no. 121 february - march 2006 the sea canoeist...

The Sea Canoeist Newsletter

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No. 121 February - March 2006

THE SEA CANOEISTNEWSLETTER

The Journal of the Kiwi Associationof Sea Kayakers (N.Z.) Inc. - KASK

Billy Bowman, age nine, smiling after his first successfull handroll in a sea kayak. His coach in the water was Greenland stylepaddling expert, Turner Wilson

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KASKKASK, the Kiwi Association of SeaKayakers (N.Z.) Inc., a network ofNew Zealand sea kayakers, has theobjectives of:

1. promoting and encouraging the sport of sea kayaking2. promoting safety standards3. developing techniques & equipment4. dealing with issues of coastal access and protection5. organizing an annual sea kayak forum6. publishing a bimonthly newsletter.

The Sea Canoeist Newsletter is pub-lished bimonthly as the official news-letter of the Kiwi Association of SeaKayakers (N.Z.) Inc.Articles, trips reports, book reviews,equipment reviews, new techniques,letter to the editor, and moments whenthe word 'Bugger!' was said singu-larly or often {referred to by some asincidents} are sought to enliven thepages of the newsletter.

Send in a plain brown envelope, or viacybermail to:Editor: Paul Caffyn,RD 1, Runanga. 7854West Coast .N.Z.Ph/Fax: (03) 7311806Email: [email protected]

KASK Annual Subscription$35 single membership($105 for 3 years; $175 for 5 years)$40 family membership.$35 overseasA subscription form can bedownloaded from the KASK website.Cheques should be made out to:K.A.S.K. (NZ) Inc. & mailed to:KASK AdministratorPO Box 23, Runanga. 7854West Coast

Correspondence/Queries to:Linda IngramKASK AdministratorPO Box 23, Runanga. 7854West Coast

Send address changes for receivingthe newsletter via email to Linda at:[email protected]

LRB3 - KASK HANDBOOKFor a copy (or trade orders) of thismother of all sea kayaking handbooks,contact Paul Caffyn, RD 1, Runanga,7854. West Coast.e-mail: [email protected]: $24.00New members: gratisMake cheques out to KASK (NZ) Inc.

THE LRB3, or the Little Red Book3rd. Edition, is a mammoth compila-tion on all aspects of sea kayaking inNew Zealand, by many of the mostexperienced paddlers in the Universe.Following a brief introduction, thehandbook is divided into six sections:- Kayak, Paddle & Equipment-Techniques & Equipment- The Elements- Trips and Expeditions- Places to Go- Resources

SEA KAYAKINGNETWORK ADDRESSES

NORTH ISLANDNORTHLAND Canoe ClubPO Box 755, WhangareiBrian LamertonPh: (09) 437 2858email: [email protected] Canoe ClubPO Box 9271,Newmarket, Auckland.email: [email protected] Kayak GroupPelham HousegoPO Box 46-146, Herne Bay, AucklandWAIKATO KASK ContactEvan Pugh, RD2, [email protected]: (07) 883 6898RUAHINE Whitewater Club71 Salisbury St., Ashhurst.Ph: 06 326 8667 Fax: 06 326 8472www.q-kayaks.co.nz/pages/club.aspBAY OF PLENTY - KASK ContactIona Bailey, TaurangaPh: (07) 576 1492email: [email protected] KASK ContactJohn Flemming, PO Box 1872, RotoruaPh/fax: (07) 347 9950email: [email protected] Kayak Club7 Mahana Place, RotoruaPh: (027) 292 3138email: [email protected]

GISBORNE Sea Kayakers ClubJohn Humphris, 3 Matthews Rd, GisbornePh: (06) 868 4657email: [email protected] or [email protected] te :www.geoci t ies .com/gisborne_sea_kayakers/NEW PLYMOUTH KASK ContactBob Talbot,10 Ranfurly St., Waitara.Ph: 06 754 4191(H) or 0274 457038email: [email protected] Sea Kayak NetworkMike Wilkin23 A Ilam GroveKelson, Lower HuttPhone: (04) 565 0880email: [email protected]: www.wskn.wellington.net.nz

SOUTH ISLANDMARLBOROUGHHelen WoodwardPh: (03) 579 [email protected] - KASK ContactNora FlightPh: (03) 544 7877email: [email protected] Sea Kayak NetworkAndy & Deirdre Sheppard53 Kent Lodge AveAvonhead, Christchurch. 8004Ph: (03) 342 7929email: d_sheppard@clear.net.nzwww.CanterburySeaKayak.orcon.net.nzOTAGORob Tipa(03) 478 [email protected] Sea Kayak NetworkStan Mulvany03 215 7263email: [email protected]: www.sskn.uniformnz.com

SKOANZSea Kayak Operators Assn. NZSuzanne Dent, AdministratorSKOANZPO Box 1222ChristchurchPh/fax; 03 329 8317email: [email protected]: www.skoanz.org.nz

KASK Website: www.kask.co.nz


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EDITORIALCoastbusters 2006As you will read from the reports, thissymposium was a great success. Mythanks to Cathye Haddock, RuthHenderson and Debbie Dunsford forproviding their views of the weekendwith rather a short deadline. Afterspending two weeks travelling withguest speaker, Justine Curgenven, Ihave penned a profile of this remark-able young lady. Congratulations toPaul Hayward and the Red Team fororganising a superb weekend.

NewsletterThe lateness of the last newsletter waspartly due to tardiness on the part ofthe editor and partly due to the Masseyprintery experiencing problems withthe binding. My thanks to Susan Cadefor mailing out newsletter 120. Aneditor’s delight to is have a surfeit ofmaterial and that is the case for thisnewsletter.

Kerry Howe has penned a lovely storyof his very first kayaking trip. And Ialready have two more for the nextnewsletter from Kevin Dunsford andBrian Begley. As I explained to Brianat Coastbusters, the newsletter is justnot for experienced expedition pad-dlers, but is for all phases of paddlingexperience. We all have to start offfrom scratch, and if you have a grandstory of either your first kayak or firstpaddling experience, please put fin-ger to keys and pen a story.

KASK AGMThe gender balance of the committeechanged dramatically following elec-tions at the AGM, and I will no longerhave to wear a frock to ‘face to face’committee meetings (I was the onlybloke in the previous committee). Ofconcern however is that the bulk ofthe new committee is from that islandnorth of Cook Strait!

Helen Woodward, who organised thesuccessful Anikiwa KASK forum,stood down from the committee as didCathye Haddock, who played a vitalbehind the scenes role in the KASKapplication to Water Safety NZ forfunding grants, and worked on the seakayaking section for the book ‘Out-door Activities, Guidelines for Lead-

ers’. KASK is indebted to both theseladies for their contribution to seakayaking in NZ.

Susan Cade was re-elected as presi-dent, and Iona Bailey and the editorboth remain on the committee. Pro-files on the new committee membersare included in this newsletter; forPhil Oster, Julie Reynolds, NadiaLehmann and Kerry Howe. With afull strength committee, KASK willendeavour to raise its profile over thenext 12 months.

The Graham Eggar paddle trophyaward for outstanding contribution tosea kayaking over the past 12 monthswas made to the trio of GrahamCharles, Mark Jones and MarcusWaters for their first circumnaviga-tion of South Georgia.

The Graham Eggar paddle trophyaward for outstanding contribution tothe KASK newsletter was made toBob Wishart for his superb story, ‘ATouch of Fiordland’, of a paddle fromthe Hollyford River down to DoubtfulSound, which featured in newsletternumber 117. In the view of the editorthe graphic descriptive writing of thistrip, highlighted with capsizes in surf,mixed with a touch of humour, wasthe best article of the past 12 months.

National Pleasure Boat ForumThe next meeting is in Wellington on9 May. If you have any issues withrespect to kayak safety to be raised,please get in touch with the editor.

MNZ Cook Strait Safety PackageAt the check in booth for the ferrysailing back to the South Island, thelass noticed a kayak on my roofrack,and passed me a kayaking safety pack-age, which included the KASK safesea kayaking brochure. Well done toSue Tucker of MNZ for her initiativein organising this safety inititiative.

