And Another While...

Since, “it’s been a while,” it has been more of a while. Life is busy sometimes, and days, even weeks pass without a block of time to write. We had a weekend down at Tathra which started sunny ended snowy – at least for some. Winky, that giant of a man in both stature and reputation in the sea kayaking community had organised a “roll and rescue weekend” to take place in the Bega River at Tathra. Mid May is not exactly my idea of a great time of year to spend upside down in a kayak, but, sometimes you just go along to activities to support your mates.

There were a few of the regular paddling squad, dispersed between the ACT and the south coast in attendance, and even a fairly large contingent of Victoria paddlers. The Victoria folks are probably more used to cold water but at 16 degrees, the Bega River felt freezing even with a wetsuit on.

On Friday, Doug and I had driven down to Kianinny Bay and met Neil and Rae to paddle what I call the “Kianinny Coast” which is the short stretch of coastal cliffs and sea caves that runs south from Tathra to Wallagoot Beach. The Kangarutha Trail traverses this section of coast and is well worth a walk along if you are in the area. But, as with many coastal areas, the best view is from water level and a sea kayak.

Despite a reasonable swell running, we were able to paddle through many of the gaps between rocky islet and shore including right into Games Bay where it was dead calm! It was not that elusive weather day of our dreams where a half a metre swell allows exploration of the many gauntlets and caves but it was pretty darn good and one would be churlish to complain about a day out in sunny, calm weather on such a spectacular section of coast.

Around camp that evening, there was some pre-emptive moaning about the cold water expected on the morrow, but I was committed to the idea that if I didn’t think the water was cold it would not feel cold. Except it did.

I did not do a lot of rolling on Saturday. I did, however, try Winkie’s “rolling paddle,” a monstrously long paddle with a straight blade on one end and a T handle on the other, the paddle end wrapped in closed cell foam so it is impossible to pull on the blade, and also a “stick” or Greenland paddle. No swims for me, except right at the end when I did one token “re-enter and roll” just to say I had done one.

Some practice with scoop rescues and a stirrup rescue convinced me that the former is near useless but the latter is a game changer for folks that are too weak, uncoordinated, or both to perform the more usual “heel hook” entry.

On Sunday, a Storm Force warning was issued, Doug and I drove home to avoid the bad weather but I gathered that Winkie was out on the beach with a hardy few followers as the wind blew, the rain pelted down and the wave height topped 10 metres off Eden and Batemans Bay.