Multisport Kayaking

Yes we have started another new activity. In a moment of incoherent thinking, we have decided to compete in next year’s Coast to Coast race as a team. As one of the legs is a 70 km kayak down the Waimakiriri River, we need to become competent paddlers and hold Grade 2 certificates. Chantal will be paddling this leg in the actual race but I want to have the certification, too, so that I can compete in other multisport events.

Anyway, we decided to kick start our training by doing a multisport kayaking course. The first session was a rolling session in a nice heated pool. No problems there except that I did feel rather ill after all the rolling so had to stop the car on the way home for a quick spew! The next two sessions were on the Waimakiriri River. This was more like it and was when we started to use multisport kayaks. Actually, we used sea kayaks but ones that are well suited to the Waimak and are stable for inexperienced paddlers, i.e. us!Luckily both river sessions brought glorious weather: blue skies, warm temperatures and very light winds. We could not have hoped for better conditions! As with everything in life, there were skills to be learnt and practised before we got to the fun part, i.e. down river kayaking! Think of P.E lessons in which skills are practised before kids get to the part that they really want to do: the game! So the mornings were spent practising multisport paddling, edging, eddy turns and ferry gliding. The best bit of the whole course was on the final afternoon when we completed the final 15km of the Coast to Coast course. Along the way down we put a few of our newly learnt skills into practice, rode some good bumpy sections and learnt how to choose a route down a braided river. It was great fun, and I’m glad to say that neither of us had a swim apart from me at the end when I was trying to ride a stationary wave. I’m pleased to say that I did catch it the first time but messed it up when I wanted a second go.Once the marathon is over we will need to spend some time on the river practising our newly acquired skills so that they become second nature. We also need to find the money to buy at least one good kayak, preferably two, as well as all the gear. Kayaking is not cheap!