Ultimate Frisbee fun in Parys

We've got a new fun activity in Parys: Ultimate Frisbee.

I'd heard of the game but I had never played until two Fridays ago. What fun! It is an absolute blast.

Absolute Frisbee is a bit like netball. When you have the frisbee, you're not allowed to run with it. You have to stop in your tracks, look for a teammate and try to make a successful pass. If my team throws the frisbee and it lands on the ground (is not caught), it goes to the other team to pick it up. If one of the other team catches it, well, it's theirs to throw. If your teammate catches it, it stays yours.

As a result, the game is fast and dynamic, with lots of sprints and direction changes as the frisbee changes hands constantly. It is not easy to catch, especially when the wind blows the frisbee off course and hasty tosses see the frisbee flying off track. Many catch attempts are a good demonstration of butter fingers.

We get together on the informal soccer field near the library and fire station at 17h00 on Friday evenings and assemble teams from whoever is around. Teams are assigned according to tee-shirt colour. We had our second game this past Friday and were somewhat more together in terms of how the game works.

Here are some photos from last Friday's game (I'm in blue). If you're in the 'hood, pull in on Friday.

Thanks and recognition to Taryn and Hugh for getting this going.

Catching a time trial by chance

Long story short is that my mom went adventuring to Morocco to climb up Mt Toubkal, a 4,200m summit in the Atlas Mountains. A non-technical climb, this was perfect for my mom. Unfortunately she took a fall on a scree slope on their first afternoon, fractured her ankle and had to sit out the rest of the climb. We got her back on a flight a day early. I fetched her from the airport on Thursday last week and we spent the night with my uncle to go to her Friday morning orthopaedic surgeon appointment.

On Thursday evening I took Rusty for a run in the gated suburb near my uncle's place. I've run there often, when ever I stay over. We must have been about 1km in when I saw a bunch of runners and figured that it must be a time trial - and it was. So I hitched a ride and followed their route, which turned out to be fabulous. As luck would have it I'd joined the Rand Road Warriors about 300m from their start!

I know that neighbourhood quite well but as there are so many road closures there are a number of roads that I haven't gone near. This was a merry jaunt through the suburb.

I was back in the area on Sunday evening - to get mom to hospital today for an 8am operation on her ankle (it went well and the road to recovery begins).

I decided to run the time trial route again, following the arrow markings on the ground. Paying more attention to my surroundings than keeping an eye on the runner ahead of me, I took great pleasure in the purple flowers of the jacaranda trees and the deep colours of the bouganvillea in full bloom. Rusty's pose wasn't very good, but you can see why this one caught my eye.

We're in JHB again tonight so that mom can sleep off the effects of the anaesthetic and pain meds. Rusty and I ran a different gated suburb and found this pretty display.

Towards the end of November the Pride of India (Crepe Myrtle) trees should get their flowers - they are magnificent and they turn Parys colourful. Time for me to work on Rusty's photo poses.

Likkewaan's two-day Vaal kayak event

I had an AWESOME weekend. I haven't had the whole weekend off for way too long and as this one was spent outside and active, it was just perfect.

My paddling club, Likkewaan Canoe Club, presented a two-day event on the Vaal River. It started upstream from Parys just below the Barrage wall in Vanderbijlpark and finished at our clubhouse in Parys; split in two two stages.

The first stage was 18km in distance and Celliers paddled with me. We were paddling our Mazowe double and we'd volunteered to sweep at the back of the race. Paddling a double, plastic sit-on-top vs fibreglass K1 and K1 kayaks, meant that we would be at the back anyway.

This section is mostly flatwater with only two features: the 'Benoude Boude' (nervous bottom) rapid, which is very rocky at the current low water level, and the Goosebay Canyon weir, which has an awesome slippy-slide chute.

You can watch the video of me and Celliers sliding down the chute on Facebook.

We had excellent sightings of a goliath heron (I haven't seen one for a while) and a giant kingfisher. And lots of other geese, darters and the like. After the extensive pollution of recent months, it is good to see the waterbirds returning.

Celliers struggled with his shoulder (due for an op in January) but even so we still made good time. We covered the distance in 2h18 at a moderate effort level (approx 8km/hr) and finished within 30-minutes of the last K1.

For Day 2's 24km stage it was girl power all the way. My friend Martie joined me and Karen and Cindy took the second kayak. This was the longest paddle by far for both Martie and Cindy and they totally rocked it.

Setting off.

This was superb section with many more features. There are numerous rapids along the way and a good number of braids and islands so the 'terrain' is interesting.

With Martie, my paddle mate.

Water is very low so the rapids were less rapid and more rocky. I enjoy picking channels and routes so I thoroughly enjoyed it; although another 10 cumec of water would make a big difference. I definitely plan to come out to paddle this again when the water comes up.

A brilliant sighting was that of two fish eagles in the trees right next to us. We even saw one effortlessly catch a small fish. 

Cindy & Karen

Our paddle was a bit more leisurely than the day before - but still smooth and solid. We finished about 30 minutes behind the last K1.

My shoulders and back definitely felt worked and my hands were tired by the end of 42km of paddling over two days. That is more paddling than I've probably done this whole year! I loved it and I can't wait to get back on the river, especially that Day 2 section (with more water).

When I got home on each day, I didn't even turn on my computer and instead I chilled in my garden and indulged in afternoon naps (on both days!). What a treat! I definitely need more weekends like this.

Zippy roadtrip from East London to Cape Town

In the last week of September, Celliers and I did a zippy roadtrip from East London to Cape Town to visit dealers along the way. It really was a whistles-stop trip as we needed to squeeze it in between factory demands at home and leaving for PaddleExpo in Germany. We had three nights between trips.

Totally styling ;) Leaving our factory.

A trailer full of kayaks is a wonderful sight.

We headed first to East London and then along the coast, staying with friends in towns along the way. It was a crazy trip covering a bit over 3,500km in seven days with about 25 stops.

Canola flowers on the way to Stilbaai.

I didn't take many photos and I didn't see that much of the scenery. I spent most of every drive calling ahead to confirm our ETA and making arrangements. It was hectic.

East London visit. These trees are magnificent.

One of our best days was the Friday spent in Cape Town. We stayed with my dear friend Ray and were up early Friday morning for a paddle shoot at Zandvlei. It was also a combo 'demo session' and we invited some people along. Ray took stunning photos from his camera and drone. What a magnificent morning!

Paddling our Mazowe with Celliers

Paddling with Terrence from The Paddle Mag.

Standing up on our Stand-up Platform is a fun Vagabond 'party trick'. Our kayaks are this stable! And once one person stands up, everyone gives it a try.

Celliers paddling a Kasai. That's a kids Kwando in the background.

Standing up is contagious.

Our kids Kwando is the best children's kayak in the world.

We then headed to Fishhoek and then over Chapmans Peak to Hout Bay. It was one of those absolutely perfect Cape Town days where the incredible beauty of this area shines.

On the Chapman's Peak road, heading to Hout Bay (in the background).

We love our kayaks.

We got home, had 2.5 days in the factory and then left for PaddleExpo in Germany. Phew!