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From The Sea Canoeist, Vol 1
1980
The Australia Day long weekend seemed to have everybody doing their
own thing, but Owen Ritson from WA was interested in a sea trip so I didn’t
cancel it as I had planned to do. Owen had just completed a trip down the
Franklin River by canoe, and was now getting as much bushwalking and canoeing
done as possible before returning to WA. I borrowed Rhys Filbee’s Nordkapp
for Owen; Steve Whelan came in a North Sea Tourer, Peter Ford in the modified
Splinter, and myself in the Longboat. The day was ideal, a very light N
to NE against us as we paddled under the sheer cliffs in this are, and
into many sea caves, some I was seeing for the first time. A couple of
them were so deep you had to sit in there for some minutes to become accustomed
to the gloom, the swell being almost non-existent. After having a good
look round inside the Deep Glen Bay cave we landed at the head of the bay
on the rocks for lunch. Here Owen gave us a good run down on the Avon Decent
in WA, a two day race open to speed boats and canoes, with a lot of portaging
at low river levels.
This is an ideal little trip, all the more enjoyable with a visit to the Dunally local on the drive home. You may notice a certain pre-occupation with beer in many of my reports,
but please don’t get the impression I’m an alcoholic. Really I hate the
stuff, and only force the occasional few down in the interests of safety
as recommended by J. Ramwell in his book SEA TOURING. Well, maybe he doesn’t
come straight out and recommend it, but I will quote a couple of lines
from page 23. “A superbly fit athlete will not be able to remain in the
water as long as a canoeist who supports a substantial ‘beer gut’”, so
there you are, if your wife wants a reason for your drinking, tell her
it’s in the interest of safety.
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