stewart Island Radiopeople, and also the G.P.S. which isan amazing piece of technology.

Editor’s Note:Port Pegasus was the site of a ship-building colony from 1825 to 1833when a 49 ton schooner was finallylaunched. However the first recordedvessel was built at Luncheon Cove inFiordland in the years 1795-96 (See‘Fiordland Explored’ by John Hall-Jones).

For any paddlers planning a visit toStewart Island, I would recommendreading the following for backgroundon history, weather and paddling con-ditions:

- ‘Stewart Island Explored,’ a 216ppillustrated early history of StewartIsland, written by eminent Southlandhistorian John Hall- Jones, publishedin 1994, with over 200 early photo-graphs and sketches; included arechapters on Port Pegasus and MasonsBay. ISBN 0-908629-42-7

- ‘Rakiura,’ A history of Stewart is-land, written by Basil Howard, andpublished by Reed in 1940.

- ‘Dark Side of the Wave,’ an accountof the first kayak circumnavigation ofthe island, written by the editor.

- ‘Stewart Island Circumnavigation,’trip report by Donna Hammond of thefourth successful circumnavigation inApril 1998; ‘Sea Canoeist Newslet-ter,’ No. 76, August - September 1998


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BOOK REVIEWS

Title: ‘SEA KAYAKER’S GUIDEto New Zealand’s UPPER NORTHISLAND’Editor: Vincent MairePublished: 2001Publisher: New Holland PublishersNZISBN: 1 877246 71 9Cover: SoftbackContents: 176 pp, maps, central col-our plate section.Size: 210x146mmRRP: $29.95Availability: NZ book & kayak shopsReviewed by: Kerry Howe(Speech given for Vincent Maire’sbook launch.)

This is a wonderful book. It covers thecoastline from the tip of the NorthIsland, down the entire east coast toAuckland, Coromandel Peninsula andGreat Barrier, plus bits of the Kaiparaand Manukau Harbours. Vincent hasan amazingly detailed familiarity withthe coastline - from individual seacaves, to camping spots, to fresh wa-ter supplies, to shops. It’s a veritablemine of information, the result of yearsof passionate kayaking and carefulobservation. It is obviously a labour alove.

Throughout the carefully described75 kayak tours, there are readily di-gestible snippets of history, geology,and botany, and information aboutbird life.

Apart from where to go and what tosee, there’s an enormous amount ofcommon sense and advice about kay-aking, equipment, activities, camp-ing, weather, and likely sea condi-tions. Here’s a typical comment:‘The journey from Bland Bay to NorthHead covers 6km of high cliffs androcky shorelines. Unless conditionsare particularly calm, maintain a safedistance from the cliffs. As you roundthe point you may find yourself pad-dling in confused tidal currents, butonce inside the harbour entrance, seaconditions will soften. Don’t forgetthat fish and chip shop just across theharbour at Oakura.’

Or this one, for the Happy Jacks:‘If you decide to make this idyllicisland a stopover point, be aware thatthere is only enough flat ground fortwo or three tents, there are rats on theisland and it is infested with largeants. Keep your hatch covers shuttight.’

There’s plenty of Vincent’s bluff hu-mour. I particularly like the advice fora trip around the Auckland Harbourwharves:‘As with any working port, boat traf-fic is intense... making this a poten-tially dangerous part of the harbourfor sea kayakers. Generally speaking,if you get run down it will be yourfault and you won’t get any sympathyfrom anyone, including other sea kay-akers.’

Then there are some passages whichborder on poetry, not to mention a hintof sensuality:‘The Surville Cliffs [just around thecorner from North Cape] are flutedlike Doric columns. Unencumberedby scrub and lacking a rocky ledge,you can paddle close to these spec-tacular cliffs and rub your hands downthe water-blasted flukes. This is themost northern point in New Zealandand if you look back over your shoul-der, you will see Cape Reinga in thehazy-blue distance.’

Some scenes will be familiar to us allin Auckland - who has not gasped atthe scene that unfolds as you roundthe corner and start the descent intoSullivan’s Bay in the Mahurangi.Here’s Vincent’s description:‘Pause and use your map to identitythe six or so islands that lie below you.To the north the Mahurangi Harbourmerges into a mangrove lined river.The headlands of the Mahurangi pe-ninsula are lined with white beachesand to the south you may catch aglimpse of beautiful Te Muri Beach.This magnificent view will whet yourappetite for sea kayak exploration inthis stunning area.’

