| Keynote (and other visiting) Speakers |
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This list of a dozen kayakers is so full of amazing stories and experiences that we are a bit scared we've overdone it... Ah well, lean back and enjoy. We couldn’t be happier with the talent coming – both the new and returning – not becasue of their celebrity status, but because they bring such personality and knowledge to expand and refresh our passion for sea kayaking. |
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| Paul Caffyn | |
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Paul Caffyn is New Zealand’s (probably the world’s) most celebrated kayaker – for all the right reasons. He paddled around NZ’s South Island in 1978 and since then has paddled around almost everything else. New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Great Britain, the Alaskan Coastline, Greenland – a series of prodigious accomplishments. Paul Caffyn gave us a talk at CB–2008 on his ’play-lunch’ Greenland trip of 2007. Well, he’s since gone gone back and done the trip he had in mind – the real one – retracing Gino Watkin’s great coastal passage (4 men, 1100 km in two open ship’s boats) south from Isortoq to the Southern tip. Over the 77 years since Watkins, a number of people have tried to kayak this journey. All have failed (some in the worst possible way) until Paul & Conrad brought their skills and their many years of experience to the task. Paul has said that it was difficult and frightening – which if you consider the source, is saying something. |
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Paul will travel up from home on the South Island’s West Coast to show us some stunning pictures and film footage – and to tell us why this expedition drew him to Greenland. He and Conrad Edwards will give us an insight in what it means to plan and execute a trip of this magnitude and difficulty on the very exposed east coast of Greenland. More on Paul’s expeditions and publications is detailed below . |
| Conrad Edwards | |
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Conrad Edwards is the sort of quiet, laid–back kayaking over–achiever you might expect to team up with Paul Caffyn for some legendary expeditions. Of course, Conrad is just as likely to set off with his partner Alison and go round Cuba or down the coast of BC (as he did this year), or solo around Asian coasts. Conrad has done expeditions in folders, in two-piece hard-shell singles and in a two-piece hard-shell double. Living in Wellington, he has a name for heading off across Cook Straight – just as an Aucklander might head over to Rangitoto. Over & back – all in a day’s work… |
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Why you go... (Conrad in East Greenland) |
| Satoru Yahata | |
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Satoru is jetting in from Japan to have a look at New Zealand and tell us about his epic voyage. He’s covered a lot of very interesting Ocean since 2002. He’s a young guy who’s been working on his dream of paddling from Australia to Japan - via Indonesia, the Philipines, Taiwan, and Okinawa. Satoru says he is driven to meet various peoples who live with the ocean in their daily lives.
Different cultures, astonishing nature and blessed waters – which feeds |
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Satoru will be introduced by Nelson paddler Iwao Fujii. More on Satoru’s progress is detailed below . |
| Dave Winkworth | |
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Dave is one of those rare blokes who almost make the West Island worthwhile. (For non-ANZACs, that’s a very gentle dig at that strange place they call Australia.) He’s had great experience paddling kayaks, designing & building kayaks and if you want rescuing from a crocodile – Dave’s got a few moves that gave Paul Hogan the right idea. Based on the coast of NSW, midway between Melbourne & Sydney, Dave has been called upon to patch up a few famous long-distance expedition boats (Sandy & Freya) that have limped into Nadgee with split seams, broken rudders & less-than-happy beach trolleys. Dave manages to get them robust enough to make it the rest of the way round. So if you’re planning an Australian paddle, you really need to come to Coastbusters and get Dave’s contact details ;-) Best of all, Dave tells a bloody good story. |
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Dave’s recently sold Nadgee to Lawrence Geoghegan – and we’re hoping we may have a surprise for you – stay tuned... |
| Max Scharnböck | |
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Max lives in Germany, is an ardent paddler and the leader of the TID-section of the German Canoe Federation. Max runs the TID – as much as any single person can be said to do that for such a cross-border, cross-cultural event. Now in its 55th year and more vibrant than ever, the TID (Tour International Danube) takes paddlers 2516 km down a mighty river – through 7 countries – in a fantastic annual journey of fellowship. Every summer, it starts at Ingolstadt, Germany and ends in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania, going through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary Serbia and Romania. It welcomes paddlers from around the world and opens wide a fascinating door into Europe. Take a look at the TID official website here . |
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Max and his partner Jenny-Lee from Sydney. Max in front of the well-known Ingolstadt Opera House... |
| Jim Kakuk | |
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Jim Kakuk co-founded the Tsunami Rangers (with Eric Soares) in 1985 and is their senior officer and Captain. Although the Rangers have practiced the most extreme forms of storm, surf and cave kayaking – capturing the results on film and in stories that leave most sea-kayakers shaking their heads in disbelief, if not outright denial; they make survival a very high priority. "...very few sea kayakers make the cut. Take a look at a recent article by one of Jim’s lieutenants: |
