The kayak is launched. Pip did a fine karakia, naming her the Waka Wahini, or Woman of the Waka (the name for the Maori canoes). It's taken a while, as we bought her at Earls Court late last year, but she is properly wet at last.
She is an Advanced Frame Expedition kayak, a hybrid folding frame and inflatable. There are nine separate air compartments, but she comes almost entirely assembled. Once Sarah had overcome her incompetence with air pumps (or rather Pip had come to the rescue), the whole boat was very simple to make launch-ready. She has an aluminium frame in bow and stern, and a small skeg to help with directional tracking. Lots of bits are adjustable around the seat and foot positions. The vendor had thrown in a paddle, so we tied on various bits of string, and away we went.
Aaah! So quiet and easy. Up close to the grebes. Into inches of water. It must be admitted that the water is really flat, and still pretty warm, but that's what a beginner needs. Along with some pretty serious muscle work on the forearms.
In the background you can see some energetic manoeuvring going on between the cruise liner and the ferries. The liner left minutes before two ferries; why they didn't keep it back for quarter of an hour is a mystery to us, as it left these three large boats working around each other in a small space.