Performance Sea Kayak

by Geoff Murray

In April of 2011 a group of six paddlers from the Tasmanian Sea Canoe Club set out on a crossing of Bass Strait.

Four of the group flew across to Melbourne on the 5th and caught a bus to Port Welshpool, our departure point. Greg Simson and I travelled across to Melbourne on a Toll Transport ship with our cars loaded with 6 kayaks and a heap of equipment. We drove down to meet with the others at Port Welshpool and prepared for departure the next morning…

by Dimitri Vandepoele

I have dreamed. I have prepared. I have trained hard. I have crossed the Southern part of the North Sea by sea kayak on 30 and 31 July 2015. Manpowered and alone, no support whatsoever and no support or pilot vessel. I have paddled during day and night time. I’ve been exhausted, excited and happy at the same time. This is my story.

I had this dream to do the North Sea crossing for years and now the weather conditions were perfect. So I planned, made calculations to counter the tide and prepared myself mentally.

by John Willacy

According to the family photo album I had last visited the Isle of Man in 1978; I had always wanted to return to see a little more of the island, it just took a little longer than expected. Of course life had moved on in the intervening years, I wouldn’t be using the ferry to get across this time…

I also remember a rollercoaster return ride as the ferry battered its way through a stormy Irish Sea. This time I was hoping for better weather for the crossing.