• Getting Ready for the World Champs
• Who's Out There
• Avon Descent Assessments
• 12 Years to the Day - A Day in the Life of TB
• AuSable River Canoe Marathon
• Walyunga to Middle Swan Race
• Collie River Water Release
• Coming Events

I have started paddling a tippier kayak to the one I use as I have to rent a more unstable kayak at the world champs.

Photo Jordy Hamer.

When we went to the World Masters Championships in China we were able to take our own kayaks so we were familiar with them. Unfortunately I have to rent a kayak in Denmark so depending how good it is, how comfortable it is and how different it is in stability- I'm hoping the rented kayak doesn't make any difference to my performance. All the team have to rent.

My world masters K1 race will probably take me about 1 hour 25 minutes, hopefully shorter, but the Anti-Doping Education and Learning platform (ADEL) course created by the World Anti-Doping Agency that all athletes have to take if taking part in World Championships, takes 2 to 3 times longer than that time to complete. 

Who's Out There

Young Rhys MacRea who is a slalom paddler is extremely happy to be keeping up with Sharon and Chris. The race ended with Chris first, Rhys then Sharon. 

Avon Descent Assessments

It was good to have another 10 new paddlers go through their assessment paces on Saturday morning. 

An competency assessment goes through safety, throw bags, safe swimming, dangers of trees, revision of flat water skills, white water manoeuvres, leaning downstream, ferry gliding, breaking in and out of eddies, capsize drills and much more.

It's amazing what you learn from doing the assessment.

David Edwards tackles the Walyunga Chute.

Anita Haarmann looking cool.

Jazmin Shipway Carr attacking the drop.

Jay Vidler getting ready for the Avon Descent.

Are you ready?

For those paddlers entering the Avon Descent - 

remember it is Scrutineering today at Ascot Kayak Club.

It was 28th July 2011

Minaki, Winnipeg River

12 Years to the Day

A Day in the Life of TB

Across Canada

I was paddling up the Winnipeg River

Even in the wilderness I managed to write my daily diary and transfer some of it to my blog. Posting it though in the wilderness did have its challenges.

The 3600km Across Canada expedition.

Winnipeg River

There was some impressive scenery.

The river changed from narrow channels to wide lakes.

I loved the rock shoreline - no mud!

The idea of this expedition was to paddle as far across Canada as I could in 100 days starting at the base of the Rocky Mountains. 

Along the way I planned to meet Alaine Davin and Leonie Cockman at the town of Kenora 2600 kms away. My solo part of the journey took me down the entire North Saskatchewan River which fed into Cedar Lake, and then into the large Lake Winnipeg. From Lake Winnipeg I paddled 300 kms upstream against a current on the Winnipeg River.

By day 43 I had paddled 2550kms and I had a couple of rest days with the Hammerbakk family. Earlier in my trip I had met a lady called Marie who told me to call in on her friends who had a holiday home in Minaki which I was passing through. At the time Marie told me where her friends lived, but I didn’t write it down and the only thing I remember about them was that they were chefs and that they lived on the left side of a stretch of river just before the Minaki Road Bridge. 
By the time I reached that section of river I wasn’t quite sure if I should be rude enough to track them down and impose or just keep going, but when I saw two women on a jetty I thought I would at least ask them if they knew where I could find them. It was a pretty slim chance, but as I was about to ask a lady came out of a house and shouted, “Are you Australian?”

As you can imagine I was overjoyed to hear those words, I had found them. I think if I hadn’t I would have been pretty depressed as I had really been looking forward to meeting them. When I’m out in the wilderness it’s always pleasing to meet people and receive their hospitality and food. 

Within minutes several other people came down to the river’s edge. The Canadian and Swedish flags were flying on the flag pole. I wasn’t expecting such a welcome. Unbeknown to me these weren’t the people I came to see.  But it didn’t matter, I was being welcomed by their relatives and friends, but it took me a few minutes for me to figure that out.

There were more people in the cabin having lunch and I was immediately invited in. I was given a chair and told to tuck into the food. They had special Montreal smoke ham and it seemed that it was a rare treat. They also had a special bread and lots of yummy salad.

I was being hosted by the Hammerbakk family of Swedish origin and they invited me to stay the night and sleep in a bed.

A few of the Hammerbakk family welcoming me to their home.

Within minutes of landing I was having an enormous lunch.

28th July 2011 - 

12 years to the day..

The coffee pot was on the go when I got up. A few or the family were on the sun deck talking and drinking coffee. I joined them. It was interesting listening to all the past family stories. They were even talking about the 50s when they were on the farm as kids and how they used horses and reaping machines and how they used to stack wheat sheaths. I was thinking back to my childhood as I was brought up on a farm, but horses were being phased out and tractors were just coming in when I was a toddler.

The breakfast bell rang out. It was Swedish pancakes and special topping mixture, a Swedish lingonberry and whipped cream. I always have cereal with dried milk but having pancakes was certainly a luxury and one that I really enjoyed. They also had a breakfast pork sausage with the pancakes which was also new to me, but they were very tasty.

After a late breakfast people went their own way relaxing, swimming, playing games, reading etc. I was going to move off that morning but I was told that Denise one of the chefs that I came to see was returning to the cottage that day and she would love to meet me, so I decided to stay another night. It also gave me time to catch up with my blog as I was a long way behind.

