Inaugural NCC2009

Just returned from the inaugural WaterTribe North Carolina Challenge--more to come on that.

I didn't padde, though took all the gear, just in case. Still getting over a rather bad cold and didn't want to make it worse. Hard move.

But the photo above, taken by Doug-from-just-up-the-road sums up the true WaterTribe spirit. It took JarHead 90 minutes to get off the beach at the race start, but Marines *never* give up.

Nearly on the road again...

Nearly a year ago, we bought a 1970 Shasta Compact--FliesWithKiwiBird decided that she'd be happy to go on kayaking trips and the like, if she didn't have to wait from a small stuffy tent.

We bought the wee Shasta, complete with original wings (there's an entire new language in this community), from a chap in Greensboro, who very kindly delivered it for us. Yesterday, after Doug up the road had replaced the wheel bearings, I took it for its first spin, with the WeeOne fast asleep in the back seat. Doug followed from behind, taking the photo and checking out for alignment, tracking and the like. Happily to report, it was a dream to tow and everything looked just fine from the rear.

I've managed to get a bit of work done on the trailer, or caravan as we would say in NZ, but there's still quite a bit to do to get it "just right." The inside walls and ceiling had been painted with cream non-skid deck paint (we don't throw those kind of parties), which skinned one alive as one reclined. So I lined everything with a 2-3mm foam-type tan liner you'd see in plush cars--what a difference that makes, plus a huge scrub down everywhere else.

We threw out the old pretty rank squabs and bought new 4" foam--can't believe how much that stuff costs! We've covered those with sewn sheets to start with, until FliesWithKiwiBird finds the time to sew the real covers with the fabulous fabric we have hiding in a wardrobe. But the new curtains do need to be ready by Wednesday, as we're off to Cedar Island, out on North Carolina's Pamlico Sound, for the inaugural WaterTribe North Carolina Challenge 2009 (NCC2009).

Search on for Amundsen

Veteran Kiwi expedition leader Rob McCallum is leading a team to find the submerged plane of famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (above). Amundsen was aboard a Latham 47 flying boat (below) when the aircraft disappeared over the sea on its way to the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in 1928.

On 18 June 1928, Amundsen joined a rescue operation to save another competitor, the Italian aviator Umberto Nobile. Nobile had crashed his airship Italia on a return voyage from the North Pole, and he and his surviving crew members found themselves drifting helplessly on pack ice. Amundsen boarded a Latham 47 flying boat along with a team of French Air Force pilots to try to reach them.

McCallum and his team reckon the Latham 47 should have been about 19 nautical miles south of Bear Island when the plane's last radio message was picked up at 1845 on 18 June. Using an underwater robot, the equipment can get down to 20cm resolution on the sea bed. And it'll have to be precise as all that's probably left of the plywood-built plane is its engines.

More here.

It was a dangerous situation...

If I could only say that it happened as I was descending a three-metre swell while a few kms offshore competing in the inaugural around New Zealand kayak race; or fighting off a 30-kilo possum terrorizing the local neighbourhood.

Sigh. You know how tough it is trying to fit that last corner of the fitted sheet, when you're stretching it over and down? Well, it's not only tough but down right dangerous! Dang thing sprang back at me, and... well, you can see for yourself the damage inflicted.

A mallet finger--but in the technical sense, the extensor tendon's been separated from the muscles keeping that wee tip functional. I have a droop a Viagra ad agency would love to get their hands on.

I see a Duke orthopaedic surgeon on Thursday, but after heading directly to urgent care straight after the... accident, with three x-rays to show for my plight, it looks as though I'm wearing a splint full time for six weeks, and just at night for another six weeks.

At least the 24 hours of some agony has passed by in an ibrubrofen-induced haze, and no pain felt at all now. I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Spare me...

Entirely unrelated to kayaking, but somewhat with the great outdoors and everything "Kiwi-like", I can't resist revealing this fabulous air safety video from Air New Zealand cabin crew.

Thanks to Dana for bringing it to my attention.

