The Road Less Traveled

…Coastbusters! (Sorry, bad movie pun…) I spent last weekend at Coastbusters, a sea kayaking symposium. I had a good time, learned a lot, and met some great people! And got exposed to the world of Greenland-style kayaks and paddling. Photos are here.

Friday evening was registration and separating into our “pods”, or smaller groups (akin to a pod of marine mammals), with a leader assigned. Since there were on the order of 160 people, this was a good way to get to know some people, and the pod then worked together several times over the weekend. My pod consisted of Philip, Warren, Jane, Lesley, Mark, Natalie, and Charlie our fearless leader.

The evening presentation was an introduction of the four Greenland Paddling experts who had come down to New Zealand for the occasion, Cheri Perry, Turner Wilson, Freya Hoffmeister, and Greg Stamer. They had some Greenland-style kayaks (or “qajaq“) and paddles on display, and showed both slides and video from the competitions in Greenland. Since hunting is not done by kayak anymore in Greenland (a bit dangerous, you know?!), they now have kayaking competitions to keep the culture alive. They have harpoon throwing for distance and accuracy, races, the “walrus pull”, and of course, rolling. There are 35 different rolls that have to be performed in the competition now! There is also a ropes competition, where moves are done on two ropes suspended off the ground. Practice can be done on the ropes year-round. Kids start young on the ropes, and in kayaks with outrigger floats attached! I expect that Cheri, Turner, Freya, and Greg will all be back competing in Greenland soon.

Saturday was a series of sessions on many different topics at Milford School on Lake Pupuke. It was hard to choose, because I wanted to go to all of them! One session was on sail rigs that people have adapted to kayaks, ranging from a simple pop-up sail on the bow suitable only for downwind sailing, to a carbon-fibre mast with a main and a jib and a half-dozen lines led to just in front of the cockpit for complete control! Other sessions I attended were on kayak maintenance and gear & gadgets.

After “morning tea and scones” (how delightfully civilized!), I went to a session by John Kirk-Anderson about his not-quite-circumnavigation of Stewart Island (the third largest island in New Zealand, just south of the South Island). What started out as a well-planned circumnavigation ended up being a risk-management exercise when he was pinned-down on the west coast of the island by storm after storm. With food running low, it was hike out and leave his equipment to try and recover later, or call in a helicopter. Since he had a way to receive weather forecasts (marine VHF), he didn’t make the mistake of trying to run for it between fronts and get dashed on the rocks. And since he had a way to call out (rented satellite phone), it gave him a way to be extracted before running out of food. A trip ended safely through preparedness and awareness of conditions, though the helicopter bill was no fun to receive!

I attended a session on “Photography from your Kayak” by Justine Curgenven. It turned out to be her tools and techniques for videography. Justine has done video for BBC, National Geographic, and her own DVDs. She has come up with various equipment to do video from a kayak, most notably a waterproof camera on a pole that can be attached to the front or back of a kayak to give an eye-level view of kayaking in surf, rough seas, with whales, etc. (She’s written-up her experience at Coastbusters and in New Zealand here.)

Later in the afternoon, the Greenland Four put on a wonderful demonstration of Greenland rolling techniques in the lake, including speed rolling, rolling with just your hands, and rolling while holding a brick! Freya put on the ultimate demonstration of balance by first standing up in her kayak with her paddle balanced on her head, followed by doing a handstand on her kayak!

Following this was the test of the plastic-cardboard boats each pod had made earlier in the day - a race out and back, whomever was first without swamping! Jane did a great job keeping our boat afloat!

There was an exhibit of kayaks, which included my Pygmy Arctic Tern, though mine was not at all in the same class as some of the strip built boats with inlaid designs and skin-on-frame boats. Many of them were so beautiful, that I couldn’t imagine putting it down on the sand of a beach!

Sunday morning were on-the-water sessions with my pod at Sullivan’s Bay at Mahurangi West. We spent the morning paddling, and doing different scenarios along the way - paddle strokes, rescues, towing, group travel, risk analysis, etc - along with a break for “morning tea” on the beach at Wenderholm.

After a BBQ lunch, then it was open to work on whatever you wished. I wanted to learn to Eskimo roll, so I don’t have to keep doing wet exits, and to feel more confident about perhaps going out on my own around the Hauraki Gulf. After watching other people for awhile and trying (failing!) to do it on my own, Greg of the Greenland Four helped me for a bit. Didn’t actually roll, but got to try a Greenland paddle, and go through the steps. It was also interesting to wander amongst the 160+ kayaks to see how other people have their boats set up and gear arranged.