Sea Kayaking PilgrimageThis should be a great weekend in theMarlborough Sounds. The date is 29to 30 April, and the site of the Vikingsdress up, from 6pm on the Saturdaynight, is the Ratimera Bay DoC camp-site, in Ruakaka Bay.

INDEX

EDITORIAL p. 3

COASTBUSTERS 2006Overview

by Paul Caffyn p. 4Pod Scenarios

by Ruth Henderson p. 8Vignettes

by Cathye Haddock p.13The DoC Session

by Debbie Dunsford p.17

PADDLER PROFILEJustine Curgenven

by Paul Caffyn p.10

FIRST KAYAKING TRIPSby Kerry Howe p. 9

KASKProfiles of new committee members

p.15

CALENDAR p.16

THE ‘BUGGER!’ FILESwan defending its nest

from Alan Byde p.17

BOOK REVIEWS‘Hooper Bay Kayak Construction’

review: Alan Byde p.18‘Sea Folk and Ocean Paddlers’

review: Sandy Ferguson p.18

DVD REVIEW‘This is the Sea 2’

review: Kevin Killilea p.19

HUMOUR p.19

DEADLINEFor the April - May

newsletter15 May 2006

THANKSTo all the contributors


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by Paul Caffyn

This sea kayaking symposium was anoutstanding success. Long term plan-ning by Paul Hayward and his redteam achieved a smoothly run show,with some 165 paddlers attending.Paul enticed four Greenland style pad-dling experts from the USA and thegorgeous Justine Curgenven from theUK, the lass who recently paddledaround Tasmania. Kiwi speakers in-cluded John Kirk-Anderson who triedrecently to round Stewart Island, SueTucker from Maritime New Zealandand Joe Rogers from the Coastguard.

The Milford school venue workedwell for the Friday and Saturday work-shops, panel discussions and keynotespeakers, as well as the evening noshon the Saturday. Lake Pupuke provedideal for the pod built kayak trialingand race, as well as a grand spot toobserve three of the Greenland stylepaddling experts to show their stuffon the water.

On the Friday evening Tony Dumperintroduced the overseas speakers, priorto a slide/video show of Greenlandpaddling and annual kayak games.

Freya Hoffmeister had been paddlingfor the past 10 years. A former gym-nast, she was keen on skydiving, butgot pregnant and raised her kid in theback of a kayak. She has been on thesea kayaking symposium circuit andloved doing various moves in and outof her kayaks. Freya brought with hertwo Greenland style kayaks, a folderthat was constructed with help fromGerman friend, and a lovely blackcarbon fibre Japanese made boat, thatbroke down easily into four sectionsfor air travel. During the Saturdayafternoon Greenland paddling session,Freya stood in her kayak cockpit, pad-dle balanced on her head, then placedthe paddle across the cockpit, andamazingly did a headstand. Then shebrought her legs down onto the pad-dle, and finished the move with aforward roll onto the kayak foredeck.

After Freya’s demonstration, JohnKirk-Anderson took to the water inher tight fitting kayak, wearing one ofthe Greenland style parka/sprayskirts,and was shown the ropes by Freya.Although John is the last person to becalled timid, he was setting up for aroll when Freya firmly pushed hishead over while pulling on the deck-lines. A rather quick capsize.

Greg Stamer has been paddling sincehis teenage years. He started in Cana-dian style canoes but took to sea kay-aks and developed an interest in Green-land style paddling. In 2000 he at-tended the annual kayak games inGreenland.

Turner Wilson (cover photo) has beenpaddling for 10 years. He had an op-portunity to try a Greenland style pad-dler and has never looked back. Henoted he had been waiting for 45 yearsto visit New Zealand.

Cheri Taylor spoke of paddling inGreenland only six months after tak-ing up sea kayaking. Her interest is inthe traditional style paddling, bracingand rolling techniques.

Tony Dumper began an introductionto John Kirk-Anderson by speakingabout a Kiwi paddler who was attend-ing a BCU (British Canoe Union)course at the Nigel Dennis Angleseycentre. The paddler was upstairs in abunkroom, catching up on some sleepwhile a party raged downstairs. Abevy of beautiful female paddlersunceremoniously dragged the paddler- who was in a sleeping bag - and

bundled him downstairs. The paddlerdid state to the ladies that he was notwearing a stitch of clothing, but hewas carried down to the party wherethe sleeping bag slipped (was pulledoff?) to reveal the paddler in all hisglory. Tony went on to note that thepaddler was none other than JohnKirk-Anderson, and that one of thekidnappers was in fact keynote speakerJustine Curgenven. John Kirk-Anderson reckoned that Justine didnot recognise him the previous daywith his clothes on. And then Justinepiped up, “ Ladies, it was worth it!”

Prior to the slide show on Greenlandpaddling, paddlers were dispatched toone of 25 pods, for a briefing on theSunday scenario session, and discus-sion on the challenge to build a corru-gated plastic kayak, with a race on theSaturday afternoon. This session wasa good ice breaker and a chance tomeet other paddlers and learn of theirexperience.

Saturday was a full on day of work-shops, lectures and panel discussions.Justine talked about filming on thewater, there were sessions on rollingfor women, yoga, physiotherapy, andgadgets. John Kirk-Anderson gave aslide show on his attempt to roundStewart Island which I rather enjoyedfor his humour and thoughts on whyhe had to give up on the attempt. Johnhas promised a report and photos onthis trip for the newsletter. One of hisslides showed a download of his GPStracklog during his breakout from Lit-

Cheri Taylor

Paul Hayward


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tle Hellfire Beach on the west coast ofthe island. The maximum speed heachieved was 32.1 kph. He went on toconfess that this remarkable speedwas achieved when a whopper breakerflipped his Nordkapp over in a rathersudden backwards loop!

Taking part in a safety panel work-shop, along with Sue Tucker of Mari-time NZ and John Kirk-Anderson, weheard from the northern region Coast-guard boatmaster, Joe Rogers, of 30kayak related rescues conducted byCG in the past 12 months includingthree major search and rescue opera-tions in the past three months. He

noted several key matters for kayak-ers to consider, the first an under-standing of weather, particularly thethreat of strong offshore winds. Henoted there were now continuous VHFweather forecasts available for theHauraki Gulf, channel; 80 for the in-ner gulf, and 82 for the outer gulf.

Joe stated that in the gulf with somuch boat traffic, kayak visibility wasa key issue and that chopper flagswere an absolute must. At night henoted that the rounded hulls of seakayaks did not show up at all well onradar screens and an all round whitelight was essential for night paddlers.Joe noted that reflective tape on thekayak, clothing, paddle and lifejacketmade night searches so much easier -an exercise showed that the visibilityto a kayak at night with a helicopterspotlight, was three times greater whenthe reflective tape was used.

Following a recent major search in thegulf, after a sit-on-top kayak was foundfloating without paddler by a yacht -the search involved three police craft,a rescue helicopter and six CG vessels- Joe recommended having your nameand contact telephone number eitherin the kayak cockpit or on a sit-on-topkayak. The missing paddler did contactthe police the next day, but if his detailshad been on the boat, it would havesaved a lot of time, money and effort.

John Kirk-Anderson noted that one ofthe exercises he conducts when in-

structing sea kayaking is to have hisclients leave their boats on the water,swim to shore, and then he asks themto check exactly what they have onthem for survival and communicationin the event of losing their boat.

Sue Tucker spoke of the need to keepa cellphone in a waterproof bag orziplock bag, as so many boaties havebeen found dead in the water, with acellphone on their belt. I related thestory of the Dunedin paddler who hadan out of boat experience in PortChalmers, during winter, and his lifewas saved with a cellphone in a plasticbag, attached by a line around hisneck. He called 111 and then had todirect the rescue boats in the big chopto pick him up. Sue also noted if youever have to call in a rescue, you needto know your precise position.

Comment was made also of the su-perb visibility of the bright pink safetysausages, that are carried by divers.Joe noted that a cyalume chemicallight stick or torch can be inserted in asafety sausage, before inflation, toassist searchers at night.

