Although mid-winter, there still seem to be just as many trips going on as during the summer period, but maybe not by quite so many. One trip I’m not likely to forget was a recent one on Lake Pedder (not exactly a sea trip, but touring boats were needed). “Come and see the full moon from the top of Mt Solitary” the trip leader said. HA! We paddled across to Mt Solitary (now an island due to the flooding of Lake Pedder), climbed the mountain in the late afternoon, camped on a 45 degree slope in the rain and mist half way up, and next day fought a gale to get back home. It doesn’t sound much fun but we all enjoyed it and it just goes to show that there is no reason to stop canoeing just because it’s winter. With the correct gear it shouldn’t make a lot of difference.

And how do you find the correct gear? Mainly by trial and error, and with advice from other experienced bush walkers and canoeists. They will all have a different recommendation, just as we all prefer different types of sea kayaks, and for this reason I wouldn’t place too much store on expedition reports – they generally only give one or two person’s point of view, and are usually heavily biased in their sponsors favour. Lets face it – if you are given several thousand dollars worth of boats and gear you are not likely to come back and say it’s the worst thing you’ve ever used – otherwise your chance of getting sponsorship next time is going to be slight. The sponsors will be very wary of you. At the very best you are going to be non committal.

Another unwelcome aspect is the attempt to bring competition into sea canoeing. A lot of our paddlers were competition paddlers and have drifted into sea canoeing to get away from competitiveness and now just paddle for the sheer enjoyment of communing with nature. Now we have ideas of an orienteering type competition in sea kayaks, so you can charge round from checkpoint A to checkpoint B to checkpoint C in an endeavour to beat the rest of the entrants – it’s certainly not my idea of sea canoeing.

As promised in the last issue, I have reprinted the West Coast report (written at Telecom’s request) and any one wishing to do this trip in Jan next year should contact me as soon as possible. If there is no great demand for it then I will be doing an alternative trip with the club.

Also included in this issue is a ‘Movement Report’, which comes in a duplicate form, one copy folds up like an aerogramme and is already addressed to Marine Ops in Canberra. The other copy you leave with your friendly neighbourhood policeman. Personally I prefer not to fill in this type of document as it ties you down to a finishing date, when in fact you may rest up for a week longer than expected because of the weather. Or you could change your destination because of the weather and actually go in the opposite direction to your original plan.

Our HF radio solved this problem as we can call Hobart from anywhere in the state every couple of days – so if a three week trip turns into a five week trip nobody gets alarmed. The beauty of this radio is that it runs off ordinary torch batteries – for at least 21 days, and in fact the same set of batteries is quite often in use for up to six months. The other selling point is that when you land on a beach you just throw a rope over a tree and haul a wire up for the aerial, if there are no trees then a couple of long pieces of drift wood will do. Contrary to some opinions it does not require height to get through. We have used it from many beaches down the west coast, and from islands in Bass Strait, a distance of several hundred km from Hobart. Naturally it is fully waterproof, and although probably out of reach of most clubs price wise, maybe state associations could purchase one and hire it out to clubs engaged in multi day trips. Maybe you don’t think you are going to get into trouble and won’t need it but its very reassuring for families (and the Police) to know your whereabouts and that all is well.

The other thing that is much more important for state associations to do is to make sea touring moulds available. Everyone has access to several river moulds, but I believe there are no sea touring moulds available on the mainland. It seems fairly ridiculous for sea canoeists to be paying upwards of $350 for a boat when they can be built for $130 upwards. One of the reasons sea canoeing has grown in Tasmania is the number of moulds readily available for hire. No one design is going to suit everyone so you need a choice. Here in Tas we have six recognised sea kayaks (not counting the Longboat and Modified Splinter) and Adrian Dean’s new touring double is now available. Dave McInnes has built the first one and fitted his own deck and hatches and it looks exceptionally fast and sea worthy. I was present at its launching but will leave it to Dave to comment on it – he has used it quite a bit since then and is enthused with it. Maybe we may get a brief report and photo of it in the next magazine.

Laurie Ford