c&k#35 dps-m spg - Canoe & Kayak

Going early season meant it was cold- very cold! Even on the more moderate east coast the team had snow every day.camaraderie. In brief, to come back richer and to share it with others.We watched the island grow in stature from distant peaks to an omnipresenticy massif thrust from the sea. It was bitterly cold; a penetrating cold thatstung uncovered skin. We dropped anchor in RightWhale Bay. The landscape looked cold and mirthless, allrock and ice and wind scoured snow, but I still felt it wasthe island of my dreams.The next day we motored all the way to King Edward Point(KEP) where the British maintain an administrationand research base. We saw the island from afar, adetached yachtie’s view of the coast. It had none of theintimacy of shoreline sea kayaking, where one feels partof the intertidal zone: riding the suck and surge of thesea, breathing in the ozone smell of pulverised surf andthe scent of the land, hearing the wing-beat of a passing tern, or waterstreaming from the bull kelp- the day measured in moments notnautical-miles-to-destination.•Presentations•Slides Showswww.adventurephilosophy.co.nzThe small local populace of KEP was pleased to have the company, ours beingthe first boat of the season to visit and consequently I woke the next daywith a thumping hangover. Snow coated Northanger and our three Sea Bearsstrapped to its deck. It was a strange day sorting gear as we got to know folksonly to say goodbye to them again, packing the Bearsand making decisions on the nitty gritty of what to takeand leave.One moment was particularly incongruous, sitting inthe spacious lounge of the newly built basecommander’s house, being interviewed for their SouthGeorgia Island website, while less that ten metres fromwhere we sipped our cups of teas two bull elephantseals fought a fierce and bloody battle. The contender,with a ragged and ruined nose, took on the beachMaster and got some tough medicine before conceding that size and thehigher ground were not in his favour. It was a passage of sudden violenceand painful defeat that sprang from a singularly false notion of ability, over-ISSUE THIRTYfive • 2006 9