There’s a section of great colour pho-tographs capturing the region’s manymoods. Many of them are taken byPaul Buckley.For me, this book does many things. It

has wonderfully useful and preciseinformation, and very sound advice.It is a book of both memories andanticipation. In short, it is a book ofdreams for sea kayakers:‘Sea kayakers go where most othercraft cannot venture. Those shallowreefs, rocky headlands, sea caves, tinyislets, archways, sheer cliffs, desertedislands, remote beaches, endless estu-aries and miles of coastal rock gar-dens can only be truly appreciatedfrom the cockpit of a sea kayak.’

Most kayak shops have this book instock. If you are having trouble get-ting a copy, contact Vincent byemail on [email protected].

CLASSIC BOOKREVIEW

Title: ‘Voyage to Greenland’Subtitle: ‘A Personal Initiation intoAnthropology’Author: Frederica de LagunaPublished: 1977Publisher: WW Norton & Co. NYISBN: 0 393 06413 1Cover: Hardback, dust jacketContents: 285pp, maps, central B &W plate section.Size: 230 x 150mmAvailability: 2nd. hand shops or li-brariesReviewed by: Paul Caffyn

In 1928, while studying anthropologyat Columbia under eminent ProfessorFranz Boaz, Frederica de Laguna fellmadly in love with a young English-man who was planning a career as amining engineer in the coal mines ofWales. During a study tour to seeEskimo collections at the NationalMuseum of Denmark in Copenhagen,Frederica met Danish anthropologistsDr. Therkel Mathiassen and Dr. KajBirket-Smith. The Eskimo collectionshad been brought back by the FifthThule Expedition (1921-24).Mathiassen was being sent to Green-land by the Danish government toundertake an archeological survey,and when Frederica expressed herdesire to go on the survey, Mathiassenasked her along as her assistant.


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The book is a marvellous blend ofletters home to her family and ex-cerpts from her journal. It is not apithy, dry account of a dig and thespecimens found, but a bubbly storyof Frederica’s first voyage to the Arc-tic, the sight, smells and sounds ofsetting up camp on the barren rockycoast of West Greenland, the dailychores of an archeological dig, andseal hunting from kayaks.

One afternoon after a procession ofkayakers towed the carcass of a whitewhale (beluga) to shore at the villageof Qaitarmiut, Frederica was keen totry out a skin kayak. Although ini-tially accompanied by a rowboat forsafety, she outdistanced the boat in afew paddle strokes and went out tocircumnavigate an offshore island.Mathiassen was not particularlypleased with her kayaking, and keptwarning Frederica how dangerous itwas for a white person who ‘wasn’t,so to speak, born in a kayak.’

In a letter home, written on the vesselsailing back to Denmark, Fredericanotes, ‘Dearest Family: Tonight wewill pass Cape Farewell, and thennothing of my Greenland experiencewill be left to me but memories. Iknew that I should have a good timewhen I sailed, but how could I realizethe hold which this experience - thefree life, the happy fascinating na-tives, the absorbing work, and theloyal comradeship - has obtained overme. I feel as if I could never be contentwith ordinary living again, unless itwere to be broken by a return to theArctic. It makes me very sad to knowthat I have found my ideal vocation issuch an inaccessible place.’

After a visit to Wales and that, ‘drearycountryside with its piles of mine tail-ings, where the pit ponies searchedfor grass, and the grim towns,’Frederica resumed her studies at Co-lumbia in 1930 and after some serioussoul searching, sent the engagementring back to the Welsh mining engi-neer. She went on to a very distin-guished teaching career as an anthro-pologist.

After the 1929 field season north ofUpernarvik, on the West Coast of

Greenland, Frederica completed thebook but she delayed trying to find apublisher until 1975, ‘because it wasso personal a record, and as a stillactive teacher I was shy of my stu-dents.’

The 1929 Greenland that Fredericawrote about, no longer exists, apartfrom displays in museums and picto-rial records. The black and white pho-tos and her descriptions of theGreenlanders and village life are a

superb vignette of that era. The ac-count of her initiation as an anthro-pologist is also the story of a youngwoman in love with life and adven-ture, savouring everything new andstrange, embarking on her chosen pro-fession , and making a tough choicebetween marriage and a career.

