On Monday we got our long paddle for the week done. Roughly 41 kilometres in 6 hours. The current must have been running slightly north this time. My theory is that the standard north to south east Australian current sometimes eddies back up the coast because our pace was almost a kilometre slower on the return journey. If you have a smart watch you can look at all your statistics from any training session at a glance. It’s interesting (at least to me) to look at pace with distance along the X axis and an overlay of heart rate.
The 20 kilometre mark is where we turned around (somewhere north of Grasshopper Island). Our speed drops immediately but my heart rate doesn’t really begin increasing until the 25 kilometre mark when we really start plugging back into the current outside the semi-shelter of Durras Bay. My heart rate is 10 to 20 beats per minute higher to maintain a slower speed! You might be tempted to think this is cardiac drift, but, it’s not because at the 35 kilometre point, my speed increases as my heart rate drops. From 35 kilometres on we are inside Batemans Bay, which provides shelter from ocean currents and swells even though it is a big open bay compared with other bays along the coast (like Jervis Bay). The paddling always gets much easier once we turn the corner and enter the bay.
Wednesday, Splashalot came up the coast and we went out for a downwinder and to test out our kayak sails which have not been on our kayaks since we paddled southwest Tasmania two years ago! It wasn’t nearly windy enough despite BOM calling for winds up to 25 knots. Some of these northeasterly days just turn out to be fizzlers. The lads set out at a cracking pace and despite starting before them (only by minutes) I was quickly the laggard. However, about half way out, their pace slowed and I was able to keep up. I had high hopes that with a sail up, catching waves would be easy and I might – for once – keep abreast of Speedalot (also known as Splashalot). It was not to be. Speedalot was out front despite having no sail. The waves were moving fast and the pissy amount of wind we had was not enough to get onto the runners without the usual sprint paddling.
This morning, Garmin thinks my body battery is 39 out of a 100, and I should “Try to keep stress low and relax today to charge your battery.” That’s not going to happen.
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