Monday I had signed-up for small group sessions with the Greenland Four to hopefully actually do a roll. So, I took the afternoon off from work, and Cindy came with me so we could do a picnic at the beach, and she could take embarrassing photos of me. I listened to Greg introducing Greenland paddles and paddle techniques, then got a half-hour one-on-one session with Freya to work on rolling. Using her Greenland-style kayak, which is designed for rolling (narrow, low volume), I actually managed it a couple times by the end of my session. Then I tried it in my kayak with my paddle, and of course failed miserably! With some additional coaching, I almost succeeded a couple times. I’ll definitely need to work on it more.

It was a great weekend. I really enjoyed all the people I met and talked with, including my fellow pod members, the Greenland Four, Marcus from California, the skin-on-frame group from Wellington with the cool “Qajaq Aotearoa” (Kayak New Zealand) t-shirts, Anna from Fiji, and Gerry Maire (whose brother Peter founded Navman, the company I work for). Thanks to Paul Hayward and his team of Red Shirts for putting on such an excellent and well-organized event.

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Local New Zealand kayak clubs include the Kiwi Association of Sea Kayakers and the Yakity Yak Kayak Clubs.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Greenland-style paddling, check out Qajaq USA.
If you’re in my native Pacific Northwest, check out the SSTIKS, the South Sound Traditional Inuit Kayak Symposium.

With Sarah back at Reed, and Cindy off visiting her family in Gig Harbor for a couple weeks, Max and I were baching it (…and I don’t mean hanging out at a bach at the beach!). I of course was busy at work during the week. Max was spending time getting ready for school to start, reading (the “Silmarillion” by J.R.R. Tolkein), and creating a world and associated language (and even a computer font!) for his next Dungeons and Dragons (”D&D”) campaign.

We got our bicycles ready (after being stuck in a container for months), and I rode with Max to his D&D game at a friends house, then rode back later to come home with him. I was able to start back to commuting by bike (~20-25 minutes each way), which I really enjoy - get some exercise, save on gas, and feel re-energized both in the morning and after I get home. Max went out for bike rides exploring the area, and now is riding to school each day.

I got my kayak ready (also after being stuck in a container for months), we rented a kayak for Max, and went out one afternoon. It was pretty windy, so we slogged through the waves for about an hour-and-a-half before calling it a day for our shakedown cruise.

We did our usual Tuesday night at Laserforce, and also tried another laser tag place.

We watched a hilarious look at D&D players in “The Gamers“, where the film alternates between the college students rolling dice in a dorm room, to live action where their “characters” are in the “real” world. I loved the thief who rolled high enough to successfully steal the pants off a guy at the bar, and how the character for a player who was absent was always standing off to the side. And of course the coed who would come yell at the geeks to shut the f*** up as she was trying to study. (Guess who the princess was who they were trying to rescue in their campaign?!). And a great surprise ending!

In watching the extras on the DVD, we found out that it was produced around the Pacific Northwest, and even credited a couple SCA groups that Cindy and I used to play in (The Kingdom of An Tir, and The Barony of Blatha An Oir in Tacoma)! We didn’t recognize anyone in the film, but did recognize some of the old WWI bunkers like at Fort Worden.

I took Max in to get registered for classes at school, and pick up his uniform. I also took him shopping for school sandals (must be brown or black leather) and shoes (must be black leather) for the first and last time - Max takes after my brother, in that he likes to wear nice clothes, and is very particular about what he buys, where I’m more traditional beach bum t-shirts, shorts, and bare feet where possible! So where my approach to shopping is as little as possible, get in and get out, Max needed a couple hours to find sandals that were just right… Next time, he goes with Cindy or on his own!

Max really surprised me a couple nights after work, by having not only cooked dinner, but also having the table all set as well! (Of course, I managed to be late getting home from work those nights, which he may never forgive me for!)

One task I wanted to get done before Cindy got back was to really be unpacked and set up. So, I got the garage all organized (camping, bicycling, caving stuff, tools, etc.), all my software books and files unpacked and shelved, built stands for my kayak, set up all the computer and office stuff, and got all the electrical stuff organized. (I brought four transformers for the 120V stuff we brought - small TV and DVD/VCR for our movies, CD player for music, a couple kitchen appliances, a few lamps, all the computer stuff and chargers, Max’s fan and clock radio.)

The other task to tackle was to get everything cleaned up (no, not from the wild parties) before Cindy got home - just to remind her what a nice, thoughtful guy I am! - So, while Max cleaned up his stuff, I spent the day cleaning the car, patio, floors, windows, kitchen, bathrooms, laundry… Don’t let anyone ever downplay the work required to run and maintain a household!

It was great to go pick up Cindy at the airport on her return - my bride, my partner, mi amore!