For those paddlers who need to do some exercise this weekend why not enter the Island to Island Race starting at Ascot Kayak Club.

There are two courses, a long and short course so why not give one a go. There are over 100 paddlers entered so far.

It's on Sunday. Entries close tonight, Friday evening.

Enter here.

https://www.webscorer.com/register?raceid=330908

• Who's Out There
• Mens K1 World Champs - Josh Kippin
• 17 Years to the Day - the End of the Missouri Journey
• To Save A Crow
• Coming Events
• Island to Island this Sunday - Teams Sprint Regatta 
• IOP Downwind Race #3
• Moore River Race & Mixed Double Champs
• The Mandurah Cut Run 

Who's Out There!

or should I say, Who's In There!

M---- was practising turns around a spit post. 
As you can see it doesn't always go well!

But it is important to keep practising.

The photo was sent in by his good friend J----!

That's what friends are for!

Derek Klompmaker and Marissa Pizzuto training Wednesday morning. More often seen flying down the rapids in a big double plastic Multisport and doing really well. Now they have got a lighter K2 with the idea of competing in the marathon series. They will be paddling on Sunday at the Island to Island?

Ross Burdett paddling is usual 12kms and getting ready for the Island to Island Race on Sunday. Entries open until the end of day.

You are never too old to paddle. Ray Smith (who is the engine in this double kayak) with Izzy Combe is over 80 years.

The Over 45 Social Paddling Club, this morning.

They split up in different groups depending on the paddlers pace so no one gets left behind.

Lindy Connor in the red kayak is the volunteer coordinator at the Kanyana Wildlife Rehab Centre in Lesmurdie.

I sold her that kayak over 20 years ago and she still paddles it.

Mens K1 World Canoe Marathon Championships

When my races were finished and Dave flew home I decided to camp at the course rather than find accommodation kilometres away. As I was just a spectator I didn't need to have comforts.

I spent the following 5 days watching the races.

K1 mens race. Josh is in the light green boat about 4 boats from the left.

Josh gets a good start and at this position he is leading.

Unfortunately about 2 kilometres into the race he got driven into the reeds and lost a little ground as well as being bumped by another paddler. 
He then started to lose the lead bunch, but kept up a solid pace.

At the first lap Josh is in about the 15th place in the light green kayak.
Mads Pedersen the winner is in 6th place at this point.

You just can’t believe how fast some of these paddlers are. 

Josh heading for the portage.

On a portage.

The crowd at the portage.

Josh has a good portage.

Two hours of paddling and Josh is on his last lap.

The amazing Mads Pedersen finished in 1:57:57.48, - 2 mins 31 seconds ahead of second place Andrew Birkett who was 2:00:29.33. 
Third was Eivind Vold in 2:00:30.20

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen made canoe marathon history in Shaoxing, China, in 2019 by becoming the first athlete to win an U23 and senior world title at the one championships to chisel his name into the record books.

Josh finishing. Great paddle.

We know how good Josh is, he is super fast and dedicated and is Australia's best.

 But what can a paddler like Josh do to make up 3 minutes, which would place him on the podium. 
Give up work and train more? Move to Europe to paddle against the best? 
Or be happy with his training, his results and the life he leads.

 I expect the top paddlers don't have full time jobs and they certainly get the opportunity to race hard in Europe. 

K1 Results

Memosoft Spotfokus | ICF-CANOE-MARATHON-WORLD-CHAMPIONSHIPS-2023

 Mads Pedersen center finished first in 1:57:57.48, - 2 mins 31 seconds ahead of second place Andrew Birkett left who was 2:00:29.33. Third was Eivind Vold right in 2:00:30.20

13th October 2006

The Missouri River

17 Years to the day.

After paddling 61 days down the near 4000 km Missouri River I was finally at the end.

The Missouri is the world’s 15th longest river. It has 15 dams on the river which create many long lakes and I had to portage every one. 

Once I left the last mile marker on the Missouri the Mississippi River came quickly. I stayed to the left and moved around the corner and pulled out on an eroded shore. It was hard to believe, but I had finished the Missouri River. There was no-one there to share my last moments of this near 4000km of ever changing waterway.

It was too cold to rejoice too much and with no one around I couldn’t even brag about it, instead I walked less than 100 yards to a flag and information board. It was that cold I couldn’t feel my right hand and it was difficult to press camera button. The extreme wind made it worse. I think I had finished in the nick of time as the cold weather seemed to be setting in. I did a little dance at the monument wall, not because it was ritual, but because I was cold and I needed to get warm.

I walked back to my kayak took a couple of pictures and ferry glided across the Missouri River as sun was going down. I landed on a sand island only 100 – 150 metres from where the two great rivers met. I soon had my tent up, put hand warmers in my socks and called Jenny and Alaine to tell them I had finished my trip. It was another great moment.

There were barges on the other side of the Mississippi River parked up and a few motoring up and down the river. It reminded me of the old times when I paddled the full length of the Mississippi in 1998.

