The river has certainly been quiet this week. With the kayak and rowing clubs in lockdown only those paddlers who took their boat home have been able to paddle. The one hour limit is just enough to do a 10km paddle. Wearing a mask in the middle of the river seemed a little unnecessary, but if all goes well today it will be lifted when exercising.  

I liked the first lockdown when we had no limit to exercising, so hopefully from tomorrow we will be able to exercise longer.

It had been a busy paddling week before the lockdown and we were lucky that it didn't happen before the weekend as we had the WA Sprint Championships which was well attended and extremely well organised.

The fires in the hills are terrible and my heart goes out to all those people who have lost their homes. Not only do we have a lot of paddlers who live in the hills but we also have paddlers who are firefighters and volunteers fighting the fires or helping out.

COVID-19 Update
As of 6pm Friday the 5th of February:

- masks will be compulsory when in public, indoors or outdoors
- masks are exempt when heavy physical exercise is being done
- clubs may resume activities as long as they adhere to the 150-person limit and enforce 4-square-metres of social distancing.

These restrictions will remain in place until at least
12.01am Sunday the 14th of February.

Having fun in New Zealand

Riverton Bridge to Ascot Kayak Club.

28th February 2021

6th & 7th March 2021

at Sandy Beach, Bassendean.

Down River Training Around the Buoys
 

Monday evening 8th February, Sandy Beach, Bassendean,

Monday 15th February, Point Reserve, Bassendaen

& Sunday 21st February, at Ascot Kayak Club.

 plus Friday mornings 6.00am.

 

Peter Liddle.

Sandy Beach Reserve. Bassendean

in the 1980s.

I organised a Sea Kayak Course in Albany, before most people had sea kayaks. Paddlers used whatever kayak they had.

Terry and Bev Engledow were the main paddlers and organisers in Albany at the time.

Terry competed in several Avon Descents.
 

Some of my early sea kayak trips in 1979/80 were along the south coast and I feel pretty jealous of the paddlers in the Albany Sea Kayak Club having such beautiful places to paddle.

Albany Area

Brodie Soanes

Colin, Chris & Brodie
 

Colin & Chris.

Photo Brodie Soanes
 

Brodie

Photo Chris Fry

It was much lumpier than we expected rounding Cape Vancouver while the quick disappearance of the sun behind grey cloud added to the atmosphere. The rebound tested our balance but eventually we edged closer to the cove. We briefly sized up the landing and all made it in without issue. Nice spot if you ignore the piles of washed up plastic! A bottle of white greeted us on the beach. The sounds of 'Message in a bottle' filled my head as I looked but sadly it was empty of both paper and liquid.

Journeying back we ran the gauntlet of clapotis on our return to Coffin Island. As we went back around the cape, the sun emerged almost as quickly as it had gone some time before. The light bouncing off the confused waters looked like diamonds dancing by the cliff base. By the time we reached Coffin the bombies on the south side were half asleep so we picked a path through the dozing giants and cruised northward for home.

We stopped by Waterfall Beach for a quick rest while Colin did some cowboy rescue practice in the tranquil aqua waters. We passed Little Beach once more, this time packed with beach goers. The stiff breeze that had followed us home so far turned into a headwind for the last leg into shore but we made it in to finish a great paddle.
 

The weather turns.

Photo Brodie Soanes
 

The ocean got a bit lumpy.
Photo Brodie Soanes
 

A Trip to Walpole
Robyn Khorshid organised a trip to the Walpole area over the Australia Day weekend.
 

The Walpole area has much beauty to offer for a paddler.

Photo Robyn Khorshid.
 

An Epic V7, a V5 and two Epic GPX kayaks explore the rivers around Walpole.

Kate Crossing, Miira Gallegos, Lynne Milne and Susan Thomas,
Photo Robyn Khorshid.
 

The beauty of the Frankland River.
Photo Robyn Khorshid.

2021 Ocean Built Gage Roads Race
 

Brendan Rice does it again.

Photo John O'Sullivan.

 

Michael Booth 2nd, Brendan Rice 1st, and Andrew Mowlem 3rd.