Mid Saturday afternoon, the 25 podsgot together again for assembly andtesting of the corrugated plastic kay-aks. Materials provided includedprecut sheets, duct tape and a sharpthingy. A race out and around twokayaks provided much laughter, withonly one or two capsizes.

The KASK AGM was held at 6pm,and after dinner and drinks, paddlerswere ready for Justine’s presentation.

Vincent Maire, awarded with aGreenland paddle for his organisation of

previous Coastbusters

Freya Hoffmeister instructing John Kirk-Anderson in Greenland rolling

Kevin Dunsford demonstating hispump’s waterproof battery kit


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Vincent Maire was called from thecrowd and presented with a Green-land paddle for his sterling work overthe years with organising previousCoastbusters.

With a combination of powerpointslides and video clips, JustineCurgenven took paddlers through hersea kayaking career and the equip-ment she used to film material for her‘This is the Sea DVDs’. Her enthusi-asm for sea kayaking was obvious andher show had to be one of the high-lights of Coastbusters.

Sunday morning, paddlers drove outto Sullivans Bay for a morning ofpods tackling various scenarios. RuthHenderson has penned a story on this.Returning to the beach, grilledsnaggers and salad were waiting, andthis was a great opportunity for so-cialising. Paddlers were reluctant toleave, as Turner, Freya, Greg and Cheriwere in the water providing coachingon Greenland style rolling.

In retrospect, Coastbusters was overall too quickly. The line up of speak-ers was second to none, and the venueproved ideal for both lectures and onthe water demonstrations. My con-gratulations to Paul Hayward and thered team for a great symposium. Nearing the start of the corrugated plastic kayak race

A show and tellsession at the

Milford Schoolwith Lake Pupuke

in the distance


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Rhyanon Murray, Justine Curgenven and Ruth Henderson at Sullivans Bay

Pods returning to the beach at Sullivans Bay after the Sunday scenario session


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Pod Scenariosor

The Blind Leading the Blindor not as the case may be.

Story and Photosby Ruth E. Henderson

When I received the email that sug-gested that I had been ‘identified’ asbeing ‘a suitable candidate’ for Podleaders’ duties at the 2006Coastbusters, I had conflicting emo-tions.

Something akin to the pride my fatherfelt when answering the summons of‘Your country needs you’ wartimeposters and being found fit…. Andthen fear that I would be found out -found deficient and rejected for frontline duties– not as he was, for ‘flatfeet’ but for being unable to readwithout glasses. Normally this is not aproblem – I print everything at a 14font size or memorize where I amgoing between lunch or piddlestops….but nine, on-the-water or on-the-beach detailed scenarios? Nochance.

On the water scenarios are all aboutsolving problems:Problem: – eyesight. Lots of writteninstructions.Solution: – buy cheapo magnified x 3specs and put in BA front pocket;borrow an extra compass; delegate.Outcome: Every member of my podparticipated, co-operated, assisted meand each other and we had a great daylearning lots from not just the exer-cises but each other.

With 18 pods of 8 to cater for in arelatively small area, Pod Coordinat-ing Organizer Neil Watson and assist-ants, Steve Levett, and Ross Bruntonhad to be pretty imaginative for thisyear’s Coastbusters. Because theywant to get a bit more mileage out oftheir work and re-use their scenariossome other time I will not divulgemuch detail about any one. They wereall fun and useful.

There were SIMPLE ones, but inter-estingly they probably gave the great-est day-to-day benefit. For example –checking each other’s kit - its storageand accessibility. Having pointed outothers potential problems – I will, infact, interrupt this report to go and puta tie on my pump before I fail toretrieve it in a surf landing. Hopefullyother members of my pod will simi-larly have now tied down whateverthey had floating free and vulnerableto the greedy sea – the most commonimportant article being their paddlefloat.

There were the WHAT - IF scenarios– such as having to tow someone tosafety who was unable to help them-

selves. These produced a plethora ofideas, made for great teamwork, andthe successes will be added to theindividual and collective memorybank – for summoning FAST, if weare ever involved in such, or similarrescues. On the day, our solution totowing a disabled kayaker thru thesurf involved having one person hang-ing onto his boat till he was thrusafely, then fitting him with a paddlewith both blades encased in blown uppaddle floats to act as an outrigger.Our man reported that this made himfeel very safe. We also tried out hav-ing two tow, not just the disabledpaddler but having one kayaker eitherside of him railed over, with an armover the middle kayak, making a raft

Ruth’s pod leaving the beach at Sullivans Bay

Kayak rescue scenario


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formation. This also worked well, andwas not much more work than towingone person.

Inevitably there were WET ones…andwhen we wanted rough - typically thesea was calm, so the textbook rescuesworked perfectly with no golden rain-bows for us. But one chap discoveredthe disadvantages of ‘sandshoes’ whentrying re-entry and we all were veryaware of the discomfort of too muchknobbly stuff on our aft deck. Forinstance my hinged light/flag mountedon some old LP records, with a bungietie on top of my Skua’s back hatchmakes for easy raising and lowering –but would make John Wayne self-rescues more comfy if positioned un-der the fitted bungies at the rudder endof the stern.

And yes, we had the MATHEMATI-CAL ones – taking the guess out of the‘ by golly’ and getting where you aimfor. I know its ‘wrong’ but personallyI am a kilometre and topographicalmap kayaker (and tramper) so I al-ways find the nautical mile and knotthing difficult.

But, as a team we worked out ourproblem using both measuring sys-tems and they both worked….we gotto where we were meant to be going inthe estimated time…

And got back to base for the nosh upof sausages and sauces with a salad onthe side, ready for the afternoon’s

programme.

A big thank you to all the guys andgirls who put so many hours in overten months of organizing, plotting andplanning to produce such a 10 starevent.

Ruth Henderson

Assisted rescue after an out of boat experience

It was a long, long time ago. I lived inPalmerston North and owned a whitewater ‘general purpose’ kayak. I joinedthe Ruahine White Water Club. I didn’treally like rivers, so tried to paddle onthe sea whenever I could. But the riverkayak would never go straight. I bolteda great big aluminium skeg onto it.Then I couldn’t turn it.

At that stage club member and kayakmaker Max Grant offered to sell me abrand new Puffin sea kayak (with afew minor flaws in it). It weighed atonne and I always strained myselfwhen getting it onto the roof rack, butI loved it. Another club member, DavidHerrington, whom I didn’t reallyknow, kindly offered to take me outon a first trip with the new beast.

We drove to Plimmerton, north ofWellington. The plan, said David, wasto paddle around the coast to PukeruaBay and return. It should only take afew hours. The return distance is barely

12 kilometres. But it seemed prettyextreme to me, and I had come wellprepared with enough food for sev-eral days, full cooking equipment,litres of water, many changes of cloth-ing, emergency/survival gear – theworks! And why not? There were allthose wonderful waterproof hatchesto fill with equipment, so I did.

We headed out around the point. Davidsaid it was a light chop. I thought theseas were mountainous. After about20 minutes I was pretty tired, so I saidit was time to head ashore for a breakand a cup of tea. David dutifully fol-lowed me. I not only made tea, butheated up soup, and poured hot wateron instant noodles.

I think we made about two more land-ings before getting to Pukerua Bay –you know, for a pee, for more food,and more cups of tea. I almost woremy stove out. I took compass bear-ings, and marked our progress on the

chart. It was all very serious and pur-poseful.

I was very tired by the time we reachedPukerua Bay and lamented the factthat it was not a one way trip. Thejourney back was pretty much thesame – I instigated lots of rest/tea/food stops.

Finally back at Plimmerton, and fullof a sense of accomplishment, Iboasted about the achievement in mynew plastic boat to an unsuspectingpasserby who had foolishly asked howfar we had come. David, I later real-ised, had been very long suffering thatday. Unbeknown to me he was a toplong distance sea kayaker and hadcrossed Cook Strait very many times.Poor devil. And he had never uttereda word other than gentle encourage-ment throughout the start/stop day.

