C&K mag #34 dps-f spg - Canoe & Kayak

WHITEWATER KAYAKING
Kool Kayaking and Karma
by Dylan Quinell
This is a tale about kayaking in
beautiful Mt Maunganui, a lesson in
Karma and more evidence of the
importance of surrounding oneself
with good friends, and of course,
travelling.
I awoke on Easter Friday happy, thinking that I
would soon be carving it up on Raglan’s epic surf,
in my white water kayak. That was until I checked
the surf report. Unbelievably, Raglan was ‘flat’, not
small like 1-2 ft, but flat. Luckily for us the surf was
pumping on the East coast and even better, the
Wairoa was open on Sunday. So off to Mount
Maunganui it was.
Our adventurous group was made up of Joel aka
Mole, Toni and I, all white water kayakers, as well
as three friends along for the adventure. Toni is
an adventurous kayaker ready to take on
anything. Depending on how the first try goes she
might do it again. Mole on the other hand is calm
and controlled. He’s also usually the crash test
dummy, while Toni and I wait to see if he survives.
Our three fellow travellers were crazy Darren the
cook, our other driver and white water swimmer;
Anne who is Toni’s non-biological sister/ German
exchange student and trip masseuse; and Sam,
aka Rat, our resident try everything guy & funny
man. Our two cars were packed with a mix of
warm stuff and fun gear that ranged from a token
surfboard to three white water kayaks and a
guitar. Luckily we were good friends since the trip
that usually takes about two hours, took five, due
to other Easter revellers clogging up our road.
By the time we got to Tauranga it was two hours to
sundown. The others who sensibly wanted to first
find accommodation outvoted Toni’s and my
suggestion to go surfing. This was a mission since
the weather had cleared and most campsites were
fully booked. Motels were above our budget.
Finally we found a tiny corner site next to the road,
which had space to park two cars. It didn’t take
long to set up our tents and before long we were
standing on Papamoa beach looking out at an
angry grey sky and a just as angry storm chopped
sea. Within the sea were 3-4 ft waves, if you could
call those dumping beasts waves. Mole, Toni and
I went paddling for about an hour but spent most
of our time trying our best not to get eaten. Some
epic wipeouts were witnessed. This did not bode
well for Saturday, but we still had big plans of
surfing if it cleaned up. After a game of pool we
decided on the Chinese takeaways. Toni got given
two bowls instead of one by mistake and offered
me one. Against my better judgment I used it and
14 ISSUE THIRTYfour • 2005
grabbed some food, without paying. I was soon
taught a lesson through karma.
I read on a website that in Buddhist teaching, the
law of karma, says that: for every event that
occurs, there will follow another event whose
existence was caused by the first, and this second
event will be pleasant or unpleasant according to
whether its cause was ethical or unethical.
Therefore, the law of Karma teaches that
responsibility for unethical actions is borne by the
person who commits them. To me this is a spiritual
force that punishes people for their wrong doings.
Sounds better than our judicial system. It doesn’t
take months to make a decision and there are no
greedy lawyers, plus it knows the truth.
So, after my misdemeanor I was in line for being
taught a lesson. When I awoke up the next
morning I couldn’t find my wallet or jacket but was
sure they’d be somewhere under the piles of gear
in the tent. Besides, there was surfing to be done.
After we an interesting breakfast, we set off for the
beach. Toni and Anne ate their weetbix and milk
straight out of the packet. From the first sight of
the beach Toni and I began shaking with
excitement and huge grins plastered our faces for
the rest of the day. The weather had cleared, the
sun was shining on a stunning golden sandy
beach and a sea of shimmering diamonds, with
3ft, clean breaking, beautiful waves.
We found ourselves a spot along the beach and
before long we were paddling out, cheering and
hooting. The first thing I saw was Darren and his
sit-on-top getting rolled back towards the beach
by the set. When he came up for a breath he had
a huge grin. It was a great day’s surfing. Every now
and then I’d hear a yell and turn to see my friends
screaming down the face of a near perfect wave. I
pulled off my first 360 degrees flat spin on the
face of a wave, by mistake. I was trying to pull out
of the wave but instead of shooting over the back,
my kayak spun and I ended up going forwards
again, I had to celebrate this with yet more hooting
and shouts of “WOW Mole, MOLE, did you...did
you see that, it was... AWESOME.”
After lunch Toni took out her surfboard while I
stuck with my trusty kayak. Once again we caught
some great rides. Darren captured us on film while
swimming, using Toni’s digital camera and
waterproof housing. We had to dodge the odd
long boarder, angry that we had invaded their
territory. At other times we had to thank them for
not running us down when we got in their way.
After hot showers we had dinner. Darren, the great
camper that he is, cooked himself a feast of bacon,
eggs and hash browns. I shared my cans of
spaghetti and diced apple with Toni and Anne
who still hungry managed to seduce Darren into
parting with some of his feast and even get me a
bit. After that all six of us crammed onto Darren’s
double airbed. We lay spooning, to keep warm,
under the stars, playing guitar and watching the
fireworks show. Before we went to sleep Mole and
I got a massage from Toni and Anne. They
expected a long, and decent massage in return, so
we were forced into massaging till we could
massage no more.
We awoke happy the next morning with the
promise of a day’s whitewater kayaking on the
mighty Wairoa. The only problem for me was that
I had still not found my jacket and wallet and felt
bad about the $10 owed to the takeaways. By now
I had searched the whole campsite, twice, and
asked most of my fellow campers. No one had
seen anything. I had also tried to make a deal with
the man upstairs that if I got my wallet back I
would pay the money I owed. Nothing happened.
I decided that he doesn’t make deals and
borrowed money from Toni to pay it back. At least
then the matter would be off my conscience.
As we were leaving the campsite, heading for the
river which was on the way home I heard a shout
from behind me and turned to see the campsites
owner running towards me with my jacket and
wallet in hand! Everything was still in the wallet!
After thanking him I carried on to the takeaways
but found it closed. I babbled on about karma for
the rest of the day.
The Wairoa is our local river. Today would be our
sixth trip down it. Since we don’t kayak often
enough we would only kayak the mid and lower
sections which are grade 2-3+. First we played in
some grade 1-2 rapids with Sam, Darren and Anne.
We swapped between the sit-on-top and
swimming, with life jackets on to make it easier.
This was a lot of fun and enjoyed by all. Next we
moved up to the standing wave. Toni Mole and I
pulled off some epic flat spins and were wiped
out numerous times while the others watched.
Darren got bored and decided to try and surf the
wave in just a life jacket. The actual surfing didn’t
really work. Instead he disappeared into the wave
and eventually resurfaced about 2m down river
with a grin of pure adrenalin. That wasn’t the last
time he tried it.
Then it was time for us to set off down the river.
We agreed to meet Sam, Darren and Anne back at
the car and off we went. The Wairoa is a great river
to paddle. It’s not too hard but at the same time
not too easy. It gets the blood pumping. A local
named Michael, whom we had met at the wave,