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Jim is also the Rangers’ boat-builder – running Tsunami Kayaks. Their special wash-deck kevlar designs – honed over 20-odd years of truly outrageous rock-gardening will be the subject of a session on Saturday. Jim came down to the last Coastbusters in 2008 and he must have enjoyed it, as he’s back for more. He & Eric are even threatening to come to the IKW afterwards. Bring your helmets. |
| Eric Soares | |
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Eric Soares co-founded the Tsunami Rangers (with Jim Kakuk) and for many years mixed ultimate high-adrenaline kayaking with a challenging career as a professor of marketing at California’s Cal State Univerity. Rumour has it that he’s not shy in front of an audience and gives a compelling talk. No quiz afterwards. Eric co-authored the book on the Rangers, has written some 50 magazine articles on kayaking and has directed and produced all the Ranger’s films and DVDs. |
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Eric had some very major heart surgery a few years ago and had to face up to a change in what kayaking could offer. Death-defying thrills took on a revised meaning and he did some soul-searching. The U.S. Sea Kayaker magazine had a good & thoughtful piece on it. Eric shares an interest in martial arts with Conrad – but we have nothing planned. |
| Rick Wiebush | |
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Rick is from Baltimore, on the U.S. east coast. He holds the (old) BCU 4 Star award and is a BCU Level 2 Coach and teaches at symposia in North Carolina & Maine. Rick counts himself fortunate to have participated in five expeditions to Baja & one to Greenland. His goals are to keep growing as a paddler and to help guide others through the same fascinating process of learning & discovery. |
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Rick will tell us of his 750 km, month-long, self-supported expedition on the Sea of Cortes in Baja, Mexico. Baja is a magical, remote & stunningly beautiful place where the desert & mountains meet the sea and wildlife abounds. Some of the trip’s biggest paddling challenges will be highlighted and (so he says) greatly exaggerated. Rick will also make himself available to talk with people about the practical issues of arranging Baja trips. |
| Patti Stevens & Yves Aquin | |
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Patti & Yves hail from Canada and currently live in Victoria, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia (BC). They have been paddling for 7 years in the Vancouver Island area and on the BC North Coast. They are both Paddle Canada sea kayak instructors and volunteer their time instructing at the Canadian Navy base |
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Currently enjoying a sabbatical break from work, they have escaped the Canadian winter to cycle in NZ for 4 months. They agreed to stop at Coastbusters to tell us about their great 2009 adventure – paddling for 3 months in the Queen Charlotte Islands in North BC‘s Gwaii Haanas National Park. |
| John Kirk-Anderson | |
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John Kirk-Anderson is not only a kayaker of great skill and experience, but probably NZ’s highest qualified instructor, with both SKOANZ and BCU. John brings a deep understanding to staying out of trouble on the water. From Christchurch, JKA has been one of the most popular speakers at past events. John’s given great presentations on ‘Bugger Files’ and the Stewart Island circumcision (you’ll have to ask him) as well as teaming wih Stephen Counsell for some rare hilarity. This year he returns with another thought-provoking workshop. Just don’t get him started on tracking kiwis or taking unknown (and non-english-speaking) visitors down whitewater rivers. You’ll find that it hurts. John is always a voice well worth listening to. |
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John & Stephen have agreed – after great threats and arm-twisting – to return to CB-2010. I think Stephen’s first words were “You’d have to be mad not to”. We’ve had to put John & Stephen into the Risk Analysis for CB & IKW – last time we nearly lost a couple of people to laughing apoplexy. |
| Stephen Counsell | |
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Stephen Counsell is a paddler and raconteur of some skill. From running kayaking businesses to running rivers, he’s a bloke with a wealth of experience in NZ’s South Island and beyond. Stephen comes north from his home in Queenstown – and we very much hope he can join us for IKW as well as CB. |
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| NZ Experts on a host of Topics | |
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PLUS...
Note: this list is some of |
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You have to love someone investing this much care & attention in a rudder... (one of Conrad’s Nordkapps) |
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When not sea kayaking, Paul Caffyn lives on the edge of the Tasman Sea on New Zealand’s West Coast. He works as a coal exploration and mining geologist, a job which takes him deep underground in the local coal mines. Although Paul began canoeing at the tender age of nine on the Brisbane River, he only took up serious sea kayaking in 1977. In the following 30-odd years he has notched up over 35,000 miles in his single Eskimo style kayaks. His Australian trip is regarded as one of the great small boat voyages of recent history. Paul’s first sea kayak expedition was around Fiordland with co-paddler Max Reynolds. From Jackson’s Bay, Paul carried on solo to complete the first kayak circumnavigation of the South Island. This trip was the subject of Paul’s first book Obscured by Waves. In 1979, Paul kayaked 1,700 miles around the North Island, another first, and completed the trip with a Cook Strait crossing. This trip was the subject of a second book Cresting the Restless Waves. In August 1979, Paul teamed up with Max Reynolds again to cross Foveaux Strait and complete a tough kayak circumnavigation of Stewart Island. Dark Side of the Wave completed Paul’s New Zealand trilogy of his kayak travels around New Zealand. In 1980 Paul teamed up with an English paddler, Nigel Dennis, to complete the first kayak circumnavigation of Great Britain.