Kerry Howe

MM yy FF ii rr ss tt SS ee aa KK aa yy aa kk DD aa yy TT rr ii ppby Kerry Howe


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PP AA DD DD LL EE RRPP RR OO FF II LL EE

Justine Curgenvenby Paul Caffyn

Kiwi paddlers at the 2006 Coastbusterswere fortunate to hear Justine speak-ing on the Saturday night of her seakayaking experiences, with a mixtureof slides and video clips from her twoDVDs. After picking Justine up fromChristchurch airport, we spent twoweeks paddling, filming and doing afew slide shows on the long drive upto Auckland to attend Coastbusters.

As a result of sales of her two ‘This isthe Sea’ DVDs world wide, and a hostof speaking engagements at sea kayakgatherings in the USA and the UK,Justine must be the best known fe-male sea kayaker in the world today.In exchange for filming the reclusiveWest Coast paddler Kayak Dundee, Isubjected Justine to interrogation un-der powerful spotlights to shed somelight on her background and how shefirst got started with both sea kayak-ing and filming.

The name Curgenven soundsScandinavian, however one of Justine’searly descendants changed his surnamefrom Lane to Curgenven, which was asmall hamlet in Cornwall.

Justine grew up on Jersey, one of theChannel Islands south of the UK. Liv-ing in the country she enjoyed explor-ing local paths and coves on thebeaches, gaining an appreciation ofthe outdoors. At the age of 12, she wassent to a boarding school in Dorsetwhere she remained until she was 18.Justine thrived at school and was arather good athlete, playing in all thesports teams, such as hockey but sherecalls that the most important thingshe learned from the schooling wasthe ability to think independently.

After trying unsuccessfully to enterboth Oxford and Cambridge universi-ties, Justine headed out to the Antipo-des where she taught at an Anglicangirl’s school at Tamworth in NSW.She enjoyed travelling in Australia

but apart from a desire to play hockeyfor the English team, she was not surewhere life would take her. Acceptedby St. John’s college, Cambridge,Justine studied science, including ge-ology and philosophy, and playedhockey for the English University’steam. Life at university was full withstudying and sport. She learned thatno-one else was going to help her andthat she had to really set her own goalsand strive towards them without prod-ding from someone else.

Her only outdoors experience duringthe varsity years was through geologyfield trips which she thoroughly en-joyed. Emerging with a degree and atotal of nine Cambridge blues, sheagain headed downunder, this timewith a boyfriend and spent eightmonths tiki- touring in New Zealand.It was through tramping trips that theseeds were sown for enjoying the greatoutdoors.

Back in the UK, Justine’s best friendCheryl invited her to a Jersey CanoeClub meeting. Cheryl had just returnedbuzzing from an Operation Raleighexpedition, and her enthusiasm rubbedoff on Justine. To join the Jersey Ca-noe Club’s outings, Justine boughther first kayak, a 3m plastic DaggerResponse for £100. During a sea kayaksymposium held on Jersey, she quicklyfound the plastic boat was not a patchon real sea kayaks and borrowed aproper boat for the rest of the week,attending paddling skills and naviga-tion workshops. Her first serious tripwas a 12 mile crossing to the island ofSark, which she survived and foundgreat pleasure with beach campingand chatting with other paddlers.

For the next two years, Justine workedfor a television company and gradu-ally paddling began to take over fromher love of hockey. Attending a Scot-tish sea kayak symposium, she first

Justine at Waiona Bay, Tennyson Inlet.


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came to grips with paddling in strongtidal streams. Moving to work atSouthampton, Justine met FionaWhitehead, a paddler with expeditionpaddling under her sprayskirt, and shetook Justine under her wing for thenext 12 months. At an Anglesey sym-posium, Justine paddled the great tideraces off North and South stacks, andwas inspired by speakers such as Pe-ter Bray, who was planning a paddleacross the Atlantic Ocean, NigelDennis who paddled around the UKin 1980 with Paul Caffyn, and TrysMorris, a Welsh kayaking coach.These people were doers and not justtalkers.

Fiona and Justine decided to attempt atrip around Wales, via the coastline,canal and river systems, Justine’s firstserious expedition. Averaging 40miles a day, apart from the canalswhere portaging around locks slowedthem down, Justine’s experience wassteadily growing, and although Fionawas the leader for the trip, Justine wasbeginning to form her own opinionswith respect to decision making onthe water. A highlight was a day pad-dling topless. Fiona, who Justine notedwas rather generously endowed bustwise, was experiencing serious chafefrom her lifejacket and stripped off tothe waist. Justine thought if it wasgood enough for Fiona, it was appro-priate for herself to also to paddletopless. Lifejackets were donned onlywhen people were sighted.

Not long after the Wales trip, Justinemoved to Nigel Dennis’s Angleseysea and surf training centre. She wasworking as an independent film pro-ducer, but still felt she was more of anexplorer than a sea kayaker. Viewinga glossy brochure on Iceland, Justinepondered on the best way to see thatisland. Planning a horse trek throughthe country side with her mother wasthe plan, but then synchronicitystepped in. A sea kayaking companyin Reykjavik had emailed NigelDennis with a request for paddlerswho could do some coaching. AndJustine decided she would undertakea solo paddle to the western fjords ofIceland. The June 2003 ‘Sea Kay-aker’ magazine featured a wonderful14 page story and photographs of this

trip, when she paddled a three pieceNigel Dennis Explorer kayak. Thoughonly a nine day trip, weather and seaconditions were torrid at times, and asthe days slipped by, Justine was start-ing to take fewer risks and turningback before things got too critical.

Back in the UK, Justine sought thehelp of Tony Smith to be able to filmsurfing in the big tide races off Angle-sey. He came up with a suction padmounted monopod that could bemoved to shoot from various angles.Combined with a waterproof micro-phone and small camera, Justine wasable to set the camera recording, andsurf the tide races to her heart’s con-tent. It was certainly a new slant tofilming paddling with a handheld cam-era.

Fiona Whitehead was keen to paddleacross the Bering Strait, betweenAlaska and Russia, and she and Justine

were in touch with paddler and authorJon Turk who had completed a longtrip from Hokkaido up the KamchatkaPeninsula to St. Lawrence Island inBering Strait. Jon reckoned paddling

Rugged up for windy weather at WaionaBay, Marlborough Sounds

Justine with Steve Knowles at Mt. Maunganui, ready for film in the surf.


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the Kamchatka Peninsula would be agreat trip, provided you didn’t mindbears and big surf.

Justine planned and led a three weekexpedition to the peninsula which fea-tured in the February 2005 ‘Sea Kay-aker’ magazine. Together with Hamas,an Israeli paddler, and Alexsey whowas a Russian tourist guide, Justinepulled off a very successful trip, whichshe filmed. Encounters with both surfand brown bears were highlights, aswas in retrospect being carted off byRussian soldiers on a tank - kayaks,paddlers and kit - to the local militarybase. Phone calls and discussion be-tween Alexsey and the military re-solved the problem, and the team wasdropped back by tank at the precisespot where they had been picked up.

Justine found the Kamchatka area wasso special, not only with the beautifulscenery but also the fact it was soseldom visited by people. At a light-house, where she was able to drop inthe mail, there has been no visitors forthe past eight months. The keeperspread his mail out on a table, andtook great pleasure in slowly openingeach envelope.

Justine’s film footage was used byNational Geographic for a 50 minutedocumentary titled ‘One Risk TooMany’, as part of an adventure chal-lenge series. (Her first ‘This is theSea’ video/DVD also featured a 10minute segment on the expedition.)

Back home again, Justine continuedto work as an independent film maker,producing promotional videos forpaddle and kayak manufacturers, thesevideos first showing her footage oftidal race surfing and an interviewwith a well known sea kayaker. Fol-lowing glowing feedback on thesevideos, Justine felt she had the abilityto put together what she calls her firstinspirational sea kayak video, andmade a major step forwards in decid-ing to produce and market her ownvideos. Invited to the USA to speak atvarious symposiums, she filmed someof the high profile paddlers such asGreenland paddling expert GregStamer, Nigel Foster and Chris Duff.And despite many folk saying her

concept would not work, it has. Justinedid not dare to expect the world wideinterest in her first video/DVD.

