Intro to Sea Skills for the Lismore FNC Canoe Club members.

Karen Dallas conducted this course on Saturday 5 May at Arrawarra Bay, north of Coffs Harbour. 

After much trepidation forecasts were for 4m swell and strong wind, the weather turned out to be picture post card perfect. The sun on the waves on Arrawarra Bay in the early morning was breathtaking.

Arrawarra Bay on a perfect autumn morning.

This was a fantastic day. Karen Dallas, a qualified sea instructor, was very clear in her instructions and planned the day very well. She was assisted by her husband, Col and sea skills trainee Trevor Saunders, as stated by Colin Cussel

Tim Limbert, Richard White, Lynn Delaney, Chris Allen, Colin Cussel attended from FNCCC. Sean Harrington from Coffs harbour, who was on the recent Paddle for Life, and Lynn’s friend, Fiona, also attended.


Paddlers began the day with some theory instruction. Paddlers then practiced their strokes on the grass leaning against the hill to mimic the slope of the wave. Then progressed to traversing the broken waves in the “slop zone,” in line with the beach, so they could get used to handling the waves side on and learning to brace into the wave. 

Karen standing in water directing proceedings

Then practiced our paddling out through the waves and paddling in backwards, so we could get used in and out through the breaking surf zone.



Some of the paddlers enjoy morning tea and a well earned rest.

After morning tea we all ventured out and caught waves into the beach with varying degrees of success. Our last activity was deep water entry in the ocean. We practiced both assisted and unassisted re entries.

Colin Cussel  said we all learnt so much. Thank you Karen. Hopefully the same group can get together for more practice and perhaps another day of instruction from Karen.



Mariner 12.5 Propel WINS Diawa Hobie Bream fishing round in the Clarence River NSW 29th April.

Congratulations Justin Thompson of Brisbane QLD, whom purchased the Native WaterCraft Mariner 12.5 from Skee Kayak Centre.
Justin is a keen angler and the opportunity to compete in the kayak fishing series was a way to see new areas, meet new people and compete in competitions while catching bream.
The series qualifier was held on the Clarence River on the North Coast of NSW.

It was the reverse capability that allowed me to coax the fish away from structure. I was using 2lb straight through not 3lb and my bag weight was 1.83 kg. Big bream came as my last fish to fill my bag. Said by a very proud Justin.

 

The versatility of the craft makes it a good stable platform to work from. Justin can stand and still move his kayak around by using the Propel pedals with his hands, not too many kayak to do this.
Also being able to reverse simply by peddling in the opposite direction is a plus when chasing fish that like to swim into/ or under structures.

Photos courtesy of Justin competing in the Mooloolaba round.

We wish you luck and tight lines for the rest of the series of tournaments.