Paddle Day 3 and 4

Paddle Day 3

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 we made the 42km from Alexander Bay to Holgat River. A lack of on-the-water training, a new Fenn Swordfish I hadn’t yet set up, a lumpy sea and very cold water left me a little frustrated when I washed up the beach just before midday.

That night we camped at the secret Holgat camp site, a few km up the river gorge, without security babysitting us. Alexkor put an old lock on the main gate and told us to just throw the key away when we left. Unheard of! What a fabulous place to camp, a night out under the stars.

Paddle Day 4

Up at 5am to be on the water by 6, a few minutes before sunrise. Around 8am the wind switched to a hot but strong offshore wind, and I had to dig deep to get back inshore and avoid being blown out to sea.

Close to Port Nolloth I passed a few diamond boats. I came alongside one just to say hello. They asked the obvious question, “where did you come from?” After telling them, one chap just shook his head, said “jy’s f@$%ng mal”, turned around and carried on working. Got to love it.

Got the 38km covered in just over four hours. I tried a 1mm wetsuit top The Paddling Centre had given me to combat the cold water. What a difference it made. Can’t understand why we don’t wear them more in the Cape, especially on the late evening downwind paddles.

Yesterday we enjoyed the comfort of the Bedrock Lodge overlooking the harbour, courtesy of Freddie. As I write this the wind has switched to the north, and the next point south I can get out at is Kleinsee, still 56km away. The plan for tomorrow is to paddle off around 5:30am, mist permitting, and see what happens.