Late 2004, Justine set off with TrysMorris and Gemma Rawlings to at-tempt a first all female circumnaviga-tion of Tasmania. A 30 minute docu-mentary of this trip features onJustine’s second DVD, TITS 2 (Thisis the Sea Two). Days of headwindson the north-east coast set the timeta-ble well back as well leaving despond-ency in the team. A stranding on vasttidal flats on the north-west tip wasalso a major downer with many milesof towing kayaks to and from the sea.An out of boat experience for Gemmaon the west coast and a rescue in bigseas was the worst moment. The swellwas huge for the rest of the west coast,but they successfully completed a bril-liant trip.

So in retrospect Justine was not in-spired by reading adventure books,but by falling under the wing of pad-dlers such as Fiona Whitehead and

Justine filming while the weka is about to steal the bread rolls.

Nigel Dennis. She felt that if theycould organise and pull off the bigtrips, then she could do it as well.When asked about company duringtrips, Justine noted she preferred tohave company, particularly at night.

The future? No more big trips planned,but Justine has commenced work onTITS 3, which should feature a goodpart on New Zealand. The day afterCoastbusters, Justine flew back to theUK to carry on filming a series onendangered wildlife for Welsh TV.

I thoroughly enjoyed two weeks trav-elling with Justine. On the West Coast,the surf was too big for wave skis, andas she wanted to go caving, we wentup Fox River and into the vast cham-bers of Babylon. During three days ofpaddling in Tennyson Inlet, althoughit didn’t rain, strong winds were anincessant paddling companion. At-tempting to round one point into arather fresh south-easterly we werebuffeted by 50 knot plus winds;williwaws and spray flying off the


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chop. There was no chance of pad-dling during the strong gusts, and atone point while I was desperatelytrying to stay upright, I caught aglimpse of Justine coolly filming themaelstrom.

Filming wekas and seals at close quar-ters was a bonus for Justine in theinlet. At a lunch stop, she was filminga family of wekas but the camera wasdowned rather rapidly as a wekastealthily snuck up behind her andgrabbed a three day supply of breadrolls. A chase up a steep slope, throughtight manuka scrub led to a successfulrecovery of the rolls. Pity I didn’thave the camera at the time.

I had to admire Justine’s dedication tofilming. She will go to great lengths toget the shot she wants. At Mt.Maunganui, while I was filming fromthe security of land, Justine swam outwith an underwater housing to filmSteve Knowles surfing. A strong ripnearly led to her swift passage out intoShark Alley.

For paddlers who have heard Justinechortling, her website,www.cackletv.com is an appropriatename for the sound of her laugh. Itcertainly could be heard above thecrowd noise at Coastbusters.

To sum up, a highly motivated pad-dler who is sharply focused on film-ing and producing inspirational seakayak DVDs.

CC oo aa ss tt bb uu ss tt ee rr ss22 00 00 66

Vignettesfrom Cathye Haddock

The venueThe Coastbusters sea kayak sympo-sium was held at a Takapuna School,which overlooks Lake Pupuke. Theschool had a big hall, ample class-rooms and outdoor areas for work-shops and of course the lake withgrandstand viewing for the Green-land rolling demonstrations. Therewas also plenty of off-road parkingfor cars and boats on the school field.

WorkshopsCoastbusters invited a group of Green-land experts and enthusiasts over forthe gathering. Turner Wilson, CheriTaylor and Greg Stamer from the USAand Freya Hoffmeister from Germanyshared their passion and skills forGreenland qayaqs and qayaqing.

I attended a sequence of workshopson the Saturday, which led me throughan excellent progression for givingGreenland rolling a go on the Sunday:o Yoga for rollerso Rolling for womeno Greenland rolling demonstrationo Practical Greenland rolling coach-ing session (one on one)

Yoga for rollersCheri led the yoga for rollers sessionin the school hall, supported by Turner.She was surprised to see over 50 peo-ple ready to participate in the session.We were young and old, male andfemale, novice and experienced yogiand sea kayakers. She told me she hadoffered this workshop at sea kayaksymposia in the US and had four peo-ple turn up. She commented that kiwishad an open-mindedness that was re-freshing. We spread out, shared matsaround and went through a progres-sion of stretches to prepare for theGreenland rolling technique, whichwere suitable for any rolling practice.You could hear a pin drop in the roomas we followed each exercise in uni-son, with quiet ‘yoga music’ in thedistant background.

Rolling for womenCheri led this session, supported byFreya. The room was full of womenand about four men. We learned abouttaking advantage of our feminineanatomy and disposition for rolling.For example, with big bums and hipsand narrow shoulders, many womenhave a naturally low centre of gravity- compared to a man with narrow hipsand broad shoulders. This is a bigadvantage for rolling.

Cheri and Freya told us that in theirmany years instructing people inGreenland rolling techniques, 99% ofwomen could relax easily, utilisingloose body positioning and techniqueto roll. Where as many men did notrelax easily, were stiff and often re-lied more on brute strength to roll.

Cheri and Freya demonstrated the roll-ing sequence on dry land with peoplesupporting and rotating the qayaq inmid air. They used slow, loose, re-laxed movements in the boat, mim-icking many of the yoga movementswe had learned earlier.

We all had turns at sitting in the Green-land qayaqs. Instead of knee bracesand foot pegs, the Greenland boatshave a thick closed cell foam ‘apron’that slides in under the cockpit. Onceseated as far forward as you can get inthe cockpit, you slide the ‘apron’ backover your lap. This gives you a snugfit and excellent contact with the boat.The back of the seat has a closed cellfoam ‘ramp’ from seat to top ofcoaming behind your back. This givesyou good back comfort and supportwhen laying back on the deck duringsome rolling techniques.

I found the techniques affirmed thetechniques I had been learning in poolsessions last winter, with a few help-ful refinements.

We learned that most available seakayaks were too big for most womenand some men. This makes learningto roll much harder than it needs to be.Cheri and Freya showed us an ‘apron’they had made for a conventional seakayak. It was much thicker than theirsand gave paddlers a good fit into thelarger boat to make rolling a lot easier.

Kerikeri paddler, Lynnis Burson,at CB 2006


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Greenland rolling demonstrationStraight after the women’s rolling ses-sion, we got to see demonstrations ofthe Greenland rolling techniques onLake Pupuke, commentated by Greg.Cheri and Freya in Greenland boatsand Turner in a conventional sea kayak(Albatross I think). It was encourag-ing to see the techniques worked inconventional boats as well as the muchlower volume wooden and skin boats.

All three paddling along with theirboats upside down, was an impressivesight. Freya, dressed in sleek black tomatch her black skin boat, finishedwith a graceful headstand in the cock-pit of her boat on the middle of theLake. Now that’s balance!

Practical Greenland rolling sessionI was fortunate to have a half hourone-on-one rolling lesson with Freyaat Sullivan’s beach on Sunday after-noon.

I had watched her previous two pupilsgo through the progression with her.The woman prior to me had neverrolled before and under Freya’s ex-pert tutelage, rolled on her first andsubsequent attempts. There was muchexcitement, cheering and clappingfrom the growing audience standingclose by in the water.

When it came to my turn, Freyachecked on my previous experienceand took me quickly through the pro-gression. We did the butterfly roll,forward finish roll and sculling roll. Irelaxed into it and found the slow,loose movements and focus on bodypositioning very easy to master. After15 minutes she told me I had the righthand roll 100% perfected.

I was about to get out and let the nextperson have a turn. But Freya haddifferent ideas: onto the left hand roll!I had never rolled on that side beforeand had built up some fear of failure.However, without thinking too much,I trusted Freya’s guiding instructionsand just did it. A mirror image to whatI had done before. I went through thewhole progression on my left side. Inever missed a roll and had a smile thesize of my face each time I came up!Freya said I had the left side 85%

perfected and I was just buzzing.

During the weekend I met some Wel-lington Greenland paddlers. Theymeet and practise weekly and invitedme to come along. I am making my-self an ‘apron’ and can’t wait to prac-tice the techniques in my own boat.

