So the Expedition Begins – Day 1

Paddling for Smiles

My surf skis finally arrived on Thursday late afternoon after a three week wait, which delayed our departure by six days. I headed off early on Friday morning to fetch my “seconder”, Paul Brouwer, en route in Darling. Paul will be looking after me until the middle of November, when I hope to be in or around Cape Town.

The drive up to the Orange River was an 800km mixed bag of conditions, a rain storm in Darling, a hail storm near Springbok, and then hot, dry conditions at the end. Arriving in Alexander Bay is a little depressing. The town is slowly fading away, but the people here are warm and welcoming.

Looking for the weather window

Our first order was to find our guest house, Af en Toe, an old nine bedroom communal house we had all to ourselves. Our second task was to get down to the harbour and check the sea conditions. All the diamond dredging boats were safely hiding in the harbour, with the sea pounding 5m swells into the coast. Every now and then a wave would close out across the entrance. Certainly not what we wanted to see.

What to do! I decided we would have another look on Saturday morning and try give it a go. We had arranged a security vehicle to escort us and the Land Rover to the harbour at 8am. No need for an early start with only a 12km paddle ahead. Thankfully the wind had not started blowing, but the swell was still thumping. Keen to get going, I decided to give it a bash.

Wow, what an experience! I am not shy to admit I was crapping myself as I paddled out of the harbour. I don’t remember paddling in swells this big before. I made a beeline for deep sea to stay away from the rogue swells that had their tops cresting and breaking. Getting hit by one of these would have been disastrous.

Paddling to the Namibian border

I paddled 7km to the Namibian border before turning around and heading south. By this time the visibility had improved and I was feeling excited. Approaching the harbour I followed the leading lights in, with Paul on the VHF radio giving his advice, and made a safe and much relieved return to Alexander Bay harbour.