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Once Upon A
Time There Was A Race Called The Avon Descent
Things are changing rapidly
in this world so we have to be careful not to lose the race
we love
Once upon
a time the Avon River used to have a good flow
at the beginning of June. Sometimes it used to flood. Back
then 0.7 on the gauge at Walyunga National Park was regarded
as being low water and paddlers complained if it was any less.
How things have changed. When we get 0.7 now, paddlers think
they are in heaven.
Bells Rapid in higher
water levels
Once
upon a time the Avon Descent was on everyone's
'To Do' list, it was the event that everyone wanted to do
at least once in their life time. It was the race to
do. Everyone looked up to anyone competing in the Avon and
paddlers were proud to have achieved such a demanding race.
Sadly now there is much less interest in this iconic race.
The Avon Descent was
once the pinnacle of all races
Once
upon a time there
used to be several newspaper articles about the race well
before the race and there were always snippets of previous
races on the TV, but nowadays it seems hard to get any publicity.
Or is it just that we are not trying as hard as we used to,
to create our own publicity?
Back in the 90s. If publicity
didn't come to you, you have to go to it!
Nearly every weekend
from the beginning of June to the race day we trained 11 to
22 paddlers each Saturday and Sunday and often twice in the
week. It was a big task just getting everyone to the start
point.
Once
upon a time we used to run white water courses
from Walyunga to Bells for the first 2-3 weeks of the season,
then we did trips from the Lookout to Bells or Emu to Bells
in the following weeks. And then for the next few weeks we
did trips from Posselts Ford to Walyunga. That wasn't all,
we also did trips during the week as well as the weekends.
And in-between all these trips we did trips in the upper T
trees. Now with the lack of water we only have enough time
to run assessments.
Each group had one instructor
to every 3 - 4 paddlers. There were always three instructors
on a trip for safety reasons. Paddlers were briefed at the
begginning of each session.
Plastic kayaks once common
have now been overtaken by skis. You generally need to have
better skills to paddle a kayak so new paddlers have opted
to go the easier option. With longer faster skis now on the
market that has also helped to make skis more popular.
Once
upon a time we
used to have quite a few women take part in the Avon Descent.
We always had females on our weekend trips but Tuesdays became
ladies day. Tuesday always attracted seven or eight women
and it wasn't only good to see women in the sport, it was
great to see women take up the challenge, enjoy it and succeed.
Even with Canoe WA having a women's intro course in the last
two years there are still very few women take up the challenge
now.
The water levels in June and July were much better than they
are nowadays. Although the numbers were not great there seemed
to be more women tackle the Avon Descent 10 years ago than
now.
Once
upon a time we
had over 100 paddlers that we had trained, finish the race.
It was fantastic to see them all come over the line and they
were paddling slower boats than what is available today. We
still train a lot of paddlers who enter the race, but with
the lower water levels nowadays, less of them finish.
Having lunch in the beautiful
picturesque Avon Valley was another enjoyable part of the
day.
Instructor John rescueing
a kayak paddler. Taking groups down the 32km Avon valley was
quite a responsibility for our team. With no exit points it
made things very difficuilt if things were to go wrong.
Once
upon a time a majority of paddlers paddled
kayaks now they paddle skis.
We have run courses for
many years and seen many paddlers come and go. Peter Tomczac
closest to the front is still paddling although a little less
now he is married with children. Hundreds of paddlers have
gone through our courses.
Once upon a time
we used to sell lots of boats for the Avon Descent. Nowadays
we sell few, there seem to be less paddlers and the second
hand market advertised on the Internet has become very strong,
too strong.
Leslie collects her medal
after finishing the Avon Descent
How things
have changed over the last 10-15 years.
So what is the future ..................
2016. Once
upon a time there used to be canoe shops that
looked after the paddler's needs. Now in 2016 everyone buys
on line, from Gumtree, Annaconda, BCF, Ray's Outdoors, so
the canoe shops have been run out of business and paddlers
have no-where to go to get the proper advice and equipment.
