This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
he moonlight glistening off Te glassy calm water, the kayaks slipping through the water as we made our way back from the yacht “Aquella” to our idyllic campsite in Port Hardy, D’Urville Island. That was the opening of 1999, the year of the kayak for Ann, John, and myself. Our friends on board Aquella had looked after us well for New Year’s Eve with Christmas pud topped with brandy sauce and numerous samples of wine, Scotch whiskey and liqueur. An entertaining and special start to 1999! The year that followed included a collection of brilliant sea kayaking adventures starting with our 10-day paddle from French Pass around D’Urville and along the coast to Rabbit Island and Nelson. The next adventure was John’s and my crossing of Cook Strait in May and then a fortnight later the Queen's Birthday weekend paddle from Motueka to Takaka, taking in the beauty of the Abel Tasman en route. In August John and I escaped the NZ winter for 14 days to explore the north-west coast of New Caledonia. The D’Unville Island trip was a magical 10 days; dramatic rocky coastline, warm turquoise blue water, sandy beaches, calm seas and clear blue skies. And just to add the spice of adventure — Nile Point with 3m swells reflecting off shear black cliffs forming a confused sea of steep waves attacking us from all directions. I could write on with enthusiasm for pages describing D’Urville, “the best trip yet” but Ann ts __putting together an account, which will appear in a newsletter shortly. “Wellington Maritime, Wellington Maritime, this is ZMQ2107. Do you copy? We are two sea kayaks and two people now departing Makara to cross Cook Strait with ETA Tory Channel entrance 1.30pm.” “Copy that ZMQ2107.” This adventure had been 18 months in the planning. Eighteen months of researching the tidal currents of Cook Strait and waiting to identify a weekend with the right weather and tidal patterns,
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Stuart Palmer
oe Jon Thomson
a Separation Point, Abel Tasman National Park
and with both John and I not committed to other plans. High tide Wellington 7.00am, a huge slow-moving anticyclone parked over the country, it was just right for our adventure. It was 7.30am as we punched the kayaks through the swells rolling into the mouth of the Makara Stream. The first rays of sunlight lit up the rugged coast of the South Island, some 35 kilometres to the west. We knew that we could expect tidal streams of 3 knots pushing us off our course. A serious matter for craft only capable of 5 knots! Without a GPS we had decided to navigate by way of a transit. There was a pronounced scar on the South Island coastal cliffs in front of us, and further inland a notch in the ridgeline could be seen. Yes, these landmarks would be perfect. We would keep them in line to lead us on a continuous straight line across the strait. The tidal our kayaks 40° off the line of the transit to maintain the course. Within Makara Bay a steep swell of a metre or more made us nervous about what we could expect in the wide-open spaces of Cook Strait. To our relief, the sea soon flattened out to a gentle roll of not glassy, but relatively calm water. It was beautiful out there; miles of open calm sea with the distant lines of the North Island and South Island coasts.
PRsgasane epee 23s
Current was so strong at times that we iad to paddle ~~
Wip eons
D’Uprville Island
“It’s after 11.00am. We must be % of the way across.” “It’s hard to tell; one coast looks just as distant as the other.” “What are those two lumps of coastline out to our right? They seem to be getting very close, and where is the opening to Tory Channel? All I can see is a continuous line of bluffs.” Further discussion and study of our charts and compass revealed that yes, we were three-quarters of the way across and those “lumps of coastline” were the Brothers Islands, putting us quite a way off to the north from our goal of Tory Channel. We learnt that a transit was a great way to maintain a course in areas of strong and variable tidal currents, but it is important that your transit leads to your desired destination! We altered course to the south and paddled on. Soon after, a ferry could be seen heading for the same spot of coast as us. Very reassuring! The only problem with this dog-leg in our route across the strait was that for the final leg toward Tory Channel we ended up pushing more tide than __.intended, adding_half_ an hour of paddling. to_our_ journey. At 1.00pm and 51% hours after leaving Makara, we paddled around the dramatic rocky headland to enter Tory Channel and slide the kayaks up the sandy beach. Wahoo! Challenge accomplished. We spent the afternoon and the next morning paddling into Picton where we left the kayaks in storage and took the ferry back to Wellington. Two weeks later we returned to Picton to collect the kayaks and take part in the Queen’s Birthday weekend Club trip from Motueka to Takaka. That trip was a real cruise.
Stuart Palmer
After a frosty night under the Motueka bridge Ann, John, Dave Garratt and I paddled our kayaks out of the Motueka River into a glassy calm Tasman Bay. The Bay remained glassy for the next three days while we paddled along the picturesque Abel Tasman coast around Separation Point and into Golden Bay. We would drift into rocky bays to be greeted by schools of a half-dozen or more calf seals. The inquisitive and playful young seals would nudge up to our kayaks. One seal lifted its head up to the deck of John’s boat to chew on a piece of webbing. The highlight of the trip was the paddle into Golden Bay with the coastline dotted with small islands and beautiful sandy beaches, and back-dropped by the Kahurangis capped with the first snow for the winter. Winter? You would have never known that winter had arrived at sea level in Golden Bay. We lay on the beach enjoying the warmth of the sun and even enjoyed a plunge in the tide. After enjoying a few day trips from Wellington, including a paddle around Kapiti Island (another superb —trip),John.and.! packed_our-bags.and_passports for-our———._ — two-week paddle along New Caledonia’s north-west coast. Yes, another brilliant trip but you will need to read your Club journal to learn the details of shark/ dolphin attack and other adventures from New Caledonia. I have appropriately written this article about 1999 on 01/01/00. However, inappropriately I am not ona beach alongside my kayak. Instead I am enjoying the special spot of Ivory Lake and glacier — but that is another year and another story.