• The Dolphins are back.
• Ascot Wednesday Night Race.
• Epics Have Arrived.
• Canning River Canoe Club.
• Australia Day on the Water.
• Down River Training Around the Buoys.
• A Morning to Remember
• Epic Kayaks & Skis
• Coming Events

I shed a tear or two last Saturday night and I got more of an appreciation what disable athletes or people who live with depression go through after watching the film Penguin Bloom.

Sometimes I think you need to watch certain films by yourself so you can let all your emotions out without the fear of being seen or heard sniffling. It means you can wipe your nose or dry your eyes without having to do it when the screen goes black.

To have the three Para Athletes, Kat, Mark and Ben talk about their experiences before the film was priceless. Thanks guys for doing that.

Warning: In this issue there are a several photos of the wildlife.

It was great following the dolphins and seeing a bird of prey dive down before me and snatch a fish from the water.

Australia Day morning couldn't have been better. Calm in the morning for the river paddlers and the wind came up in the afternoon to give the Downwind paddlers a good ride.

Just think of the people in the Northern Hemisphere who are in lockdown and the weather is cold and snowing.

The Dolphins are Back
 

Monday morning I followed mum and her calf for 3 kilometres. See more photos below.

I was paddling my tippy K1 so it was a little hard to take photos but I managed to get a few.
 

I said goodbye to these two beauties at Garratt Road Bridge.

Ascot Wednesday Night Race
Starts at 6.00pm

Winners Brett McDonald and Josh Richards were certainly in tune.
 

Look who's in front. I'm leading Darryl Long and Colin Grimshaw.

42 years ago I used to be faster than Darryl Long when he used to chase me along the river. He was 16 then.

41 years ago Darryl get better, a lot better and I have been chasing him ever since.

Tonight was the first time in 41 years that  I was in front of Darryl and it turned out being a photo finish, Darryl just pipping me by a hair's breadth.

(Forgot: Josh Richards and I beat Darryl and John Hilton in the Rod Fry Race.)

Epics Have Arrived
 

I fetched two loads of Epics on Thursday ready for customers to pick up.

I have been selling Epic Skis and Kayaks for about 18 years and I still think they are the best quality ski on the market.

It's hard to fault them.

Social Paddle

Meeting people on the river is one of the highlights of my paddles and living in the Bassendean area is probably the busiest waterway in WA to meet people. Groups from all over Perth and the Mandurah region will descend on Bassendean/ Bayswater/ Redcliffe area at some stage in the month.

On Sunday I didn't get a lot of speed training in after meeting several people on the river to have a chat.
 

I met Dave Gardner from the Canning River Canoe Club. We traded medical stories.

Photo Diane Greenaway.
 

Canning Canoe Club social paddlers at Sandy Beach.

The club is located around the Shelley / Riverton area.

Photo Diane Greenaway.

Perfect morning to be on the river.

The river was extremely busy on Australia Day with hundreds of paddlers, lots of rowers, SUP paddlers and heaps of power boats and it was such a beautiful day.

The PRG group went for a social paddle and later had breakfast at the club.

 

Paddlers practising ski remount.
 

Ramon and Marie  Andersson practising for the Sprint Championships this weekend.
 

Ready, Steady, Go.

My high powered training session on Australia Day evening ended up being more of a social trip with dozens of powerboats heading home, (surprisingly some weren't speeding) and there were a few birds to look at.
 

I took my camera with me just in case I would see something worth taking a picture.

I got some great pictures of this egret above. But then my camera suddenly went into a different mode without me touching it and the pictures came out like the ones below.
 

My camera somehow switched to a different mode.
 

I'm not sure why my camera suddenly goes into a darker mode and then changes back to normal but it's annoying.

Down River Training Around the Buoys

Friday mornings for 6 weeks

Friday from 06:00am - 7.15am

Claughton Reserve, Bayswater.

Free. New paddlers welcome.

Contact Terry for more information. 0417977330

The DR Group this morning.

 

After practise we have two short races.

Phil Edwards race winner.
Winner of the Avon Descent in the Down River Kayak category.
 

Despite there being one hundred metres of river that we were not using the rowers still came through our course.

It's the coaches in the power boats who should be advising the crews to move over.
 

Then the next boat came through.

Several other crews did have the sense to go around us.

Novice DR paddler Isabel Combe tackling the tricky buoy course.

She actually beat her partner, but I will not say any more.

 

Monday Morning

I love competition but I also love nature and sometimes nature gets in the way of a good training session, but I must admit I still go home on a high.

I have paddled all over the world on different rivers and oceans but I still get a kick of paddling in Perth.

We don't have bears, we don't have orcas or whales on the river but we have a lot of birdlife if you take the time to look.
 

I was paddling passed Ascot Kayak Club Monday morning when a paddler said, did you see the dolphins on the other side of the island. I turned my kayak and paddled downstream and I was soon rewarded. Mum and her young calf suddenly appeared. Last week there were three so I expect dad was working today or visiting friends.
 

I met Nikki at the Tonkin Highway Bridge. She looked a bit confused until I mentioned that I was watching dolphins.
 

I was in my race kayak so it wasn't easy to get a good picture or to know when they were going to surface.
 

We get closer to Riverside Gardens where I see Jenny, my wife at the dog park.
 

I coo-eed, she looked my way and saw the dolphins.
 

They headed to Garrett Road Bridge where I turned.
 

On the way home I stop to say hello to Jenny and Nikki. 

 

To my surprised I come across some small ducklings.

I didn't think it was breeding season.
 

A little further three Ibis were high up in a tree.
 

20 metres further a pelican stands alone although others were at different places along the river.
 

Back at Ron Courtney Island a Crested Tern sits on a 5 knot spit post.
 

And others on old post that used to stop erosion.
 

A White Faced Heron skirting the island.

 

On the other side of the island and a few minutes before heading home a large bird of prey sits high above the water. Was it an Osprey or a White Bellied Sea Eagle?

Monday night as I was coaching Jo we came across this Osprey (well I think it is an Osprey). After another spin of the island it was perched on another high dead tree at the south end of the island looking down. I got my camera out and as I was going to turn it on it dived straight down before me. It hit the water and surfaced with a fish and headed towards Tonkin Highway Bridge with it in its claws.
 

A Whistling Kite perches on the north end of the Ron Courtney Island.
Its partner was in another tree.

Epic Kayaks & Skis
 

GPX with or without a rudder. A smashing 4 metre lightweight kayak.
 

GPX and the V5.
Lightweight and manageable.
 

The 14X touring kayak. A great camping kayak or for just general paddling.
 

The very popular V9.

For more information, give me a call or email me.

Marathon: Canning River Race

7th February 2021

Start: Deep Water Point, Mt Pleasant.

Finish: Riverton Bridge.
 

Register 2021 Canning River Race 7th Feb

https://www.webscorer.com/register?raceid=231851

A Different & Interesting Paddle Course: Start on beach Deep Water Pt, Mt Pleasant, Up into sheltered Bull Creek, Out & up Rossmoyne/Shelley foreshore, Pass historic Prisoners’ Point, Under Riverton Bridge to Kent St along wilderness route, Back to Riverton, Into “Lo Quay’ for a coffee.

Great Guppy, Junior, Short, Novice Option, make sure you come and try it !