Orka Paddles has been booming along. Lucky for me I have a new addition to the work force else I think I may just have burried myself alive under all the paddles! If you come from my club(Peninsula Canoe Club) you will already know Becken. He works on a Tuesday night as a car guard and hales from the DRC ( For those of you who don't live here in South Africa: a car gard sits and looks after your car even if its locked with an alarm and a gorilla lock! This helps stop cars dissapearing! Just as Pete's bakkie did one early morning session only to be found 5 hours later fully stripped down! Got to love it)
There are two car gards at our club one is a little skinnier than  the other Eric is the big one and Becken the thinner one who is now a proud Paddle manufacturer! Well not quite manufacturer but lets say so far he is picking up a lot of skills in the sandpaper depatment! He has been super I think I love him!
Any way with the extra help I managed to sneek a weekend away and caught a deadly disease called Pondo Fever! We got an amazing oppertunity to cycle our mountain bikes down the wild coast through the old Transkei for 3 days! It has to rate as one of the top 5 best things I have ever ever done! The area is known as Pondwona land and basically you ride along the sea for 3 days and all you see are mud huts and subsistance farmers! Compleatly out of this world! Martin was the one in charge and then ther were 7 of us tagging along. One of the guys also along for the ride had an interresting debate with me just as we were ending our last kilometer! He mentioned that he didnt like some of  the people at this final destination as they were a hippy bunch. Drop outs from society bumming at the sea! This took me by complete surprise as I was just eyeing one of these characters out with a bleek feeling in my stomach that the 3 days were over! I was enveous of them, that they could give up the constant drive for money and come and live the good life parking at the beach enjoying each day as it comes! He said "This would be a terrible country if no one earned any money." I am still battiling with that thought!
Lucky for me while I was away Lance King managed to fly the Orka flag high by claiming the weekends local river race using a Super Flex for the first time! He not only won the race but anilialated it and came in a staggering 2min ahead of everyone else! Shoto Lance Got to give it to the paddle thought!