ChallengeI would like to challenge NZ boatmanufacturers to design or importsome smaller sea kayaks that are moresuited to small paddlers.

Justine CurgenvenI was inspired to meet JustineCurgenven, adventurer and documen-tary-maker, at Coastbusters this year.

I attended Justine’s ‘Photography’workshop hoping to gain some tipsfor taking photos with my digital cam-era. Justine soon put us right on theaim of the session, which was to showus her deck-mounted, fully waterproofcamera ‘kit’ for documentary makingon the water. She also gave us somegreat tips for taking movie footage,ensuring good variation on angles,distance from subject, still shots andputting it all together.

We got to see the results of Justine’sfilm-making as she was the after din-ner speaker on Saturday night. Justinegave an inspiring presentation on herearlier life, her professional TV train-ing and career, and her love of adven-ture. She took the brave move a fewyears ago to combine her passion foradventure with her craft of movie-making. She has made documentarieson river kayaking, sea kayaking andmountaineering in many stunning lo-cations for National Geographic Chan-nel and BBC TV.

Among her many adventures, Justinehas sea kayaked solo in the WestFjords of Iceland, done an expeditionin Kamchatka (Russia) and in 2004,circumnavigated Tasmania with hertwo friends Trys and Gemma. Herpresentation took us with her on theTasmanian trip and gave us the thrill-ing sensation of surfing the 5 metreswells. You could feel the adrenalinand almost taste the salt! It was amoving rendition of the highs and

lows of this 40 day expedition, plaguedwith head winds and a test for theteam’s endurance and judgement.

The three women ‘busted’ stereotypesof expedition paddlers having to bemen with beards. A cheeky shot withthe three sporting impressive fakebeards, followed by an equally cheekyshot of the girls in spunky bras said itall really.

Justine’s DVD ‘This is the Sea – Two’includes footage of the Tasmanianexpedition, along with sea kayakingin Japan, Norway, Newfoundland andWales. I bought a copy of this, alongwith ‘This is the Sea’, covering herKamchatka and other exploits. Nowall I need to do is buy a DVD player!The DVDs are available on Justine’swebsite www.cackletv.com

KK AA SS KKNN EE WW SS LL EE TT TT EE RR SSBack copies for most of the KASKnewsletters are available from theeditor. I have a file with all the news-letters from the early days as PDFfiles, and can burn on to a disc.

Get in touch via email or phone (seepage 2) for availability.

BB OO OO KK SSI have one copy left of the superb‘Eastern Artic Kayak’ book by EugeneArima and John Heath left. Plus anassortment of new and secondhandpaddling books. Email for a copy ofthe cattledog.

‘The Dreamtime Voyage’ is now outof print, but plenty of copies of ‘Ob-scured by Waves’, both limpboundand the signed/numbered hardbacksstill in stock. The North Island book isalmost out of print, but a few copiesleft.


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KK AA SS KKProfiles of new Committee

MembersJulie ReynoldsI’ve been asked to write a brief bio toquickly introduce myself to those ofyou who don’t already know me. Thisshould be interesting; I’m not reallysure how to begin. I guess you’ll wantto know my paddling credentials andwhether I can be of any value to you asa KASK committee member.

I’ve definitely set out paddling withmy paddle around the wrong way, yesI’ve also fallen out of my boat beforeleaving the beach, and getting ontothe beach through surf has not alwaysbeen done with style.

I’ve been lucky enough to be able totick off the list an incredible numberof paddling destinations around NewZealand. While I lived in Christch-urch I was able to paddle in a lot offabulous areas, Stewart Island, MilfordSounds, West Coast, East Coast, AbelTasman, Marlborough Sounds, Fiord-land and a few lakes as well. Sincemoving to Auckland I’ve found iteven easier to hit the water. As all youfellow Auckland paddlers will knowwe can’t move far from our doorswithout being tempted, sometimescruelly, by bodies of water.

My partner Scott is a very accom-plished kayaker and instructor and webelong to the Yakity Yak Club inManukau. We have a great set of

friends who are very active paddlersso we have had some great trips andadventures over the years. I suspectthere are very few islands, beachesand lakes in the Taupo to North Auck-land area that we haven’t tackled. Istill need to spend time in Northlandand in the Wellington Region to beable to say I’ve covered New Zealandbut it’s on the list.

As for my role with KASK - It’ssimple. I’m young (or younger any-way). I’m blonde. I’d say Hot but thejury’s out on that. What more couldthere be. Nah seriously, I have a back-ground in business administration,mentoring and marketing. These areskills that hopefully can be put to useto enhance the sport behind the scenes.I believe in what KASK does with thelikes of Maritime NZ, the PleasureBoat Forum and Water Safety andhope that somehow going forward Ican help with KASK’s hope to marryall of this with the great stuff all thelocal clubs and operators do.

Phil OsterI bought a lightweight Penguin inSeptember of 2003 and within a weekhad tried a paddling jaunt in theManukau Harbour. This went reallywell, considering that I had not beenin a kayak since 1978 (I think). Theweather was typical Manukau -choppy and probably a 10 -15 knotwind. The was a high frequency windcell and after half an hour I realised Ihad no idea on what to do if I fell out,so discretion being the better part ofvalour, decided to retrace my strokes,sticking to where I could see the bot-tom. While out there that day I foundthat I really had a taste for choppy andrough conditions, but prudentlywashed my kayak and gear and put itaway until I had completed a skillscourse. On Nov. 23, 2003 I attended askills course with North Shore Canoeand Kayak and the Sunday paddlewas cut short by 15 to 20 knot winds,however I was determined to con-tinue and returned with the instructor(Tony Dumper) and another guy toget the ute and to recover the others,patiently waiting at the Narrow Neckbus stop for us to return.

That Christmas I tried a solo out fromKikowhakarere bay in Coromandel

and scared myself shitless in a 1.2meter swell, with a poorly adjustedseat and tingling toes I had to turnback after an hour. Upon my return toAuckland I put myself through a roll-ing course and broke the 10 minutelearning time (however you have tokeep practising).

By April 2004 I had experienced 30knots in the Manukau and had under-taken a weekend trip to Great Mer-cury with others and did a circum-navigation of that island. I was defi-nitely hooked. I paddled every week-end I could, the gnarlier the weatherthe more excited I was!

My first leader role was almost im-promptu and involved 28 paddlers toRangitoto and back, then in May 2004I won the Open Men’s Plastic SeaKayak division of the Cambridge toHamilton race (I got second last yearin the composite race). I also won aspot prize in 2004 of a Contour 480.With that and my Penguin, I traded upto my ‘Ferrari’ kayak - a beautifulkevlar Torres from QK. Having re-cently added a thermarest cushion, Ihave the speed of a Ferrari and thecomfort of my Range Rover all in one.I love my boat!

By the end of 2004 I had paddled 445nautical miles and spent 156 hours onthe water. In May 2005 I damaged myshoulder stern ruddering for 1.5 hours(badly) in the Waitemata Harbour andhad to have a 6-month break. The firstpaddle after that was with Emma (mygirlfriend - also a keen paddler) on

Julie Reynolds, rugged up for winterpaddling on the Waikato River Phil Oster at Sullivans Bay


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Lake Titicaca in Peru (I’m not surehow many people have paddled at10,000 feet) and following that, in Jan2006 we took a 8-day paddling touraround some of the lakes, dams, la-goons and in the Caribbean Sea, whilein Cuba.

Currently I am involved in organisinga Auckland to Cape Reinga expedi-tion involving a dozen people andtraining by doing 40 km paddles everyother weekend.

Having now been elected onto theKASK committee I look forward toinjecting some new and hi-poweredenergy into the organisation and rais-ing it’s profile to be a truly representa-tive and professional body for everysea kayaker in NZ. I will be focusingon raising the membership to 1000 bythe end of the year and assisting in theinternal and external communicationmethods of KASK. I believe there is alot of unrealised potential to continueto develop KASK as the preferrednetwork for kayakers and a nationalorganisation for representation to gov-ernment agencies.

