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After Brett McDonald posted the records of the Pinjarra to Ravenswood race I realised that I have three of those records in a Wild Water C1. I instantly thought why not paddle the race in C1 this year and create another record. It’s been a while since I had paddled my C1 and such a craft does need a little training to paddle 17kms without it hurting. I had time for 3 short sessions, so I thought that will have to do. Wild Water C1s are not popular in Perth. Over the last 50 years there have
only been about 8 paddlers who have paddled a WW C1 and for the last 30 years I think I’m the only one. I suppose less people paddle it because there is more skill needed. You use a single bladed paddle to propel you forward and usually you would paddle on one side only, however in more recent times some paddlers will switch. To steer it you need to know how to do a J stroke and have the skill and balance to tilt the canoe. At first, until your legs and are used to it, the C1 can be uncomfortable because you kneel with your legs and feet behind you. If you persevere and train a few times a week the pain will go away. Since being a teenager I have always loved pushing the boundaries, trying things that most people find too hard so just paddling a ski or kayak didn’t give me the satisfaction or gratification, so I have enjoyed paddling every type of boat no matter how hard it is to master. When I fronted up to the race at the weekend some paddlers thought I was mad, they saw it as being just too hard, even torture, but I just saw it as another little challenge. If you keep challenging yourself then doing normal things become so much easier.
Consistent in the AKC race. It was interesting to see that my K1 times over the 9km AKC Wednesday night race were pretty consistent. When racing on my own my times were 51 mins 20 seconds (on the 17/1) & 51.22 (31/1)
a 2 second difference. When Chris Hollier was in the race and I was racing him, my times were 50.06 (24/1) & 50.7 (14/2) a 1 second difference. So with having someone to race over that distance I was 1 minute 14 seconds quicker. We shared washriding. I would have expected
with the different conditions on each night my times wouldn’t have been so close.
- The Buoys Summer Series
- Progressive Racing Group
- Olympic Slalom Selection
- Pinjarra to Ravenswood Race
- 2024 WA Sprint Championships
- Paddling on the Gordon River and Macquarie Harbour
- Birds Along The Way
- Bike Park, Bayswater
- Coming Events
- City
Lights
The Buoys Summer Series The Buoys Summer Series practice sessions and races have finished, now we await the winter series which will be on
white water around June.
Marie Andersson The summer series is held on flat water to give new or the less confidence paddlers who want to paddle white water the chance to learn advanced flat water skills and gain confidence by tilting
their kayak on tight turns. It’s a skill that wild water paddlers should have before taking a wild water kayak, without a rudder, onto white water. The further you can tilt the kayak on its side the more confident you will become and when on white water, when you need kayak tilt, you will be so thankful that you have that confidence. The flat water races also sharpen those skills under
pressure, and on white water you will be under pressure. So the better you can turn the kayak at speed the less rocks you will hit and the less trees you will get stuck in! The flat water races also gives the more experienced paddlers the chance to hone their skills and give them the opportunity to fight for the top spot and see how they are going against other paddlers. They are also
valuable to have at races so the up-coming paddlers can watch, learn and be inspired. In the latest Monday night Buoys Race at Ascot there was only 1 second between Luke Dooley and Harry Langley with Luke taking the race. It's good to see the top paddlers race,
but I love to see new paddlers get better with every session they do and it happens. On Monday, the last race of the summer series we had 20 paddlers take part. Young Rhys Macrae has really exploded in speed and skill. Being a very good slalom paddler he is showing he will be a very good wild water paddler as well and he will be close to the top of the ladder next year. We also had
young Kai Stafford, who only took part in two races, and on the Monday nights race he was the fastest paddler in a wavehopper. In the race a week earlier he was way down the list. These two youngsters are going to be our top paddlers in a few years. Even if you paddle a K1 with a rudder it is an advantage to know how to tilt your kayak and have the confidence to do so, as it will help
you on the tight turns around a pole or buoys. If you are a K1 paddler and you have the speed and the skills you will certainly race better, and in white water you will race safer.
We had 24 paddlers at the PRG handicapped race on Tuesday. It's a really good way to get some fitness or start your racing career.
Although it was a little windy two paddlers managed to get PBs.