Spare the blood

Day 3 of this year's WaterTribe Everglades Challenge, just off the coast near Wiggins Pass, I unclipped from my PFD my beautifully sharp (and expensive!) non-rusted (at all!) two-year-old Boye Pointed Tip knife (as above) to slice off a length of waterproof tape to relieve a hot spot on my palm. As I finished the effortless slice (how I loved that knife)--too effortlessly--it flew from my hands and spiralled down into the unseen depths below. For the rest of the EC I used either my teeth or borrowed SandyBottom's or KneadingWater's rusty, blunt PFD knives.

I was devastated by my loss. I really liked that (expensive!) knife.

After a suitable period of mourning, only now have I started the search for a new knife. Which got me thinking about doing a little more research into the intricacies of "the best" PFD-attached kayak knife, because, as we all know, research is half the fun of the purchase, particularly with anything related to water use.

First up is the debate on whether to wear a jolly knife on your PFD or not, which apparently is as heated as to whether to have a rudder on your kayak or not. Having been sold many moons ago on the "yes, I will wear one because it is a huge safety resource" side of the debate, I spent less time on the whys-and-wherefores. But, if you are still wondering yourself, Trevor Gardner of the NSW Sea Kayak Club has written an excellent article, The PFD Knife: Don't leave home without it. He left me with this salutory reminder:

"... it really doesn't matter what knife is on your PFD as long there is a knife on your PFD. A good quality knife is one of the most important survival tools you can carry. However, if you can't locate your knife when upside down with your eyes closed then it's no longer a survival tool, it's ballast."

After having reconvinced myself that I do need a knife on my PFD, I was now left with the question, which knife should I replace my beloved Boye with. The Boye was a folding knife, and I must admit, it wasn't easy to open with one hand, which can be pretty necessary in a dodgy situation. In this respect, I'm now convinced I should carry a fixed blade that I can pull down from its sheath and is ready for action in one sweep.

And I'm also moving from the pointed blade to the blunt tip--for obvious reasons--as well as adding a serration or two.

I contemplated tying the dang knife on to my PDF so it couldn't fall overboard, but running through various rescue scenarios in my mind nixed that idea--all one needs is another jolly line floating around while upside down.

And I don't want a knife in the $100 range or above, just in case I do lose it overboard again. But I don't want something that's going to rust with just a season or two of use. I found that the two factors--price vs. rustability--tend to be linked.

Let me warn you now, you can spend hours Internet-researching for the perfect (cheaper) PFD knife. But what I believe I'll now end up with is the Gerber River Shorty (as below). It's medium-carbon stainless steel, which isn't as robust as Boye's dendritic cobalt, but for around $30, I should be set.

Comments welcomed!

Hail, anyone?

New Zealand's been hammered over the last few days with water spouts, tornadoes and hail--in some cases, 10cm of hail!

Above is a shot of my cousin Helen's son, Mark, on Papamoa Beach (just south of Mount Maunganui, east coast of the North Island), surfing on a bed of hail. We grew up near here in Tauranga, and only once remember something similar as kiddies, many moons ago.

You can find more hail photos from around the country, here.

The big 2

The WeeOne turned two last Sunday.

Where did it go?

The secret project

While FliesWithKiwiBird was away with the WeeOne in San Diego a few weeks ago, I had ten days unfettered time to complete "the secret project"—a fence and gate across the side front of the house to keep the two-and four-legged critters inside the property bounds.

About where David took this photo used to run a stretch of chicken wire and failing wire gate that we'd inherited from the previous owners, so it's only taken me... nearly four years to get this built.

I'm especially proud of the gate—cedar on cedar, built from scratch. I used merge plates to bind the joins—hidden by the cedar planks on the other side—with three black hinges on the other side. I tried to make it look a bit like a barn door, as barns are one of the WeeOne's favourite structures (and one of his first words).

We particularly like the brick path, only found a year or so ago when I starrted digging around, hidden under a good 10cm of years-collected detrius.

Now you can glow, too

In a previous post I chatted about a new product called Glowfast Luminous Sail Tape and how useful this tape would be on my Pacific Action Sail when paddle/sailing at night.

The company's based in Oz, and Jason from Glowfast e-mailed me, writing that he'd break up a 40mm roll for me, as all I'd need would be about four metres.

Jason's happy to give this short-ordering system a go, so if you too would like to order less than a full roll of 25 metres, you can e-mail him at jason@glowfast.com, and easily pay via PayPal (whether you have a PayPal account or not).

I look forward to testing the tape out when it arrives from my near-neck of the woods!