ROUGH WATER PADDLING NOTES
Rod Coogan has put together some thoughts on paddling safely in rough water. Click here to view the full article.

NEW AUTOMATIC BILGE PUMP
Malcolm Blanch has designed an bilge pump with an automatic switch that turns on when water is detected in the cockpit. He has written up the plans so that you can make one too. Click here for the full article.

AIR SWITCH FOR KAYAK
Tim Hale has a great suggestion for a new switch to replace those mechanical switches that suffer corrosion problems. Click here for the full article.

photo Tim Hale

TRANSIT THROUGH THE PORT OF FREMANTLE
The club appreciates the efforts of Roger Lloyd for giving us an answer from Fremantle Ports on transit of kayaks through the Fremantle Port. There is nothing in the department of Planning and Infrastructure WA Marine Act or port Authorities Regulations which prohibit small craft transiting port waters. There is a maximum speed of 8 knots in the harbour, and under the Port Authorities Regulations there is a 30 metre exclusion zone around all berths and ships at berth. We have a copy of this e-mail and are printing out copies for sea leaders to attach to their boat in the event of being challenged entry to the harbour.

SEARCH FOR EPIRB
Thanks to Rod Coogan for his work in looking for an EPIRB (the changeover from our present one is Feb 2009) that will be small enough to carry for an individual paddler and still fit into the marine regulations. He has e-mailed and sent many letters but as yet has not received satisfaction with responses he has received. A 406 EPIRB cannot be safely worn attached to a paddler's PFD as it impedes the paddler during normal paddling strokes.

NAVIGATION AID
Below are the Zipped OziExplorer calibration files Steve Foreman has created for the Western Australian Digital Nautical Charts, Lancelin to Dawsville, July 2006 as released by the Department for Planning and Infrastructure. He has only calibrated the ECW map image set as those using OziExplorer would use them in preference to the TIFF images.
Download file here (ZIP, 32KB).

EXTRACTION LINE
Rod Coogan explains how to make a useful extraction line for kayaking. Click here to view the full article.

RESCUE PRACTICE
A "funny" thing happened to me the other day. I was trying to learn "hand rolling". On Friday evening, 16 Jan, someone who is good at "handrolls", showed me the basics and after quite a few goes, and not much success he said I was too worn out that day and should practice when fresh.
So on Saturday evening I paddled across to Penguin Island to be in the lee of the Island on the NE corner. The wind was around 20 kn from SSW.
I noticed most of the people who had been visiting that day were headed for the ferry, so I did a circum nav and made sure there were very few on the Island to see me stuff up more hand rolls. I paddled to a point about 20 m from the east shore and was in about waistdeep water when I started tipping over. As far as I knew there were no people near me. My first try I almost got up but my head probably came up too soon, so went under again then I had a second go. While upside down I could touch the bottom by reaching down, and my paddle was just floating above and if needed I could do a normal roll (with paddle). After failing the second attempt, I was setting to have a third go when I suddenly found myself upright. I was laying on the back deck looking straight up and thinking to my self, "WHAT THE F*** happened there".
Then I sat up and there was a bloke at the bow, with his hands on the safety lines, standing in waist deep water, asking me if I was alright, then he asked was I practicing. To this I replied, YES. He then stormed off telling me he had just ruined his mobile phone, which he pulled out of his trousers pocket. I said I was sorry a few times as he made shore and marched off toward the ferry jetty. As he went I noted that this well meaning person was not in swimming gear but was wearing good shirt and shorts, to save me. OOOPS.
I wish I had said something more substantial by way of an apology at the time, but I was stunned at what had just happened, and that someone had got to "SAVE" me, when as far as I knew there was no one near enough to see me and my failed attempts.
There are some "GOOD SAMARITANS" out there, sorry he wasted his time on me.
Alan Hale

NEWSLETTERS
The Club no longer produces newsletters, relying instead on information on the website and notices sent by email. However, some of the old newsletters have some interesting articles. The July 2008 edition was the last of the Club newsletters, with a report from the Dampier trip in May, plus more notes from the Cape to Cape, and other items. Download your copy from here (PDF file 2.8MB), or go to the Newsletter page for links to this and past editions.