Well we finally met the boys from Expedition Kayaks,and they were fantastic Mark and Rob met with Paul, Michael in myself in Sydney at Watsons Bay, the boys brought down a selection of three kayaks which they thought would fit our criteria. The Tiderace kayaks (the Pace18 and the Pace 17Tour) and a Rockpool kayak ( the Taran). These were all first class touring kayaks, they were fast, they handle the swell and they had a great storage capacity.
We were so excited, like little kids the day before Christmas, after speaking with Mark several weeks earlier and researching these kayaks, to say we were extremely keen to try them out would be an under statement, particularly the Taran. Once again the Taran just seem to tick all the boxes. A super fast touring kayak developed by Rockpool to break records. I particularly fell in love with the shape,a mixture of old and new, a shape that many would say is to be the future of expedition ocean going kayaking.
There is a great blog the boys are have put together on the expedition of the North Reef at the top and of the Capricornia Cays, they paddled the Rockpool Taran some 400km.
We jumped in the kayaks fitted our skirts, non of us had ever gotten intoa kayak with a skirt and it was a very clostrafobic feeling to say the least.There must have been a 30km Westerly wind blowing this day and probably at 3m swell out of the heads. At this time I was the only one out of our group who had paddled a sea kayak, none of us knew how to roll or had even worn a skirt with a kayak. I must admit I did have a few butterflies when looking at into the harbour where all one could see were whitecaps from the aggressive westerly wind which was producing a good solid 2'-3' wind wave.These boats felt so foreign compared to the surf skis we had been training on.
I was paddling the Tiderace Pace 18, Michael was paddling the Tiderace Pace17 and Paul was Paddling the Rockpool Taran. We set off from the beach off Watsons Bay and instantly Rob Mercer was off like a rocket and had blown us all out of water. I had clearly underestimated the strength and fitness of Rob as he took off at a cracking pace head on into the gale force Westerly. In setting off after him my arms were on fire within the first 5 minutes, unfamiliar with these vessels all technique had gone out the window and all the drive is coming from my arms, it didn't take long for my arms to burnout.
Never the less the 3 of us had huge smiles on our faces as we could not believe the stability of these oceangoing vessels, the way they just cruise into the wind chop, it didn't matter if you are punching head-on or across waves, these kayaks were amazing.We were all very amazed how all 3 of these kayaks handled when running with the waves.
After paddling around the harbour and pulling into beaches and swapping kayaks we all got to try all 3 of these kayaks. At the end of the day all our feelings were mutual , these were the boats we were looking for. We all had a soft spot for the Taran and its spec's matched what we were looking for.
But there was a problem was, Expedition Kayaks only had 3 Tarans and these were the only 3 in the country and if we had to order new kayaks from Rockpool in the UK we would not see them arrive in the country until January . 2014. There was no option for us to order new ones as we needed to get these kayaks into our possession and make them part of our training schedule so we could start familiarizing ourselves with these vessels that were going to carry us across the Tores strait.
This did not become a problem for long, Mark could not make the paddle on sam day as us. So a few days later he met with the boys and tried the kayaks we had paddled. Mark's a solid bloke ( ex Rugby Union front rower)and has the flexibility of a wombat thus the Pace 17 being a little wider suited Mark and ticked all the boxes for him, He was quite happy to invest in the Paces 17. So problem solved and a order for 3 x Rockpool Tarans and 1 x Tiderace Pace 17 was place with Expedition Kayaks.
I was just want to mention that the boys from Expedition Kayaks were sensational in the way they looked after us with the Kayaks and of course all the gear that went along with Purchasing a Kayak.
Never the less the 3 of us had huge smiles on our faces as we could not believe the stability of these oceangoing vessels, the way they just cruise into the wind chop, it didn't matter if you are punching head-on or across waves, these kayaks were amazing.We were all very amazed how all 3 of these kayaks handled when running with the waves.
After paddling around the harbour and pulling into beaches and swapping kayaks we all got to try all 3 of these kayaks. At the end of the day all our feelings were mutual , these were the boats we were looking for. We all had a soft spot for the Taran and its spec's matched what we were looking for.
But there was a problem was, Expedition Kayaks only had 3 Tarans and these were the only 3 in the country and if we had to order new kayaks from Rockpool in the UK we would not see them arrive in the country until January . 2014. There was no option for us to order new ones as we needed to get these kayaks into our possession and make them part of our training schedule so we could start familiarizing ourselves with these vessels that were going to carry us across the Tores strait.
This did not become a problem for long, Mark could not make the paddle on sam day as us. So a few days later he met with the boys and tried the kayaks we had paddled. Mark's a solid bloke ( ex Rugby Union front rower)and has the flexibility of a wombat thus the Pace 17 being a little wider suited Mark and ticked all the boxes for him, He was quite happy to invest in the Paces 17. So problem solved and a order for 3 x Rockpool Tarans and 1 x Tiderace Pace 17 was place with Expedition Kayaks.
I was just want to mention that the boys from Expedition Kayaks were sensational in the way they looked after us with the Kayaks and of course all the gear that went along with Purchasing a Kayak.
