Tricks and Twists: Corrigans Beach, North Head and The Tollgate Islands

In hindsight, a good deal of hindsight, I realised that I actually enjoyed the process of getting Sea Skills through the NSW Sea Kayak Club. At the time, certain parts – most notably the ridiculous risk matrix – caused a lot of steam to explode from my ears, but, overall, I learnt a lot, became a better paddler, and certainly gained some humility from the feedback that one recieves when going for a kayak award.

With that said, it is not altogether surprising that I decided to try and inch my way further up the award ladder by qualifying as a Sea Guide. The basic paddle skills for Sea Guide are similar to Sea Skills, but, the paddler also needs to learn to manage a group of novice paddlers. Thus there are “soft skills” along with hard skills that need to be acquired. I am not altogether unfamiliar with leading groups as I have led hundreds of mountain trips over the years, and mountain sports are every bit as (maybe even more?) risky as sea kayaking. The one difference I have noted is that it is much easier to gather a group together and communicate with a group when operating on land compared to at sea.

On Saturday, I took a group of 6 paddlers out to North Head Beach and the Tollgate Islands. I was observed – and set up! - by CA, while CA was observed by ST (CA is going for his assessor status). So we had quite a hierarchy. Along with being a conspiracy theorist, I have anarchistic tendencies believing that all men (used in a strictly non-gender sense) should be self-determining. Hence it is difficult for me to tell other people what to do. Luckily, I did not have to do too much of that, mostly just setting the pace, deciding and communicating the route, and trying to pass all the little tests that were sprung upon me along the way.

It was an interesting group including the one chappie that came along with a Greenland paddle (always slow) who paddled part way with his hands and sprung in and out of his boat into the water at least half a dozen times. There was also a very nice man who got tired before we returned and got slower and slower and slower, eventually reaching the stage where he would paddle a few strokes and then simply stop paddling. Endurance, simply stated, is the ability to endure and keep going regardless of feeling tired or uncomfortable. I had a amateur film-maker and a couple of other younger paddlers who were just getting used to ocean paddling. It was a good group and I enjoyed the paddle and learnt a lot in the after paddle briefing.

Hopefully, dear reader, you get a sense of foreshadowing, as some of the things I learnt on Saturday I needed to put into play on Sunday when, of a sudden, the paddling got serious very fast. Day 41 of the Hard Things project was leading my first real club paddle and organising a group rescue.