Can you imagine how WAs Brody Crawford is feeling at the moment. One week he had a chance to get a spot in the Olympics, the next week his dream was shattered when Victorian Tristan Carter was crowned the men’s canoe champion at the Australian Open. Tristan's result put him in pole position for nomination to the Australian
Olympic Team and he was selected this week. Tim Anderson was selected in the men's kayak. They will join Jess Fox who has already been selected, at the Olympics.
I can't believe that Kayak Cross has been added to the Olympics.
Slalom paddlers train for years and years to have the skill to run the gates with precision and get selected. The C2 slalom events have already be cut out. What will they cut out
next? I haven't yet been convinced that you need the same commitment and training for Kayak Cross. Why is football, golf and tennis in it. Don't they get enough exposure and money now?
Pinjarra to Ravenswood Race 2024 I’m not an early bird so getting up at 4.50am was a little out of character. But as the race was 1 hour 10 minutes away and I had the job of putting the
finish buoy out and erect the timing tent at the finish line I needed to get going early. After doing that and making a car shuffle I was ready to go. It was hot with little breeze, but generally I go that fast I create my own wind. Not today though. I was given race number 1. Probably because of my sadistic choice of boat I was going to paddle. I decided to paddle my wild water C1,
which is the slowest boat on the start line, I kneel with my feet behind me and paddle on one side only with a one bladed canoe paddle. My quickest time in a WW C1 in this race was 1.42.32 (in year 2000) and my other two age records have been 1.48.57 (1981) and 1.48.18. (2013). So it’s been over 10 years since I last stepped into my WW C1, so I was curious how I would go being 73. It wasn’t until Tuesday, 5 days before the race that I decided to do it in C1 after Brett McDonald posted my 3 age
records on facebook. No one paddles WW C1 any more so my records haven’t been broken and my first record has stood for 43 years.
I kneel with my legs and feet behind me and paddle on one side only with a one bladed canoe paddle. Anyway I had 5 days to train up. Unfortunately I had a hormone injection for my cancer in my butt on the Wednesday
afternoon so I couldn’t sit in a seat for two days so that brought my training sessions down to three. It’s not that I needed to do much training. It was the fact that in a WW C1 your legs are behind you so you are virtually sitting on your legs and my bum is propped up with a block of foam. (When you are over 70 and have legs less pliable sitting down with your legs under and behind you is a little uncomfortable.) I managed to paddle 30 minutes in training without my legs totally going to
sleep, but as my race was nearly two hours I imagine I would have no feeling in my legs most of the race. Getting ready to start I didn’t want to wait around too long or my legs and feet would go to sleep before I started so I didn't get in until it was nearly time – no warm up. My grid was off first but there wasn’t a lot of room on the line as the river wasn’t very wide at that
point. I managed to sneak in on the outside. Knowing that most of the paddlers were going to be faster than me I knew I would be thrown around by their wash at the start. I only paddle on my right side so my steering in done by leaning the canoe and the J-stroke with my paddle.
My grid, div 4 line up. Photo Veronica Haarmann. Just as I thought I didn’t get the
best start, but I wasn’t last either. I had Julie, Anita and Izzy & Ray around me. Soon after Julie said, she was going to beat me and steamed ahead, she got tangled in a tree on the first right hand corner, but on the left bank. I took the inside line and passed her and Izzy & Ray and tried to catch Anita. Several seconds later Julie was still hooked up and chattering to herself! It wasn’t long before the 3rd division paddlers came storming by. The C1 performs much better on flat water, without wash and I suppose I might have been a little rusty so when they came by and left all these waves behind them didn’t help me to keep a straight line. I was happy when they all went by but then there were div 2, then div 1 and all the doubles so I had my share of disturbed water for a while. For half the race Izzy & Ray were behind me and Anita & Julie were slightly ahead. I would catch them up, at times pass them, and then a wash of a boat would affect my steering and I would lose them again. Because of the shallow water they would stay mainly in the middle of the river, but as I didn’t have a rudder to worry about I would cut the right hand corners and catch up with them again. I was thankful that we didn’t
have high winds as a WW C1 is not good in the wind.
