March 30th; 18 foot Kayaks Don’t Make Good Acrobats (though no arguing, spectacular ones!).

Log

Date: March 30th

Weather: overcast and cool

Swell: 2m building to 3.5m E

Wind: SE 18knts

Distance: 5NM

Camp: A little river valley along the coast

 

Back Country Cuisine Food Review

www.backcountrycuisine.co.nz

Meal: Beef Teriyaki

Impression: Yummy yummy yummy! Great taste, good portion, loved it! It is our second go at it and it is still good! Quite sweet however, we loved it!

Stars: 9 out of 10

Blog

The day had an ominous start for me, I awoke at 1am in the morning, worried that the increased wind would drive the waves at high tide, over the bar we camped on and wash us away, my logic told me this wouldn’t happen as we have checked and re checked it wouldn’t before we set up camp. There was evidence of it happening previous nights on a higher tide and larger swell. I sleep a bit more.

Day break, we are up and packing early, the wind is constant from the south east though not to strong, the sea is up a bit, though not too bad, it is forecasted to be huge tomorrow so we want to get south to try and avoid being stuck on a beach waiting for it to subside. While packing boats I put a hole in my dry bag and spend time repairing it, Dave loses a lid to a water container we spend time looking for it though never find it. We load the boats climb in a push off into the seaward flow, Dave is all confident and chirpy to get going and we a prepped to punch through the river mouth surf and get under way.

We round the corner and the surf is bigger than yesterday, I had checked earlier and it looked ok, though now with the wasted time, lower tide and increased river flow out, the surf zone was a bit more monstery! Just got to go with it and push through. Dave goes one way I the other, there is a chocolate look to the water and waves bounce back here and there and then we are in the surf zone. The first wave rears up and slams right on top of me, I lean forward to protect my spray skirt form being pushed of and I am tipped upside down, I roll up look over sea Dave upside down. I push through the next wave, look back and see Dave has rolled up and paddling out again. The next wave slams down on me again, I brace and protect my skirt upside down I go again, I roll up on my off side this time, looking over to Dave, he is swimming, ah piss!! Not how we wanted the day to start.

I get pushed out by the river flow and just have to wait and see how Dave goes, if I come in it is over for the day, I will give him one shot at getting back out before I come in. Dave drags the boat up on shore, starts emptying it, I have to paddle out as the river isn’t pushing me now and the wind is pushing me in. I turn back and Dave is gone! Where did he go? I wait and wait, and then I look to my left and see him paddling out through the surf. My smile goes ear to ear, good man that was a tough beach exit; he has learnt some stuff on this trip. We regroup and head south again.

An hour later we look top shore and see we have gone no wear, we are on some funny current tread mill, we pick up the pace and get out of the muddy waters and the pace improves, though not much. The wind was forecasted to die off, though it seems to pick up the swell increases as well. I tell Dave that we should turn back in an hour if things don’t improve, he agrees!

 

An hour later we have made, just barely 5nm, the weather isn’t much worse though certainly not better, there are options here for landing, little valleys in the cliffs, we either come in here or go back, Dave feels going in here is a good option, I agree, though hate the idea of landing on the steep beaches with dumping surf, but we must except challenges and must face our individual not likes. We get in closer and the beach is pretty dumpy, and there are some bigger sets coming through now, if we go back to the river they may get bigger, Dave is happy to come in here, I consent though hate the dumping surf! We wait and wait, trying to find the pattern in the sets to avoid the large waves, we think we have it, Dave is anxious to get it over with, I make him wait a bit longer then he goes in, I back of to give him space for the safety of both of us. A wave breaks in front of me but behind him, I see the wall of wash move away, Dave doesn’t appear, he must have side surfed it in, all he could do. I wait to see how he fairs, shit more big waves move in, this is not in the pattern we thought we had seen.

 

I see Dave flush off a wave upside down, another wave washes over him, I see him swimming with the boat, another wave washes over him, and he is gone from sight. I sit and wait, I can’t risk hitting him or being hit by his boat, so I need to wait to see where he ends up before I come in. I wait some more, no sign. Oh man, this isn’t fun, what’s going on that I can’t see, has he been sucked under by an under tow, is he unconscious?? All the worst case scenarios play out. We came in here to try and avoid another nasty landing, oh man.

Suddenly out of the surf I see an 18 foot green and yellow Kayak come flying into the air and summersault, “ Wow , that’s not good!” is state to myself and then think I hope it didn’t land on Dave! Ah piss! This is a bit of a screw up, the weather caught us out and the forecast was a bit off! I see Dave scrambling on the beach, but I don’t see the boat, “Oh man! He has lost the kayak and it’s getting minced in the waves” was my thoughts. He drags the boat up the beach, he is clear.