A few nibbles came out in the late afternoon and there was always a beer if I wanted one. I was talking to Scott who was the partner/boyfriend of Kerry a daughter of Linda one of the hosts. He and Kerry had been teaching in the middle-east and China and although they are Canadian, they are classed as a non-residents because they haven’t been in Canada for ten years, so if they want things like fishing licenses or whatever they have to pay a non-resident fee which is higher. They also lose a lot of benefits by working overseas for such a long time. At the moment he lived in a cabin on one of the other lakes. He has also created a website called Cottage Tips which tells people a lot of dos and don’ts about cabin life.

About 5.00pm Denise and a lot more family arrived. It was good to talk to the person I was here to meet. Although I thought her and her husband were retired chefs, they weren’t, she had been cooking for a function in Winnipeg and she even has a function here on the lake tomorrow. She was very bubbly, pretty and seemed to have lots of energy.

When it was time for dinner we headed over to the other cabin, Elaine’s and Eric’s. Eric was cooking the spare ribs on the outside BBQ. Once at the table there were salads, vegetables, potatoes, spare ribs and wine. It was a feast fit for a king. When I had thought I had eaten the most delicious meal, one of the other sons, Dain had produced 3 huge berry pies that had lots of different fruits inside. They just didn’t look good, but they tasted good. Topped off with a coffee or two it turned out to be the 5th great meal I had there. Why would I want to leave! I know why- I was putting on weight and it had taken me 6 weeks to lose it.

The Hammerbakks were a close family who got on together very well and it was a pleasure to have been their guest. I told many stories of my trips and they were very interested and good listeners. 

I had another good sleep in a bed and left the following day heading for Kenora and ready to meet Alaine and Leonie in 4 days time. 

It was holiday time and a time to relax by the river.

I love being out in the wilderness, I feel that I'm in the right place and I never feel lonely like I would if I was by myself in the city, but when I meet some amazing people along the way, I love that experience as well. 

Leonie and Alaine in Kenora before the hard paddling and portaging was going to start.

AuSable River Canoe Marathon, 
Michigan, USA

OSCODA – The countdown is over. The 75th annual Consumers Energy AuSable River Canoe Marathon begins on Saturday in downtown Grayling and ends on Sunday in Oscoda. The Marathon is widely seen as one of the greatest canoe races in the world, not only for paddlers, but for spectators as well.

“It is race week so there’s a whole bunch of exciting things happening,” Ryan Matthews, one of the many event organizers said. “We have the Dash for Cash on Tuesday (July 25) and the time trials in Grayling (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) in Grayling. As of now we are at 111 teams, so that is definitely a record field and a very competitive field all the way through. There’s plenty of teams that could end up in the top 10 spots.”

The marathon is of course canoe racing’s greatest sufferfest. The annual race begins Saturday at 9 p.m. on the streets of Grayling, where two-man canoe racing teams begin in a LeMans-style footrace. They’ll carry their canoes over four blocks to the river, near the Old AuSable Fly Shop. Teams frantically place their canoes in the water there, then head non-stop for Oscoda, which they expect to reach 14-to-19 hours later and six dam portages later. The race concludes at Finish Line Park, near the AuSable Inn. Just finishing the 120-mile race (194kms) is a great accomplishment for most teams.

Paddlers have to run over four blocks to get to the river, then the paddle 194 kms in 14-to-19 hours and portage six dams to get to the finish line.

The AuSable River Canoe Marathon, a.k.a. “The Marathon”, is a non-stop 120-mile, C-2 (two-person) canoe race held annually on the last full weekend in July. The race starts at night with a thrilling LeMans-style running start to the river in Grayling, MI, and ends the next day on the shores of Lake Huron in Oscoda, MI. The marathon is not a recreational canoe float. It is an ultra-competitive race that attracts professional paddlers from across the United States, Canada, and often teams from outside North America. Contestants must be in peak condition to compete in the race within the allotted time and endure the grueling and strenuous physical and mental strains that the marathon demands of the paddlers.

When paddlers reach the river the jump down into the water.

It's chaos putting in.

And even more madness as they paddle away.

Madness continues.

The top teams take the race very seriously.

Huron National Forest.

Not much time to take in the beauty.

2023 Walyunga to Middle Swan

Sunday, July 30, 2023

Register here: https://bit.ly/2023Avon3

Location:            Top Carpark (Boongarup Pool), Walyunga National Park

Race check in:   08:00am-08:45am

Briefing:              08:45am

Race Start:          09:15am

Course:  Starting in the long pool from the top carpark, racing 23km downstream through the Walyunga Slalom Course, Terminator 2, Bells Rapids, the lower Ti Trees and Amiens through to Middle Swan Reserve.
Competitors follow a winding river consisting of exposed rocks and Ti-trees with the added fun of rapids and a strong current.

In the event of extreme river levels, competitors will be kept informed of any course changes.

Transport:        A car shuffle is required prior to Race Check In.

Due to the distance between the start and finish, your car shuffle must be completed prior to Race Check in at 08:00am.

Safety:             Due to the course being held in wild water conditions, it is compulsory for all paddlers to wear helmets and PFD’s. Each competitor should also have a whistle attached to their PFD for emergency situations.

No helmet or no PFD = NO RACE.

Collie River Release
Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 July. 
This weekend's release will not show in the table that was attached to the previous email. This is just used for summer irrigation releases.
Harvey Water have confirmed that water will be released all day on Saturday and until 4pm on Sunday.
Happy paddling.”

If you have any questions, please message Duncan - duncanellis80@yahoo.co.uk as Harvey Water have requested that paddlers don’t contact them directly.

Our thanks to Harvey Water for identifying these amazing opportunities for some awesome paddling action!

#harveywater
#paddlelife
#paddleWA

Epic V10 Ultra For Sale

Call Martin 

0419910937

Excellent condition.

$3500.00