Tim's Tales - Follow me on my journey

Hey all. Mum's just shown me an article that is related to my trip. This is a Southland Times article regarding the eradication of an invasive sea weed in Fiordland. I was lucky enough to be staying on the DOC boat, 'Southern Winds', with a DOC and Environment Southland crew who were trying to remove the weed. I just have to say a huge congrats to everyone involved so far and lets hope things continue to go so well. If you are interested check it out http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/features/5326099/Kina-in-war-against-invader

Hey Everyone.
So things have been all over the show lately. It’s been a real mix of weather and my time on the water has been sporadic to say the least. I’ve been keeping up with the flat-water training with my coach Dave Jaggs and I’ve also signed on with a gym to help build back some of the muscle that wasted away during summer...so I’m still keeping seriously fit.

 

http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/14112-tims-training-second-attempt.html

Hey everyone time for a quick update on my training.

Well winter has suddenly struck in the Bay and conditions have been all over the show. This has made training rather difficult at times but even still I currently manage to get on the water at least once a day and often twice. As the long distance, ocean stuff, has largely not been an option lately, I’ve been concentrating on flat-water and white-water. Working with my coach Dave Jaggs, we have put together a training regime that is aiming to build power and strength...something which is extremely important in that nasty surf. We are also working towards some of the summer races for both flat-water and white-water, so it is an exciting time to be paddling. Then there is just our good old river paddling which we manage to fit in 2 or 3 times a week. Finally in amongst all of this I have managed to fit in a couple of sessions in the surf. Over the last few days, our area has seen some truly huge surf coming in, and I was mad enough to go out haha. On the first occasion I estimate it was breaking at over 15ft and I was struggling to get off the beach. I didn’t dare take Waverly out in that, instead I donned all of my white-water gear for safety and proceeded to get smashed. It was scary as I don’t think I’ve ever been in waves that big. I think I was only out there because Sunlive, the local paper, had requested a few shots of me in the water. On the second occasion, Dave and I had an actual training session in the surf, and I was buggered after only half an hour. It’s not easy stuff to paddle in but damned good fun all the same.  
  As for other things on the go, I have already done my first couple of talks about my trip. The first was at Althorp Retirement Village in Tauranga. Many of the residents had been following my trip and so it was a great pleasure to be invited to come and meet them and share some of my experiences first hand. At the other end of the scale, I did anther talk to a local branch of the Iconz Adventure Group. For this I was aided by a powerpoint presentation that I whipped up. I was really pleased with how the young chaps all interacted and asked questions about my trip. It was a great evening and awesome to see such an enthusiastic group of young chaps getting out there. 
  Finally, for all of my sponsors, I have been working hard on writing up all of the product reviews. As most of you supplied more than one item of gear, I am just going to send my reviews as a group when they are all done but rest assure they are getting done.

Well thats all for now. Hopefully we might see some more settled weather soon and I’ll be able to get back out on the ocean.       

Paddle Hard Everyone, Tim.

Wow what a mess. I’ve just spent the morning pulling all of my gear to pieces as I begin the massive cleaning/maintenance process that follows any good adventure. I’m not going to lie...some of the stuff is disgusting! Anything metal is corroded; anything fabric is mouldy, and I’m not even sure what to do with my sleeping bag haha.