Ok he is safe, now it is my turn, “oh shit, I hate this stuff sometimes, and I really hate dumping surf!” I exclaim out load and follow in behind some big waves, I take my time, I back of a big face, it breaks underneath me as I slide of the back, I paddle my ass of behind it, the ones are small, I keep of them and done surf, I get really close to shore I look back a small wave is coming followed by an biggy, I want to get on the beach with the small one, I paddle hard as it passes under me a breaks on the shore, I ride it a little way up the beach to a stop, I go to get out though look seaward first, the bigger wave is already breaking and on me. I shrug my shoulders, brace for impact and get SLAMMED up the beach at blurred speed, the boat and I spin to face the sea as the wave recedes, I throw my paddle up the beach and leap from my boat, to find Dave there, holing my boat and paddle smiling. “That was cool how you spun backwards!” and he runs off to get his paddle from the surf. I don’t smile and turn my attention to his Kayak. “Dave must not have seen the damage as he is way too happy” I think.

 

I empty out his boat by tipping it over and I see straight away, it is mashed! The seams are split, there are big impact cracks. His boat did a pitch pole, where the nose of the boat gets shoved into the sand and the wave mashes the back of the boat over the front as it passes. The weight of the loaded boat bends the front at the week point and it flexes and breaks. Bugger! Dave comes back and I ask him if he has seen his boat. “Yeah the rudders bent!” he smiles, “No, Have you SEEN your BOAT.” he frowns, walks over and …..

It turned out, Dave never saw the spectacular circus display his boat did, and I had to explain why the cracks where there and he was heartbroken, this is what neither of us wanted to happen, and he had talked with me days ago, about not wanting to go past Napier any more as he knew his skills weren’t good enough to keep the boat safe and probably himself. I had agreed and we planned to Part Company in Napier, and I would continue solo if I could to at least Napier. This new incident just reinforced what we were both worried about and bloody hell only two days away from the finish too.

 

We unloaded the boats, lugged them up the beach to where we now camp, on a flat grassy clearing well back from the sea, we are here for at least a couple of days. We need to see tomorrow if we can fix the boat, and if not how do we end this???

Composite (fiber glass, Kevlar, Carbon) boats are a trade off over the tougher cheaper plastic boats, though there pluses are more than there negatives. Composite boats are more fragile than plastic, though it still takes a lot to break one, Plastic boats can be beaten, dragged and dropped, almost impervious to damage, though they too will break. other than that composite boats are lighter, can be made into much better performance designs than plastic boats and When they do break, can be fixed in the field, often stronger than they were to start with, where plastic boats often end up breaking again in the same spot and need all sorts of heat tools to get the job done.

This incident was unfortunate and Dave, even though swimming, was providing a seaward drag to the boat to try and avoid such an incident as this, though the one particular wave got the better of him. It looks like the boat should be easy enough to fix despite the brutal bashing it got, so all should be well. I am just Super stoked Dave didn’t get hit by the boat as it came crashing back down. The next couple of days will be an interesting twist to the adventure.

March 29th; Along the Hawke’s Bay

Log
Date: March 29th
Weather: Sunny but cool
Swell: 1.5m E
Wind: Light NE
Distance: 20 NM
Camp: Wairoa River Entrance

Back Country Cuisine Food Review

www.backcountrycuisine.co.nz

Meal: Classic Beef Curry
Impression: Man, Neither of us really like this curry, it is super strong flavored and a bit over spiced. If you are a real Indian curry lover you may like this one, though we dread having to eat it again, Dave didn’t even finish his. It is still very tasty and perhaps with more rice it would be tolerable.
Stars: 7 out of 10 I am sure we gave it more last time, though weren’t as hungry this time
Blog

Finally a weather gap and a chance to get away back on our trip. The stay has been wonderful here in Mahia, though too long and our determination starting to get clouded by outside influence, it is hard we meet people along the way and they enjoy us and come to care for us and then worry for us and plant seeds of doubt, you must fight to stay true to the mission involving outsiders in an adventure they may not truly understand.

Never the less we are thankful for all the help and hospitality the Crew at Mahia have given us, as well as everyone else along the way, it is the locals and personal interactions that have made this trip so special so far, however Dave and I have personal goals and Challenges to attempt to for full and we feel it is more than time to press on.
Everyone in the area who is curious comes down to see us pack the boat and push off into the calm water of the bay. We wave goodbye to the sad and slightly apprehensive crowd and paddle south again along the large Hawke’s Bay. The day is good we make good distance, the sun isn’t too hot, the swell not to large, however the forecast is for increasing swell (4m+) in two days, we hope to be in Napier before then.

