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Coast to Coast Solo

Eddie Winthorpe / 07.09.2011

I competed in the 2009 Coast to Coast with Jim Godden: we both agreed that if you race as a team you'll miss out on the sense of travelling across the country. This time, Jim was unavailable, so I put in a solo entry, with every intention of finding someone else to pair up with. But as the weeks passed, I found myself being talked into actually racing solo, kind-of by default.

In 2009 Chris & Trudi had supported us, so I was glad when they agreed to do it again this year. At Chris' request, I'd taken him all my gear on the Tuesday before the race. This seemed a bit premature to me, but it turned out to be a great idea: with the boat and bike handed over and the rest of my gear walked through, I could "relax" over the remaining days before the race. I have to confess, I even felt a little smug as I read Facebook comments about other competitors' last-minute repairs, search for kit, bike-building and so-on.

For me, this race was all about the first day and not drowning. I'm not the most confident paddler, so it was with some trepidation that I took to the water in Whitehaven harbour. With 47 teams on the water and two 90-degree bends immediately after the start line, the inevitable carnage happened. I briefly found I was the filling in a Necky sandwich, before finally getting through the sea gates.

Did I enjoy the kayak? No. It was uncomfortable and I was feeling nauseous andI couldn't get a handle on the confused wave patterns. For some time, I appeared to be almost keeping pace, between two lines of 5 Neckys: One line close to the shore, the other further out to sea. Was I the only person to notice the dead horse on the rocks below the cliffs of North Head?

I took a wide line around the heads, trying to minimise the effect of the cliffs on the swell. With only a couple of boat-lengths to go before the shore at St Bees, the Necky in front of me was turned parallel to the beach. I managed to miss their torsos, but my bow went clean over their stern ...and I ended up having a short swim. Frankly, I didn't care: I was on the beach (and shall forever claim that capsize wasn't my fault!)

I emptied enough water out to allow me to get my boat on to the beach and abandoned it. Changing to the bike, I didn't even get to the "out" dib, before realising I was missing my race vest - mustn't do that too often!

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