I can only suggest you keep an eye outin the second hand book shops for thisclassic title.Paul Caffyn.

PRACTISINGWET-EXITS

by Peter Oliver

I read with interest the commentreferred to in the review of RobertMorris’ book on skin on frame boatsregarding baidarka, ‘ Overestimatingyour skills on the water and buildingand using this kayak before you areready could be deadly.’

I built myself an Aleut baidarka as myfirst kayak and sized it to fit me at 6’2”. I had very little paddlingexperience at this stage butnevertheless kept the hull cross-section shallow and narrow to keep itable. This made it a tight fit to get inand out of.

Over the next weeks I built upexperience in calm and choppy lakewater and then easy sea conditions. Iplayed around in shallow waterbracing over Mercury Bay but forwhatever reasons I never tried a wetexit in a controlled situation and thiscould have been a bad move.

Eventually one morning I paddled outthrough small surf, went around thecoastline a ways then across the mouthof this bay and back inshore to amoored boat to collect my life jacketwhich I had left aboard the day before.I hooked that out with the superlativereach of my Greenland paddle andput it on (paddling without it wasstupid for a start) and headed back into the beach. Some 150m from shoresomething happened and in slowmotion I rolled upside down. As I

went down I thought to myself ‘OhSH**!! I am alone out here, I don’tknow if I can get out of this thingunderwater, this water is really wetand this is really stupid.’ Notice thisstupid word starting to crop up moreand more! Anyway I decided it wouldbe wise not to panic, threw my paddleaway, grabbed both sides of thecoaming and gave a frantic heave.Nothing happened. Nothing happenedthree times. Luckily about then Irealized that this wasn’t going to workand I calmed myself down enough torelease my sprayskirt. After that,although it was a little tight, I cameout easily enough and bobbed up intothat lovely morning air.

I consider this whole episode waspotentially dangerous; I should neverhave covered the distance I hadwithout going through this most basicsafety practice first. As it was Irecovered my paddle and swam theboat ashore. I have done many wetexits since and learned to roll the boatafter a fashion but the story couldhave ended differently. This especiallyas at one stage, in the process offitting myself tightly in the boat tohelp learning to roll, I snugged mybackrest well forward and luckily, ona whim, tried to climb out while stillon land. I found that there was no waypossible of getting out of the boatwithout releasing the backrest adjusterwhich was really awkward and nighon impossible in a state of panic upsidedown in the water. Needless to say Ibuilt my footrests back instead and Iam still alive and enjoying kayaking.Peter Oliver

THE ‘BUGGER!’ FILE


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THE ‘BUGGER!’ FILEHelicopters Over

Cammeray!by Chris James

So what happens when yourEmergency Personal Indicating RadioBeacon (EPIRB) goes off in yourhouse? I had an unusual chain of eventsthis morning & thought you may wantto file it under "for future reference".

I was rummaging in my gear cupboard(room) at about 6.30 am and heard adistinct electronic beeping. I fearedthe worst and after much rummaginghad my fears confirmed the offendingdevice: the EPIRB had been activated.

I tried the usual spectrum of responses:Turn it off?: It wasn’t turned on (safetyseal still intact). Stuck test button? Nosuch luck. At least the antenna wasdown! As the prospect of helicoptersgrew larger in my mind, I tried thedistributor, GME Electrophone.

Superb. An Australian distributor withtheir office attended and aknowledgeable tech. support team onsite at 6.30 am. How rare is that?

Their answer? Tune the clock radio toabout 100 on the FM dial and listenfor a signal. Yep, loud and clear signal,picked up from two brick rooms away.This is not a drill, not a stuck testbutton. So where were the planes,choppers and rescue crew?

The tech. support advice? Lock thesucker in the microwave oven (!) andcall AUSAR. Don’t transport the unituntil the batteries die, lest we setAUSAR chasing the courier. AUSARwere duly informed and agreed withthe response, (noting that I shouldn’tturn on the microwave).

I'm now on file as a hoaxer andpotential waster of hard-wongovernment revenues. Lucky thisdidn’t happen in a month's time, we'dhave been in Tasmania. The lessonlearned? I've purchased a smallmicrowave for extended touring.Cheers - Chris

(Reprinted from The Ocean Planet‘WetWorld’ No. 8)

HISTORY

Oskar Speck and HisAmazing Seven Year

Paddling Journey! AnIncredible Paddle fromGermany to Australia

by Peter Osman.