We are off. Photo Veronica Haarmann.
Div 3. Photo Veronica Haarmann.
Div 2. Photo Veronica Haarmann. By halfway Ray & Izzy made their move. They caught
up with Anita, Julie and I which wasn’t the best scenario for me as it meant there was more wash I had to contend with that affected my steering and slowed me, so several times I lost them, caught up with them and lost them again. The day was hot so I was drinking plenty from my PFD water bladder, my legs and feet had gone to sleep around the 5km mark and I had about 17kms to paddle.
It was quite uncomfortable, but I had no time to get out of the boat and get my feeling back. About 4kms from the finish Anita started to lag. I was pleased because it meant that I wasn’t going to be last. Unbeknown to us she was suffering from the heat. (A safety boat was close behind.) When we came to the line of houses and jetties I knew we were getting close to the finish, about 3.3 kilometres to go. Julie and Izzy & Ray were a good 20 – 30 metres ahead of me but as soon as I hit the straight I put the power on and caught them before the next tight right hand corner. With 1.5kms to go I thought I had a chance to beat them so I took it a bit wider to get away from their wash. Unfortunately Julie decided to put the power down so I wasn’t
able to make any ground. I could hear Izzy telling Ray, that they were doing 9.2km, 9.8kms, 10.2 kms. I thought whow that’s a pretty good speed for me in a WWC1.
Div 1. Not many div 1 paddlers. Photo Veronica Haarmann.
Doubles. Photo Veronica Haarmann. Nearing the end Julie and Izzy and Ray started to
get ahead as I hit their wash which through me around a bit so I wasn’t able to put so much power down as I had to do several steering strokes. Because my legs are not as pliable as they used to be I had to heighten my block foam pad that I sat on. This however made me more unstable than usual, so I had to be careful not to get over excited, overbalance and capsize. Can you imagine Terry Bolland seen capsized on the finish line. I would never live it down. I ended up being 18 seconds behind Julie but I was happy and even happier when I found out my time of 1.48.02 beat two of my other times when I was much younger. Anita came in soon after but she was suffering. I imagine it was due to the heat as the girls were trying to cool her down. She was better
later. There were only 45 boats on the water in the main long course. There were 47 last year, 83 in 2022, 68 in 2021, 82 in 2019, 62 in 2017, 83 in 2014. Was it the heat, was it the travel distance, is the novelty wearing off with this race or have we got less paddlers racing? Results here:- Overall | 2024 Pinjarra Results | Resources.ws.RaceResults | Webscorer Short Course:- 2024 Pinjarra Short Course Results | Race results |
Webscorer
K1 winner of Pinjarra Race Coran Longwood paddling with David Burdett and Harry Langley. David and Harry are hoping to get selected for the Australian Wild Water Team.
2024 WA Sprint Championships Announcement: WA Canoe Sprint State Junior – U23 team Selection It is with excitement that the selection committee confirms the Junior to U23 Team selection. Congratulations to the following athletes who were either automatically selected in
winning their events at State championships or met the cut-off times as specified in the selection policy. We wish best of luck to the team members travelling to the Paddle Australia Canoe Sprint Nationals in Penrith, NSW on 6-10 March 2024 and look forward to all competing to their best ability and representing the black and gold.
If the link doesn't work copy and paste the results to view. file:///C:/Users/Terry/Downloads/PWA%20State%20Championships%202024%20Full%20schedule%20revision%20for%20Sunday%20Final%20Results-3.pdf
In 2023 I was paddling my C1 in the sprint championships and regattas.
Then I bought a second hand Stand Up Board to do some cross training. So this year I did the WA Sprint Champs on a SUP. Unfortunately I was the only male and Nashani was the only female taking part. Photo Selena Lloyd.
Nashani Jacob setting a good pace. Photo Selena Lloyd.
I was just managing to keep in front of Nashani in all 3 races but she had me scared. Photo Selena Lloyd.
Corbin Olson and Aaric Olsen. Photo Selena Lloyd.
Nicole Jahn & Eric McKnight.
The female paddlers fighting it out.
The top male paddlers going head to head.
It got a bit rough in the afternoon!
Jade Lane & Sharon Cobley. Photo Selena Lloyd.
