Enjoy the CDU Newsletter

Published: Thu, 11/30/17

1st December 2017 CDU Newsletter 554

CDU Newsletter

Terry 0417 977 330

terry@canoeingdownunder.com.au

https://www.facebook.com/canoeingdownunder/

The Doctor Race (Rottnest to Sorrento)

The Doctor Race last Saturday was pretty exciting for most competitors but too exciting for some as they didn't make it. The wind was howling so the conditions tested out the paddlers who were not so skilled.

This is a race that paddlers need to know their skill level and paddle a ski with appropriate stability.

For the top paddlers though they paddled the 27kms in 1 hour 33mins

Results: http://bluechipresults.com.au/results.aspx?CId=11&RId=1074

So the Doctor is over for another year. Cory Hill who won the World Ocean Championships two weeks previous was again too good but Hank McGregor was only 17 seconds behind with Austin Kieffer 2 minutes behind in third. Mackenzie Hynard 4th, Bruce Taylor 5^th, local paddler Brendan Rice 6^th, Oscar Chalupsky 7^th, Jeremy Cotter 8^th, Herman Chalupsky 9^th, and another local paddler Reece Baker 10^th.

These guys are pretty impressive but how was Oscar Chalupsky coming 7th. He is over 50 years old. Oscar was 15^th in the recent World Ocean Racing Championships.

As Cory Hill (Aus) 1.33.20 started his run up the beach Hank McGregor (SA) was just landing. Only 17 seconds separated the pair.

Hank McGregor 1.33.37, 17 seconds behind Cory Hill after 27kms

Rachel Clarke (NZ) 1.55.47 hits the beach first taking out the ladies division

2017 ICF Freestyle World Champs - Argentina

In 2008 I met Perth's Josh Singleton in the middle of no-where in the north of Canada on his way to paddle the big rapids on the Slave River.

That evening he and his friend Dave invited Tony and I to a BBQ in the small town of Fort Smith.

Read how we met in the short story further down.

Josh is representing Australia at the 2017 Freestyle Championships.

Josh doing what he does best

Claisebrook Marathon

This Sunday

Last year I took on the Claisebrook Marathon in an Epic double ski with Matt Jones. It was a great race with very close competition. This year I'm paddling with Nathan Jamieson who has only been paddling for six months. It's shaping up to be another great race.

Chris Watson has a House to rent near the River

Any paddlers looking for a place near the river, Chris has a 3 bedroom house at the old Olive Farm Estate, South Guildford. Room for 4 boats, only a 2 km paddle to Ascot, 30 second walk to river, and pets are okay. The house is only a year old, rent neg, so if you’d rather be paddling than driving around with your boat on the roof, this would be a great opportunity. See what being on the water twice a day does for your speed and skills.

I can tell you it's like being in heaven.

0437 654 851 Chris

Specials

Epic V10L Performance. Price $3995.00. Special Price $3100.00. One only

Epic V14 Performance. Price $3995.00. Special Price $3100.00. One only

Barracuda Interface Sea Kayak -
only 19kgs and $2700.00

Lightweight and comfortable

$145.00

The Doctor cont...

Our first local paddler Brendan Rice at the finish in 6th place.

At 50 something Oscar Chalupsky still has a lot of fight in him. He was 7th.

We all know Oscar Chalupsky, and WAs Walter Chalupsky but this is their brother Herman Chalupsky who came 9th

It was pretty rough out there and several paddlers didn't make it.

Ray Smith and Luke Dooley at the finish

The Murray Marathon 404km - 5 days

WAs Michael Laloli came 10th in the Murray Marathon.

How great it is to finish

Results here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=121303

Three Rivers to Tuktoyaktuk

the meeting with Josh

Back in 2008 Tony Chounding and myself canoed 4000kms down the Athabasca, Slave and McKenzie Rivers. (At the 2000km mark we were joined by Alaine Davin and Leonie Cockman.) Halfway down the Slave River and before meeting Alaine and Leonie, near the town of Fort Smith Tony and I had to portage around a 20km section of grade 4-5 rapids, some of the best rapids in Canada. Instead of portaging them individually we decided to portage along a gravel track to make it easier. When a couple in a pick-up truck came into camp and offered us a lift Tony accepted but I still decided to walk.

We could hear the roaring of the big Slave River Rapids from our camp site.

Day 23 - Saturday 28^th June.

I woke at 5.15am had a quick breakfast and quietly packed my things for the big walk. Tony was still sleeping when I left camp pushing the canoe on a trolley with my big gear drum, a pack and 3 litres of water inside. I was soon straining as I dragged the canoe up a hill to get away from the river pull-out point. The mossies were still active and the horse flies were abundant. At the top of the hill I looked behind, seeing the river fade into the distance. Although the canoe was on wheels and rolled fairly smoothly on the flatter terrain, it was still hard work. I started getting into a rhythm and stopped every half hour to check to see how many kilometres I had walked and have a drink. By now the horse flies had increased and were pestering me almost to despair.