I ate a cheese and salami sandwich, some pilchards and a pasta dish for dinner. I then finished off with an instant pudding, a snickers bar, and a hot chocolate drink. The evening was still and calm, the stars were out and the aircraft lights were flickering across the sky and I could occasionally hear tow-boats and barges moving around in the darkness.

Back towards the meeting of the two rivers I could see shadows and reflections of the turbulent water of the Missouri River entering the Mississippi. I walked up to it and stood there. It was silent except for the hum of a distance barge. With 2½ days left before I would get on a plane to fly to Boston I was happy to have made it. I retired and put some more hand warmers at my feet to warm them up. It was going to be a cold night, but my last one.

Lewis and Clark wintered at Wood River across from where I was camped and it was on May the 14th 1804, with 45 men Lewis and Clark started their amazing journey up the Missouri River to the Pacific and return. Together they logged 8,000 miles and interacted with dozens of tribes and described 178 plants and 122 animals.

Camped on a sand island on the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, two of the most important rivers in the USA.

Heading off down the Mississippi River to my final destination.

Friday 13th October 2006. 

17 Years to the day.

Day 61

It was a clear crisp morning and my water bottles were frozen and my tent fly was stiff and frosty. This was it, my last day on the river and I was on an island where two great rivers met and it was such a fantastic feeling. From my island home I now had the choice of paddling down the Chain of Rocks Canal, which is a very calm canal with a lock at the end and where all the shipping are diverted down. Or I could take the main river which would have the flow of the current but it had the very dangerous Chain of the Rocks Weir across it. At the weir I would have to do a portage as the rocky weir was life threatening even for the most skilful white water paddler. I took the second option as I had done the first option when I paddled the Mississippi River a few years back and it was a hard slog and pretty boring.

I loaded the kayak and took some more self-timed photos from my sand island before I left. A towboat pushing a string of barges was just entering the Chain of Rocks canal when I took off. It was only 15.3 miles to St Louis but by the time I was a mile down the wind had intensified and the river was stirred up with waves clashing violently with my bow. Although I had finished the Missouri River, I hadn’t finished the trip. There wasn’t far to go, but the conditions were testing me, however it was exciting to have my kayak slam up and down and to be fighting my way down the river again.

I was soon paddling under the 270 road bridge, a main highway across the Mississippi before reaching the more spectacular Chain of the Rocks Bridge a few hundred metres further. The bridge was once the route used by U.S. Route 66 but now it only carries walkers and cyclists. I carefully crept up to the weir keeping close to the left side so I didn’t get swept down as I couldn’t imagine surviving the long ledge of rocks with a mass of white water going over it. Thankfully there was an eddy just before the weir near the car park and a couple of circular structures capped with cement. To portage around the weir was a good 100 yards. I stepped out and had to carry my gear up to the car park, which wasn’t that easy, and then walk across the long car park and finally across a soft sandy beach to get to the water. I struggled, but it was my last portage, so it was well worth the effort.

Several Asian looking fishermen were fishing below the turbulent rocky weir. The weir was really a huge pile of rocks that stretched 0.65 of a mile across the river and all the water from the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers was flowing violently over it creating a wide rapid with no natural path. As I walked back and forth three times to get all my gear, I just watched the whitewater cascading over the man-man falls. It was quite impressive.

I portaged around the Chain of Rocks Weir.

It looked crazily rocky, too rocky to paddle down.

Only 17 kms to paddle to the finish line.

I loaded easily because I had less gear to stow in the kayak, so I was off in no time. The river current was running fast and being wide with the wind blowing against the current, my ride was bouncy. I could see the St Louis big Gateway Arch in the distance, it looked good. That was where I was meeting Ed and Sue who had come to see me in and take my kayak back to Salt Lake City to where they lived.

The river calmed down as I turned a corner where there was a small ship yard and tow boats and barges lining the river. The Chain of Rocks canal entered a little later from the left. I now only had 10 kms to go, one rail bridge and three road bridges to go under. There was little activity and the shores were lined with industrial sites, some looking very sparse, disused and derelict. I started getting glimpses of the arch again and again in-between the buildings and it was getting bigger and bigger, which meant that I would soon be home.

Moving under the rail bridge on the last straight, I started to fire up, but my entry into St Louis was no-where near the spectacle I had when I arrived here in the late afternoon in 1998, when I paddled the entire Mississippi River. Today there wasn’t the river traffic, the setting sun, the people milling around the arch, the McDonalds restaurant and even the shores looked more derelict and shoddy. Today there were a couple of casino boats parked up, and a couple of towboats and barges that passed me in those last few miles. Otherwise St Louis seemed quite deserted and depressing. It was sad to see such a change.

I moved under the last bridge before the Arch and saw several cars parked on the concrete shoreline and Ed and Sue waiting eagerly by the water’s edge. It was good to see them in the distance. I drifted in the middle of the river and clicked a couple of pictures being washed downstream with the current. I regained control of the kayak and paddled over to them and landed on the rocky shore. Ed and Sue had just driven all the way from Salt Lake City to be here to see me finish and to pick my kayak up and take it home. How great was that. It was a 4262 kilometre round journey. I first met Ed in 2004 when I paddled the Yukon River and kept in touch.

