A Happy Heron Release

Saturday 29^th May

I received a phone call from the Kanyana Wildlife Centre about midday on Saturday to tell me that the White Faced Heron was ready to be picked up. It had recovered and now getting impatient of being in care and wanted to be free again.

So at 1.00pm I took off and within minutes the rain was thundering it down and made driving a little risky. Nevertheless I reached the Wildlife Centre, carried my box inside and the volunteers went to catch the Heron. As they gave it to me I could see from their joyful faces that giving back an injured bird to be let back to the wild was very important to them.

The rain had eased so my drive back was less stressful and when I arrived home to pick up Jenny the storm had past.

We drove around the corner to let it free at Claughton Reserve, Bayswater which was opposite to where I had rescued it. As I lifted the box from the car it was certainly more active than when I placed it in the box on Monday. I risked being pecked putting my hand in the box but I didn’t want it to get hurt trying to fly out. With the lid as open as I dare have it, I gently wrapped my hand around its body and lifted it out. With it being a little irritated it opened its beak showing its teeth and the back of its throat but it soon calmed. After a couple of pictures and I placed it on the ground, opened my hand and it skittled away, rose up and flew into the nearest tree.  

Within seconds it jumped from a lower branch to a higher one and then up to another higher branch where it settled. It looked content sitting there watching over the water and eyeing up its home 150 metres away across the river.

A car had pulled up as I let the Heron, now called Harley go. A man and two children stepped out and were interested to hear what we were doing. They also had an interesting story;- they had a 14 year old dingo that they were taking for a walk.

Thirty minutes had gone by and Harley was still high in the tree, at times pruning herself. Then after about 45 minutes Harley took off and flew across the river and landed in a swampy clear area about 20 metres from where I found her. So that was it, Harley was free.
 

I went for a paddle later but Harley was nowhere to be seen.

To start my 7000km Challenge in my 70 year, I decided to paddle 70 kms on my 70^th birthday. I hadn’t paddled that far for a couple of years but I knew I had done it many times before so I was pretty confident.

I didn’t feel like paddling too early in the cold so I had breakfast as the sun was coming up over the river and on the water by 7.30am. I headed towards the city with the sun behind me and an ebbing tide that was with me. It was perfect. I spotted a dolphin but it was headed upstream so I was unable to go with it. A pelican was sitting next to a fisherman in Maylands like it was a relative just hanging around. The area was also busy with swans and other water birds.

I was soon heading towards the new Matagarup foot bridge, it was quite impressive when you are underneath it. A lone paddler was ahead of me as I headed out into Perth water heading along Riverside Drive to Elizabeth Quay. I had a quick paddle around the quay and headed back upstream meeting a group of paddlers near the footbridge.

After 29 kilometres I arrived home so I popped in to see if Jenny needed me to do anything as she has her arm in a sling and can’t do much. I also had a quick coffee and a banana and a piece of birthday cake that the PRG group gave me. I needed a bit of sugar.

With 29 kms down and 41 kms to go I knew I was going to achieve the kms. Opposite Fishermen Bend in Bassendean a few darters had gather and two nests had young darters making a racket. Amongst the group was a darter with fishing line wrapped around its beak. I was able to sneak into the branches of the dead tree which it was on and I was a hands length from grabbing it as it was on a lower branch. It launched itself underwater so I now had no chance to get it so I moved on hoping it was going to be there when I returned.

Ducks and other waterbirds scattered across the water before me as I headed further upstream against a fairly strong current fed by the Avon River and the tide. I passed under Middle Swan Bridge and headed 5kms further to Maali footbridge which is between Douglas and Barrett Street.

The current was even stronger so when I arrived there I decided to go no further, I pulled ashore and had a few nuts and a banana. I was at 46.28 so I only had 23.72 kms left to go and it was with the tide. Ducks, Ibis, Herons, Darters, Cormorants, Grebes, and a lot of other birds took my attention on the way home. I stopped at Fisherman Bend and the Darter with the fishing line was still there, still on a lower branch and again I was really close to grabbing it. It jumped off and fled under water before I could.

There wasn’t a sole on the water until I reached Sandy Beach. I did a circuit around Ron Courtney Island and stopped at Ascot and had a chat with Nina. I still had 5 kilometres left to go so I headed back upstream for 2-1/2 kms to make sure I did the 70kms. On the last 2 kms my garmin said my battery was low. I was hoping it wouldn’t turn itself off until I did the 70kms. As luck should have it I reached Ascot without it dropping out and it read 70.06 and I still had 400 metres to reach home. Andrew Crothers was on the Ascot beach to see me record the 70kms and like most people he thought I was a little crazy.

At briefing the rain tumbled down causing paddlers to wonder if they had dressed wisely including me. I was already wearing my Vaikobi warm top but the cool rain squall enticed me to put on my short sleeved cagoule. I didn’t know if I would regret it though if it turned warm.

Josh and I checked out my Epic double kayak, did a lap around the island and were ready to go. The race is one of those races that can be torturous. It was 23.5kms, much longer than the races we had done this season and when we return to where we started back at Ascot we have to go around the island and do the same course again, so if this race doesn’t get you physically, it can get you mentally especially if you are not fit.

We lined up between Grant and Lawrence who said they were on fire and Matt and Simon who we knew would throw out a real challenge. Ian shouted go and we were off and within less than 50 metres the double of Benjamin and Charlie Hewitt cut across our bows from the right in an attempt to get on the wash of Matthew and Nicholas Greed and Brett and Peter Tomczak’s wash, who were to the left of us and by doing so unsettled about 3 boats. When we settled back into paddling we caught the pair up within 500 metres. Matthew and Nicholas and Brent and Peter though were much too fast, they just faded in the distance. 

