April 14th-15th 2007
RedYeti 36 Hour Midnight Assault, Shoalhaven Bay, NSW

It was a lengthy drive up from Melbourne, as the Tali Karng Trackers (Mike Kolody, Brett Sparkes, Kerryn Rim and Paul Gruber) ventured to Shoalhaven Bay, approx 2 hours south of Sydney, along the beautiful South Coast, New South Wales. Yes, we like to travel!

After the usual equipment checks & briefing at the Red Yeti Headquarters at the Shoalhaven Community Centre, we plotted our course, leaving just enough time for a quick pizza, gear check and a little shut eye before getting in the car to drop off the kayaks and head for the remote location start line.

The first leg was a midnight run along the Seven Mile Beach, with not much more than the Milky Way lighting the way. It was a beautiful run and we came into the first transition only four minutes behind the leaders.

We were a little cautious with the transition into the kayaks, knowing we had a 14 km night time paddle ahead with the fog rolling in. We ended up beaching ourselves on a sandbank, and the challenges continued as we navigated through fog, islands and oyster beds to the next transition at Crookhaven Beach.

Stage 3, was a 12 km trek starting with a checkpoint at the Crookhaven Heads Lighthouse, followed by a long, slow, sandy beach walk in soft sand to Kinghorne Point.. The weather was mild, and the breeze off the coast was a joy, particularly as the sun came up and we were treated with a beautiful coastal sunrise.The early morning transition to Mountain Bike took us on a 30 km chose your own adventure ride, as we looked for 6 out of 8 possible checkpoints, finishing in Myola.

This was followed by a 11 km paddle down the Huskisson River and into Jervis Bay. The local dolphins came out to give us an escort, keeping us motivated and on track. We got a little wet as we beached out boats on Greenfield Surf Beach, always fun trying to keep a 7.3 m double mirage kayak straight in the surf.

Stage 6, and our choice of a 9 km trek instead of a 21 km mountain bike was a good decision as we made up some time on teams ahead. A diversion around a swarm of bees that stung leading teams up to 10 times took us the long way round but gave us additional time bonus for our trouble.

The third kayak leg took us from Wrights Bay, across St Georges Basin and 4km up Sussex Inlet, this time with some help from the wind. The scenery was beautiful, making the 15 km paddle one of the prettiest parts of the course.

Next stage was another optional leg, and considering the previous benefit of trekking, we opted for a 16 km trek around Swan Lake, instead of a 32 mountain bike leg, which this time proved to be a bad move, taking about 4 hours and into darkness.

Stage 9, night time paddling again, navigating back up the inlet, across St Georges Basin with only house and street lights to assist. A few navigational challenges, paddling into the wrong bay and inlets before finding the Basin View boat ramp.

A 45km mountain bike awaited us to travel across the Princes Hwy and up into the hills. After a tricky turnoff with recent road works to mix it up, Kerryn found a quick sleep on the mountain bike isn’t that comfortable, especially when hitting the dirt at about 25km/h. The sleep deprivation kicked and a few more navigation errors put us at the tail end of the field.

Daybreak had us depart on the fifth and final 38km paddle down the Shoalhaven River from Pulpit Hill to Shoalhaven Bay. Although the intent was there, the Sleepmonsters kicked in, and Mike found himself steering the kayak around imaginary playground equipment on the river. After a quick stop for food, drinks & no-doze, we found ourselves back on track, passing a few teams along the way, and made the finish line before the midday course cut off.

Many lessons learnt; technique, tactics, navigation, equipment & more to take with us in preparation for XPD.

Thanks to our wonderful support crew, Narelle and Lauren for all their help over the weekend. It was an extremely tough event for support crews, with five paddling legs and many transitions throughout. Great job.

Thanks also to Angus and crew at Red Yeti, for another great course, with lots of options and paddling sections. Keep it coming.

Paul Gruber
Michael Kolody
Tali Karng Trackers