After a hug and a handshake we lifted the kayak onto the rock shore and a tourist with a big camera took a few photos. Within 30 minutes we had everything loaded and Ed was driving me out of St Louis and back to St Charles where Ed and Sue had booked two motel rooms. We celebrated with a meal and later a bottle of Champagne and had a good time. It was hard to believe my journey was finished. 

The Gateway Arch, St Louis.

I went up it the following day. 

Not a bad view.

The area looked a lot more derelict and deserted since I was last passing in 1990. 

Ed and Sue drove a 4262 kilometre round journey to meet me here and to take my kayak back to their place at Ogden, near Salt Lake City. How generous was that. 
Ed had also taken me from Ogden to the start of the Missouri River at Three Forks a round journey of 1220 kms.

Ed also met me at the halfway mark at Bismark to make sure I was okay. That was another 3000km round journey for him. Although I didn't need any help he just wanted to come.
 It was in Bismark that I was going to replenish my food supplies after having paddled 1680kms with virtually all the food I started with.

My journey's end at St Louis.

Unlike when I paddled the entire 4000 kms of the Mississippi River in 35 days, it took me 61 days to complete the same distance. The main reason was that there were no locks on the Missouri only big dams that created long lakes and had to be portaged and the portages were always quite long.

It was so different a journey than on the Mississippi.

You can read more by going here:

https://terrybolland.wordpress.com/missouri-river-expedition-part-1/ 

One of the 15 dams along the way. 

There was always a long walk to get around them.

To Save a Crow

Photo Lynne Milne. 

I didn't get this photo showing the height of the bird until after the rescue.

Not knowing what tools I needed, I took my canoe, throw ropes, a saw and branch trimmer on an extension pole, scissors, knife, and a bag, expecting I would be able to stand up in my canoe and reach it. Wanting to paddle less distance I drove to Sandy Beach and paddled about 800 metres upstream to where I found it in a bush area on the east side of the river.

Although it was bound by fishing line at least it was perched on the branch and not hanging when I got there, which was a relief, but it was so high up there was no way I was going to reach it from my canoe. I clambered on to the shore knowing the only hope of rescuing it was to throw a line over the branch that it was on and break the branch off, hoping it would land in the water without harm.

Just after launching my throw line over the branch Steve Bolger came paddling by and offered to help.

Steve just happened to be paddling by when I was about to rescue the crow.

It clasped its feet around my finger and didn't want to let go.

It was much more active after a day's rest.

It was a big ordeal, but the crow flies away to a happier place.

It flew into this tree before taking off high in the air heading towards where I had rescued it.

It's funny how I now feel so different about crows now.

Brendan Rice in good form.

MARATHON #2: THE MOORE RIVER RACE

 & MIXED DOUBLES OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

5th November 2023

SUMMARY: The race runs upstream [and back] from the mouth of the Moore River at Guilderton, approximately 1hr north of Perth. The main focus for this event is the Paddle WA Marathon Mixed Doubles Championships. 

The Moore River marathon takes place in parallel. 
COURSE DESCRIPTION Distance: Long: 12.5 km. Short: Approximately 7 km.  Guppy

HAZARDS: This course can be very shallow [under-slung rudders are at risk] The turn around the top island is narrow with low trees and submerged logs There is a risk of some boat traffic.
NOTES: Championship classes will have medals awarded on the day. 

The Moore River Foreshore is a DOG FREE AREA.

Parking is ticketed [one has to pay] 

TOILETS AND PLAYGROUNDS: Close to Car Park and Start

The Mandurah Cut Run 

Saturday, November 11, 2023

The recently formed Mandurah Ski & Kayak Club (MSKC) is holding its inaugural race on the same course as the Mandurah Duel race was held in previous years. 

Ensure you get your unique The Mandurah Cut Run cap by entering now!

The race is part of the Australian Ocean Racing Series (AORS) 2023, promoted and organised by Oceanpaddler. We are proud to be associated with Dean Gardiner and his team and look forward to having them back in Mandurah once again.

The Mandurah Cut Run has a 1 Star rating in the AORS Series so there's up to 1,000 points on offer. 

The 12.5km course is well known to paddlers, being a fast downwind race that starts at the Dawesville Cut, follows the coast north to Halls Head and finishes at Doddis Beach in front of MSKC.

This exciting race is the perfect warm up for both The Doctor and the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships off Perth.

We moved the event to a Saturday to enable competitors and their friends and family to come and spend the weekend in this special part of the world.

Race categories are the same as for AORS events such as The Doctor.

Early bird pricing ends October 11 at 23:59.

Timing:

10:00 - 12:00        Registration

12:00                    Safety briefing

13:48                    First wave starts

14:00                    Final wave starts

To all our sponsors and in particular the City of Mandurah, we thank you for your support and encouragement - we couldn’t have this event without you. 

Go here to enrol:

The Mandurah Cut Run 2023 | Event registration | Webscorer