Newsletter 13
Dear Southland Sea Kayakers
Kevin Pasco is running a introductory sea kayaking weekend at Mavora Lakes,
next weekend 23/24 May.
"Sea Kayaking Overnighter"
Where: North & South Mavora Lakes
When: Weekend of 22nd & 23rd May
Ability level: Beginners - Intermediate
Trip Objectives:
- An introduction to the joys and new frontiers that being able to do overnight trips in your sea kayak opens up for you
- Lesson on packing techniques to have a well balanced kayak, with dry and accessible gear.
- An easy, pleasant paddle in attractive surroundings and good camp site
- Short river run section
Trip Outline:
Saturday 22nd May, 10.00am Meet at North Mavora lake where the
gravel road ends and changes to 4WD track
Sunday 23rd 12.00-1.00pm Back at vehicles
Points to note:
- There is a hut at our camp site but in order to appreciate the full experience of a loaded kayak and the logistics of camping/kayaking it would be better to use tents
- There is 4WD vehicle access to the camp if family/friends wish to join us
- Bad sand fly area normally but shouldn¹t be too bad this time of year
- There is no Mobile phone coverage at our camp site
- The distances are short and easily manageable
- The weather can be quite nasty this time of year, if the forecast looks dodgy I¹ll postpone the trip to another date on the Thursday night and advise via e-mail
Equipment Required:
Normal camping gear i.e tent, sleeping bag, roll mat,
cooker, cooking pots, Forks/knife/spoon, Cup etc
All Kayaking gear and kayaking safety gear you might have like pumps, paddle floats, split paddles plus spare thermals/polyprops
Change of clothing (warm stuff) for around camp, including footwear,
waterproof jacket, warm hat & gloves
Personal toiletries, medication & first aid
Food for two lunches, one breakfast, one evening meal
Torch, Insect repellent, Toilet paper, Camera, (optional) Sunglasses (you
never know)
It is important to realise that gear hatches are not 100% waterproof so important gear must be further protected. Proper kayak dry bags are best but other wise a cheap alternative is tough, black rubbish bags but make sure you double bag things and carry several spares.
Attendance:
If you would like to attend please e-mail me at [email protected]
Hope to see you there
Kevin Pasco (Trip leader)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Aplin is returning to the UK in July and has his Tasman Express for sale. This is an excellent touring sea kayak that I highly recommend.
For Sale: Q Kayaks Tasman Express
Lightweight version, in orange, optional thigh braces fitted. Fast & robust sea kayak. Front & rear hatches & day hatch behind the cockpit. All the usual sea kayak bits & pieces.
Less than a year old, yours for $1,750 (New cost about $2,500). Contact Mark Aplin on 03 236 2510 or email [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------
Last, a trip report on yesterdays SSKN trip/adventure.
In keeping with tradition our network had yet another adventure on the high seas yesterday. The 3 hardy Argonauts were Mark Aplin, Sier Vermunt and myself of course. Also on its maiden voyage was my new Fujita PE-500 folding kayak. I did not have a rudder fitted for this and was keen to see how it handled on a sea voyage.
We met at Riverton and drove over to Colac Bay to drop a car off. Then we launched at the boat ramp beside the bridge in Riverton at about 10.15. It was a slow paddle against a rising tide for half an hour to high tide. I stopped at a beach on the river to make a few adjustments and then we were out in the bay meeting increasingly large waves. Some of these were quite large and breaking off to our right. We would ride over these and drop with a slap into the following trough. Further out it calmed down and we turned to the right around Howells Point. Once around that we could see Pig Island about 4 kilometres away. We paddled past several large rocks in a line to our left. The sea was calm with a gentle swell though every so often a larger one came streaming in. . It was overcast with a light NE wind. Half way to Pig Island a huge number of shags flew over us in a line several kilometres long. There must have been several hundred of them. We were curious where they were off to. I passed a mollymack happily sitting on the sea and then an albatross flew by in graceful curves in the wave troughs.
