The Sunday Paddles: Racing With Nick

Only one taker, besides Doug for the Sunday paddle this week. But the Sunday paddle is very much a personal goal so I don't let numbers - high or low - deter me. It is all about making a regular commitment to getting out, good weather, bad weather, big crew or solo. Talk is incredibly cheap these days and the world full of people who think posting about something is the same as actually showing up and doing shit.

The plan was to paddle from the Moruya River, out the heads and north to Sunshine Bay. This made some reasonable sense from a car shuttle perspective (28 km paddling for a half hour shuttle) and we were expecting 10 to 15 knot southerlies.

At the little beach, about 1.5 km west of Moruya Heads, we found a smouldering fire that some low life could not put out despite the ocean being literally right there. First order of business was to snuff that out, and then get the boats ready with sails on to paddle north.

Heading out through the channel, I got almost pasted onto the breakwall by a reckless boat operator who roared by full speed literally two metres from where I was paddling. This is illegal as well as rude and obnoxious. A novice paddler could easily have capsized and/or been pushed onto the rocks of the breakwater.

Thankfully, once out of the river we did not see another boat all day. Conditions were lumpy with a good sized mostly beam on swell as well as a well developed and rather messy sea. Doug and I had our sails up and spent the two hours to our quick lunch stop madly chasing Nick who was darting left, right, left, catching waves, surfing, and clipping along at around 10 km/hour. He is a fast devil.

At Jimmies Island, we decided to stop for lunch although it was tempting to knock off the 28 kilometres without a break. Sometimes the Sunday paddles are a bit slow as we often have a large group of mixed skill and it was nice to move along swiftly.

We landed surprisingly easily on a tiny little northerly facing low tide only beach and had a quick break. It was a cool day and none of us felt like standing around wearing damp clothes with no sun. After lunch, Nick, who is a very good paddler, gave us some forward stroke instruction. I do appreciate this, but pity the poor sods trying to teach both Doug and I how to paddle efficiently. It often seems a daunting task. Old bad habits have to be unlearned and new habits embraced.

Under a southerly influence, as you continue north conditions always ease and, as we paddled past Mosquito Bay the swell and sea subsided greatly and we cruised easily into Sunshine Bay which was comparatively busy with long weekend visitors.

Hot tea and coffee at our house before the return shuttle and maybe one day I will keep up to Nick.