Tim Taylor breaks 24hr Open Ocean record
Well, he did it. Tim Taylor smashed the current record of 194kms for the 24hr Open Ocean Male Sea Kayak, with a whopping 214kms.
Tim Taylor set off on Thursday morning, 16th April at 8:00am, heading north from Mt Maunganui’s Pilot Bay here in the Bay of Plenty, towards his destination of Opito Bay, Coromandel. Conditions were good with a relatively stable high-pressure system which Tim anticipated would bring winds from the southwest. All going well he would get a little push north with the wind, then a coast back to Tauranga if the wind died down. Tim set off at a fast pace on a very cold morning and paddled non-stop for the first three hours. After hugging closer to the coast to avoid stronger 15 knot winds past Waihi and Whangamata, Tim settled into a good rhythm with a routine in place to concentrate on prominent landmarks and concentrate on his paddling technique. He describes the highlights on his way up the coast. “At one point I passed a school of free-jumping albacore tuna, which was pretty cool, and at another I almost ran over a one metre long shark. Probably the most exciting moment was when I fell out while trying to adjust my SPOT satellite tracker.” Even though he’d practised for this situation on many occasions, the fatigue of paddling up until this point, made it far more challenging.
At around 5.15pm Tim reached Coromandel’s Cathedral Cove; an official distance of 100 kilometres. This marked a significant milestone for Tim; it was the longest paddle that he had ever done and in a great time of only 9hrs 15mins. His previous best had been during a New Zealand Expedition when he completed 98 kilometres in 13.5 hours. With the sun just starting to set, Tim recalls it was “an amazing time of the day”. It was at this point that Tim, thinking logically about his distance, decided to turn around and head back - he figured if he could get back to Tauranga he would have officially broken the record as well as having completed 200km.
Tim’s account of the night portion of his paddle is incredible. He reports “The night paddle back to Tauranga would have to be one of the most surreal, scary, and satisfying paddles that I have ever done. As it got darker, it became obvious that it was going to be a very black night as there was no moon. I did have a light setup for the kayak but I was worried that it wouldn’t have enough battery to last the whole night so I elected to save it until things got really difficult. I rather timidly headed off into the darkness. The first couple of hours were probably the scariest for me. I knew the coastline really well, so I had a good mental image of the different stages, but it took quite a while to get used to how the surf ski handled itself when I couldn’t see the water. The problem with this kayak is that it’s designed for surfing waves, so it wants to get up and boogie, but I was worried that if I allowed it to get away from me, I would be rolled out. Ultimately I just got used to the feeling of the kayak moving independently under me, and I just had to trust that it would handle itself, which it did very well!” The wind picked up, however, and Tim faced another challenge of paddling hard through gusts that would “rocket down unseen valleys and out over the sea”. Tim reported that he’d prepare himself and paddle flat out through the gusts, knowing that they would only last a short distance before the next headland or cliff blocked them.
At around 1am Tim got back to the start of Waihi beach. “I knew that I had a very tough stretch of paddling ahead of me. At the end of the beach is the Bowentown harbour entrance and this has a bar system that stretches out to sea for a couple of kilometres. I’ve be caught out by this before so I wasn’t going to go anywhere near it. The big problem was that in going out and around this bar, I had to paddle right out into the exposed ocean where the wind was very strong (up around 15 knots in some places). Again, this wouldn’t usually be a problem in the day, but at night and coming from a side-on direction, it was insanely tough to deal with. My body was working overtime just to stay upright and I had many close calls where I nearly came out. Thankfully a summer of training in these conditions enabled me to hold it together…just. At the 2pm marker, when I was square on with the bar, I succumbed to another problem. The cold. With the strong wind flicking all of my paddle spray over me, I’d become saturated and I slowly began to freeze. My body was just working so hard that it couldn’t keep me warm anymore so I knew I had to get changed. Luckily I’d thought to bring my Sharkskin Chillproof pants and top. These are normally reserved for my winter whitewater paddling but on this night they were an absolute godsend. Before changing I was so cold and shivering so hard that my mum was seriously close to calling it quits and ringing an ambulance; thankfully she didn’t because within 5 minutes I was firing on all cylinders again and, as I pulled in at the next rest stop, I heard someone remark “he’s smiling again so he must be alright”.”
It was at 5am when Tim and his support boat Klingon officially witnessed breaking the record. The crew let out a shout of joy as they ticked over 200km. Tim then navigated the Tauranga harbour entrance which proved tricky with being busy with shipping on the change of tide, but decided to continue down the coast to secure a few more kilometres at a slower pace. Tim describes the 6am mark. “The sun started to come up at around 6am and with it came an extreme cold. I have to admit that I wasn’t prepared for this and it chilled me to the core. My body also hit the wall and just totally locked up. I just couldn’t lift my arms anymore and I struggled at a pace that was half what I’d done all night. At 7am and after 23 hours I decided to call it quits. We worked out that I’d paddled around 214 kilometres, so I safely had the record, and I reasoned that any longer and I’d be liable to end up with hypothermia.” Tim was helped out of his kayak by his support crew onto Klingon and an hour later, arrived at Pilot Bay to a large contingent of friends, family and media. Tim writes “It was finally over and we were all on a whole different level of excitement.”
Cubro were pleased to be able to support Tim in his challenge by donating one of our Neo-Gel Comfy cushions to help provide pressure relief and comfort during his challenge. 24 hours after his gruelling journey began, Tim, tired and still barefoot graciously accepted a few congratulatory treats from Cubro and said “You can report back to Cubro that the seat worked… I still have my bum!”
So what next for Tim? Nothing idle, we can guarantee you that! “A few of the longer-term goals that I have is competing (and winning) the Maui to Molokai race, as well as the Yukon 1000. If the opportunity arises I’d also love to give K1 paddling a go, with a goal towards racing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. These races are all possibly a bit ambitious, but given the right support who knows what I could achieve.”
Once again Tim, a hefty congratulations from the Team at Cubro. Thanks to the SPOT satellite tracker, we watched your progress up and down the coast and supported you all the way. One of our team even reported that, after being woken up by their toddler at 2am, she checked SPOT to see how you were going - hard to believe you were paddling back down the coast in the freezing cold while we were all tucked up in bed.
Good luck with your futures endeavours Tim.
