Fitzy's 2005 Avon Descent
by Peter Fitzgerald
2005's Avon was much anticipated as the debut in white water for my Eco-bezhig sea kayak. 2005 was to be my year that I would finish, and be competitive with the rest of the mob who flock to do the senic route to Garratt Road via the wet way down.
I trained harder than I have ever trained, every other two days after work since May. Plenty of spade work. I had hoped the Preston River might flow well, but apart from a desultory trickle it hardly flowed in 2005, hence I did not get a lot of practice in moving water. But this year was the year I would enter my new boat.
Now for those who don't know me, I am 6 feet 8 inches tall, about 135 kilos, and I have entered every Avon since 1994 except for 2001. I have always paddled a Spectrum sea kayak, a great little manouvrable touring kayak. A good forgiving kayak that given honest water with good flow, would almost guarantee finishing. I did my first Avon in that boat in 1994, and I came 78th. But over the years the field has changed considerably from when the bulk of the plastics were 415s, 380s, the early Fnns, some canadians, and a sprinkling of spectrums and plastic skis. Now the field is mostly endorphins, multisports, and other fast craft paddled by lightweight skinnybums, and poor old "Fitzy", although a stalwart, was out of the competition full stop.
I brought my first Eco at scruitineering in 2003, my old mate silver fox "Wayne Poulsen" convinced me that this was the boat I should enter in the Avon, so I brought my first Eco from MainPeak,I had every intention of entering it in 2004, but after finding out how fast it was when I beat "Grey Beard Peter Martin" to Fremantle in the Bankwest Classic in 2003, I decided that I would have to save up and buy a second Eco so I would have a fast one for summer races and an Eco for the Avon and other races. It has taken me until this year to achieve that. I have got to say that the good deals I got from Mainpeak were a real bonus.
So I entered in this years' Avon.I spent some time modifying my Eco, I fitted a brace bar to strengthen the hull, a proven rudder made out of 1/4 inch aluminum plate, bigger foot pedals, and a handrope at the stern. My brace bar proved its worth at Emu's this year.
So the day dawned clear, cold and bright with anticipation as all of us novices, old stalwarts and second year veterens all gathered at the start line at Northam. Once in the water I proceeded to the start, now do you realize how hot it gets in a kayak, in a wet suit, with the spray deck on. I used the shower provided by the Northam shire to cool down. It was good, although not many other paddlers partook of the cooling.
Soon my grid 40 was away. I got a good run at the weir, and for the first time I was not being passed by so many skis. Katrine came up, the field was more strung out now. I don,t know why, but I decided to shoot Extracts for the first time since 1996. I somehow imagined that I had enough water. I powered up to the pipes, ran aground and was promptly T-boned by some joker on a sit on Finn - he went clean over me. It was a bumpy slide, and I gained a little time, and much to my surprise I had gotton in front of my old rival "Andrew Despessie", which I held all the way to the ti-trees. Somewhere after Lovers Lane checkpoint I had a swim in the ti-trees, and I lost all my gains on Andrew. He beat me to Cobbler Pool, and he started the next day on grid 70 and I was in grid 85. Incidently it was there that I found out that my nephew was running fourth in the 8 hp class power boats, and my sister in law, Barbara Fitzgerald, was well up in front in her class. Tomorrow was another day.
So dawned Day Two. I have always camped back at a caravan park at Toodyay, a quiet little place where the great honker geese let a cacophony of white noise at any intruder, where the early morning fog is thick on the ground, and as a rule you can get a good night's sleep, free from the doofa doofa heavy bass music that seems to follow campers around.We left at 0530 with howls of protest from one of the newer members of my support crew, she could not understand why I had to be so early, but she has never had to try and get grid times off a small notice board. This year was paticulary bad, one small board, and competitors six deep trying to get their grid times.
Day Two started, my grid was 85, the run through the ti-trees was the easiest I have had for some years. I think somebody has been doing some chainsaw work in there, because it is not as thick as it was. Posselt's Ford went by and Superchute was a doddle. By now my confidence was way up so when I came to Emu Falls I was cock a hoop about shooting it. I have found over the years that there are three types of paddlers who do Emu's: the "want to win at all costs" - they just go for broke and do it anyway, the "not surers", usually hesitate - then walk around it, and the "old fools" like myself who think they are bulletproof. Needless to say, I shot it on the low water and things went to hell in a handbasket. I went left of the boulder, I remember ducking a monolith of rock at head height, then the nose of the Eco hung up on a low boondy. I desperately had a death grip on one side of that rock, the back of the Eco was underwater, I was leaning downstream, I remember the rescue crew swinging into action. I was trying to reverse duckshove off that rock, when a surfski hit me in the rear and I was off! Before I knew it there was a sickening crunch from behind, there goes my rudder, as the Eco careened off another rock - but I was free, I will never, ever curse at surf skis again. I really believe if I had not spent so much time retrofitting the Eco with a brace bar the hull would have folded, trapping me and giving the rescue crew some real work to do. Sometimes foresight is 20/20. I got out of Emu's lucky, I survived, my 1/4 inch agricutural rudder took the knock, my self confidence had taken a severe battering but I was still afloat and still in the race.
Of the the five big rapids in the Avon, the one I fear most has always been Emu's. I had a good run down the valley, Bone breaker (at Bald Hill?), Moondyne, Championship rapids were passed with panache, then on some unknown rock at Lookout, I had my second swim. This one broke my wing paddle. I bounced down Syd's on my rear with a deathgrip on my breakdown paddle. I took the chicken chute at Bell's and I had another swim at the last corner.
Now the race was on: 32 kms of flat water, this is where the race takes its toll on the unfit, this is where the race is to get to Middle Swan before the cut off time. I was about 1.5 kms from Middle Swan when the first powerboat caught me. And I had about one hour to spare with the cut off when I went through Middle Swan. On the last leg up the Ascot straight, I passed several slower singles, I caught a couple of wounded double skis. My race finished in daylight. I finished 146th with a time of 14:57:01, and I am sure if I had not had so many swims, I could have even beaten my old mate Andrew. Incidently my nephew finished 2nd in the 8hp class powerboats, not bad for a novice in his second ever race , and my sister in law Barbara Fitzgerald came 1st in her division and beat the South African girl.
If the river level is better next year I will be back in 2006.
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