We eventually reach the river mouth of the Wairoa River, and very near the Town of Wairoa, we discuss the options of coming in through the river mouth, or onto the beach and Dumping surf break. I insist the river mouth is the best option and we time the surf and paddle up into it. No problems we then have to paddle our asses off to get up it and make camp on the sand bar. It is a great night and we enjoy and very spicy meal and lots of chocolate for dessert then hit the sack ready for the next day. we can taste the end of leg 2, man it has been a long leg!

March 27th -28th; Recover and False starts

The day after the big paddle around Mahia Peninsula turned into a total lazy day of recovery and then packing gear ready for leaving the next day. We didn’t do too much really except eat and do a little work on the computer, we did go to the Morrere Hot springs . The Morrere Hot springs are an awesome natural spring up the road, it is tapped into stainless steel baths that you pay to use, very nice and in a great forested area, it was a much needed soak for aching well used bodies and we talked with some great people while there as well. That night we had a great feed of Fish ‘n; chips thanks to Dawn and then hit the sack ready to go for the morning.


I awoke early while it was still dark, to the groan of the cabin we slept in, as the wind battered it. I went for a pee. Man! The wind has come up and it is strong, I went back to sleep. Day break, still lots of wind, we get up and proceed as planned prepping lunch while eating breakfast. I walk down to the bay where the kayaks are, it doesn’t look to bad, but the wind is still strong. We decide to wait a bit and see if it dies off. We then take an offer for a lift down the coast to see what the exposed shore is doing.
It is going off, real big stormy swell rolling in strong, it isn’t impossible or reckless to go, though it wouldn’t be fun and we wouldn’t get far, so we call it off and end up going exploring the area by car with our friend Grace. What a beautiful area Mahia is, NZ is full of them of course and they all make you want to stay, however tomorrow we must go if the weather allows!!

26th March; Passing Portland

Log
Date: 26^TH March
Weather: overcast
Swell: 2m N
Wind: light to moderate N
Distance: 34NM
Camp: Dawns cabin Mahia Beach
 
Blog
Ok this day we had our shit together, we were going hard, prepared for a 10 -11 hour day, on the water early, packed gear in case we had to camp. at Dave and Margaret’s at 7 am, we carried boats down to beach, loaded them up, noted and liked the small surf we were to launch into, said goodbye to my Mum, Dave and Margaret who were taking photos and pushed out into the surf.
Dave went first and made a good go, I came second and caught him up while still in the surf zone, though I then had two big waves nock me back a fair bit. I felt lethargic, my heart raced and felt tired, oh could this be side effects from all the drugs and anti venom I have had? We got out back of the surf, I caught my breath, and we regrouped then aimed for the far point, Table Cape, and went for it. Now Mahia peninsula is a strange triangular shape on the end of a narrow neck of land. At the north is the first tip, then you run south to the next, then West North West to the inner tip and into Mahia bay. We needed to round it all to get to the cabin we were staying at.

The morning wind was light the swell small enough, as we got to table cape the winds increased and the swell form the north started appearing. The reef of the point at table cape was rough and choppy, though as soon as we rounded it was all with us for the next 19NM. Table cape is so named for the dead flat land that fringes the hills at the end f this part of the peninsula, quite a cool site really, especially for us looking towards the land at sea level and seeing dead flat land at our eye level just past the breakers, with cows and sheep grazing away merrily. Hard to believe the sea doesn’t just wash it all away until it is cliff.

We ran with the wind and waves’, catching some good surfing rides in the kayaks and making awesome head way. Nearing Portland Island of the southern tip of the peninsula we came across some awesome cliff formations, this lot was very volcanic in its origin again it seemed. The bay was almost clawed from the peninsula by a giant monster, lots of vertical grooves with sea caves and arches, very rugged and stunning to look at, despite the drizzling rain and the wind. At this point Dave commented “it would be nice to have two days to have done this as there is so much to see!” though we needed to push on the weather window may be small and we want to get around in one day. Then we found some awesome sea arches to paddle through, oh how spectacular this little bit is!
 
Portland Island got closer and became less of a hazy blur through the rain; we passed through the channel between main land and little island and then turned west. It was almost 3pm and we had just under 10NM to go, though the wind was now in our face wrapping around the mountains. We punched at it strong using the pocketed shoreline as shelter and rest stops as we went; the points had strong wind though once passed them it wasn’t too bad.

We rolled into Mahia beach at about 6.30 pm, loaded the boats up onto the lawn of some friendly locals and found everyone eager to find out if we made it and that there was a dinner party we had to attend. Everyone was well impressed that we got around in one day in such crappy conditions, though the reality was the wind had helped us a lot. We showered and then were shoved in a car and taken to an awesome dinner and sing along party till about 11pm, when we couldn’t stay awake anymore and where taken back to bed.
We had great thoughts of paddling on again the next day, though it wouldn’t happen despite the good conditions, as we were burnt out and had a lot of gear to sort out still.