I can't believe how scared I was about coming to NZ, turns out kiwis don't bite, and from what I've seen so far, NZ water behaves very much like Hong Kong water, but as Paul Caffyn had kindly pointed out to me, I haven't seen anything that's representative of what I'm about to experience in the next 3 months.
It's just like orientalism, isn't it? I was scared out of my wit about the "other" people, the "other sea," yet here I am, having the time of my life. I wish I had came earlier.
He told me in the e-mails, I sounded very American, I felt SO insulted! I wanted a solar panel installed, I wanted this, I wanted that, he told me American customers usually like flashy trinkets installed to make their boat look fancy, but the kiwi way is to keep it simple stupid. I have to say, I'm slowly acclimatising :)
I arrived Anakiwa in the afternoon on the last day of 2009. As soon as I greeted my host, I ran to greet my Nordkapp. I was worried that orange and yellow would be a bit of a dorky combination, but she's a beauty. I soon found out looks can be deceiving though, she tossed me out of her cockpit the first time I tried to ride her, before I even get my legs in! I had no idea cockpits come in that size (XXXXS.) It's alright, I'll have months to tame her.
Took her out on the water later that night, anxious about the cold water, I piled on the layers and dressed more or less like an astronaut. I've lost most of my flexibility through the layers of clothes, but by the time I paddled out to water deep enough for a full roll, I was steaming! I quickly tried a half roll, that felt alright, with confidence slowly returning, I then tried a full roll, that went okay too, but I decided not to test my luck too far that night, the last thing I need is a wet exit before I even get out of Marlboro Sound.
But me being me, minor disasters are bound to happen. When I paddled out to look for deeper water, the last remaining rays of sunshine was still lingering (it was around 8:30,) by the time I finished, it was very very dark, and I couldn't quite recognise Grahame's house! So typical, I got lost before I even get myself out of Marlboro Sound.
Good thing I'm very good at memorizing numbers. I did remember Grahame's address, so I landed to ask the partying households where his house is. It's a good sign of kiwi hospitality that upon finding a lost, wet, cold sea kayaker turning up to ask for directions, their major concern was that it's New Years eve and I wasn't drinking!
They tried to talk me into going into their house to join the party, but I declined, I thought Grahame might be worried. The children in the house got very enthusiastic about the rescue operation though, they ran along the road with their big flash lights and found Grahame's house for me and signalled to me where to land.
Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed. But nothing beats a bit of humiliations to break the ice. We all had a good laugh, I concluded the year of 2009 with one more minor crisis on the water, and there I was, thinking I've already seen them all.
I slept like a log that night, I thought I would be cozy in my -15 Mountain Hardware feather down sleeping bag, but I woke up frozen, the inside of my sleeping bag was cold, my body just wasn't generating the heat. That's not a good sign!
On the 1st, I talked to Paul Caffyn on the phone. He's a very pleasant person to chat with, very warm, very helpful, and I think he tried really hard to be polite, unfortunately, he hasn't got a lot of kind words to say.
He thinks it's silly to think that I can train in Hong Kong and expect myself to be ready for the NZ dumper surfs.
Unhappily, I agree with him. My idea was rather naive.
The old, knowledgeable, legendary paddler have said what he has to say, and the young and foolish will keep on doing what they do. He's right in that I haven't got the experience, unfortunately, there is only one way to get that experience.
After talking to Paul, I paddled out to Picton with a somewhat damaged ego, but the Marlboro Sound water soon repaired my morale. It's beautiful, lots of other people were paddling, I met a young couple on a tandem kayak who just paddled there from Wellington, I find it rather ironic that a Kiwi young man was asking me for directions to Picton :)
I thought my skin was getting used to sunburns, but kiwi sun is no joke, I did put on SPF 30 but I came back a KFC (kiwi-fried-chinese.) After the first 20 minutes on the water, my lips were so painful I decided to put on my balaclava, real dorky, I know, but it has to be done.
As a result, I'm now spotting raccoon eyes...
This morning, I practiced rolling after loading up my kayak with half of my camping gears. The first couple of rolls went okay, the first full roll I had trouble getting the loaded Nordkapp to fully capsize; so I took off my PFD, which took care of the problem. But after chain-rolling a few times, I couldn't get back up! I had to wet exit and conveniently tested my paddlefloat. I was also getting a very nasty headache from having my head in such cold water (and spinning it in cycles...) So I kept the paddlefloat on my paddle and rigged it onto my deck line like an outrigger, the Nordkapp turned surprisingly stable, I'm rather pleased with it. If I should fail to find a suitable place for landing, I will probably try to rest in my kayak after stabilizing my Nordkapp with a sea anchor and a paddlefloat.
Paul gave me a few contact numbers and e-mail addresses, he also offered himself as an emergency contact person. So for the rest of today, I'm going to get busy calling a few people in his network, trying to see if they will be around to help me out by bringing me food and supplies.
As for the weather, gale force warning is currently in place, hopefully sea condition will be alright by Tuesday, because I'm hoping to have everything mailed by Monday, my kayak fully loaded by Monday night, and ready to launch by dawn on Tuesday. Paul said the prime time for settled weather is mid-January through late March, I hope to get a chance to stay in Kaikoura for a week or two to practice in the dumper surfs before I head south, but I most certainly hope to be in Fiordland by no later than mid February.
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