In December 1981, Paul set out from Queenscliff near Melbourne and spent the next 360 days achieving the first kayak circumnavigation of Australia. This 9,420 mile paddle is acknowledged as one of the most remarkable journeys ever undertaken by kayak. Paul had to contend with a tropical cyclone which nearly swept him off a small offshore islet in the Coral Sea, raging surf, tiger sharks which frequently bumped into the kayak in the Gulf of Carpentaria, crocodiles, sea snakes and three sections of sheer limestone cliffs. To overcome the three 100+ mile long sections of cliffs, Paul used Nodoz tablets to stay awake and lomotil to keep his bowels dormant during these overnight paddles. The longest stint along the awesome Zuytdorp Cliffs in Western Australia, took 34 hours of continuous paddling. After 10 years of trying to interest a publisher in a book about the Australian trip, in April 1994 Paul finally self-published his story as The Dreamtime Voyage. The first print run of 2000 sold out in 18 months with a 1000 reprint run in 1996. In 1985 Paul completed a solo, 4,400 mile 112 day paddle around the four main islands of Japan. With co-paddlers, Paul has twice attempted to kayak across the Tasman Sea from Tasmania to New Zealand, but has been thwarted on both occasions by the Tasmanian authorities and bad weather. In August 1991, Paul paddled into Inuvik, in the North-West Territories of Canada, to complete the first solo kayak trip along the entire coastline of Alaska. Commencing from Prince Rupert in British Columbia, this 4,700 mile trip took three northern summers to complete. Highlights of this trip were: a herd of walrus swimming around the kayak, a large brown bear ripping open Paul’s tent while he was asleep, being charged by a bull musk ox, and meeting the Eskimo villagers who are the descendents of the Inuit people who originally evolved skin kayaks in Arctic waters. Paul filmed the 1991 trip from Nome to Inuvik (not easy when paddling solo) and Canterbury Television edited the tapes and some TV News footage of Paul training on the West Coast, into a 30 minute television documentary. In September 1997, Paul and Wellington paddler Conrad Edwards, completed a 550 miles circumnavigation of New Caledonia. In the northern summers of 1998 and 1999, Paul and Conrad paddled 1,400 miles along the west coast of Greenland from Narsarssuaq to Upernarvik. Paul and Conrad paddled 610 miles from Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, through to and then around the island of Phuket in Thailand, completing the trip in late January 2002. In the northern summer of 2007, Paul and Conrad paddled the exposed east coast of Greenland. In the northern summer of 2008, Paul and Conrad returned to east Greenland and completed the 1100 Km expedition from Isortoq down to and around the Southern tip. BOOK PUBLICATION SUMMARY: Obscured by Waves published 1979, John McIndoe Ltd; 2nd edition published 2005, Kayak Dundee Press Dark Side of the Wave published 1986, NZCA/Caffyn; out of print recently Cresting the Restless Waves published 1987, NZCA/Caffyn; a few copies left The Dreamtime Voyage self-published 1994 both hardback and limpbound editions, reprinted 1996. The KASK Handbook – a 130 page manual to sea kayaking in NZ, edited, some chapters and full layout design by P. Caffyn; published by KASK (Kiwi Assoc. of Sea Kayakers NZ Inc) in 1994; 2nd edition in 1998. The Sea Canoeist Newsletter, edited by P. Caffyn since 1991, 20 pages, printed bimonthly by KASK. | |
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Satoru has traveled across many oceans in the world. He used to go around the world with backpack, fins, mask and sphere. Now he does the same backpacker travel, but with a sea kayak which takes him to unknown places. Here is the list of Satoru’s travels: 2002 Australia York Peninsula (Tandem with a native 200km) 2003 Papua State of Indonesia, South shore – muddy wetlands (Tandem with a native 700km) 2004 South Shore of Japan and Island Hopping to Okinawa (Solo 2,250km) 2005 Yaeyama Islands Hopping – Southern End of Japan with 250km strait (Solo 500km) 2006 Across the strait between Taiwan to Yonaguni Island in Japan (Solo 140km) 2007 Across the strait between Philippine to Taiwan (Solo) 2008 In Philippine, Manila to Busanga Island (3paddlers) 2009 In Indonesia, Jakarta to Bali (Tandem with his wife 500km) | |
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NZ ’s Opportunities for Paddlers – Trips and Expeditions