Hi guys,
The serious packing, final planning, re-reading the rules – coming to the realisation that I likely have not allowed enough time to fully survey the course before the event. I also am starting to question my sanity.
That being said I am pumped and ready to go and very much looking forward to crossing the finish line.
Macca (nicknamed ‘Mappa’ by me after witnessing his advanced planning and navigation skills) head off Tuesday morning arriving in Brooklyn Tuesday night. Macca has the support role so will get to witness me at my very worst whilst having a sleepless night tracking my GPS tracker.
Wednesday/ Thursday/ Friday next week I will paddle what will be the night sections making notes so I can hopefully avoid running into something solid at speed in the dark. How I am going to read these notes in the dark whilst paddling is a problem for future Dean to figure out.
Two questions: Why is my kayak named Black Magic? I named her after the late New Zealander Peter Blake’s America Cup winning boat. It was an awesome vessel just like my Epic kayak.
Why redwinekayaks.com? It is quite simple, all of the best ideas I have had in my life seem to have been created whilst drinking a bottle of red wine with good friends and family. Some of the ideas disappear the next morning with the dry mouth and hangover but every so often one takes hold and becomes something real and awesome.
Fundraising update: $720 raised so far – that’s outstanding. The link for anyone you wish to forward it to is:
http://www.givenow.com.au/cr/deantattle
Apparently the number of paddlers is quite low this year – at the moment only 58 boats have entered, some are doubles. This is well below previous years and has impacted on the fundraising efforts.
A few more gym sessions and a couple of training paddles left before we head off.
The photo below is of my beloved old 105 Toyota Landcruiser, it is our transport vehicle for the trip.
redwinekayaks 
go get done mate. Smash it out
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