I returned today from a trip in the outer Marlborough Sounds. I made a decision to paddle in very bad conditions, maybe it wasn’t the right one, but here’s the story of how it all came about. Stay with me, it’s all relevant.
2020 has been an absolute prick of a year hasn’t it? I mean seriously, so many things, Covid 19/White Island Whakaari and everything else along the way. I don’t know about you but almost all my travel plans have ended in chaos this year. We had a trip to Samoa, kayaking and diving planned, for our wedding anniversary in April. Cancelled 2 days before we were due to fly. So to make up for it we planned a Christmas kayak trip in the outer sounds. The idea was to get dropped off by boat and spend a few days exploring and camping.
Things didn’t go according to plan….
About 3 weeks before Christmas our little fur-baby, Murphy Doglett McBaldwin (that’s him) got sick.
I came home after work one Monday and found him lying on the doorstep, he could barely stand up.
I rushed him to the vet and he was ketotic caused by diabetes. He spent four days in hospital but made it through. Being diabetic however means he needs insulin twice a day, so the friends who were going to look after him at Christmas were unable to. This meant we couldn’t both go kayaking, someone had to stay home and look after him. We decided that I would go kayaking for a few days and then Kirsty would head away tramping.
I rang Beachcomber and changed my booking, they were great to deal with. I showed up on the morning of the 27th December and loaded my Perception Scimitar and gear onto the boat. A little note here, I used my big divebag to pack all my gear in after first stowing it all in drybags and a dry backpack. This meant transporting all my things on and off the Beachcomber boats was a lot easier for me and the skipper.
I can’t recommend these backpacks from Kmart highly enough, they hold a lot of gear, are totally waterproof, rugged and can be worn as a backpack if you need to. At $17 each they are a steal.
Beachcomber took me and my kayak/gear out to Resolution Bay aboard ‘Tracker’.
Sam the skipper was great. As we headed out conditions were breezy but not bad around Picton and Waikawa. With a reasonably flat sea I was happy until we got closer to Tory channel. The SE wind was whistling through here and williwaws were springing up from Ruaomoko Point at the entrance to Tory Channel and shattering themselves on Snake Point at Bay of many coves — not a good look.
Further on things calmed a little but the wind was still over 20 knots on the instruments and the sea was short, steep and had a lot of whitecaps. Kinda like this.
After we dropped walkers at Ship Cove and Motuara Island we headed over to Scott Point to take a look at the conditions.
Conditions there were some of the worst I have ever seen in the sounds. High winds, 25knots gusting 35–40knots and huge seas from the southeast — a rare thing here. This did not look good. We took a look at a private jetty in a sheltered part of Resolution Bay, but getting off there would leave me totally trapped with no way out so Sam manouevred us on to the Jetty at Resolution Bay Cabins and I unloaded the kayak and gear.
I met an old lady there, Pat Sowman, who owns the Resolution Bay cabins. She kindly took me in and gave me a hot drink before I set off. We talked for a while and she said she would pray for a safe trip for me. I told her I was a Christian and I would appreciate that very much.
Sam said the next boat would be there in an hour and a half. It was the larger Tiri Cat, skippered by Phil.
Phil did well to get on to the jetty but couldn’t stay there in those conditions and after off-loading some bags, departed. The wind dropped a little, probably into the high teens and I made the decision to paddle. There were no more commercial boats that day and I was unable to stay at the cabins (fully booked). My last option would have been to leave the kayak there and walk in to Endeavour Inlet along the Queen Charlotte track shown below.
I set off from the wooden ramp outside the boat shed. Once under way, I couldn’t stop paddling as the seas could have turned me round and rolled me out I’m not sure how I would have coped in those conditions in the water for a long period of time, it was very cold out there too. I took my time, not trying to paddle hard, just to get used to how the boat felt in those conditions. Heavily laden she was very stable. I got a feel for it and timed my paddle strokes to match the seas.