Setting OutThe 16mm film clip shows a freshfaced man wearing a fisherman’s cap.It was 1932 in Ulm on the Danube andOskar Speck was 25 years old and outof work. He had been forced to closedown an electrical contracting busi-ness and had to lay off 21 people. Heowned a folding kayak calledSonnenschein (Sunshine), was a mem-ber of a boating club and had ten yearsexperience kayaking.

Oskar wrote in his journal, ‘All I wantedwas to get out of Germany for a while.’So he set off down the Danube forCyprus to find work in the copper minesand just possibly adventure.

After seven years and 50,000km hewound up on Sabai Island off thecoast of Papua New Guinea in theTorres Strait. It was then 20th Sep-tember 1939. During the journey heused five kayaks supplied by the manu-facturer ‘Pionier’ who helped to spon-sor his journey. Agfa provided himwith film and the exhibition showsmany snippets of life in Indonesia andPapua New Guinea.

During the seven year voyage he cap-sized ten times in the surf.

Typical of the boats he used was a‘Pionier Kajak Modelle 1936.’ Thiswas a double seater, folding kayakmade of laminated rubber and canvasover wood. It looked rather like aKlepper. The spare seat was removedto allow for storage and the boat couldcarry a third of a ton. It weighed 65 lb,was 18 feet long, 30 inch beam andwith a freeboard of 9 inches. It wascapable of being paddled at 3.5 knotsfully loaded and could reach 6.5 knots,in calm water, using an 18 square footgaff sail.

His supply list included a prismaticcompass, charts, water, condensedmilk, chocolate and cheese. A pair ofbinoculars was not included and hisjournal suggests that at one stage hewas so down and out he had to sellthem.

The JourneyOskar’s voyage took him down theDanube through Austria to Budapestand Belgrade, then through Bulgariainto the Black Sea and via Turkey toVeles, Thessalonika, Andros Island,Rhodes island, and Lemesos.

By 1934 he had arrived at his origi-nally intended destination Cyprus. Afilm clip at this time shows him lightlybearded with a mature, rather seriousdemeanour. The thirst for adventuremust have captivated him for he didn’tstop as planned but diverted to Aleppoin Syria and travelled down theEuphrates where he suffered two at-tacks first by some Arab villagerswho fired on him and again by thecrew of a dhow who were upset be-cause he wouldn’t drink with them, sothey took up the chase in a rowingboat shooting as they rowed.

But no matter on he went throughBagdad to Al Basrah, and along thePersian coast to Bander e Abbas,Ormar and Karachi. Then down theentire west coast of India during whichtime he was arrested and held captivefor a year by a local village. By 1936he had visited Ceylon, paddled up theeast coast of India and arrived atChittagong from where he journeyedalong the coast of Burma to Bassein,Rangoon, Phuket and via the Straitsof Malacca to Singapore.

By 1938 he had crossed to Sumatraand travelled down the Dutch EastIndies visiting Batavia, Sourabaya andBali. While in the East Indies he wasagain attacked, at night by 20 thugswho tied him and beat him badlyenough to rupture an eardrum. Heescaped while the gangsters wereasleep by getting to his boat and usinga knife hidden there to cut the ropesbinding him. In Sermata he reportedthe attack and got medical treatment.Six of the captors were arrested but itwas a year before he could continue


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his journey island hopping to PapuaNew Guinea.

During this period he filmed his boatbeing carried ashore by the locals.The film shows how dugouts withoutriggers were manufactured andpaddled (dugouts were introduced tothe Yanuwa people in Australia by theIndonesians where they replaced thebark canoes over a period of 300 yearsand saved many lives, but that’s an-other story). Snippets of film showthe delighted winner of a cockfight-ing contest dancing with his victori-ous bird, elegant grass thatched tem-ples and houses, rope being scorchedin an open fire, presumably to removeexcess strands of fibre or perhaps toincrease its strength. Baskets are wo-ven from palm leaves, people carryenormous inverted pyramid loads offruits on their heads, and highly for-malised sword fighting contests arefilmed. Everywhere there is dancingboth ceremonial and informal.