Race Results:

https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=231743

2021 WA Sprint Championships

It was a great weekend thanks to the organisers and volunteers.

It had a carnival atmosphere.

There were 90 separate races over the two days and about 150 paddlers took part.

Results here:

https://www.paddlewa.asn.au/sprint/#1496988661398-ba0530ea-87c8
 

I only paddled my C1 for 10 minutes in the last year as I gave it to Gary below to use  but I thought I would give the sprints a go even so.
My technique needs to improve but at least I didn't fall in.

As I don't paddle a high kneeling C1 very often I'm not that good, but what the heck it's good to be able to paddle every different craft. 

It's best to learn to paddle a high kneeling C1 when you are young.

Photo Lawrence Greed.
 

Gergely Balazs Nagy

This is how it is done.

Gergely or Gary started paddling C1 at a very young age and has represented his country coming third at the World Marathon Champs in C2 in 2019.

Everyone is impressed with his skills and speed he can achieve in a C1.

Photo Lawrence Greed.
 

Para paddlers Ben Sainsbury, Mark Daniels and Kathleen O’Kelly-Kennedy.

Photo Britt-marie Good-gerne.

 

Junior ladies.

Photo Lawrence Greed.
 

Photo Lawrence Greed.
 

Nicholas Greed, Matthew Greed, Jeremy Alderson and David Burdett. K1 200m.

Photo Lawrence Greed.
 

PRG paddlers Kate Martin and Sharon Cobley competing in their first Sprint Championships and taking line honours in their age group..
Photo Lawrence Greed.

 

Jade Lane paddling an Epic V9 at the Sprint Championships winning
the women's 40-49 500 and 1000 metre races

The Epic V9 is such a great all-round ski.

Epic 14X Kayak
 

Going on a weekend or a month paddling trip.

It has huge storage areas bow and stern for all your camping gear.

 

Epic GPX Kayak
 

A fantastic lightweight 4 metre touring kayak.

Storage enough for a weekend camping trip away.

Epic Boats Stands
 

Extremely stable. $180.00 pair.

You can't help but love to see the fine feathers of an egret.
 

It looks me right in the eye showing me its crooked neck.
 

Although it spends a lot of time wading in the water the crisp white of their bodies are always clean unlike some other white wading birds.

Avon Descent

CHANGE OF DATE

14^th & 15^th August 2021

The 2021 Avon Descent will be held for the first time in its history on the second full weekend in August.

After careful consideration the board of Northam’s Avon Descent Association has made the decision that the 2021 Avon Descent race weekend will be held on the second weekend in August. This decision has not been taken lightly, but will ensure we can continue to adapt to the ever-changing climate and water levels, and deliver a stronger training and racing season for all. Save the date!

 

2021 STARTS NOW

Want to start your Avon Descent journey in paddling?

Newcomers are encouraged to join Legendary Avon Descenter Terry Bolland’s FREE introductory paddle training courses held every week until mid-February in Bassendean

Free Sign Up

Keep an eye out for new training opportunities in the coming months.

We will be providing a range of new resources and technologies in 2021 to make it easier than ever to get involved.

 

Keep up to date on all the Avon Descent news and announcements

Avon Descent Facebook Page

Avon Descent Instagram Page

Avon Descent Discussion Group

A new discussion group to discuss everything Avon Descent related
 

Lunchtime on the Avon River.

Canoeing Down Under's white water course down the Avon Valley in 2002.

Back then most paddlers paddled 4.5m kayaks with the odd sit-on.

It wasn't unusual to have 22 participants and 6 instructors, split into two groups on the river on a Saturday and then on a Sunday.

And a smaller mainly women group on a Tuesday.

Some years we trained over 100 paddlers that entered the Avon Descent.

Those years have gone.

Now 14th February
 

Flatwater Guide Courses 2021

Paddle WA Board Member and senior instructor Leonie Cockman is running a series of Flatwater Guide courses for kayak, canoe and sit-on-top craft. Leonie is also able to qualify Flatwater Instructors on request.

Upcoming Courses
8th/9th February 2021 - Ascot Kayak Club
11th/12th February - Denmark TBC

Contact Leonie on education@paddlewa.asn.au for more information and bookings.