It took me 2 hours to get to Scott Point, just over 3km from where I started and another hour to get down to the Pines where I was staying. The wind picked up again once I was on the water and the bigger gusts blew me backwards. No panic, just keep paddling and keep the bow into the wind. I stayed well out from the land in the deeper water, because the waves were a little less steep out there. I paddled past Scott Point before I turned so I had the wind over my left shoulder and never needed to be beam on to those seas. A few broke over my shoulders on the way out. After Scott Point I can tell you it felt good to head downwind and make some progress! This was still not easy, having to continually glance over my shoulder to see what was coming, but it was fast. One particularly big wave picked me up and tried to turn me round. I edged the boat and put in a solid low brace and then surfed off down the wave. I had to keep reminding myself not to get lazy and concentrate.
One of the hardest things was not being able to have a drink of water. I was thirsty but couldn’t risk grabbing my water bottle off the deck in front of me. I paused near the entrance to Tawa Bay, pulled up on the beach and had a drink. The wind backed off to around 15 knots so I jumped straight back in the kayak and headed off again. Sure enough, 2 minutes later it picked up to 20–25 knots again and got gusty above that. I didn’t care, from here it was a dead run downwind. I barely had to paddle other than for steerage. I found the main jetty at the pines and pulled up on the beach where the small creek runs. A couple of people were hauling a dinghy up the beach and gave me a funny look arriving all wet and bedraggled in a kayak in those conditions. Not another boat was moving anywhere out there.
I assembled my trolley and pulled the kayak up on to the QC track. A short walk led me to my accommodation up the hill at Clarice Buckland Hut.
The two very kind hosts looked after me and gave me a hot shower and fresh baked bread to warm me up. As per the forecast rain blew in on the gales so I took my cue from the weather and had a nap before the 20 minute walk to Furneaux Lodge for dinner.
On arrival they let me use the phone to check in with Wifey. When I headed into the dining room several people from the ride out on Tracker greeted me. That was nice. Dinner, a well earned beer and then a pleasant walk back to the cabin between rain showers.
I woke at around 6am and could hear the wind, a little less than yesterday but to me it still sounded malevolent and furious. And when I looked out the window the bay was full of whitecaps. I was due to paddle to Blumine Island but conditions were barely any better in Endeavour Inlet and far worse at Edgecumbe Point than the previous day. It’s only 4km from Edgecumbe Point to Blumine but it just wasn’t doable. Today I had a choice not to paddle and took it. My kind hosts phoned Beachcomber and they agreed to pick me up from Furneaux. I portaged my gear back to the beach, loaded up and set off for the 15 minute paddle to the lodge to wait for the arrival of Tiri Cat.
On the way back to Picton we called in at Miner’s Camp, also in Endeavour Inlet to drop off some luggage. The owner there looked at the kayak on board Tiri Cat and said “so you’re the crazy kayaker from Reso”. As we passed Edgecumbe Point, bouncing along in the awful seas I looked over at Phil, the skipper, and said “I made a good decision today”. He didn’t glance over, he was too busy, just nodded and carried on…….
So here are some of the things I learned:
- I have a very good kayak in that Perception Scimitar. She handled beautifully in those heavy conditions
- I carried a VHF, but when I tried to use it (on shore at Endeavour) I coudn’t raise anyone. Coverage in the sounds is patchy and a PLB is now on my shopping list.
- I am a better kayaker than I realized. That is the hardest paddle I have ever done, I can’t begin to say all the things I learned about paddling in heavy weather-maybe in another article if anyone is interested
- I learned how to pack and unpack my boat really well and very fast. Not one item got wet, happy about that
- As a sailor I am aware of how fast things change in the sounds. Being in a kayak is different, you are much more vulnerable
- Don’t be shy to ask for help. There are great people out there. Pat who looked after me at Endeavour Inlet, Sam and Phil from Beachcomber, Mathea and partner at the cabin, even the kind staff at Furneaux who let me use their phone (no cell coverage out there). I am grateful to all of these.
- Most importantly I learned about decision making. Things could have gone badly wrong. I should not have paddled out. However, once on the water, all the decisions I made were good.
- Don’t be afraid to share your experience with others. It’s not easy, many will criticize me, but you weren’t there were you? If more people wrote about the hard stuff, the bad stuff, the things did or could have gone wrong, we might all learn a little from it.
Would I do it again?
Sure, I’d love to do that paddle again in nice weather (like today dammit!). But I wouldn’t paddle out of there in those conditions again, not on my own anyway.
Lesson learned
