w h i t e w a t e r • r i V e r • s e a • m u l t i s p o r t ... - Canoe & Kayak

Round Rangitoto by Jane Brockie
What shall I say? 18 kayakers left Narrow Neck beach.
18 returned. It was VERY windy. No-one capsized.
it should have been. Hence we had a hard slog along the northern coast, with
nowhere to pull in after McKenzie bay. We saw the yachts disappear past the
Noises and did wonder whether they were doing their own extended round
trip and if we’d encounter them again later.
With great relief that we turned into Gardeners Gap, and what turned out to
be the only calm, relaxing 200 metres of the trip. We went under the bridge
between Rangitoto and Motatapu, about 35 mins before the 3.0m high tide,
into a very shallow shoal just before Islington Bay. There was a deep enough
channel on the Rangi side to get through comfortably, even for the few very
new composite boats in our midst.
We pulled into a sandy beach on the Motatapu side. There was more than
enough space for 18 kayaks, and a grassed area for us to sit and have our
lunch and share some chocolate. Definitely a very important part of any
kayak trip.
Trip leader....where’s my pod
That is not what Rob meant when he asked for a trip report to put on the web,
but it does a good job at summing up our Saturday adventure. However I
will expand .
A couple of months ago I volunteered to lead a trip round the tip of
Whangaparoa. A midday high tide would be good, and an estuary trip possible
as a bad weather back-up plan. Fine, I thought, it’s in the diary. Imagine my
surprise when I was looking at the website to see what else was on. My 2 hour
paddle had somehow metamorphosed into a round Rangi excursion! No-one
knew how this happened. But I can take a hint, sometimes, and having never
paddled around Rangi, I was quite taken with the idea. I contacted other
leaders who’d done the trip, found that it was possible with the tide on that
day, and was advised to go anti-clockwise.
Friday afternoon, the forecast was for a stormy night but with a significant
easing from early morning, easing further in the afternoon. Great, we can
handle that I thought. I contacted everyone on my fairly long list, and went
to bed.
The next morning down at Narrow Neck, the updated forecast had delayed the
easing of the wind. The sea didn’t look too bad. At Bean Rock the wind was
averaging 10knots, Tiri was in the 30s, but it was due to turn south easterly
so we would be sheltered.
The group of 18 assembled for this trip included some very experienced
clubbies, as well as some on the current leaders course. At the briefing I said
that due to the forecast SE wind, we would be going clockwise round Rangi.
This would give us an easier trip with the hard work at the beginning and an
easier last leg home. We organized ourselves into 3 pods mixing experience
with not-so experienced, for safety reasons. Intros revealed we were all from
the North Shore club except Cornelius who had come up from Morrinsville
especially. Good to see you Cornelius.
No sooner had we set off than we saw a few sailing boats sporting huge
spinnakers round North Head, followed by a few more, and a few more….
and a few more, until there was a whole Armada of them. Getting across the
channel would be interesting! Hopefully the sail boats had left at a time when
no container ships were due. The sailors probably saw us and thought they
had a swarm of kayakers in their way. There was one moment when a huge
catamaran seemed to swoop down near one of the kayak pods. “Don’t you
dare run over one of my kayakers” figured largely in my mind. It’s amazing how
maternal you can get when you are the trip leader. Of course there were those
whose spirits rose at the sight of all those stern waves on which to surf.
A quick pre-arranged check at McKenzies Bay, and then we went into the gap.
The south easterly had not read the forecast and was much more easterly than
Last preparations
The wind still had not eased, and had actually strengthened at Bean Rock.
We had set a 12.30 departure time and off we went. As we turned right along
the Rangi southern coast the wind and waves came from broad on the port
quarter. (That’s from the 7-8o’clock point). Those who love to surf had plenty
to play with. I was keeping an eye on my 18 kayaks and had to be very careful
when looking behind. It would not have been a good look if the trip leader
had capsized. There were several anxious moments when I counted only
17, and yes I had included myself. But it is difficult counting kayaks between
wave crests!
Crossing the channel on the way home was relatively easy; no armada of
yachts, less wind, and the waves had shrunk. We had the tide with us as well.
It always pays to have the easy part of the trip at the end of a hard day!
Reg, who had been playing around with a new Greenland paddle all day and
had been told that he was not allowed to capsize on my trip, finally got a chance
to practise his rolling at Narrow Neck. He did invite me to join in but I politely
took a raincheck. What a way to spend your birthday Reg.
Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the trip, it was good to get out and have
a paddle. Hopefully Cornelius thought it worth the long drive up from
Morrinsville to get here.
Lunch at Motutapu
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