Oskar left for Papua New Guinea in1939. His films now show turtlesmating and being captured for food.Young boys fish with spears, bowsand arrows. A sticky fondue like com-munal soup is made from small fish/shellfish. And there are pictures ofdancing, canoe races with many cap-sizes and boys surfing on short planksof wood - is this where surfing wasfirst developed?

InternmentOskar left Papua New Guinea andarrived at the island of Sabai, about150 kilometres from Thursday Island,in 1939, on the 20th September. Itwas two weeks after the start of WorldWar II. He was met by three localpolicemen who congratulated him andthen arrested him. So now it was offby boat to mainland Australia wherehe was interned for six years. A notein the register of prohibited articles,lists a collapsible rubber boat, a parcelcontaining private papers, and a com-pass.

Prominently displayed at the exhibi-tion is a pennant swastika. Maybe itwas in his luggage? If so it probablydidn’t help! He was held first at TaturaCamp, Victoria, from which he even-

tually made an escape and attemptedto cycle to Sydney. But he was ar-rested again in Melbourne and trans-ferred to an internment camp inLoveday, South Australia. The mu-seum exhibition shows an elegantmodel of his kayak made during thisinternment. It is fashioned out of cop-per and mounted on black paintedwood.

After the WarFour days after being released Oskarhad started work as an opal miner atLightning Ridge. He followed a suc-cessful career as an opal cutter even-tually retiring to a house at Kilcare onthe Central Coast of New South Wales.He seems to have continued paddlingafter the war.

There are three references on the web.One was an account of an incidentwith a boat borrowed from Oskar byCarl Toovey, a kayaking marathonchampion.http://members.ozemail.com.au/~riv-ers97/PaddlingPeople.htm.

The other is a brief reference in aGerman folding kayak company’s webpage:http://www2.utsidan.se/faltkajak/expeditioner.htm.Oskar Speck died childless in 1995and on the death of his partner NancySteele the notebooks and equipmentfrom his expedition were bequeathedto the Australian Maritime Museumwhere they are currently on display:h t t p : / / w w w . a n m m . g o v . a u/anrep99a.htm .

As far as I know the only detailedaccount of his voyage was in the Aus-tralasian Post where it was publishedas a serial!

NOTE: If anyone has any furtherinformation that can help Peter in hisresearch of this subject, please con-tact him at: [email protected]: I’ve collated notes takenfrom the exhibition being held in theAustralian National Maritime Mu-seum, from his 16mm film of thejourney and from a Sydney MorningHerald article. Geographical namesdescribing his route are mostly those

used at the time of the voyage. If anyof your readers know anything moreabout Oskar Peter Rattenbury and Iwould be very keen to learn. TheMaritime Museum are continuing toresearch the story and we would liketo pass on anything we find to them.

BOAT NOTICES(Maritime Safety Authority)

14 Feb 2002VISIBILITY OF KAYAKS

There have been a number of colli-sions and many near miss situationsinvolving kayaks and other vessels onlakes, bays and on the coast.It is the duty of every vessel’s skipperto keep a careful lookout using allavailable means and power craft mustgive way to kayaks. However, in real-ity it is very difficult, and at timesalmost impossible, to see kayaks at adistance of more than a few metres.Kayaks are very low on the water,easily lost from sight amongst evensmall waves and do not appear onradar screens.

It is essential, therefore, that kayakskippers make sure they can be read-ily seen by the operators of othervessels. While brightly coloured hullsand clothing assist to some degree, amuch more effective means of beingseen is required.

A brightly coloured (orange or yellow)flag on a whip or thin pole at least onemetre high and brightly coloured pad-dle blades both assist greatly if kayaksare to be seen at a safe distance by day.

It is necessary for kayaks to carry alight when operating at night or dur-ing twilight. Unless sidelights and asternlight are displayed, a white lightmust be displayed in sufficient time toprevent a collision. Kayaks shouldcarry a bright torch to shine so thatother vessels will be aware of theirposition.

The practice of carrying a flashing lightor strobe light is dangerous. Such lightsare used to indicate a person in thewater after falling overboard. Othervessels are likely to investigate allow-ing close quarters situations to develop.


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no. 97 february - march 2002 the sea canoeist newsletter · the sea canoeist newsletter 1 ... no....

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