It was hot and sunny and I tried using the tall trees as shade but as the sun rose higher in the sky all the shade vanished. I pulled the canoe and then pushed it trying to take the strain off my muscles. I mainly pulled up the hills and pushed downhill. After several kilometres my legs started to feel the strain. A car stopped to see how I was going and took off leaving behind several horse flies that I really didn’t want. The horse flies were remarkable; they could even keep up with a speeding car!

I took a gravel road to walk around the 20km section of huge rapids

By the time Tony and the pick-up truck had caught up I had walked and pushed the canoe 14kms. They stopped so we decided to put the canoe onto the truck tray to take to the river so Tony could leave his gear in it leaving me with my backpack to walk the last 11kms.

The day was hot, and my feet began to burn on the stony gravel road as I carried my heavy backpack putting pressure on my tender feet. A few kilometres out of town I saw a car with two play-boats on top coming towards me. I was keen to stop it just to talk to other kayakers, but I let it speed by. Suddenly it stopped in a cloud of dust, backed up and pulled up beside me. A guy jumped out and amazingly it was Josh Singleton a young man who I had previously met in my shop in Perth. Josh said, “I was thinking it might be you knowing the unusual ventures that you have done in the past and when I noticed the Canoeing Down Under logo on your cap, I was totally convinced.

Josh, who lived only a few kilometres away from my home in Perth, said he was visiting his friend Dave Gemmell, who lived in Fort Smith and was there for a week and they were both doing some playboating on the big Slave River rapids. The two met during Dave's three year stay in Perth.

It was great to meet someone that I knew, if only slightly, and it really topped off my day. It was still hard to believe our chances of meeting up like this in the middle of nowhere. We chatted for several minutes and before they left they asked if I wanted to go to a 'Spit Roast Pork' bbq that night. Dave also invited me to have a shower at his place once I got into town. I gladly accepted both offers.

Josh and Dave on their way to playboat on the big rapids

They left in a cloud of dust. Eventually I hit the bitumen I was soon passing a roadside full of cars in scrap yards and kennels full of huskies. I turned to head towards town at a service station and found an ice cream shop near the small town centre. I sat outside and talked to a couple whilst eating.

I called in at the supermarket for a few odd things and hurried to the canoe which was about 2kms out of town as I had told Tony I would meet him there but I was running a little late. I was a bit weary when I arrived.

The Rapids of the Drowned with pelicans were a little lower than usual

After a short rest I walked towards the ‘Rapids of the Drowned’ which was roughly 2kms away, first on a gravel road and then onto a narrow dirt track churned up by quad bikes and cracks from landslides. As a narrower track slipped down towards the rapids it steepened before coming out at the rocks. As the water thundered viciously over the big drops that spanned the wide river, pelicans were gathered on rock shelves in the middle of the river, fishing. These rapids are world famous not just for the spectacle and ferocity of the big drops but because the pelicans here are supposed to be the only big colony of pelicans that feed in rapids.

Minutes after returning to the canoe Josh and David arrived to take us to David’s home to have a shower. Once showered and a talk with his family Dave drove us to the camping ground where the pig roast was taking place. We enjoyed good food, good conversation and a couple of beers.

At the end of the night David and Josh dropped us off at our camp and at midnight just as I was about to get into my tent, a guy approached and asked me if I could help him get his car out of a bog, which was one kilometre or so away. He also mustered the help of three other foreign tourists who were camped nearby. The night was swarming with mosquitoes. Luckily I applied some mosquito repellent before I left, but the others hadn’t and they were being eaten alive. When we reached the car it was bogged too deeply and no matter what we did, we couldn’t shift it. It really needed another vehicle to pull it out.

We all returned to our tents slapping our bodies on the way back and finally snuggled up in our sleeping bags with a huge lightning storm and extreme wind happening outside.

Check out the Full Three Rivers to Tuktoyaktuk here:

https://terrybolland.com/three-rivers-to-tuktoyaktuk-stage-1/

A rapid on the Slave River. Now this is paddling!!

A rapid on the Slave River. Oh shit!

Nikki one year on

It's been a year since Nikki broke her leg after jumping out of the bath whilst being washed at a grooming place. Since then she has had two operations. One to mend her leg and another later to straighten her leg. She now has a plate in her leg so she walks with a limp and on her toes which means long walks are out. For six months I had to lift her in and out of the car until the leg had healed enough to support her weight.

The cost so far has been about $10,000, $5000.00 of that was paid by the Groomer's insurance. She is very happy but with a stiff leg she just can't do some of the things that she used to do. However she still has a great life, she is spoiled and has some of the best views of the river.

2018 Sea Kayak Fest’

16th - 19th February

Geographe Bay

the 7th Annual Sea Kayaking Symposium run in Western Australia and hosted by Paddle WA & Sea Kayak Club WA. The Theme of this year’s event is ‘Paddle Lightly’, a focus through which we hope to bring you an environmentally sensitive event, featuring choices and action that we can all take to paddle for the future and minimise our impact on the marine eco-systems that we enjoy.

Link | Link | Link | Link