I am a landscape designer andconstructionist, and have been run-ning my own business in Aucklandfor 5 years, having moved there fromTauranga in 1991. It wasn’t until I gotinto kayaking that I discovered thereal Auckland and ever since I havepitied those poor buggers who can’tget onto the water! To me the seaholds both a physical and spiritualtruth; it takes no prisoners, life origi-nated in it, and if you mess with it, youdie and it doesn’t care either way.

Nadia LehmannI have always had connections withthe sea, taking part in ocean swimswith the local swimming team andeither windsurfing, diving or sailingin any spare time. Then in the mid90’s when I moved to the UK, I tookup wave skiing and have becomehooked on paddling (any previouspaddling would only be to get mywindsurfer back to land when I wasexhausted or had unfavourable windconditions).

Previous visits to New Zealand saw

me take part in many day trips alongthe coast of the North Shore. In De-cember 2004 I moved here, boughtmy sea kayak and am now a regularsolo and group paddler, at everychance I get - which is never oftenenough.

I am involved in the maritime industryhaving gained my NZ CommercialSkippers ticket, (in addition to having aUK commercial ticket) and am an ac-tive volunteer with the Coastguard.More recently, I put my name down tobe a Safe Boating Advisor for MNZ.

In the immediate future, I want tobring more awareness of KASK toother kayakers, and continue to raisethe safety profile, this being a majorissue and in all our best interests.

Based in the Bay of Islands, I wouldbe happy to hear from other paddlers,and will work with the committee insupporting and encouraging sea kay-aking in NZ, which is what KASK isall about.

Kerry HoweKerry Howe has been sea kayakingfor about 20 years. He has sea kayakedextensively around the top of the SouthIsland, in many locations in the lowerNorth Island, and in recent years hassolo kayaked from East Cape to NorthCape including to and around GreatBarrier Island.

He has written many articles on seakayaking trips, safety issues and equip-ment. His articles have appeared inthe Seacanoeist Newsletter, the KASKHandbook, NZ Kayak Magazine, Wil-derness Magazine. He has been theeditor of the Auckland Canoe ClubNewsletter.

He has also recently published CoastalSea Kayaking in New Zealand. A Prac-tical Touring Manual, (New Holland,2005). This publication has been en-dorsed by Coastguard Boating Edu-cation.

For his day job, he is a Professor ofHistory at Massey University, AlbanyCampus, Auckland. He has written 8books on aspects of New Zealand andPacific history.

Kerry Howe

Nadia Lehmann

CC AA LL EE NN DD AA RRVikings & Virgins Sea Kayak Pilgrimage: 29 - 30 April 2006Ratimera Bay DoC campsite, Ruakaka Bay, Queen Charlotte SoundAssemble in Viking Regalia at 6pm on the Saturday night.For further information, phone AJ on (03) 546 6702 or (027) 674 6879or the editor via email or (03) 7311806

Rescue Clinic for Sea Kayakers: 8 April 2006Lyttelton HarbourCost: $120 per personFor more details or to book, contact:John Kirk Anderson [email protected] 021 634 448 Stephen Counsell [email protected] or 021 123 6080


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TT hh ee ‘‘ BB uu gg gg ee rr !! ’’FF ii ll ee

from: Alan BydeCob swan defending nest,

Llyn Padarn

Llanberis is in the high hills in NorthWales. It stands beside Llyn Peris(Lake Peris) which empties in to LlynPadarn. At the western end of Padarnthe river Seiont flows usually grade 2to 3. There are many narrow rockyspouts.

The headwater of the Seiont is nar-row, rocky bank left side and widereed-grown marsh on the right. In themarsh a swan pen (hen) had settled toproduce cygnets. The cob, male,spread his wings and lowered his neck,extended his beak and hissed. I urgedthe lads to paddle away swiftish. Thisswan meant business. On his first highspeed approach, great webbed feetclattering on the water, aiming straightat me, I used the flat of the paddle andwhacked it hard down with a cracklike a pistol shot. He put on the brakes.

The next run was longer and he camemuch closer. On my left was a steepbank with hawthorn bushes and longgrass with a barbed wire fence be-yond. My group were paddling slowlybackwards watching the attack. A thirdtime the cob hurtled toward me. Ablow from its wing can break an arm.

There was shallow gravel bottom onmy left. I capsized away from theattack presenting the bottom of thegrp kayak to the hissing head andspread webbed feet. My shouldersrested on the gravel, face above water.

With a great thump his feet hit thebottom of the hull. His outspread portwing hurtled over the gunwale inchesabove my head. He pitch-poled up thebank into the hawthorn bush.

There he struggled, wings and neckcaught in the thorny branches, hisgreat power trapped. I pushed off thebottom and sat up. My first intentionwas to go and release the poor fellow.Then sense set in and I realized that ifhe had another chance to destroy me,he would. We left thoughtfully.

That was Easter 1962. Anglers willdefend ‘their’ water violently. In thelate sixties there were several con-frontations between protest paddlersand anglers to which the police werecalled. The sergeant of police, whoreported that the kayakers (hospital-ized) caused the problem, was secre-tary of the local angling club. TheNorth Wales Police authority dis-missed conflict of interest questions.Access was and probably still is adifficult problem in the UK. It looksto me as kayaking continues to gatherenthusiasts, that Kiwi kayakers willhave to deal with Access questions onNZ lakes, rivers and coast.

AtCoastbusters,a black swanclaimedterritorialrights overone of thelaunchingramps onLake Pupuke.

CCOOAASSTTBBUUSSTTEERRSS22 00 00 66

The Dept. of ConservationSession.

by Debbie Dunsford

Two Department of Conservation staffand about 50 sea kayakers attendedwhat was a lively forum about howsea kayakers and conservation activi-ties, land and personnel mesh together.It was good to see that, over the pastdecade, sea kayakers have becomerecognised as a distinct recreationalgroup with specific needs (liketrampers) and that the individual con-servancies and national office are allaware of us.

The DoC staff present were informa-tive, frank and keen to find out fromus what we want from the conserva-tion estate. It was acknowledged thatKASK has played an important part inraising awareness of our sport throughits submissions on recreational policyespecially at individual conservancylevels.

While the discussion was wide rang-ing, the main message we took awaywas probably that DoC recognises thegrowing numbers in the sport and thenorthern conservancies at least areactively planning development ofsome basic campsites to suit us. Hav-ing said that, while intentions are good,the ever-present problem of fundingmeans that these plans often havewhat seem like excessively longtimeframes.

One way to speed these developmentsup would be to actively lobby DoC sothat sea kayakers have a higher profileand appear to be well organised. Animportant point was that the DoC na-tional office seems more receptive tolobbying of this kind from nationalassociations rather than individualsor local clubs. So it is important tocontinue submissions on policy underthe umbrella of KASK wherever pos-sible. The meeting ended with anumber of people offering to helpwith local submissions in their districtwhen the opportunity arose.


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BB OO OO KKRR EE VV II EE WW SS

Title: ‘Hooper Bay KayakConstruction’

Author: David ZimmerlyPublished: 2000Publisher: Canadian Museum ofCivilisation100 Laurier Street, PO Box 3100,Station B, Hull, Quebec, J8X 4H2ISBN: ISBN 0-660-17511-8Content: Softcover, profusely illus-trated with b&w photographsSize: A4, 107 pp.Price: NZ$51.95Availability: Boat Books, AucklandTo order by e-mail: [email protected]: Alan Byde

Paul Caffyn handed this book to metoday and asked for a crit. The illus-tration on the front cover is of themost sensible bow grasp I have seen.The stern handle is not a circular holebut a level extension of the aft deckbeam. There are some things whichsatisfy the soul. As my carpenter un-cle told me “If it looks right, it isright.”

1964 I bought ‘The Bark Canoes andSkin Boats of North America’. Thedesign which caught my eye thenwhich one day I thought I’d build isthe Norton Sound kayak, p198.Hooper Bay is only a short distancefrom Norton Sound. The detail is com-plete, lashings, pegs, wedges, meth-ods. Dick Bunyan the builder useddriftwood which he split and shapedto beauty. A photo of lashings alonereveals the quality of the craftsmanwho made it.