2017. Once
upon a time there used to be a race called
the Avon Descent.
Due to there being no canoe shops which promote paddling and
the lack of publicity from the organisers, the event is no
longer running.
2018. Once upon a time
paddlers used to paddle .............
For Avon Water Levels:
http://www.canoeingdownunder.com.au/
under latest news
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Texas Water
Safari
Terry, Alaine
A quick though late update on our Texas
Water Safari caper... Now on our final evening before the
race and readying ourselves for bed - the start is tomorrow
Saturday 14th 9am Texas time - we have been staying on the
river at Prairie Lea - just north of Luling about 35 miles
SW of Austin. Adventures so far on the river have entailed
dealing with a rain storm mini flood rise in level and return
to the usual gravelly fast flowing blends and long still pools
, hazards are the usual dams and rubble rapids and fallen
trees and sweepers. Lower down the river we found small log
jams and rock dams, at lower water levels old fallen trees
lay on the river bottom. We took a trip to the coastal Swamp
area South of Victoria last weekend and portaged 2 miles around
log jams using the farmers Jeeptrail down to the Salt Water
Barrier at Tivoli- there were huge hungry Mosquitos ...millions
and no spray has any affect!!
Our progress will be available through
the Spot tracker website and we let you know how we do.
There are so many factors that can spoil
our day or set us back - our likely finish time will be between
65 and 80 hours. A lot depends how our night time paddling
goes.
Colin &
Julie
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Doug's On A
Mission
One of our Saturday morning
paddlers, Doug Hodson is planning to paddle the Avon in a
team and collect money for a Perth cancer foundation, Sock
it to Sarcoma.
The foundation seeks to research a cancer
known as Sarcoma and support patients. Sarcomas are a group
of more than 50 rare cancers that can occur in bone or muscle.
Doug is a lucky survivor, thanks to a fantastic medical team
in Perth. Sarcomas make up just one per cent of all adult
cancers, but are responsible for 15 per cent of paediatric
cancers. They are fatal for about one third of child cases.
Sock it to Sarcoma has been in existence since 2012 and already
has one PhD, at the University of Western Australia, working
on Sarcoma research and hopes to maintain the PhD in perpetuity.
If you would like to make a contribution,
here is the link below. Doug says they'll do their best to
complete the paddle and will send photos from their exploits.
https://give.everydayhero.com/au/hodson-doug
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Heading to New
Zealand
20th Jun 2014 7:00 AM
THE New Zealand ocean
kayaker, who paddled out of Coffs Harbour in April attempting
a trans-Tasman crossing has hit troubled waters.
Last month Scott Donaldson, 43 set out
from Lord Howe Island after being the first paddler to paddle
there from Coffs Harbour. He spent a week on the island fixing
equipment before attempting the long crossing to New Zealand.
Scott has called for assistance after
reportedly running out of food and water.
Emergency supplies are being flown
to him, as he sits approximately 15 days or 300 nautical miles
west of New Plymouth.
Overcast conditions have meant his
solar-powered desalination machine doesn't have enough power
to supply fresh water.
The pilot, who will deliver an emergency
drop of supplies tomorrow, says Scott has been forced to take
time out of paddling to pump water.
"He can't hand pump and row at
the same time, in fact it's impossible," pilot John Funnell
told NZ Newswire.
"He's requested we do an air drop
of food and water so that he can complete the journey.
"Supplies have gotten that low
that it's becoming rather urgent."
The emergency air drop is likely to
take five hours and another five hours for the plane to return
to land.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre New
Zealand confirmed to New Zealand media that it is aware of
Scott's predicament and is monitoring the success of the rescue
drop.
Scott Donaldson is attempting to set
a trans-Tasman ocean kayak record.
This is his second attempt at the crossing.
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Jason Nears
the Finish
16 hours ago. At Narrawallee
Inlet. The Humpbacks have been in close today. Magnificent
animals. My highlight for the day.
