Name: Wayne Hanley
Location: St Georges Basin, NSW, Australia
Website: www.kokororyu.com (not paddling related)
Years paddling: Built my first Skin on Frame kayak in the very early 70′s and have been on the water to varying degrees ever since. Last 10 or so years solid.
Favourite Paddle Craft: My current boats! Valley Aquanaut CK – great for rough water, cruising, rolling. Prijon Seayak – great for long trips & camping, surfs long shore breaks beautifully. Wavesport Kinetic – great white water boat.
Greenland Paddle: A Mitchell Horizon Split modified (those stickers were tricky to remove). Others to come.
Why do you like the GP: Due to injuries acquired in my other pastime – martial arts (right AC shoulder joint permanently dislocated by 2cm), mountain biking (left clavicle broken into 4 pieces) etc. – and a touch of arthritis in the wrists and thumbs, probable also due to other interest, I find the GP to be a much less taxing paddle to use. Also I love the look. Oh and there’s that tradition stuff.
Favourite place to paddle: Jervis Bay and the surrounding coast.
Most memorable paddle: That special white water paddle with my wife in Borneo (2008). Memorial for all the wrong reasons; the kayaks supplied were huge for white water boats, the paddles were long thin touring ones, the guide was to busy showing off to show us the best lines, we were not told that the river had not fully receded from a flood two days prior, the river was suppose to be mostly grades 2 & 3 but the flood had boosted that up. The end result was I swam twice, my wife swam three times, our rolls were not always up to the challenge. Did we have fun? Darn right we did?
Most embarrassing paddling incident: Swimming twice on a river in Borneo.
What is your dream paddle trip: Whitsunday’s (planed for August 2010), British Columbia (planed for 2011), After that the dreams continue.
Final Comment: I enjoy a good paddle with my GP. Um, did that come out right?