I had my VHF sitting on the deck listening to the morning transmissions when all of a sudden I was aware someone calling for help and mentioning he could see 3 people in 'canoes'. I strained my eyes over to Pig Island and then I saw several people on the beach. Apparently their boat had run aground. I called Meri at Bluff to say we were going in to have a look. This was easier said then done as there was quite a swell breaking on the beach. Mark raced in and then decided to back off and Sier who was close behind nearly collided with him and then went over in a breaking wave. As he was near the shore he swam in with his kayak. I choose another part of the beach and though landed dry the following waves knocked me over as I was getting out. Alas the trials of the sea kayaker!
Further up the beach were 3 people and beached cabin cruiser. We introduced ourselves surveyed the scene. A wave had apparently thrown them on the beach though I'm not sure how that occurred. It was impossible to push them off and John the skipper had radioed for help. About 15 minutes later another boat arrived followed by the Riverton Coast Guard. Mark took a line out to
them and with us shoving from behind and the boat pulling from the front she finally got off.
The sun came out and Sier stripped off his sodden gear. Across towards the mainland we saw some dolphins or orcas surfacing and blowing off spray in the sea. We had lunch and walked up onto a high point. The sea was calm right across to Centre Island and south across the 35 km gap to Stewart Island. Pig island has no bush and is covered in grass and there are some nice camping sites on it. We set off in our kayaks and circumnavigated the island before setting a course for Colac Bay. If we had enough time we could have gone to Centre Island but it would have put us back in the dark. The paddle was straight forward. We passed a blue penguin and finally arrived at
the Bay at about 4 PM.
My Fujita kayak handled the trip well and is a comparable to a hardshell kayak and has the advantage of being collapsible and transportable. A rudder is not necessary unless you have poor paddling skills or it is very windy. I am the agent for Fujita Folding kayaks in New Zealand and can domonstate the kayak if anyone would like to know more.
Stanley
Kevin Pasco is running a introductory sea kayaking weekend at Mavora Lakes,
next weekend 23/24 May.
"Sea Kayaking Overnighter"
Where: North & South Mavora Lakes
When: Weekend of 22nd & 23rd May
Ability level: Beginners - Intermediate
Trip Objectives:
- An introduction to the joys and new frontiers that being able to do overnight trips in your sea kayak opens up for you
- Lesson on packing techniques to have a well balanced kayak, with dry and accessible gear.
- An easy, pleasant paddle in attractive surroundings and good camp site
- Short river run section
Trip Outline:
Saturday 22nd May, 10.00am Meet at North Mavora lake where the
gravel road ends and changes to 4WD track
Sunday 23rd 12.00-1.00pm Back at vehicles
Points to note:
- There is a hut at our camp site but in order to appreciate the full experience of a loaded kayak and the logistics of camping/kayaking it would be better to use tents
- There is 4WD vehicle access to the camp if family/friends wish to join us
- Bad sand fly area normally but shouldn¹t be too bad this time of year
- There is no Mobile phone coverage at our camp site
- The distances are short and easily manageable
- The weather can be quite nasty this time of year, if the forecast looks dodgy I¹ll postpone the trip to another date on the Thursday night and advise via e-mail
Equipment Required:
Normal camping gear i.e tent, sleeping bag, roll mat,
cooker, cooking pots, Forks/knife/spoon, Cup etc
All Kayaking gear and kayaking safety gear you might have like pumps, paddle floats, split paddles plus spare thermals/polyprops
Change of clothing (warm stuff) for around camp, including footwear,
waterproof jacket, warm hat & gloves
Personal toiletries, medication & first aid
Food for two lunches, one breakfast, one evening meal
Torch, Insect repellent, Toilet paper, Camera, (optional) Sunglasses (you
never know)
It is important to realise that gear hatches are not 100% waterproof so important gear must be further protected. Proper kayak dry bags are best but other wise a cheap alternative is tough, black rubbish bags but make sure you double bag things and carry several spares.