Josh and I sat behind Ben and Charlie for a few hundred metres but Matt and Simon were pushing us and attempting to get ahead so I thought we better get on  Ben and Charlie’s wash before they did. The next 4 kilometres the three boats sat side by side with some attempts to break away. There was no sign of Grant and Lawrence! Then about 300 metres before Barkers Bridge the fast K1s started to catch up and that wasn’t good. I first thought that Ben and Charlie were going off to the shore but in fact they were moving over to washride the K1s. Having 7 K1s and 3 doubles fighting for a place around the bridge was going to be very interesting. We all came together at the bridge with the K1s just being a little in front. I decided to take the outside channel as it was going to be impossible to go through the second channel where we usually go and where most paddlers went. It worked out quite well and although we lost the pack, we were better off than Matt and Simon.

Will Lee led the way in the K1s with all the other K1s only metres behind him. We came out of the turn slightly behind Ben and Charlie but they put a spurt on and managed to catch up to the K1s and ride their wash on the right. We hit all the messy wash and were left behind but after doing our own spurt we managed to catch up with the K1 pack, but the water was stirred up like being in some sort of washing machine. However we did manage to ride a wave at times, but the waves kept fizzling out and after 800 metres we were lost in the wilderness watching the K1s slide away from us.

Now we were on our own so we had to be disciplined to keep up a good pace knowing that Matt and Simon were not that far behind and that they would have us as a target. For 2 kilometres we had no idea where they were, but then we started hearing voices which wasn’t what we wanted to hear. I started moving over to the left in the hope they would come up to us on the right but Matt was too smart and caught up on our left, which would give them an advantage when we turned around the island and when we turned at Barkers Bridge for our second time, that’s if we together at that point.

When we were passing the start line at Ascot KC Simon checked his watch. The record for the over 45 double ski was 1.57.37 held by Mark Sedgwick and Hugh Trivett and at the speed they were going they would break the record. After rounding the island and heading back for our second lap we were still together and well ahead of Grant and Lawrence who would find it near impossible to catch us up unless we capsized.

The trip back to Barkers Bridge was an easy duel with Matt and Simon but at the Bridge turn they did have the advantage being on our left and although we tried to turn inside of them, their ski was too long making us have no option to keep to the right of them which pushed us too close to the pylons making us hit the pylons with our paddles and for them to get three boat lengths ahead.

Now being several boat lengths behind I asked Josh to pick it up and when he put the power down the boat surged ahead and we were soon back on their wash. They were hoping they had left us behind but it wasn’t to be. The pace lifted a little more than on the way up but it wasn’t full speed and at the 2 kilometre mark James Morfitt and Mitchell Tamblin started coming up beside us so the pace got faster as they tried passing us. We passed Sandy Beach as Ray Smith senior was taking a short break near the beach on his way to paddle his second lap. We felt for him.

James and Mitchell seemed to have exhausted themselves as we kept in front but the next thing we knew was that they had changed sides and were coming up on our right. We moved around the corner together and that’s when Simon noticed some fishing line hanging off Mitchells kayak.

The finish line was now 550 metres away so the pace was quickened. I waited for the 250 mark and I lifted the pace to the next level. Josh also lifted and we started to fly and managed to get our nose ahead and all I wanted to do was to keep our nose ahead and we did. James over to our right made his move and although it looked as if we crossed the line level, he beat us by .3 of a second. James and Mitchell did start 2 minutes behind us. It was good to beat Simon and Matt although I thought we had beaten them by a second or two but it was less than a second. Their time was 1:55:04.8 so it meant they beat the 45+ record by 2 minutes 33 seconds. The trouble was Brett and Peter were also in the 45+ and they were a long way in front.    

LiveLighter Paddle Challenge 2021

Sunday 13th June | AP Hinds Reserve
Entries are now open for the 2021 LiveLighter Paddle Challenge!

The race is sure to be bigger than ever, with the number of outriggers, SUPs and Dragon Boats increasing at every event! This year, the race will also serve as a qualifying event for the 2021 Avon Descent 🌊 And as always, a wide range of race distances is on offer so that everybody can pick the best challenge for themselves!

18km Long Course
11km Short Course
6km Novice Course
3.5km Guppy Course

Registrations close 10.00am on Friday 11th June. Please contact develop@paddlewa.asn.au for all queries.

IOP DownWind Race Dates

Here’s the IOP tentative 2021-22 summer race schedule.
Some of the dates are still tentative requiring DOT approval.

Winter Race Dates 7.00 am Start. 6.30 am rego.

Sat June 19^th
Sat July 24^th
Sat Aug 21^st

Summer Series:

Sept 18^th              IOP. (Swanbourne to Sorrento). (19^th backup).
Oct 16^th                Australian Masters Games. (Fremantle to Sorrento).
Oct 30^th                IOP. (Fremantle to Sorrento) (31^st backup).
Nov 14^th               Mandurah Duel.
Nov 20^th               West Coast Downwinder (21^st backup).
Nov 23^rd               SSS#1 Tuesday.
Nov 25^th               SSS#2 Thursday.
Nov 27^th               The Doctor.
Dec 1^st                   AOCRA Series Race. Skis invited on the Snapper Course (Wednesday).
Dec 2^nd                  SSS#3 Thursday.
Dec 4^th                  King of the Cut, Mandurah.
Dec 18^th                Christmas Paddle – Swanbourne to Sorrento. (19^th backup).
Jan 15^th                 Gauge Roads. (16^th Backup) (29^th & 30^th also backup).
Feb 19^th                Drummers Run. (20^th backup).
March 26^th           IOP Race TBA.