The book is complete with great draw-ings and photos. One, p104, showshow to make a hand adze from scraphigh carbon steel. At Karaka Pointnear Picton, there is a Maori figureholding a hand adze. I admire goodtools and this is one I fancy.

In 1969 I helped Mikey Conneely tomake my Irish curragh ‘Saint Caoman’on Inishere in the Aran group, Gal-

way Bay. He first built the gunwaleframe right way up then turned it overand fitted ribs and stringers. TheHooper Bay kayak is built the sameway. Oceans apart, stern Nature dic-tates the same construction.

Judging by the sturdy timbers usedthis is a heavy craft. It is a weightcarrier, large for a solo paddler andmust carry windage. The overall shapeis superb, perfect design. If I were toattempt this kayak now I’d use marineply overall with thin laminates for thecockpit rim, bow post, deck beamsetc. It depends on what you want todo, make a true copy, lashings and all,or something you can carry to thewater?

There is a similar kayak on show inthe Hagley Park museum in Christch-urch, but it has taken a reverse rockerwhich would make it unusable. TheHooper Bay craft has an almost straightrun keel, little or no rocker. There isnegative sheer on the gunwales whichI find attractive. It is the opposite ofthe Igdlorssuit West Greenland kayakwith high raking bow and positivesheer that was the inspiration for theNordkapp.

This high quality ‘paperback’ book ispresented as an academic museumpaper. It is up there with the ‘Greats!’

Alan Byde

Title: ‘Seal-folk and OceanPaddlers (Sliochd nan Ròn)’

Author: John M. MacAulayPublished: 1998Publisher: The White Horse PressISBN: 1-874267-39-1Content: SoftcoverSize: 110ppReviewed: Sandy Ferguson

I’ve read articles before in Sea Kay-aker Magazine, summer 1987, and inthe Scots Magazine (see also S.C. n/l120, page 16), about kayakers, possi-bly originating from Greenland, foundand taken to shore or found on shorein Britain and Europe. This book givesfuller accounts and added informa-tion. It also has possible answers tothe question of how it could be possi-ble, considering the distance, that akayak could be paddled from Green-land. Some were brought from Green-land by whalers, some may have beenand released before reaching port andthere is the suggestion that some mightnot have come from Greenland andmight have originated from Norway.

Northern Norway is a prime candi-date as the area that these people mayhave come from and there is then thequestion of whether these people builtand paddled kayaks similar to thoseused in the Greenland region.

The book includes recollections ofincidents dating back over the centu-ries, folk tales and descriptions ofvarious kayaks seen or still availablefor inspection. In no way is MacAulaypedantic about a specific origin oftales or kayaks but puts forward vari-ous possibilities other than Greenlandfor the origin of the mermaids,mermen, selkies and kayakers. Thereis an extensive reference and bibliog-raphy section for those who want tofollow up on subject.

Also a site that might be worth check-ing on is:ttp://www.amphibiouspaddler.org/history/hcka.html

Hopefully it will be worked on in thefuture as at present it is fairly emptybut has reference to the Historic Ca-noe and Kayak Association.


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This is an oldie but a goodieA nice, calm and respectable ladywent into the pharmacy, right up tothe pharmacist, looked straight intohis eyes, and said, “I would like to buysome cyanide.” The pharmacist asked,“Why in the world do you need cya-nide?” The lady replied,“I need it topoison my husband.”

The pharmacist’s eyes got big and heexclaimed, “Lord have mercy! I can’tgive you cyanide to kill your hus-band! That’s against the law! I’ll losemy license! They’ll throw both of usin jail! All kinds of bad things willhappen. Absolutely not! You CAN-NOT have any cyanide!”

The lady reached into her purse andpulled out a picture of her husband inbed with the pharmacist’s wife. Thepharmacist looked at the picture andreplied, “Well now. That’s different.You didn’t tell me you had a prescrip-tion.”

Marriage jokeA Married couple is driving along ahighway doing a steady forty milesper hour. The wife is behind the wheel.Her husband suddenly looks across at

her and speaks in a clear voice “Iknow we’ve been married for twentyyears, but I want a divorce.”The wife says nothing, keeps lookingat the road ahead but slowly increasesher speed to 45mph.The husband speaks again. “I don’twant you to try and talk me out of it,”he says, “because I’ve been having anaffair with your best friend, and she’sa far better lover than you are.”Again the wife stays quiet, but gripsthe steering wheel more tightly andslowly increases the speed to 55. Hepushes his luck. “I want the house,” hesays insistently.Up to 60. ! “I want the car, too,” hecontinues.65 mph. “And,” he says, “I’ll have thebank accounts, all the credit cards andthe boat!”The car slowly starts veering towardsa massive concrete bridge.This makes him nervous, so he asksher: “Isn’t there anything you want?”The wife at last replies in a quiet andcontrolled voice.“No, I’ve got everything I need,” shesays.“Oh, really,” he inquires, “so whathave you got?”Just before they slam into the wall at65 mph, the wife turns to him andsmiles.“The airbag.”Moral of the Story: Women are clever.Don’t mess with them.

Last WishTom and Jerry have been adrift at seain a liferaft for days. All hope seemslost, when lo and behold, a bottlefloats by. Tom retrieves it from thewater and uncorks it. A genie appears.“Thanks for releasing me guys, I’dlove to give you the traditional threewishes, but I’m down to my last one.What would you like?”Parched with thirst, and without think-ing, Tom says, “Turn the ocean intobeer.” In a flash, the ocean is beer andthe genie is gone.“Great,” says Jerry, “now we’ll haveto pee in the boat!”

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Title: ‘This is the Sea-Two’Produced by: Justine CurgenvenAvailable from: www.cackle tv.comor Boat Books, or NZ Kayak shopsReviewed by: Kevin KillileaPrice: NZ$ 45

There’s another new adventure seakayaking video available from JustineCurgenven of Cackle TV Produc-tions.

Some of her work has been featuredby the BBC and National Geographic,so one is assured its a high qualityproduction. The first similarly namedvideo dealt with parallel subjects inequally interesting locales. This videodeals with a variety of kayak experi-ences and environments. Many ofthem are about the adrenaline type ofpaddling such as surfing in tide races.One examines Greenland style kayakand paddle exploits of DougVanDoren, including underwater rollingfootage. Another documents a sixmonth, seven thousand kilometercicumnavigation of the four main is-lands of Japan by a party of two. Thereare several other travelogue type pres-entations from Newfoundland,Canada; Manitou Islands, Michigan,USA; and Norway’s Lofoten Islands.

The technical quality of the filming isvery good, as often the camera isfastened to a special personally de-signed mount on her kayak. It gives

one a very much seat-in-the-cockpitfeel. The participants are all accom-plished paddlers who show how it’sdone. Be advised this is not an instruc-tional film. It’s pure entertaimentwhich showcases numerous desir-able sea kayaking destinations. If youenjoy this sort of viewing, you’ll findthis one worthwhile.

The main feature of this video is thefirst all woman continuous orbit ofTassie, of which Justine was one threeparticipants. It conveys the commit-ment and effort necessary tosuccesfully complete such an expedi-tion. And watch for the Pom in akayak with a rudder!

Available from discerning sea kayakshops, Boat Books and the editor hasthe left over stock of TITS1 and TITS2from Justine’s visit. Email for infor-mation.


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KASK MEMBERSHIP POLICYCurrent membership fees are:- $35 for ordinary membership- $40 for family or joint membership- $35 for overseas membership- new members receive a free copy of the handbook- members should endeavour to renew by 1 August- the KASK financial year runs 1 August to 31 July the following year- a subscription due notice and up to two reminders are sent out with the newsletters between June and October- if a membership renewal is not received by 30 September, membership lapses- new members who join between 1 June and 31 July automatically get their membership credited to the following year,receiving a 14 month membership- the KASK committee puts its emphasis confirming renewals from existing members from July to October; andpromoting new KASK memberships from November to February.

If undelivered, please return to:KASK , PO Box 23, Runanga, West Coast. 7854

no. 121 february - march 2006 the sea canoeist...

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