My employment provided me with a good excuse, but not full funding, to travel Down Under (to Australia) in early September, and I was able to extend that to a several day stay in Sydney, where I decided it would be fun to make the acquaintance of our Paddlewise "Who We Are" list maintainer, Peter Osman, and hopefully see Sydney as I most hoped to see it - from the seat of a sea kayak. Peter very graciously allowed me to invite myself for a paddle, and thus a wonderful kayak trip commenced. Our meeting was at my hotel, practically under the Harbor Bridge in Sydney. Apparently our minds started down the same track and before our agreed-on meeting time, we both decided to breakfast in the hotel so met there rather than curbside. Peter's car wasn't hard to spot with two kayaks on the roof, and soon we were off across the bridge and heading for Skiffies at the Spit, and a sand beach between two yacht clubs for a launching site. Dennis Maina joined us so we were "three for the sea" on our trip. Peter and Dennis both paddled Pittaraks; I paddled a red Q-Kayak Penguin. I found this kayak extremely user-friendly - stable under the conditions we were paddling, easy to turn, with a comfortable seat and backrest. What is a bit unusual about this boat is the amount of rocker, which made it easy to turn, but very wind-sensitive. Light crosswinds made me of a mind to drop the rudder, which would be a necessity for stronger winds or paddlers with less balanced strokes. It was very comfortable for our trip, which had us on the water from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. I of course credited myself with bringing the superb weather with me from Texas: mild to almost non-existant winds (on a day where 20 knot winds were in the forecast), warmth with just enough overcast to keep us from overheating. Peter's brag that this is one of the best urban areas of the world for sea kayakers must be on the mark. Sydney Harbor is ringed by a national park for most of its waterline east of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, where we were paddling. Our path took us past Dobroyd Head with its lighthouse and cliffs, on around the bay past Grotto Point Lighthouse, crossing the path of the Manly ferry to Manly Wharf; then to Quarantine Beach and its Little Penguin Sanctuary. Unfortunately the Little Penguins were out to sea so I never saw one, but at least it presented a photo opportunity. We poked out into the open sea just around North Head. Peter and Dennis were exclaiming that they'd never seen this area, or South Head, in such benign conditions. They pronounced those Pacific swells as only a half meter in height. Compared to the usual Gulf of Mexico sea state, they looked quite respectable to me and I was duly impressed by the thunder of their rising up and crashing onto the rocky cliffs and beach by the harbor entrance. Peter had told me what a strong paddler Dennis is, and I admired his strong, controlled strokes. He was hardly taking four to every five to six of my own and gave every impression of being capable of a whole lot more - thankfully for myself, he was at a casual tourist pace for the day. Peter was well dressed for any conditions. Our lunch stop set the place aside as a wonder-spot for urban kayaking. We pulled our boats up on yet another beautiful sand beach at Balmoral, left most of our gear with the boats, and strolled down the avenue to an open air lunchroom totally amenable to sandy wet shoes and paddlers' appetites. I've never done this in the U.S. - an accommodation to be aspired to! Our last leg of the paddle took us under the Spit bridge and past Beauty Point - unbeautified at its upper reaches with a boat graveyard that made for more interesting paddling. Our takeout at Skiffies afforded us a short walk to Middle Harbour Yacht Club for drinks and tall stories to wind down a wonderful day of paddling. Thank you so much, Peter and Dennis, for a great day on the water and the best kind of urban kayaking encounter. Natalie Wiest Galveston, Texas USA If you'd like to see photos that accompany the text, they are posted at: http://www.tamug.edu/paddler/Kayak%20Trip%20Reports/PeterOz.htm *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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