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Welcome to the Homepage of the Sea Kayak Club of WA inc.

Western Australia has some of the best sea kayaking locations in the country plus the sort of weather conditions that allow us to enjoy this satisfying and adventurous activity year round. If you have a yen to get out on our pristine Indian Ocean waters with a supportive group of experienced and likeminded people, to improve your fitness, commune with nature and to paddle your own boat into adventurous, scenic locations then you have come to the right address for information as to how this can be achieved. If you are unable to find all of the information you need by clicking on the various site menus please do not hesitate to contact our President, Vice President or Secretary.

Welcome also to any of our existing members who may be visiting the web site in search of information, the aim is to provide a one stop location for all information pertaining to club activities.

Rotto 2011
Rottnest north side
Photograph:  John Radovich
What a great spot for a break! There are more pictures of Rottnest in the Gallery.

Lancelin launch
Launching at Wedge Island
Photograph: Steve Foreman
Ken Burton has written a trip report (click here) of the CHOGM weekend escape paddle from Lancelin to Cervantes.


Steve Foreman Jurien
Hey guys, what are you looking at?
Photograph: Judy Blight
Steve Foreman and Les Allen among the sea lions at Jurien in March. See the new report of this trip on the Trip Reports page.

Waychinicup Inlet
Waychinicup Inlet
Photograph: Sue Harrington
After a beautiful night camping, the boats are loaded up and just about ready for the paddle off Mount Manypeaks to Betty's Beach, east of Albany.

Albany 2011
Mermaid Point 
Photograph: Martin Burgoyne
Conditions were extremely lumpy in the rebound off Mermaid Point, on the south coast east of Albany. Sue Harrington has written a new trip report about camp cooking from this recent Albany trip. There are many more photos from the trip on a gallery page (here).


For more photos, see the photo gallery.

Current program

Friday 3 - Sunday 5 February
WA Sea Kayak symposium.

Sunday 5 February
Palm Beach Rockingham paddle with symposium (AP; 8:00 for 8:30am).

Friday 10 February
Applecross Jetty moonlight paddle and BBQ (AP; 4:30 for 5:00pm).

Saturday 11 February
Palm Beach Rockingham near Bell Street: Les Allen Kayaks 'Come and Try It' and/or skills coaching (AP; 8:30 for 9:00am).

Sunday 12 February
North Mersey Point, around the islands return (AP; 8:30 for 9:00am).

Sunday 19 February
Hillarys boat harbour to Mindarie, one-way requires car shuttle (AP; 8:00 for 9:00am).

Saturday 25 February
Palm Beach Rockingham near Bell Street: Les Allen Kayaks 'Come and Try It' and/or skills coaching (AP; 8:30 for 9:00am).

Sunday 26 February
Palm Beach Rockingham near Bell Street to Garden Island return. Open water skills logbook checkout. (AP*; 8:30 for 9:00am).

...Details and more planned trips

News

WA Sea Kayak Symposium
Keep the weekend of February 3rd-5th free for the first WA Sea Kayak Syposium, run by Les Allen Kayaks. It will be at the Point Peron Camp School, and costs $150.00 which includes 2 nights accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Click here to go to the symposium website.
Les Allen

Bunker Bay Video
The 2011 club Bunker Bay weekend was a great success. Rod Coogan has made a video of an exciting day paddle between Gracetown and Canal Rocks, which is on the Gallery Page.
Bunker Bay

Albany Video
Several Club members paddled from Two Peoples Bay to Albany in October. There's a YouTube video showing the bumpy rebound conditions, filmed by  Ian Watkins here. You may get seasick if you watch the whole clip.

Sandy's Next Big Adventure

SKCWA member Sandy Robson's current expedition is well under way, this time followingSandy Robson an epic 7 year journey made by Oskar Speck in the 1930s from Germany to Australia. She started paddling at Ulm on May 14 and completed the first stage, from Germany to Cyprus in September (picture above is at Cineviz Koyu). She's now planning Stage 2 from Turkey to India. There's a link to her website and blog here.

Updates to the Safety Guidelines

The committee has been contacted by the Department of Transport (DOT) regarding the Club's exemption for flares and anchor within 400m of shore on an open water paddle.  DOT considers our exemption no longer valid, and the Committee has decided not to reapply. Consequently, a new edition of the Safety Guidelines and Operating Procedures has some minor changes from the September 2010 edition. Links to these are provided on the Safety and Training page.

Trip Reports
There is a report on the CHOGM weekend trip from Lancelin to Cervantes by Ken Burton.
Mark Alderson has written an entertaining report of the March long weekend trip to Jurien.
The second and third of Martin Burgoyne's "what to do if you're not sea kayaking" reports are now up.
Sue Harrington has written an article on the range of dinner options kayakers had on the February 2011 Albany trip.
See the Trip Reports page for more.

The Sea Kayak Forum
Tim Robinson's Forum for Sea Kayakers in Australia is run independently of a club or business with the idea that it would be of benefit to clubs and businesses and would be available to kayakers world wide. There are posts on general kayak talk, techniques, equipment etc., and if you register you can post information yourself. See http://www.seakayakforum.com/.

...More news

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