Kayaking in Hout Bay

So, I was invited to join Telkom yesterday for the end of year Customer Event. After a brief intro to Telkom Business, we went to Hout Bay for an evening Kayak ride. I've put the pictures up here.

We had a really great time. The instructors took care to teach us the basics and by the time we got onto the water we were all pretty confident. So on we go, paddling around Hout Bay, me and my partner, Zach, one of the Telkom agents.

So we've done a tour of the bay, and are about to head back to the beach, when we hit a patch of rather rough water. We get a little out of shape, and before we know it, we get broadsided by two waves, the first which put us off balance, and the 2nd which tipped us right over.

Although they hadn't trained us what do do, they did say "Relax and go with the kayak. Everyone can hold their breath for 3 seconds. Then kick out." Which I did. But boy was that water cold!

Zach and I managed to treat water while Andre and Tracy, our two guides, can around to help us. After much labouring, and many minutes, Andre manages to get the (at least we thought) most of the water out the kayak and get us back in. With much shivering, we were on our way.

But not even 5 minutes later, with still a large amount of water in the kayak, we get costed by another wave, and just can't recover. And over again! This time, "relax..." went out the window. Once again, our guides came to our aid, but it seemed to take a little longer this time. And they couldn't get the water out :(

So Tracy (see pics) got into our Kayak with me so it's better to have two light people in a heavy kayak, and Zach started to climb into hers. With one leg inside the Kayak, he looks across at a friend who had come to help and says "Hey brew, check the Ray Bans! They're still on!" :P We all had a good laugh.

By now I was freezing, but managed to put in a token stroke here and there while Tracy got us back to the beach. Zach and Briget, who he joined in the other Kayak, got a tow back to the shore from Andre.

We all got back safely, although a little cold. And then back to Seapoint for a wonderful supper at Theo's.

I guess they felt sorry for me, because I was awarded the "Zig Zag" award. I'm to sure if it's for my awesome abilities above, or below the water :P.

If you haven't seen them yet, have a look at the pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/craig.and.heather/KayakingWithTelkom and see how much fun we really had.

Thanks Telkom!