In WA SUP races it seems to be tradition to gift a pineapple to the winner.
Robyn Khorshid just back from Paddling on the
Gordon River and Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania The battle to save the Franklin - Gordon Wild Rivers National Park from flooding with dam water, some years ago now, was certainly worth the struggle. These days it has the protection of world heritage listing, having the highest rating of any other feature on that list. Starting off we sailed from Strahan taking all day to cross Macquarie Harbour and
then go upstream on the Gordon to the John Falls landing where we stayed in a cabin. It is also used by rafters who have done the long trip down the Franklin. It is set amongst pristine, lush temperate rainforest with dense vegetation, mosses, lichens and the huge Man Fern (Dicksonia Antarctica) everywhere. All this forest requires a lot of rain and that is what we had! Day
Two saw us paddle upstream to the confluence with the Franklin and a little upstream on that, then return to the cabin for the night. From then on it was downstream to Macquarie Harbour, stopping each night in our tents at designated campsites, surrounded by the magnificent Man Ferns - not seen in W.A. There are various places to stop en route - for picnic lunches and to inspect historical features and so on.
Robyn Khorshid in the front of the kayak. Robyn has done 4 trips in Tasmania with Roaring 40s Kayaking.
Heading upstream on the Gordon River. Photos Robyn Khorshid.
John Falls.
These falls were tucked in behind that cabin.
Named after Sir John Dodds, but others had been there before him. From the entrance of the Gordon all the way to Sir John Falls, is a distance of 30km.
This is at John Falls landing area. (jetty + small beach) Rafters stop here. Our two guides are on the left. The other guy is a rafter. Their boats are in the background - the colourful objects. Inside the hut is space for eating, bunk beds. Being the senior citizen in the group I was
given a room with bunk at the end - the others tented as rafters had all the other bunks. but they left next day and we stayed 2 nights here so the others moved in after they left.
We are now on the Franklin River just above confluence with Gordon R. It is raining. We are about to stop for lunch.
There was more sunshine on reaching the coast of Macquarie Harbour and hence the forest had a different nature, though still very dense. We were all impressed by the way authorities have presented the remains of the brutal penal
settlement on Sarah Island which the colonial powers used for shipbuilding by the convicts in the early 19th century. The stately, long living and these days very much protected Huon Pine was collected from all up the Gordon River due to its various excellent qualities for shipbuilding. There were a few moments of amazement when whilst paddling along the shore of a bay we saw a black
dog ??? No! A Tassie devil! running along the beach for ages until it found a place to escape from us. We paddled almost 80km over 4.5 days - to Liberty Point on the Harbour from where we had a fast ride on a fast boat back to Strahan
This was the site of fishing shack which is to the right but I wanted the pic of the giant tree ferns. Typical height at maturity is 15 feet, but they can get bigger!. We had lunch here. Places to stop are few and far between, but enough.
We are about to leave the Gordon and enter Macquarie Harbour, the other side of the two dark promontories. That is Sara Island, the penal settlement in the middle of the distance. We spent 40mts there - very interesting.
On Robyn's last trip to Tassy she paddled the coast with the Roaring 40s Kayaking. The Candlestick, Cape Hauy, from the northern side. These remarkable formations are due to the columnar jointing in
the rocks.
The Sacred Kingfisher is still around but they will soon head north for winter.
Bike enthusiasts will love this new bike park under Tonkin Highway Bridge. Under the Redcliffe Bridge Activation - Tonkin Gap Alliance as part of their project works, are activating an area under Redcliffe Bridge, on the northern side, as a community space. Items agreed to be included in the public space are as follows: - Revegetation of both the park and wetlands areas
- Aboriginal artwork
- Yarning
circle
- Mountain bike skills area
- Pump track
- Sandy beach area for canoe and kayak access
Warning: The Bike Park is a danger
to paddlers who cycle - they always end up injured!! It's safer to paddle - isn't it Izzy Combe!!
The Swan Cafe is open again after they had a short holiday. On these extra warm days they might close a little earlier than usual. If you want to know their opening times on the day - Give them a call on 0466 564 159 The cafe has my book, so if you want to look at it - it's in their
basket.
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