Hawkesbury Classic Entrant & Seaward Kayaks

Frank arriving after 110km / 14hrs and 23minutes

The team at JBK would like to congratulate Frank Busch , our regular visitor from Germany on his completion of the Hawkesbury Classic Marathon. Frank and Annette makes the yearly pilgrimage to Australia to participate and catch up on some Sea Kayaking in the Jervis Bay Region.

Frank and Annette Busch making final preparations

JBK offered Frank our brand new Seaward Ascente Sea Kayak for the race and he achieved a personal best time of 14hours and 23minutes. Fantastic effort Frank. JBK Team members Jhn and Tracy Gibson assisted with road crew support and provided moral support and no doubt a great deal of humour to keep Fran buoyed throughout the night.

Frank in the Seaward Ascente - Windsor NSW 24TH oCT 2009

The Seaward range of kayaks offer excpetional quality and build construcution and atention to detail. To veiew the newest Sea Kayaks to hit Australia's shores drop in to our store in Huskisson or view the kayaks a www.seawardkayak.com.au for more details.

Call our store on 02-4441-7157 for more details on the Seaward Kayak Range.

Cheers

JBK Paddlers Club Paddle

After a week of high wind and big swell, it was a relief to be able to get out on the water for the official first paddle of the JBK Paddlers Club. The forecast of southerly winds encouraged us to head down into Booderee National Park for a launch at Iluka, with the intention of heading out towards Bowen Island, with a morning tea break on Murrays Beach before heading back.

Iluka Perfection - JBK Paddlers Club Paddle

Bill, Sandra, Wayne and Mel were all super keen as we packed our boats on the beach, especially as the wind was calm and Jervis Bay was looking its exceptional best, with only a small wave breaking along the shoreline.Sandra & Bill - Open Water

A very gentle following sea allowed us to make fast progress as we made a beeline towards the northern tip of Bowen Island, all eyes peeled for the resident dolphins or perhaps even a seal or a migrating humpback whale. As we approached the island a rolling swell coming through the heads made life a bit more interesting, but it had died off enough that we all felt safe as we passed the tip of the island and headed towards Point Perpendicular for a few hundred meters.
No doubt we all would have enjoyed the open water crossing of the heads, but everyone was keen for a cuppa and some of the famous JBK carrot cake so we turned around and made our way back towards Murrays Beach, taking advantage of the crystal clear water on the inside coast of the island to spot hundreds of fish and even a couple of rays. As usual Bowen Island was full of its resident bird life, with a couple of lazy Pelicans watching us cruise past.

A relaxing rest on the beach left the group recharged and ready for the return leg, where we planned to hug the coastline, again to make the most of some of the clearest water imaginable. Coming past Murrays Beach boat ramp, sure enough a pod of our freindly dolphins made an appearance, coming quite close to our kayaks, but not staying still for a photo. Yet more dolphins were spotted by Bill and Sandra off Hole in the Wall.

Melisa Hanley - Off Bowen Island

The pace slowed noticably along past Scottish Rocks and Bristol Point as everyone took in the beautiful scenery of the northern shore of Booderee National Park until a nice gentle landing back at Iluka meant the end of the trip and an analysis of the stats thanks to Wayne's GPS (13.6klm, average speed 5kph including stops, good performance team!).

Hopefully this will be the start of heaps of great adventures for the JBK Paddlers Club, and thanks to our very first club paddlers for a great morning on Jervis Bay.

Matt Goodwin .