I wrote a book back in 2018 and it has now finally got into print. It is about my 40 years of being a sea  kayaker – it tells how I originally got into kayaking back in the 1970’s. It talks about quite a few people  in my life during that time, and even goes back to my high school days. (I did print a couple of copies on my home printer to give to family members just in case I passed away, as a Roger Greenwood (the same one that was rescued in mid Bass Straight by the authorities in 2019) said this of me - "in this case at the age of 78 Laurie is at very serious risk of heart failure or other health problems." I do think that this Roger Greenwood should go and have a chat to my highly qualified doctor who has a totally different opinion of my health.

 I actually started writing it back in 1999 but after reading it I thought it was dreadful and put it aside till  after Elli died. I then worked out the main problem with it and completely re-wrote it. As I read it today  I do think that a professional writer could do a lot better job on it – maybe someone like Richard  Flanagan. And I have paddled with young Richard when he led a white water trip on the Tyenna River  back in the 1980’s. And I will say he did an excellent job as a trip leader (but he was all at sea on the  sea).

But the book is me. Over 300 pages with a lot of small colour photos, (some not great quality.)

If you turn up at my door you can have a copy for A$25. Or possibly could be delivered as I drive around.

   1   1. Post a cheque.

.   :  2. Direct deposit into my bank (details on request) (Do make sure you send me an address)

      3. PayPal. (I’m not sure how many people know that you can use PayPal to send money to an email address)             (grumpy39nospamgmx.com) Replace the ‘nospam’ with @   (Do make sure you send me an address)

I don’t have the skills to setup a “send to cart” and “proceed to checkout” and all that method for buying stuff online – I’m just a poor old pensioner struggling with IT.

If you are looking for stories about rip roaring sea kayak trips in remote areas of the globe then this book is probably not for you – it’s just a simple biography of the sea kayaking part of my life. But it does contain many trip reports. Did you know that a 16 year old boy with no sea kayaking experience at all paddled a down river racer to Maatsuyker Island and return in 1980? Or a young lady with only 3 months sea kayaking experience paddled across Bass Strait to Victoria and return in 1987. There are many other experiences and photos I could have put in the book but it is too big already - the ones included give an insight into my life as a paddler.

I did design the rudder that is now used all over the world, and was the first person to fit an electric pump to a kayak back in 1980. Sails are now common place on sea kayaks because I started using them in 1979.

I could easily fill another book this size, if you have a week to spare drop in and I can bore you to death.

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