Sunday. At Tathra. Beautiful weather. I hope that some snow
will fall in the mountains.
Friday. Well I'm currently near Pambula after meeting up with
the ALI crew at Bittangabee. Stuart Preston, Paddy Doherty,
Anthony Higgins, Jay Williams and Paul Gardner. Thanks also
Bec for the Kringle. Plus all the rest of the Jindabyne folk.
The rain has started.
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Sandy in India
June-16-14 Hope Island,
(+16.992067 , +082.330433) 26km
16-06-2014:- Hope Island Dawn at the mangrove island was magical.
I paddled away feeling good about camping in a place alone.
It doesn't happen much in India. Just a short trip up hope
island today - trying to be kind to my body. It Hurts.
Camped on top of Hope Island opposite Kakinada - hope it cools
off soon and hope the breeze eases in the morning tomorrow.
June-15-14 Mangrove Island, (+16.808450 , +082.348600) 39km
15-06-2014:- Mangrove Island Getting out of Sacremento on
the incoming tide proved difficult and took about 2hrs. Then
the currents and wind seemed to be against me all day. I landed
at 4:30pm but the beach had no phone signal and the locals
urged me to leave so at 6:30pm I found myself going off in
gathering darkness to a spot I had seen at 3pm.
I slept on the beach a while there before establishing high
tide had passed and I would not get engulfed with water. Then
I slept soundly in the tent at ease (sort of).
June-13-14 Kothapalem, Sacremento, (+16.593700 , +082.297667)
50km
13-06-2014:- Kothapalem, Sacremento The day started with a
policeman in his underwear hauling the bow of the kayak into
a wave and finished in the muddy inlet near wading buffalo
and a wading policemen in his undies dragging the kayak over
the mud. Vijay and Raju were there to help. Camping onshore
in an abandoned house. Me, police, and loads of mozzies.
June-09-14 Samudra Beach, (+16.413733 , +081.977733) 31km
06-06-2014:- Samudra Beach Resort Odalarevu Launching in the
messy sea was tricky and I got capsized twice trying to get
out. The first capsize I rolled up, the second I came out
and had to land and get the water out.
I didn't lose too much stuff, just an old strap you use to
haul the kayak up the beach and my juice bottle. My sunglasses
float and were retrieved! Third launch I got out ok.
The paddle around the shoal of the Godavari river was terrifying!
There were big waves 3km out at sea and I was hoping like
hell not to attract attention of any fishing boats. I made
it in toward Samudra and had trouble finding a good place
to land. I ended up getting smashed by 2 massive waves and
somehow did not capsize and landed 500m from the 'resort'.
Interestingly the police looking for me along the beach got
hit by a wave while riding their motorbike and arrived just
as wet as me!
Jun 10-12 weathered in and not feeling 100% well yet.
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US Rescue
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The U.S. Coast Guard
says a man is lucky to be alive after he was rescued 11 days
into an attempted kayak voyage from California to Hawaii.
A helicopter spotted the 57-year-old
man, who had turned back to California, in the Pacific on
Tuesday about 60 miles southwest of Santa Barbara's Point
Conception after he sent a distress call indicating equipment
failure, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The helicopter directed a Coast Guard
cutter crew to the man, who was found in good health, the
statement said. His name was not released.
A friend of the man said he had left
Monterey on May 30 attempting to make the voyage of nearly
2,400 miles to Honolulu in a kayak with a solar panel that
charged all his electronic equipment.
The solar panel malfunctioned Saturday,
and the man turned back. He sent out the distress call when
he couldn't find his way.
The Coast Guard urged would-be mariners
to file a float plan before taking long trips.
"A voyage from California to Hawaii
is a long and treacherous journey for any vessel and exponentially
more dangerous for a kayaker," Petty Officer 2nd Class
Timothy Hall said in the statement. "His preparedness
allowed him to call for help, but he is very lucky to be alive."
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