Mar 12 2009

My Boats

Published by under Kayaking

MY FIRST WHITE WATER BOAT – THE MIGHTY415

The 415 is a Medium volume touring and  general purpose short plastic. 

13′ 7″ x 23.6″ (415cm x 60cm)
41 lbs (18kg)

Complete with notch type multi-position footrests, short etha foam buoyancy blocks at bow and stern, separately moulded chamber seat with back strap, aluminum strengthening rib in hull, and end toggles. 

Its a super easy boat to paddle in Grade 1-3 and goes Ok on the flat. I paddle this boat on my maiden Avon Descent and it also took my mate Graza down his first  Avon…so its kind of a virginity breaker.

THE WAVE HOPPER

My newest DownRiver Racing boat the Wavehopper is designed and built by Perception. A French design, built to combine the speed of downriver race boats and the durability of Perception’s MT-2000 super-linear polyethylene whitewater kayaks. Provides the “on-the edge” performance of wildwater racing and it can take the hard knocks of regular whitewater paddling. Basic Dimensions

13′ 2″ Long (4.01m), 24″ at the widest (the hips/wings), about 18kg and total volume of about 360l (90 Gallons). Means its really stable in and punches most holes and stoppers with ease. It’s great to lean into turns and goes pretty good on the flats.

Its Red too which makes it heaps faster ….

THE RPM by DAGGER.

..all round the best boat ever designed.

The Hype from Eddy Flower Website:

Hype

If you took every RPM ever sold and lined them up, you’d have a whole lotta irate paddlers standing around. Seriously though folks, the RPM remains the best selling kayak ever. That’s ever. Wanna know why? It starts with a stable and forgiving design that makes the RPM ideal for beginners who seek a versatile river runner with a displacement hull. Add carving performance and solid front and back surfs with dynamic stern squirts and you can’t go wrong. Just for good measure, you’ll also get a thermoformed seat and adjustable backband. The classic paddler loves us for this one.

Year Introduced 1996
Type River Runner
Length 8′ 11″
Width 24.00″
Volume 60.00 gallons
Weight 39.00 pounds
Cockpit Size 34″ x 19″
Paddler Weight 110 – 230 lbs.

 

THE BLISS STICK FLIPSTICK

The Hype from Eddy Flower Website  

  

Year Introduced 2002
Type Playboat
Length 6′ 6″
Width 26.00″
Volume 50.00 gallons
Weight 31.00 pounds
 
 
 
Hype

Simply a wicked playboat. Short and radical, the Flip-Stick will not limit even the top paddlers. Loops become within reach of intermediate paddlers, and yet a great river boat. Short, light and maneuverable. Heaps of rocker keeps the bow from burying and provides additional foot room and comfort. The design brief was a freestyle boat that didn’t limit the boater from executing the latest moves, specifically those than involve air, and a freeze frame video replay to comprehend. All freestyle moves are achievable. The short length makes rotations very fast which takes a little getting used to, but puts loops within grasp of the recreational paddler. Down river, very responsive with enough volume and rocker to stay on top of it all.

What can I say its a Legend.

Others

The Weenie Wave….great for my 6 and 8 year olds to have fun on

The Shearwater Hybrid – Stitch and Strip build, which I am about 50% through. The Hulls all done just the strip planking to sort out…Work In Progres

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Mar 10 2009

Taranaki

Published by under Uncategorized

Mt Taranaki (2,518m / 8,261ft)

“Taranaki” is a Maori word born of legend and is the name of a snow-capped volcano.

The Taranaki legend
According to the Maori legend, Taranaki was one of a group of volcanoes, which includes the 1968-metre-high Tongariro, near the centre of the North Island.
Taranaki was forced to leave rather hurriedly when Tongariro caught him with the beautiful Pihanga, the volcano near Lake Taupo who was Tongariro’s lover.
Tongariro exploded in anger, spitting fire, lava and burning ash and causing the very earth to rumble and shake.
Taranaki fled to the coast, where he was stopped by the sea at Wanganui. He continued fleeing, in a new northwesterly direction, to where he now stands in majestic, if lonely, isolation.

Also known as Mt Egmont, Captain Cook named it Mount Egmont after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, the First Lord of the Admiralty who promoted Cook’s first voyageit is 2,518m at its peak.

It is surrounded by the Egmont National Park covering 33,534 hectares, and is the source of 50 rivers and streams, it is a botanically unique area containing a wide variety of vegetation from sub-tropical semi-coastal forests in the Kaitake Ranges through to sub-alpine herb fields at 1,800m on the main cone.

Geology
Mount Taranaki (2,518m) and Fanthams Peak (1,692m) comprise the volcano, which is the youngest of four Taranaki volcanic centres.

Paritutu and Sugar Loaf Islands/Nga Motu are a spine of lava pushed up from a volcano and have been dated to 1.75 million years.

The Kaitake Range was the next volcano to form and volcanic activity began 500,000 years ago. The Pouakai Range volcanic activity began about 250,000 years ago, and 120,000 years ago the Taranaki volcano was formed and is where nearly all volcanic activity in Taranaki has occurred since. The last evidence of volcanic activity on the mountain occurred around 1755, more than 250 years ago

http://www.mttaranaki.co.nz/

The Satelite View

Mt Taranaki – Evening Light

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Feb 26 2009

Maketawa Stream 27.12.07

Published by under Fly Fishing

My first visit to the Maketawa Stream just outside Ingelwood, Taranaki NZ was on the 27th of December 2007.
It was a warm afternoon and with beautiful clear skies and light wind blowing from the South. The water was gin clear and cool, not much snow left on the peak of Mt Taranaki from where this beautiful stream flows.
I spotted a few smaller trout in the run below the SH3 bridge, but the best fish was just upstream of the first corner in the tail of the pool below.
The stream flows through a gully of natural New Zealand bushland, trees making a canopy over the river, making casting difficult but not impossible. Lots of little flicks and rolls to get the fly up into the current. The shaded river is dappled with sunlight and it stays cool in the constant shade.
I was fishing a dry (red tag & adams) and nymph (bead head) dropper combination which is pretty much my standard for these smaller Taranaki streams.

I first learnt about the Maketawa from another blog by a flyfisher/photographer called Atu. His blog is http://atsu.orconhosting.net.nz/Fishing/fishing-diary-sort-river.htm its a well made and well presented page with some cool pictures. I havent been able to go fishing with him – maybe this year.

I didnt catch any fish on this trip but cast and got some attention which was enough to make it a awesome afternoon standing in the river and rejuventating my soul.

Here are some photos of the Maketawa from this trip.

This is the first pool and run above the SH3 Bridge

This the pool below the SH3 bridge. It looks fishy but it might get too much fishing attention as it is easy to get to and easy to cast.


This is the pool which held the big brown. I cast to it but must have been spooked as it just looked at me and laughed…I did manage to land it about 2 months later and found out that it was blind in one eye…..

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Feb 25 2009

New Plymouth Play Hole

Published by under Kayaking

Metting of Waters Taranaki

The New Plymouth Play Hole is located at the Meeting of the Waters scenic reserve which is where the tail race Hydro Dam (Mangamahoe) rejoins the Waiwhakaiho River.

Its a great place to hang out and practice, great locals and lovely water.

Heres some pictures from the Canoe and Kayak Play Day held recently.

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