Attendance:
If you would like to attend please e-mail me at [email protected]
Hope to see you there
Kevin Pasco (Trip leader)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Aplin is returning to the UK in July and has his Tasman Express for sale. This is an excellent touring sea kayak that I highly recommend.
For Sale: Q Kayaks Tasman Express
Lightweight version, in orange, optional thigh braces fitted. Fast & robust sea kayak. Front & rear hatches & day hatch behind the cockpit. All the usual sea kayak bits & pieces.
Less than a year old, yours for $1,750 (New cost about $2,500). Contact Mark Aplin on 03 236 2510 or email [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------
Last, a trip report on yesterdays SSKN trip/adventure.
In keeping with tradition our network had yet another adventure on the high seas yesterday. The 3 hardy Argonauts were Mark Aplin, Sier Vermunt and myself of course. Also on its maiden voyage was my new Fujita PE-500 folding kayak. I did not have a rudder fitted for this and was keen to see how it handled on a sea voyage.
We met at Riverton and drove over to Colac Bay to drop a car off. Then we launched at the boat ramp beside the bridge in Riverton at about 10.15. It was a slow paddle against a rising tide for half an hour to high tide. I stopped at a beach on the river to make a few adjustments and then we were out in the bay meeting increasingly large waves. Some of these were quite large and breaking off to our right. We would ride over these and drop with a slap into the following trough. Further out it calmed down and we turned to the right around Howells Point. Once around that we could see Pig Island about 4 kilometres away. We paddled past several large rocks in a line to our left. The sea was calm with a gentle swell though every so often a larger one came streaming in. . It was overcast with a light NE wind. Half way to Pig Island a huge number of shags flew over us in a line several kilometres long. There must have been several hundred of them. We were curious where they were off to. I passed a mollymack happily sitting on the sea and then an albatross flew by in graceful curves in the wave troughs.
I had my VHF sitting on the deck listening to the morning transmissions when all of a sudden I was aware someone calling for help and mentioning he could see 3 people in 'canoes'. I strained my eyes over to Pig Island and then I saw several people on the beach. Apparently their boat had run aground. I called Meri at Bluff to say we were going in to have a look. This was easier said then done as there was quite a swell breaking on the beach. Mark raced in and then decided to back off and Sier who was close behind nearly collided with him and then went over in a breaking wave. As he was near the shore he swam in with his kayak. I choose another part of the beach and though landed dry the following waves knocked me over as I was getting out. Alas the trials of the sea kayaker!
Further up the beach were 3 people and beached cabin cruiser. We introduced ourselves surveyed the scene. A wave had apparently thrown them on the beach though I'm not sure how that occurred. It was impossible to push them off and John the skipper had radioed for help. About 15 minutes later another boat arrived followed by the Riverton Coast Guard. Mark took a line out to
them and with us shoving from behind and the boat pulling from the front she finally got off.
The sun came out and Sier stripped off his sodden gear. Across towards the mainland we saw some dolphins or orcas surfacing and blowing off spray in the sea. We had lunch and walked up onto a high point. The sea was calm right across to Centre Island and south across the 35 km gap to Stewart Island. Pig island has no bush and is covered in grass and there are some nice camping sites on it. We set off in our kayaks and circumnavigated the island before setting a course for Colac Bay. If we had enough time we could have gone to Centre Island but it would have put us back in the dark. The paddle was straight forward. We passed a blue penguin and finally arrived at
the Bay at about 4 PM.
My Fujita kayak handled the trip well and is a comparable to a hardshell kayak and has the advantage of being collapsible and transportable. A rudder is not necessary unless you have poor paddling skills or it is very windy. I am the agent for Fujita Folding kayaks in New Zealand and can domonstate the kayak if anyone would like to know more.
Stanley