Life Member No 1.

Cecily was a member of the Tasmanian State Slalom and White Water team to compete at the National Championships in NSW in 1976.
In 1978 she was the first woman to paddle a sea kayak to Flinders Island from Tasmania.
In 1980 she was the first woman to paddle a sea kayak to land on Maatsuyker Island.
In 1981 she went back to Flinders Island and circumnavigated it.
In 1982 she spent two months sea kayaking in Japan.
In 1983 she spent two months sea kayaking in the Greek Islands.
In 1983 she paddled from Port Davey out to Recherche Bay, after celebrating Christmas Day in Port Davey.
In 1984 she spent two months circumnavigating the main island of Fiji by sea kayak.
In 1985 she again paddled to Maatsuyker Island, and saw out the New Year there.

In all those years she would have been in a kayak at least every two weeks, paddling a white water river somewhere in Tasmania, or cruising its coastline in a sea kayak. She was an inaugural member of the Tasmanian Sea Canoeing Club, and an inaugural member of the Maatsuyker Canoe Club (Sea canoeing).

You may be excused for thinking that Cecily was some sort of super dare-devil athlete, but in actual fact she took up canoeing as a middle-aged Mum. She originally got a canoe to fill in time while she waited for her children at the local sailing club, but enjoyed it so much she joined the Derwent Canoe Club and took it up seriously. She edited their magazine ‘The Southern Canoeist’ for many years, and was made a life member of the club.

Born on Flinders Island, she always had love for the sea - and this took precedence in her latter years of canoeing. Those early days were pioneering days in sea canoeing in Tasmania. There was only one mould available - the North Sea Tourer - which she used to build her own sea kayak. These were very basic boats compared to today. They had no rudders, no sails, no hatches or bulkheads, no pumps. To pack camping gear for two weeks meant waterproofing it in small packages so as to be able to squeeze them past the seat into the rear of the kayak, and to take the footrest out to poke gear into the front.

She not only just paddled a kayak, but was involved in developing some of the early gear we used. Cecily was only the second person to try a sail on her kayak, and developed the vinyl sail holder that is now still a standard fitting on most sea kayaks. She was responsible for making an important modification to early vinyl hatch covers - and these are still being made and used 20 years later, virtually unchanged.

Cecily was the Tasmanian Sea Canoeing Convenor, and was a delegate to Australian Canoe Federation meetings. She was a qualified Instructor.

Over the years her enthusiasm for all forms of canoeing was infectious, and it was a great shame that a serious illness, and now arthritis, have curtailed her activities. Nevertheless she still manages at least one trip a year with the Maatsuyker Canoe Club.

(Click on picture for enlargement)
Cecily in Japan in 1982